First Reef Aquarium

[Punchanello]

Hi All,

I think I've just about settled on the hardware for my tank but thought it would be worthwhile getting some feedback. I'd be grateful for any suggestions or anyone flagging potential issues.

By way of background, this is my first reef aquarium. It something I've wanted to do for over a decade but life kept getting in the way. I intend to start with "easy" corals and fish but I'm hoping to achieve a solid mixed reef in the long term.

So far I've bought the cabinet, sump and DT. here she is -

This is what I have planned for the other major gear:

Lighting - GHL Mitras LX7 x 3
Protein Skimmer - Tunze DOC 9430
Return - Tunze Silenze 5000 l/h
Biological filtration - Marine Pure and sump refugium with chaeto
Powerheads - 2 x Tunze Turbelle® stream 6105
Heating - 2x Eheim Jaeger 300w heaters
Controller - GHL Profilux Ultimate

What do you think?

[Valentini89]

Going to have an auto-top off?

[ReefEco]

Looking good - how large is the tank? What I might suggest is taking a second to look at the tank from the opposite side of things than hardware (you've made good choices thus far), which might be a valuable exercise - how are you creating and maintaining pristine water? So, are you using an RODI unit, do you have the various test kits and ways to measure water parameters - temp, salinity, alk, pH, calcium, nitrate and phosphate, and what will you be dosing, and how? As Valentini mentioned, a reliable auto topoff will be key. If you know you will be progressing toward a full mixed reef, you'll likely be maintaining Alk, CA, and Mg steadily with dosing or a CA reactor (I'd start with a dosing system initially, and add a CA reactor later only if you need it).

Also, if you haven't already - looking at what type of corals and fish you want to keep will dictate many tank parameters and hardware choices. So I'd look at your livestock choices taking as much, if not more time you've put into your hardware selection. Having a broad and full picture of your stocking plan from the start is a good idea, as some "easy" fish you start with, may not get along with others you end up wanting to get later. "Easy" corals can spread like wildfire and be a pain to deal with later (green star polyps, some mushrooms, xenia, etc.) so maybe isolate those on rocks, with other rocks higher in the tank reserved for harder (and often more light-demanding) corals.

Looking good though- nice tank! The Mitras are sweet ; )

[Punchanello]

Originally Posted by Valentini89

Going to have an auto-top off?

Ah yes. The ATO water sits in the back cabinet and is gravity fed down to the sump triggered by a float valve. So already built in.

[Punchanello]

Originally Posted by ReefEco

Looking good - how large is the tank? What I might suggest is taking a second to look at the tank from the opposite side of things than hardware (you've made good choices thus far), which might be a valuable exercise - how are you creating and maintaining pristine water? So, are you using an RODI unit, do you have the various test kits and ways to measure water parameters - temp, salinity, alk, pH, calcium, nitrate and phosphate, and what will you be dosing, and how? As Valentini mentioned, a reliable auto topoff will be key. If you know you will be progressing toward a full mixed reef, you'll likely be maintaining Alk, CA, and Mg steadily with dosing or a CA reactor (I'd start with a dosing system initially, and add a CA reactor later only if you need it).

Also, if you haven't already - looking at what type of corals and fish you want to keep will dictate many tank parameters and hardware choices. So I'd look at your livestock choices taking as much, if not more time you've put into your hardware selection. Having a broad and full picture of your stocking plan from the start is a good idea, as some "easy" fish you start with, may not get along with others you end up wanting to get later. "Easy" corals can spread like wildfire and be a pain to deal with later (green star polyps, some mushrooms, xenia, etc.) so maybe isolate those on rocks, with other rocks higher in the tank reserved for harder (and often more light-demanding) corals.

Looking good though- nice tank! The Mitras are sweet ; )

Thanks mate. The DT is 500lt (5foot) with a total volume of 750 lt.

My intentions were to start with some blue/green chromis and and maybe a couple of clowns. From there slowly add some larger fish like smaller tangs.

In terms of corals I love LPS and would like t also havea few of the "easy mode" SPS. I wanted a couple of rock islands to house SPS and maybe zoas without them taking over the tank. This is mainly s that I can gain some confidence and work out what it taes to maintain some stability.

I was going to get the DHL doser and start with 2 part dosing.

[ReefEco]

Sounds like a plan - just research your tangs carefully, and the order in which you add them. Ideally they would be added all at once, but sometimes that is not possible. Zoas are great, and usually not as "weed-like" when compared to zenia, GSP, etc. so a good place to start. Look at ricordea as well - love em, and usually slower growing than other shrooms so won't take over the tank.

GHL doser is great...

Good luck - post pics as you progress!

[Punchanello]

Originally Posted by ReefEco

Sounds like a plan - just research your tangs carefully, and the order in which you add them. Ideally they would be added all at once, but sometimes that is not possible. Zoas are great, and usually not as "weed-like" when compared to zenia, GSP, etc. so a good place to start. Look at ricordea as well - love em, and usually slower growing than other shrooms so won't take over the tank.

Thanks for the info. I've read a number of times that some people using Marine Pure actually have to dose to get their nitrates up above undetectable levels. Not sure how true this is but I hope to be able to progress to the point that I can keep SPS. Love the Ricordia as well. Seems like a good early option for me.

In terms of fish, I'll try to add more timid species first and get them established. Tangs are the dream but I can wait. Everything I've seen points to this hobby turning from a dream to a nightmare quickly if things are rushed.

[Punchanello]

RODI unit coming this week.

[ReefEco]

Too many tank variables to attribute that solely to MarinePure - it does provide a lot of surface area for biological filtration, but how much you feed and your bioload will determine nitrates more directly. In other words, you can have 10 marine pure blocks in your tank, and still have nitrates if you feed heavily and have enough fish, an under-sized skimmer, never do water changes, etc.

In general, add fish least aggressive to most aggressive. If adding tangs as a group - try to fill out your group with differing body types (so one "group" might be a powder blue, yellow, and kole tang) Definitely worth it to quarantine tangs before they go in - research the tank transfer method to remove Ich, or you can treat with hyposalinity as well if you only have one QT tank...

And just my personal pitch - as you are looking at corals, try to get aquacultured/tank-raised whenever possible (and that means at least 3 generations in - wild->frag/grownout->frag). Beyond not impacting reefs, tank-raised corals are already largely selected for aquarium life - and have proven themselves compatible with lighting, water, and flow typically seen in tanks. Color in general is more proven and stable as well. If you buy a wild collected coral, it can change color in your tank depending on a host of factors - sometimes to a color that wasn't worth your money : )

[Punchanello]

Originally Posted by ReefEco

And just my personal pitch - as you are looking at corals, try to get aquacultured/tank-raised whenever possible (and that means at least 3 generations in - wild->frag/grownout->frag). Beyond not impacting reefs, tank-raised corals are already largely selected for aquarium life - and have proven themselves compatible with lighting, water, and flow typically seen in tanks. Color in general is more proven and stable as well. If you buy a wild collected coral, it can change color in your tank depending on a host of factors - sometimes to a color that wasn't worth your money : )

I'm very conscious of making decisions that are sustainable whenever possible. Thanks for the info on aquaculture. Definitely my preferred option.

[ReefEco]

Amen - can't wait to see you tank progress! Keep us posted.

[Punchanello]

Originally Posted by ReefEco

Too many tank variables to attribute that solely to MarinePure - it does provide a lot of surface area for biological filtration, but how much you feed and your bioload will determine nitrates more directly. In other words, you can have 10 marine pure blocks in your tank, and still have nitrates if you feed heavily and have enough fish, an under-sized skimmer, never do water changes, etc.

Gotcha. I know that a lot of people who like to keep SPS use zeo type systems or GFO to maintain ultra low nutrient environments. I thought about this but I really like the idea of using simple export/filtering approaches - Skimmer, water changes, Macro-Algae, De-nitrification. There's something about trying to mimic an eco-system that I like.

My plan is really to try to hone those approaches as well as I can and then see where my tanks sits in terms of chemistry, nutrients etc. From there I will try to buy livestock and coral that suit the system. That's why I haven't skimped on the lights or water movement, basically so I can tune it up or down according to what I'll try to keep when the system is ready to take living things.

[ReefEco]

Yup - I'm in the same camp, try to do it naturally in a balanced approached, and you likely save on media (GFO, etc.) Zeovit gets pricey as you get into larger tanks. I will focus on macro algae and bio-pellets for my new build, and see if I can get away with no GFO, and carbon maybe once a month. You definitely have scalable gear - which is the right way to do it. I would have saved thousands over the years if I had bought the right equipment the first time, and not had to upgrade...