New to the hobby

[kaywren1204]

Hi I'm just starting out always had freshwater tanks and have decided there is just so much life in the saltwater system that I wanted to switch things around a bit. I just purchased a 75 gal tank have the Magnum filtering system set up put the coral sand on the bottom and finally got my salinity and all levels perfect. I just purchased lighting on Ebay that was a task in itself because i tried to research the best I could and really would have liked to have a Current system but was a little out of reach for right now. It's going to be another 6-8 weeks before I can even think of putting corals or anything like that in my tank so I purchased a Coral Sea Life compact 48" 384 Watt package. Can anyone give me any kind of information on this and how they work? I again tried looking them up but found out they are no longer doing buisness and actually Current USA has taken them over and came up with newer products. I'm hoping I did the right thing if not I will be relisting and purchasing something else. I know I am going to learn my trial and error but help along the way will prevent alot of stupid mistakes that I could make.
:o

[Matthewdmueller]

There is a lot of trial and error when you first start out for sure. I've spent countless hours and dollars doing things and then redoing them all over again. Your best bet is to do as much research as you can before purchasing. As far as that light rig, is that a power compact lighting set, or VHO? I think that I have heard of them before, is that one of those complete lighting systems? I can't tell you what to expect from them since I don't really know anything about them, I always built my own hood and light systems. Anyway, welcome to the hobbie and reeftalk, I'm sure that if you ever have any questions someone here can answer them for you!

[kaywren1204]

I have been trying to research my brain is so full but there was a good deal on Ebay and I tried searching only to find out that the company was no longer around and that Current was no taking over for CSL. And I knew Current was to be one of the better ones. The advertisement on Ebay states this is a power compact 4 96 watt bulbs included but will need to be replaced which I understand is something that you should do yearly anyways. I also have along with the Magnum filter system the UGF this is how the person that had the tank before me ran it for 14 years with both filtering systems. With the UGF it is making a nice current in the tank what is your idea on that? I have read pro's and con's but don't want to put things in tank and have problems so I want to ask someone's advice. If I have to I will just cap it off rather then pulling the filter out and disturbing my rocks and cracked coral that I only have in the tank set up.

[brody98]

My first set of lights were a custom sea life 4 X 65 pc and they were fine for just about everything as long as they were just off the top of the tank. A 4 X 96 will be that much better and you can adjust the heights of your corals to the lighting. Compacts need to be changed more like every 9 MO. Personally I would steer clear of the under gravel filter, most just have a 2-3 inch sand bed of sugar to 1-2mm size sand and enough live rock 1-1.5 lbs per gal..(the more the better) to do all you filtering and have a decent size cleaner crew in there to keep it clean.

[Matthewdmueller]

Yeah I have to go with Brody on the UGF. The last thing you want is a big dead space under all of your sand and rock. If you can I would recommend removing it. It would be a lot of work but that is a large area for nitrite production. If you intend on running the UGF I have heard that the best way is to make it small sections so that you can take them out and clean them every few months. If you have three sections in there then you only have to take one out every few months and then rotate to the next one a few months later. That is just what I heard, but it sounds like an awful lot of work to me. I have also heard about canister filters doing the same thing but they are a lot easier to service. I would go with a sump w/ protein skimmer. This seems to be the best setup that people are going with now. It works well because it can be worked on easier and there is a lot of room for upgrades and changeouts. You can build a sump for about $50 or less, all you need is an old tank or rubbermaid container. The skimmer is going to be the most expensive part. There are a lot of different kinds and usually range between $150 up to crazy money. Brody has a 75gal and I don't know what kind of skimmer he has but I am thinking about getting a 75gal and I was going to use the ASM G1. It runs about $200-$250. Brody should be a good goto guy for you since he has the same size tank. Maybe he can give you some good advice as far as sump/refugium/skimmer selection.

[brody98]

I have an Aqua- C Ev 180 skimmer it's a little over sized but works great. My sump is just a 29g tank I had drilled out for a bulk head fitting. I would definitely go that route or use a plastic container like Matt said, don’t waste money on a pre made one like I did in the beginning. I spent about 500 for it with a junk skimmer and now it's at the dump.