Aquarium Fish Forum

Hey everyone!


If everyone has time can you let me know exactly what i would need to successfully run a 118 gal saltwater tank. I have several questions and when I say "several" I mean SEVERAL!! ha Right now I have a 20 gal nano cube that has all of the filtration built into it, and now I am ready to go bigger. I would like to go corals and fish, so I would like to set it up more as a reef tank. I have been doing some research all over the web and reading some books. on saltwaterfish.com and its superstore, you can buy the hardware also, which looks like they are fairly priced. i would rather go and buy all of the top selling stuff or almost at the top than settle for something thats just ok and have it not work like i want it to. I know the basics and how they work but I just need further assistance into some of the finer points. I am wondering if it would be good to get a chiller for the tank, a calcium reactor, a uv sterilizer, reverse osmosis machine, auto topoff? Or is it not necessary? I like to keep my house fairly cool at all times which often drops my tanks temp so i had to add a heater to the nano, so I am kind of figuring in for the same on the new tank. Another question is I have been having some recent issues with high nitrate levels, should I continue to do several water changes like the local fish store has told me or should i get a nitrate reducer in the nano? If I do get a chiller, uv sterilizer, and ca reactor, reverse osmosis machine, auto topoff...which sizes should I get to suffice for a 118 gal tank? What size sump should I get, and what do you recommend as far as how the sump is set up? I was also looking at getting a wavemaker...is that something I would need? I will have a lil extra money coming here real shortly so I figured I would try to find and buy everything I wanted before my girlfriend realizes that her shopping money has aready been spent!! Another question I have is about the cleaner crews....Will it hurt a tank by having several different cleaners in it? Such as my nano, I only have 4 blue legged crabs, 1 nassarius snail, 1 turbo snail, and a red starfish, I would like to add quite a few more? Your thought? ANd on the 118 gal tank I saw that saltwaterfish.com offers combo packs for cleaner crews, I am wondering if it is smarter/cheaper to go with the combos? Is the Fiji LR really as good as the reviews give it, or does it not really matter what kind of LR I am getting? Whats the difference between a 14k light and a 10k light and which one is better? I want my lighting to be the highlight of my tank besides the fish and corals, because i truly think a good or bad light can be a make and break on a nice saltwater tank setup, as far as ive seen. how many total watts and what are some good brands i could go with for the lighting? what kind of pumps will i need to run the tank, i have read some people have 2 and others only have 1? What kind of a protein skimmer should I get? I found a sump with a built in skimmer? Is that a good idea or bad? Anything else anyone can tell me that would help me out in what seems like its going to be a long journey it would be really appreciated!! If you read this please respond back with any ideas or suggestions, or if you would like to answer everything that would even be better!! I have already learned that the more suggestions the more I can mold it into my own ideas with the help of you! Also if you respond back throw some pics in of your own tank, Im always interested in other pics of tanks!! Thanks again...Cody

Hello Cody,

First off, Welcome to the forum! Glad to see a new name around!

IMO, First thing on the list would be a RO/DI unit, to make fresh CLEAN water with. A must have for maintaining a healthy reef tank, IMO. A chiller is up to you, where do you live? If you live somewhere where it gets extremely hot and you dont have central air or a wall ac unit, you might want to look into in for sure. What type of lighting you will run will also help decide on if you really need a chiller. Using Metal Halide lighting will increase the tank temperature over the duration of the lights, as will T5's, but not as fast.

The tank will be fine with an assortment of different cleaners, this is a good thing!

Will this tank be drilled or will you be using an external overflow?

As for the sump, the bigger the better. I would find the biggest one that can fit under your stand. It is also cheap to just buy a tank and put baffles in yourself with Silicone.

Lets start here and then go from there...

Brad

I really ppreciate it Brad. We live in the South. Right now Georgia but eventually Florida. I just like to keep it very cold in my house at all times so I just want to make sure the tank will stay at a certain temp.. If I understood right, a chiller will just maintain a certain set temp correct whether it be heating it or cooling it. Now I have been told to use just halides...is that the best option to go with? So do I need a sump and a refugium? Or is that the same thing? So the biggest is the best though huh? So you think that the RO machine is a must for the tank too huh to keep the water fresh and all? I have also been told a top-off systm is a must too?! So with the Ro machine, do you need to continually add salt or is it continuously being added? I talked to another individual that said he has his tank running to a sump with a sock filter and than onto a sump...? This will be a drilled tank, chances are probably a dual-drilled? Is that the smartest way to go? I have been told that the more water flow the better, and with dual-drilled that helps right? I am still new to the game I just have a 20 gal cube right now and all of the filter and sump are built into the back of the system, so I have never had to deal with anything like all of this, but just like every other enthusiast, I am biting at the bit to get a bigger tank!!!!

codyren wrote: If I understood right, a chiller will just maintain a certain set temp correct whether it be heating it or cooling it.

A chiller will keep the temperature dead on. I think most of them have control of heaters also, so it will turn on the heater when the tank gets to cold, and turn on the chiller when the tank gets to hot.

codyren wrote: Now I have been told to use just halides...is that the best option to go with?

Right now I have all T5s, but my new tank is going to be a combination of halides and T5s. The T5s are great, they run cool, the color you can get from them is awesome with a variety of bulbs, but they are dull. Halides are bright and give you the all amazing shimmer; but they run hot, and you may need a chiller. halides also need to be changed about every 10 months, and T5s can run for about 12.

codyren wrote:So do I need a sump and a refugium? Or is that the same thing? So the biggest is the best though huh?

If you have the room for a sump and refugium I would definitly get one. again, my current tank does not have one, and my new tank will have one and im very excited about it. the sump and fuge can be the same tank, but seperated from baffles. a sump is great because it can hold all equipment, and fuge is great to grow macro algae, and give you a place to put more rock, and maybe even a bully fish. I would go as big as you can fit personally. Here is a great site to teach you about sumps... http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html

codyren wrote:So you think that the RO machine is a must for the tank too huh to keep the water fresh and all? I have also been told a top-off systm is a must too?! So with the Ro machine, do you need to continually add salt or is it continuously being added?

I think an RO/DI is a must. Pure water will help your fish and corals be healthy and will limit the algae you get. When topping off your tank with water from evaporation, you must only add fresh water, the salt does not evaporate. It is very helpful to get an auto top off (ATO) because it will add that water for you which will keep your salinity in check. AutoTopOff.com offeres awesome top off systems.

codyren wrote: I talked to another individual that said he has his tank running to a sump with a sock filter and than onto a sump...? This will be a drilled tank, chances are probably a dual-drilled? Is that the smartest way to go? I have been told that the more water flow the better, and with dual-drilled that helps right?

The filter socks are great, but can be a nitrate trap. they need to be cleaned every 5 days or so. So having 5 socks will be helpful, that way you can have one in tank, and each time you take one out put a new one in. clean it and let it air dry. How many holes is debatable, I would not go 1, if the one gets clogged it will overflow your tank and flood your floor, having 2 can help beat that. My new tank has this setup. http://www.beananimal.com/projects/sile ... ystem.aspx
As for the flow, my new tank is 50 gallons, and i plan on running ~500GPH through the sump. More flow is better, but you can achieve this from powerheads or a closed loop system. But as for running alot of water through your sump, its not needed. and you want even less through your fuge if possible.

HOPE THIS HELPS!

some of what I'm mentioning has already been said... some new

codyren wrote:If I understood right, a chiller will just maintain a certain set temp correct whether it be heating it or cooling it.

Make sure the chiller your looking for does both. Many ONLY chill (you will need separate heaters)... we run over 1000w of metal halides without a chiller and don't have overheating issues, but we need to keep a fan blowing towards the surface of the water to help cool via evaporation (and causes our auto topoff to use more water each day to compensate)... if you only run halides, you are basically stuck with one color bulb across the whole tank (one bulb per 2 ft)...whereas with T5s, since you have multiple T5s covering each area, you can "mix" your color to suit you best with combinations of various degrees of blue and white bulbs. I personally prefer metal halides because of the shimmer and intense lighting, but the heat is definitely something to be mindful of - they run so hot that even the glass shields under them will shatter if splashed after the bulbs warm up (the internals of the bulbs run on average 2000F...)

Another plus with refugiums is that it makes a great place to house a remote deep sand bed (if your so interested)... I've lost interest in keeping deep sand beds for denitrification in the main tank because, although they work, if they are significantly disturbed they can release toxic byproducts into the water. Keeping it remote gives you the chance to turn off flow from main display if you need to disturb, and it likely wont need to be disturbed as often as one in the display would.

RO isn't necessarily a "must", but it will save you alot of money in the long run. You CAN buy your purified water from your local fish store, but if your running a larger tank that gets expensive quickly ($1 per gallon is the going rate here for pure water, and $2 per gallon for saltwater) personally, I can't afford the thousands it would cost me each year to buy freshwater to replace evaporation and saltwater to do water changes, so I just run an RO DI to make my own pure water, and mix my own saltwater.

auto topoff isn't a must but as shock mentioned, when water evaporates the salt stays... so your salinity will swing upwards throughout the day, and then come crashing back down whenever you add all your top-off. This can be very stressful to fish and corals.

The # of holes you have in your tank isn't as important as the size of them. If you are having it professionally drilled, as a rule of thumb make sure your drains can accomodate 2x the flow of your returns (if you have a 1" diameter return, make sure you have two 1", or one 1.5" diameter drain)... if you EVER get in a situation where your return pump pushes more water up then your system can drain downward, your display will overflow and your sump will run dry, burning out your equipment while making a big mess (and if your running an auto-top-off setup, that'll keep adding water to the sump as water's overflowing the display all over your floor!) The last time I was at a local fish store, a snail got stuck in a drain pipe and made a HUGE mess of things.

Also, using your return pump from your sump is not the best way to maintain high flow in an aquarium. Return pumps are typically impeller driven, and use a substantial amount of electricity for the flow created (for example - a return pumps such as a magdrive12 use 110 watts to produce 1200gph flow at zero head, which is more like 700gph flow when running from a sump to a display, whereas powerheads like a koralia 4 use 12 watts to produce 1200gph flow, and can be positioned nearly anywhere in the tank)... it's much more cost effective to only run a return pump with enough flow to turn your tank over 4-6 times an hour, and use powerheads to maintain and direct the high flow necessary for corals.