Questions from a Newbie

[DJKSDL]

I am in the process of putting together a live rock fish only setup.
Have the tank - 80 Gal - and filter Fluval 404.
Went to the LFS to get some remaining items and was surprised at two things they advised.
1) do not need a protein skimmer
2) advised to go with UV sterilizer

This is contrary to other information that I have found but from what I have been told they are the most knowledgeable in the Phoenix, AZ area.

Any advice? 8O

 

[imow]

Hmmmmm....

1. Disagree

and


2. Disagree

 

[Anonymous]

First of all, welcome to Reefs.org!

Take some time and do some research here on the board, and other online places. LFS's sometimes don't have the most up to date techniques, and they want to sell you something. Search around, look through the archives, and ask, ask, ask.

That being said, We need some specs on your system to better assist you. you need to list what you have for:
Lights
how much live rock, and live sand
sump?
livestock wants?

One of the basic rules for having a reef tank is to take everything slow, and have patience.

HTH
Brett

 

[Anonymous]

I disagree to, if money is not an option.

I ran my FOWLR for over a year with nothing but a hang on the back filter. It worked fine.

I upgraded my skimmer in my reef tank, and moved the old sump and skimmer to the FOWLR. I noticed that the film algea on the glass didn't grow nearly as fast. Before the skimmer, I had to clean the glass weakly. With the skimmer, I only clean it about every other week or so. The tank just seems to always look cleaner since I added the skimmer.

So, is it require? Nope. Is it a nice thing to have if you can afford it? You bet!

BTW-I don't have a UV either!

HTH

Louey

 

[tazdevil]

Fluval 404 will be exporting plenty of nitrates back into your system. If your using live rock, I wouldn't recommend the fluval, the live rock will take care of filtration naturally. Use a sump/skimmer combo, and no wet/dry either. O/W, you will need to do constant water changes to keep the nitrates in check.

 

[DJKSDL]

First of all, welcome to Reefs.org!

Take some time and do some research here on the board, and other online places. LFS's sometimes don't have the most up to date techniques, and they want to sell you something. Search around, look through the archives, and ask, ask, ask.

That being said, We need some specs on your system to better assist you. you need to list what you have for:
Lights
how much live rock, and live sand
sump?
livestock wants?

One of the basic rules for having a reef tank is to take everything slow, and have patience.

HTH
Brett

Thanks.
Right now I have a 40w flourescent that came with the tank.
No Live sand - planning about 75lb of LR.
I do not plan on stocking too many fish. Will live with the "ins/gal rule".

I have been reasearching for about 2 months and have just started to accumulate. Plan on doing the LR (cured) in a couple of weeks and not adding fish for a couple of weeks after that.

 

[Anonymous]

I am in the process of putting together a live rock fish only setup.
Have the tank - 80 Gal - and filter Fluval 404.
Went to the LFS to get some remaining items and was surprised at two things they advised.
1) do not need a protein skimmer
2) advised to go with UV sterilizer

This is contrary to other information that I have found but from what I have been told they are the most knowledgeable in the Phoenix, AZ area.

Any advice? 8O

did they tell you why they recommend this?

tazdevil wrote:

Fluval 404 will be exporting plenty of nitrates back into your system. If your using live rock, I wouldn't recommend the fluval, the live rock will take care of filtration naturally. Use a sump/skimmer combo, and no wet/dry either. O/W, you will need to do constant water changes to keep the nitrates in check

.

absolutely

fwiw-
there are folk who don't use skimmers, and do very well.-but they usually also have knowledge and experience under their belt(no offense :wink: ), and take care of the issues involved by other means.i would recommend a skimmer,if for nothing else, than the extra room for error its use will bring you, by improving the water quality.no, for fo tanks it's not critical,but it will help your rock function at its maximum, thereby helping your fish, too.

u.v. sterilizers are pretty much useless in a home aquarium, and may actually impede a minireef.it's just a device that sterilizes the water(maybe not completely)that goes through it, but the water doesn't stay that way-it does not sterilize your tank :wink:in a fo tank, the best that it can do is slow down transmission rate of disease-not eliminate it-ever.

your fluval is not necessary, other than as a circulatory device, w/lr and a skimmer

the fact that you were surprised at their recommendation is encouraging

imho-the lfs is setting you up w/a nitrate factory via the old school 'hit and run' method used by lfs's with little real knowledge of fishkeeping, and little interest in whether you truly succeed.that type of setup is reminiscent of 'petco' type stores.

ask 'em to explain in detail why-then you should be able to judge if they are really on the ball :wink:

my sympathies for phoenix :wink:

good luck and keep us all posted

 

[ReefLion]

I also disagree with both the LFS's recommendations.

I would also drop the Fluval.

To be honest, I would recommend going through the last 10-20 pages of posts on this board, literally. Then run a few searches (on this board) for "deep sand bed" and "DSB" to learn the benefits of a sand bed, even in a fish-only system.

Most people here run very basic systems. Just live rock, some sort of deep sand bed or another type of sand system called a "plenum", and a protein skimmer. That's basically it. This hobby has grown leaps and bounds over the last 5-10 years, and more and more it looks like the natural way works best. There are lots of other bells and whistles that people here use to maintain corals that you don't need to worry about with just fish (calcium reactor, nillsen reactor, sophisticated lighting, etc.) Just skip those for now or start reading for the future.

Read, read, read. If you prefer a book, I recommend Natural Reef Aquariums by Tullock as a good, up-to-date starter book.

Tim

 

[DJKSDL]

I appreciate all the input.

How "intense" of a skimmer should I be looking at.
They seem to run anywhere from a few bucks to a few hundred. Will the "Berlin Type" suffice with this setup?

 

[IronChef]

pretty sure you will want to upgrade your lighting, 40w seems a little weak for a 80gal......... :wink: