2m Reef Question

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LostAcc

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Cape Town, Western Cape
Hi,

I currently have a 200cm x 70cm x 60cm tank standing empty.

I've been reading through post on MASA on a daily basis now and I've come to
the conclusion, that going marine with that size tank, might be too expensive for
me. I've kept freshwater fish for years now, so I am pretty clued up when it comes
to the equipment, chemicals, care, etc that is needed there.

Just counting up the basics needed for a decent reef system, what would my
start-up costs look like IF I still wanted to pursue a marine setup (just average figures).

I was planning the following:

200cm x 70cm x 60cm TANK
150cm x 60cm x 60cm SUMP (with DSB)
In-Sump Skimmer

- How much LR would be needed to make a worthwhile impact?
- How'd you go with suitable lighting for such a sized tank?
- How would maintenence be on such a sized tank?
 
Hi @LostAcc. Before anyone can answer you we need to know what type of system you are planning on e.g. Fish only, mixed reef or softies etc. and what type of filtration you were thinking of?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
EFJ said:
Fish only, mixed reef or softies etc.
Click to expand...
yeah EFJ is right. The livestock option determines the system setup and cost. Softies are ok with a bit of phosphats. SPS are not. Softies and T5 is OK, SPS and MH on your tank depth, or some of the high end LED options becoming available to this hobby.

Pity you in Cape Town. Aquarium Expo should be the thing to do.
 
Honestly ... I have no idea EXACTLY what I want in there

I'm not keen on trying out corals yet, as I am still pretty new to the marine world.
So I would say I'd be looking to do Fish + Rocks as my startup system.

On the Filtration side, I was going to use the sump with a DSB and Skimmer and
then maybe just one of my FX5 cannister filters loaded with LiveRock. Plans were
there to invest in a R/O unit and some reactors, but I really don't know if I want to
do that anymore.

EDIT: I think the sump is actually 150cm x 50cm x 50cm

The Skimmer is a Reef Octopus TS4
 
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LostAcc said:
Honestly ... I have no idea EXACTLY what I want in there

I'm not keen on trying out corals yet, as I am still pretty new to the marine world.
So I would say I'd be looking to do Fish + Rocks as my startup system.

On the Filtration side, I was going to use the sump with a DSB and Skimmer and
then maybe just one of my FX5 cannister filters loaded with LiveRock. Plans were
there to invest in a R/O unit and some reactors, but I really don't know if I want to
do that anymore.

EDIT: I think the sump is actually 150cm x 50cm x 50cm

The Skimmer is a Reef Octopus TS4
Click to expand...

Nice tank size ! Leaves a LOT of options if you plan on going fish only.

My first thought would be predator setup but they can wreak havock on filtration (although TS 4 is a good size skimmer !!). Nice thing with preds you could add some corals later

Having said that , I have recently investigated butterfly & angel species for my own setup and as for colour and beauty they are awesome ! Not too coral friendly though :(

I would not put LR in the canister , rather look at using that for a reactor of sorts

With looking at what you have the biggest cost IMHO would be your live rock, lighting wouldnt be too hectic as you will not be going coral and as such they dont need to be so hectic
 
FransSny said:
Nice tank size ! Leaves a LOT of options if you plan on going fish only.

My first thought would be predator setup but they can wreak havock on filtration (although TS 4 is a good size skimmer !!). Nice thing with preds you could add some corals later

Having said that , I have recently investigated butterfly & angel species for my own setup and as for colour and beauty they are awesome ! Not too coral friendly though :(

I would not put LR in the canister , rather look at using that for a reactor of sorts

With looking at what you have the biggest cost IMHO would be your live rock, lighting wouldnt be too hectic as you will not be going coral and as such they dont need to be so hectic
Click to expand...

mmm, never thought of using the cannister as a reactor, thanks for the heads-up. I'm going to see if I can read up a bit more on it :)

If I go fish and rocks only, would they be okay with just natural light ?
 
LostAcc said:
mmm, never thought of using the cannister as a reactor, thanks for the heads-up. I'm going to see if I can read up a bit more on it :)

If I go fish and rocks only, would they be okay with just natural light ?
Click to expand...

No probs ! The only issue I would see fith the FX5 is it is quite powerful....with reactors you wouldnt want hectic fast flow through the media as max contact time (without settlement creates best results .....hope this makes sense :p)

As for sunlight , honestly I have never tried it but my gus would be yes...BUT the fight against algea (especially on the glass) might be an ongoing and hard one !

As a FOWLR system , basic T5 unit will suffice IMHO as it will be more for "viewing pleasure" (although reef fish need the light spectrum as well to keep healthy ...just like us). Maybe look at combining lighting with a natural light source ?
 
FransSny said:
No probs ! The only issue I would see fith the FX5 is it is quite powerful....with reactors you wouldnt want hectic fast flow through the media as max contact time (without settlement creates best results .....hope this makes sense :p)

As for sunlight , honestly I have never tried it but my gus would be yes...BUT the fight against algea (especially on the glass) might be an ongoing and hard one !

As a FOWLR system , basic T5 unit will suffice IMHO as it will be more for "viewing pleasure" (although reef fish need the light spectrum as well to keep healthy ...just like us). Maybe look at combining lighting with a natural light source ?
Click to expand...

I could add pre-filter pads or foam in the top basket of the FX5 to help reduce
flow, although I'm not sure what it would do to the nutrients that are needed in
a S/W setup. It's just good to know the option it there, making it work could be
the fun part :)

Oh, just to add, when I said sunlight, it's not direct sunlight, not by a long shot.
The room is just very well light up as it's part of an open-plan area, with large windows.
None of the windows are closer than 3m to the tank itself

I've got a Quad T5 light unit still, some Oddessy something, I could use that
combined with natural light and see how well it works.

Just a question to add to this, how could I make up my S/W using normal tap water?
 
LostAcc said:
I could add pre-filter pads or foam in the top basket of the FX5 to help reduce
flow, although I'm not sure what it would do to the nutrients that are needed in
a S/W setup. It's just good to know the option it there, making it work could be
the fun part :)

Oh, just to add, when I said sunlight, it's not direct sunlight, not by a long shot.
The room is just very well light up as it's part of an open-plan area, with large windows.
None of the windows are closer than 3m to the tank itself

I've got a Quad T5 light unit still, some Oddessy something, I could use that
combined with natural light and see how well it works.

Just a question to add to this, how could I make up my S/W using normal tap water?
Click to expand...

Adding floss / filter pads is an idea but you would have to keep them clean. In a SW setup excess nutrients caused by detritus build up and subsequent decomposition is your enemy , leading to all type of issues like hairy algea outbreaks , cayno bacteria outbreaks , poor fish health etc. Might be better to "throttle" the flow...just not good on pump life span :p

Give t e lighting setup a go and see how it works !

Making your water with tap ....BAD idea (although I have HEARD of people doing this) as it is obviously high in heavy metals , chlorine and chloramine (chloramine obviously cant dissapate like noral chlorine) , phosphates etc...the bunch will throw our parameters wacky the whole time and create headaches of note.

A large volume of water can be done by using natural seawater ...when budget allows switch over to synthetic for very stable parameters. But personally I would use NSW for a FOWLR system
 
Done some more reading, some more thinking ... and decided that a marine setup ISN'T the way for me to go right now. I wanted to try it out, without any real convinction to cause and I don't think that's a good approach to have when doing things. I've always been a fan of keeping monster-sized freshwater fish, so I think I'll be doing that again.

As soon as my post-count is up a bit, I'll be posting 2 items that I'll no longer be needing (Skimmer & Uplift Pump)
 
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