My First Saltwater Setup

Rychek

So I've recently gotten back into fish keeping after nearly 20 years and decided to give salt water a try. I purchased a used setup consisting of the following parts:

55 gal tank w/ stand
Lighting (not sure of the specs on the lights, but it was being used with a coral setup. It has very bright white lights and blue lights)
Coralife Super Skimmer (setup for HOB)
Penguin 1140 power head
sand
Water Test Kit
Assorted chemicals.

The lady I bought it all from said I didn't need any filter except for the skimmer, but I think she is very mistaken. I intend to make this tank a FOWLR and wouldn't feel comfortable with not having a filter of some sort (I like my water clean and clear).

So my question is, if I have at least 30 lbs of LR which filter will give me the best bang for my buck? Do I really need a canister (I was looking at the Fluval 405, but the price is a bit steep at this point), or would a HOB like the Emperor 400 be sufficient? I won't start cycling this tank for at least another month or two due to an impending move, but I'd like to get all of the parts so I can start once I've moved.

hershey99

if that were my tank i would forget the filter altogether and just run the skimmer and have good water turnover just my opinion tho

Rychek

When you say "good water turnover" do you mean frequent water changes, or something else?

Rychek

Upon further reading, it seems that a 3-5" live sand bed along with ~55 lbs of live rock in my 55 gal tank would take care of biological filtration. Add my existing Protien Skimmer and I should be golden.

I have some sand for my tank, but need to get live sand. If I mix the two, will the live sand populate the other sand over time like live rock can with plain rock?

Nereaga

Absolutely will. Its cheaper to buy aquarium sand and then seed it with a cup or two of established live sand from a tank.

Brad

Rychek

Sweet! Thanks for the quick response.

Now I just have to get some money to buy the sand and rock. Blasted budget.

Nereaga

Been there, still doing it!! haah

hershey99

what i mean is water movement. two koralia 2's or a 2 & a 3 would do nice in your setup.

as for sand and live rock check on a local forum you will save a lot of money not buying at the LFS
post some pics as you go along and welcome to the forum

Rychek

Ah, thanks for the clarification. I do need to replace/add to my water movement hardware. I've got a Penguin 1140, but the magnet on the impeller had a lump on it and it won't spin properly. That's what I get for buying used without testing before I buy. I'll probably just buy a different pump though. The whole thing is ~$20 new where as the impeller its self runs ~$16 from the manufacturer. The Kiralias look nice....

I'll defenitely check for local deals on rock. My lfs sells Figi rock for ~$5.99/lb and Tonga for ~$7.99/lb which makes a complete purchase a little hard to do at this point. I guess gathering funds is part of the patience factor of saltwater for me.


Here are a couple of pics of what my tank looked like when I purchased it.





More to come when I actually have something worth taking a picture of and posting.

Rychek

I need a second (third, fourth ... however many) opinion(s) on my tank plans going forward. My current plan is to get sand and rock for cycling. I'm planning on getting all new sand because I don't know what kind of sand came in the tank and I figure all new is safer. I'm planning on getting 30 lbs of live sand and ~170 lbs of regular sand so I'll have at least a 4" dsb. Is 4" enough, or should I go a little deeper? I'm looking for low nitrate maintenance.

When putting the sand in the tank, should I mix the two, or put the live sand on top? Below? Does it really matter?

One last thing, do I have to have rock to start cycling my tank, or can I begin cycling with just the sand?