Help and Advice needed for my new 100 gallon tank.

[ahmed24]

Hi everyone,

I need some advice and this might be a long post with lots of questions. Since I am not an expert in saltwater reef keeping aquariums and my knowledge is very limited in this subject, I would really appreciate if you guys can answer as many questions in less technical terms for me as possible and point me to the right direction if possible.

Firstly, my current situation is as follows:

I've just purchased a 100 gallon tank and equipment from a friend who has had it running for about 2years. He sold up as he has upgraded to a bigger system. I want to setup this system as a complete reef aquarium with Corals and Fish. I've got the following things with the tank and all connected up:

• EHEIM professionel External filter which has already been cycled.
• 15 watt UV
• Airpump
• 300WATT Heater
• Protein Skimmer
• Wavemaker – With 4 Powerheads
• T5 Lighting – With 3 Flurocent Tubes, with feature to turn on all lights, two lights, or just one middle light.
• That’s all that I can remember

The filter, UV, 300WATT heater, protein skimmer and T5 lighting has all been put in and connected up.

Now my questions are as follows:

1) Is there any particular place in the tank where I Should put the Airpump? (I will be adding live coral sand and live rock, so should I add the airpump after I’ve added the rock and sand? e.g. position pump somewhere in a rock?

2) I have 4 powerheads coming out of the wave maker, how exactly should I position these? And is it ok to put the powerheads right inside the water? Isn’t it a electrical hazard?

3) The lighting I have has got 3 T5 florescent tubes with the feature to have them all on at the same time or have just two outer ones on with the middle being off, or have just the middle one on. I’ve been told that its good to have moonlight and recommended that the middle tube should be changed to moonlight tube. So I am wondering what the process is, and how exactly should I go about everything with my lighting? Specially how long do I leave all three lights on for? And then when do I just have the moonlight on by itself? And do I have to turn the lights of completely at a certain time?

4) It was recommended to me to keep my 300WATT heater set to 28°C due to fluctuations and Corals requiring higher temperature. However, I was also told to consider cooling by adding a fan on the lid. The system used to have a normal fan at the top. But what I am confused about is, I understand that in hot weathers the water will get extra hot and having a fan on all times will help keep water temperature low. However, what about in winter? Or what about if I’m away for a day or so and weather is very cold and I have a fan running? Is that ok? I suppose it should be ok as the heater will activate if the temperature ends up falling below the set threshold anyway.

5) How do I protect a fan from water splashes and things if I leave a fan on top?

6) Finally, I noticed that some people use PVC pipes inside the tank. I only recently discovered that its usually to layout the rocks and make bridges and things, as nothing else is good to put in the tank, is this correct and if so is it just ordinary PVC waste pipes that I can put inside my tank to layout my rocks?

Sorry about all the questions. I would really appreciate any advice.

Many thanks in advanced.

[Mike01z]

well most people try to keep there tanks between 78 degrees and 80 degrees F. If you need a heater to do that then you will need it, some people will need a chiller to keep it that cool believe or not.


Usually people use clip on fans but there is a danger that they can fall in,
You can also mount the fan under your stand in a sump or depending on your canopy you can probably screw it into the canopy, or you might not even need a fan. As far as splashes just make sure the fan is high enoug above the water like 4-6 inches or so.

With the lighing I'd leave all 3 big lights in there. You don't need moonlights

PVC stands are usually used to lift rock off the substrate to prevent the xfer of phosphates etc to move from sand to rock and also to let you be able to get to the crud that would settle beneath them so you can syphon it out.

[ckusnierek]

Now my questions are as follows:

1) Is there any particular place in the tank where I Should put the Airpump? (I will be adding live coral sand and live rock, so should I add the airpump after I’ve added the rock and sand? e.g. position pump somewhere in a rock?

Do you mean like an air stone? you dont want to put that in your tank. Your skimmer will oxygenate your water by itself. perhaps your skimmer requires an airstone?

2) I have 4 powerheads coming out of the wave maker, how exactly should I position these? And is it ok to put the powerheads right inside the water? Isn’t it a electrical hazard?

Put them in there so they create variations in current. 2 on one side and 2 on the other. Powerheads are submersiable and waterproof. MAKE SURE THEY ARE POWERHEADS AND NOT EXTERNAL PUMPS!!!

3) The lighting I have has got 3 T5 florescent tubes with the feature to have them all on at the same time or have just two outer ones on with the middle being off, or have just the middle one on. I’ve been told that its good to have moonlight and recommended that the middle tube should be changed to moonlight tube. So I am wondering what the process is, and how exactly should I go about everything with my lighting? Specially how long do I leave all three lights on for? And then when do I just have the moonlight on by itself? And do I have to turn the lights of completely at a certain time?

I turn my Atinics on about 2 hours before the daylight and leave them on about 2 hours after. leave all on for about 8 hours a day.

I don't know much about T-5's but 3 sounds like know were near enough. You should have 4-6 watts per gallon (I think)

4) It was recommended to me to keep my 300WATT heater set to 28°C due to fluctuations and Corals requiring higher temperature. However, I was also told to consider cooling by adding a fan on the lid. The system used to have a normal fan at the top. But what I am confused about is, I understand that in hot weathers the water will get extra hot and having a fan on all times will help keep water temperature low. However, what about in winter? Or what about if I’m away for a day or so and weather is very cold and I have a fan running? Is that ok? I suppose it should be ok as the heater will activate if the temperature ends up falling below the set threshold anyway.

Keep your tank around 78ºf T-5's should not heat up too bad. If you have a canopy and it's vented you should not need a fan.

5) How do I protect a fan from water splashes and things if I leave a fan on top?

If you do need a fan use a clip on one that keep it away from the water but blowing across the top of the tank.

6) Finally, I noticed that some people use PVC pipes inside the tank. I only recently discovered that its usually to layout the rocks and make bridges and things, as nothing else is good to put in the tank, is this correct and if so is it just ordinary PVC waste pipes that I can put inside my tank to layout my rocks?

I use rock to make bridges. But you could use just about anything for support. Perhaps the PVC was in a CLS(closed loop system) and it was plumbed around the bottom of the tank.

I am in no wat an expert these are just my opinions. There are many more experienced reefer on here. Some other things to consider:

RO/DI water

Amount of LR

Make sure you have a good skimmer

More Lighting?????

GFCI outlets!!!!!

Good trest kits

Be patient. Add SW, Rock, Skim and wait for your cycle to complete before you add anything!!!!

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Sounds like you got a nice setup!

[ckusnierek]

Oh BTW you will probally want to ditch the canister filter! You will have a Nitrate nightmare on your hands. If you have the canister filter then you probally have a HOB (hang on back) skimmer. You may also want to ditch that and go with a sump and GOOD skimmer. For a sump you can go with anything from a wet/dry system to a rubbermaid container.

There are many things to take into consideration when starting a "new" tank. You should do ALOT of research and reading before you add a drop of water. You don't want to lose alot of money on fish and corals if your set up cant sustain them.

also as far as the canister being cycled. Your tank will still need to cycle. your cannister is basically full of nitrifying bacteria. That will "jump start" your cycle but that is not enough. It will take time for your tank to cycle.

HTH.

[dobejazz]

Welcome to TRT

[depitch]

Ditto on welcome.

I agree that cannister filters are only good for freshwater, too much nitrate build-up! Do u have room for sump or wet-dry filter like AGA or PROCLEAR that u can remove bioballs and covert to sump.

What type of skimmer???
Is it rated lager enough for 100Gal tank???
A good skimmer is your best investment, it is the mechanical filtration for any saltwater tank.

Live rock is next for biological filtration.
You may need 100-150 Lbs so consider starting with as much as u can afford ans "cycle" the tank with saltwater at SpG 1.0022-1.0025 for a month at 78-80 degrees F. Purchase Marine of Reef water Test Kit and test water for Nitrates, Ca++, Ph, Phosphates and Alkalinity.

After cycle is done you should begin to get algae bloom. At this point you can consider purchasing "clean-up crew", these consist of snails, hermit crabs and peppermint shrimp or sand sifting starfish. Dont purchase any fish or corals before making sure that tank has cycled and water parameters are OK.

As far as lighting goes I agree that a day night cycle is good but probably not necessary. I use heavy duty timers on my lights with actinics(blue) in AM 1-2 hours,followed by Your higher output bulbs for 4-6 hours with Actinics for 1-2 hours before moonlights over night. The moonlights are not necessary but I personally like the effect.

I hope this helps to get you started.

Good Luck

Doug

[ahmed24]

thanks for your replies.

do i have to get rid of the canister filter? could i not possibly add another filteration method to it or something? as ditching it would mean i loose out money spent on it? this canister filter used to work well for the person i bought it from, he used it for 2 years almost. The setup is as follows:

Canister filter takes water from the tank via inlet hose, it then processes it and the output hose then goes into the UV steralizer and then it goes back into the tank from the UV.

i want to try and make use of the equipment i have already, without ditching anything major. i dont mind purchasing any additional things possibly to add to the filter process.

can you suggest anything?

many thanx

[luvmylo]

u can use the canister to run carbon and flow but I wouldn't put filter sponge in it nor any bio media. These things fuel nitrates in your tank which is one of the things we all try to avoid. The only filtration I have on my tank are my skimmer and LR with powerheads. That's all you really need. I know how it is. I had a power filter on my system, took it off and soon after a couple of water changes my nitrates were around 0. Beforehand I had a hard time getting them below 80 or so, had mega algae issues, and several new fish deaths because of this.

[luvmylo]

BTW a sump setup doesn't have to cost much money. The most expensive thing will be a good skimmer. You can get a good insump skimmer for 200-300 dollars that will do the trick on your tank. To do a sump setup, for example, all you would need is: hang on overflow (mine was 30 dollars), 400-500 gph pump(around 50 dollars), a tank or rubbermaid container (I use the rubbermaid and it works fine) and some various plumbing supplies.

[ahmed24]

I suppose i dont mind looking into having a sump, and i have plenty of household plumbing experience for any plumbing work. However, I have absolutely no idea how a sump works and how exactly to start and what exactly to do. I am completely clueless about sumps. If you can guide me through it or possibly point me to the right direction maybe i wouldnt mind make a sump then.

[luvmylo]

ok maybe this helps. overflow=takes water from main tank and drains into sump(mine works by syphon), your sump houses water for your skimmer to skim(the depth of the water depends on the skimmer, mine is about 7 inches deep), you have a return pump in your sump that sends the water back to the main tank. This can be plumbed over the back of the tank. Does that help a little??

[luvmylo]

here's my sump

[ahmed24]

is there any guides out there to making and fitting a sump? usually i hear that people drill holes in their tanks, i dont think i will be able to drill in my tank as it's tempered glass. and how exactly does the sump filter the water? by looking at pictures it just looks like a container holding water that comes from the tank and the water is being skimmed with the protein skimmer. what else happens in the tank? it doesnt seem like much filteration goes on in there.

[luvmylo]

the filtration is done by live rock and the skimmer. that's all you need in a saltwater system. Some people drill their tanks yes. I didn't drill a single hole in mine. that's why I have the hang on back overflow and plumbed the return over the back.

[ahmed24]

ok, so how do i go about building a sump?

is there no step by step guides out there?

does the sump tank have to be partitioned into sections or is it just one big box?

i understand that one hose brings out water from the bottom of the main tank and another hose brings water from the bottom of the sump or something? how exactly is this done?

thanks