90 Gal - Would love some help - NEW TO SALT!

[street fish]

Hello,

I just picked up a 90 gallon acrylic tank, which I intend to stock with SW predatory fish.

The tank is un-drilled, therefor I picked up a Eheim 2227 (Wet/DRY) for filtration.

I would like some guidance as to the following:

1) Do I still need a skimmer? If so, can you recommend one?


2) Can I get away with just Live Sand? Or, is Live Rock a must? Want to keep the tank "sand bottom"...


3) The EHEIM Canister has bioballs and ceramic rings, Would you suggest I use a different Media? Could I use Live Rock Rubble (and would eliminate the need for Live Rock all together) as media?

Or is the bioball and ceramic ring approach okay?

4) Do I need additional equipment, vital to the setup?

Thank you for the input!

 

[Bob 1000]

Skimmer is a must for an aggressive tank..Live rock is a must for the long run... Sorry you bought the wet dry already that will just give you more problems down the line.. You might want to drill the tank now rather than down the line... Canister filter with Bioballs No go on a 90.. Some cheap light's from Home depot will do the trick for now.. Live rock will be your filter with a sump and some filter socks.. Set up the right way from the beginning will keep you from paying double or even triple down the line.. Others will chime in, I got to get up early..
Happy Reefing.. and Welcome to MR..

 

[daisy]

Welcome to MR!

Live Rock has two main purposes - filtration and environment (not to mention source of micro and macrofauna that will make your tank more alive, more able to maintain itself!). If you go with live rock, your fish will have a more natural environment and will feel more comfortable, less stressed out - they will have hiding places, and you will have a more visually-interesting tank to look at.

But just as important, on the live rock are bacteria that will be a major source of filtration for your tank.

So my 2c - build a beautiful world for your fish-only tank with live rock - they will appreciate it, and so will you

I agree with Bob - wet/dry is not a good idea. better to go with a sump and filtration in the sump - skimmer to collect all that lovely fish poop and the possibility of adding more equipment down the line as you want to add stuff...

If the Live Rock will be your filtration system, then be sure not to over-stock with fish, and be sure also to keep the water moving within the tank so that the bacteria on the rock has an opportunity to really get to the water!

Just an illustration of the power of live rock - I had a major disaster a few years ago, and as a result, I had three largish-fish in a 20 gal tank with tons of live rock and a powerhead and a hang-on-back skimmer. Everyone was fine for the six months or so that the tank was set up.

Best of luck!

 

[Imbarrie]

If you want the sand only look in your display tank, you could stock your sump with live rock. You would need a much larger sump to accommodate that.

I agree with Daisy though. Most fish feel more at home around quantities of live rock.

Also, if you are feeding with live prey, in the right density the rock would give the food places to hide which would prolong the feeding times. It also introduces different levels of life in the form of pods, which will help cleaning up.

 

[Achilton]

The first thing to do is to ask yourself if you're going to be happy with a FO tank. You know it's nice for a while and everything but then eventually you want to move on. Sooo you buy some live rock and you pit in the tank and you go "hmm, that looks nice. but you know it would look gorgeous with some corals here and there" and before you know it you're investing in a reef tank. At least that's what happened to me. haha.

So it all depends on what your plan is. If you think some day you'/re going to want a reef tank than invest in the equipment now so you don't buy some crappy equipment and later find out it's not sufficient enough for a reef tank and then you end up spending even more money.

 

[ecvernon]

also consider setting up a quarantine tank in the beginning as you stock up on fish....avoid potential disasters by making sure one fish doesn't get your whole tank sick