Is this all I need for my reef aquarium w/fish + inverts?
Skimmer, Sump(micro balls), Halide lighting, calcium solutions, frozen brine shrimp food, ph/amonia/nitrate/etc testing kits, salt, tap water sterilizing solution (will buy store made water now that I have anemones/corals), live sand/live rock, 2 power heads for current, 2 heaters…
My tank is 75 gallons (48" long, 19" deep)… right now has:
2 damsels, 2 clown fish, hammer coral, some other type of coral, 2 blood shrimp, brittle sea star, and a flame Angel.
BTW: my tank is 1.5 months old… everything looks like its doing great!
THANKS!
Hmmm…let’s see.
First, get an RO/DI unit. Buying store-bought distilled or RO water will get old, and expensive, fast. The RO/DI unit is a higher initial cost, but pays for itself quickly.
Make sure you’ve got a second container with a pump and heater to pre-mix your saltwater for water changes.
I’ve heard that whole thing about the bioballs being a nitrate factory, but to be honest, I just can’t fathom how. The amount of nitrate out needs to relate to the ammonia in. So, it shouldn’t matter how much bio-media is present, you will only produce as much nitrate as your system produces ammonia. I don’t get it.
EDIT: Oh yea! And get something besides frozen brine shrimp to feed. Nutritionally, they’re fish potato chips. Get a variety…mysis shrimp, plankton, formulated foods (formula one, formula two, marine cuisine, etc.), pellet foods, red/purple/green/brown algae sheets, live macroalgae, etc. Variety!
yes and maybe too much!
January 29th, 2010 at 11:38 amReferences :
That actually sounds quite good, but if you’ve ever spent much time around reefers (coral reef aquarium addicts), you know that there’s no such thing as "all you need" for a reef aquarium. You always "need" more gadgets, water supplements, or livestock.
Some people would say you shouldn’t use a bioball-based sump filter with live rock and a skimmer, because the bioballs produce a lot of nitrate as an end product of processing ammonia/ammonium, and you then have to deal with the nitrate. This is a fairly esoteric debate, though, so I’ll leave you to read up on the pros and cons.
I have doubts that "store made water" is truly any better than water you make up yourself with reef salt mix (it’s not any worse, though), but that’s another somewhat esoteric subject that you don’t need to worry about unless you have reason to believe there’s a problem with your source water.
January 29th, 2010 at 11:56 amReferences :
Hmmm…let’s see.
First, get an RO/DI unit. Buying store-bought distilled or RO water will get old, and expensive, fast. The RO/DI unit is a higher initial cost, but pays for itself quickly.
Make sure you’ve got a second container with a pump and heater to pre-mix your saltwater for water changes.
I’ve heard that whole thing about the bioballs being a nitrate factory, but to be honest, I just can’t fathom how. The amount of nitrate out needs to relate to the ammonia in. So, it shouldn’t matter how much bio-media is present, you will only produce as much nitrate as your system produces ammonia. I don’t get it.
EDIT: Oh yea! And get something besides frozen brine shrimp to feed. Nutritionally, they’re fish potato chips. Get a variety…mysis shrimp, plankton, formulated foods (formula one, formula two, marine cuisine, etc.), pellet foods, red/purple/green/brown algae sheets, live macroalgae, etc. Variety!
January 29th, 2010 at 12:29 pmReferences :