New setup

[K]

Hi

Ive been keeping coldwater marines for the last 6 years or so, mainly trying to breed different species. My only venture into tropical marines has been seahorses which I still have.

Ive pretty much stopped with most of the coldwater stuff now and want to set up a tropical system. Id like your opinions on my plans for the new setup, which at the moment is...

A 120 gallon tank, illuminated by a metal halide and 1 actinic tube, filtered by a powerhead powered undergravel filter, extra powerheads for circulation aiming for 10 times the volume being pumped per hour and live rock.


This tank is not drilled and the facilities arent available locally to do so. It would overflow through an overflow siphon into a rubbermaid container (just over 20 gallons) which would contain a skimmer and live rock.

The rubbermaid container will be drilled and the water from it will flow into a 35 gallon tank, which will be lit by 2 fluorescent tubes and filtered by an airpowered Undergravel, powerheads and some live rock. The water from this tank will then be pumped up to the 120 gallon tank.

The plan is to keep a selection of small reef safe fish in the 120 gallon tank and hopefully some tough corals. The smaller 35 gallon tank is for a lionfish if it will provide enough room?

Im looking in particuliar for thoughts on the filtration. I realise that undergravel filters are outdated but would like to continue to use them as that is what I have used in my other tanks. I thought the live rock and skimmer along with frequent water changes would be enough to prevent Nitrates accumulating?

Given what I plan for the system can people please recommend skimmer models, because I am somewhat lost in that regard at the minute.

Im looking to invest in an RO unit. Has anybody any recomendations? Besides the production rate is there much difference in water quality between filters with 3, 4 or 6 stages? are the extra stages that beneficial?
Are the filter membranes brand specific or are they generally interchangeable?

Thanks for reading this and any comments/help are very welcome

 

[ChrisRD]

Personally, I would skip the undergravel setups. I've used them (quite a few years ago) and they work, but today's setups are much better and easier to maintain IME. With good circulation, a powerful skimmer and live rock/sand you'll have all the basic filtration you need IME.

As for skimmer recommendations, I have no idea what's available to you locally, but needlewheel designs are very much in-favor these days. They're energy efficient and generally don't require much tinkering/maintenance to get them to skim well - pretty much just plug-n-play. I've mostly used Euro-Reef, but there are a lot of good skimmers out there these days. Check out this skimmer thread in the GRD: http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=78592

On the RO/DI, a basic 4 stage unit is what I've always used. I've never had a need to go with anything else. The first two stages are prefilters - sediment, then carbon. The third is the RO membrane and the fourth is the DI cartridge. Depending on how bad your source water is and what type of system you're running, sometimes just a 3 stage (no DI unit - just a basic RO setup) is enough. For a reef system, personally, I would stick with a 4 stage (RO/DI).

HTH

 

[toastii]

for a 35 i believe youd need a dwarf lion fish or is that large enought for the larger ones

 

[ChrisRD]

I agree - I would avoid the larger species like the Volitans in a tank that size. The smaller species should be OK.

 

[K]

Thanks for the feedback, yeah i was thinking of a fuzzy dwarf lionfish (D. brachypterus).