130 Gallon Suggestions

[Megalatherium]

Hey, as you can tell im relativley new to the forum, although i have been sifting through it for about year. Back to the point, i have a 125-130 gallon tank sitting in my basement, i have taken many turns in what i thought of doing with it, but after years of being a freshwater aquariast, i think the next step is a saltwater tank. So i was just hoping for some advice for the new guy, and some links to other explanatory threads (i searched for a while and got a huge head ache ) HELP ME
~Megalatherium

 

[shwnicus]

oh my, thats a general canvas question! *BOUNCINGS


i'll ask you questions to seed the thread:

what kind of saltwater tank do you want? reef, fowlr, fish only, eels, triggers, etc. must know this first as it dictates the equipment you need. figure this out first, changing your mind mid stream just costs more. in answering this, do some looking around and figure out what you want on down to each fish (think long term). for example, dont say you want a reef tank with triggers, the trigger will eat your inverts, so know ahead of time what you want and what wont go together.

understand too that 135 gallons is not all that big in the SW world. you can keep some nice big fish, but probably not as many as you'd think if you are used to FW.

anyway, think that over and post again to sort of streamline. good luck!

 

[Megalatherium]

Well, the setup up is was leaning towards was a FOWLER, as far as fauna go, i was mainly thinking on a smaller scale. Like gobies, firefish, and clowns.

 

[shwnicus]

thats a good start, you can start the setup modestly and adjust as you go. conversely, you can get all the LR at once so you'll only have to cycle the rock once. thats fairly expensive for 130 gal worth of LR, but will probably end up as your best possible filtration system.

my next advise is to start figuring out the loads you want. even if you dont want a true reef, oyu will probably want some clean up crew (snails and hermits) to help out. but if you want a certain type of fish later that eats these, thats expenive feeding (trigger for example) ocellaris clowns (false percula) are great for a "first fish". they are extremely tolerant and fun to watch. a great bet for a first fish addition too for weathering the first fish based nitrogen cycle, though if you do a full load of LR and cycle it all the way before adding fish, this wont matter. you'll need a boat load of powerheads to make sure current is flowing over all of your LR, and heaters to keep the water steady between 78-82 degrees. good luck!

 

[Megalatherium]

Im so glad that some one is responding *SUPERSMIL
And to be perfectly honest, im almost completely lost on the whole saltwater trade, the cycleing process and also curing rock. Also, what filter would you recomend, i hate to feel like a bother, but i want to get a good start on this. *twirlysmi

 

[Megalatherium]

I guess i posted to late at night...?

 

[SALTY WATERS]

Your filtration system would basically only consist of LR (Ideally 1 - 1.5 lbs LR per gallon of water), a few good powerheads (like the Taam Seio 1100 Super Flow Pump), protien skimmer and a good clean-up crew (ie. hermit crabs, snails, sea stars etc.)

As well, is the tank drilled for a sump? That would be a bonus if it is!!

 

[Megalatherium]

cant say ot os drilled for a sump, and thanks to everyone for the advice *BOUNCINGS If anyone has any information, or a link to any threads about curing rock and the cycling process that would be greatly appreciated! *celebrate

 

[SALTY WATERS]

This is a good artical scroll down to Myth 15: Concepts about Nitrification, Stocking Orders, and the New Tank

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/eb/index.php

 

[SALTY WATERS]

Here is one on Curing Live Rock
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=31

 

[Megalatherium]

Thank the sweet lord Jesus some one is responding.

 

[Megalatherium]

Hopefully at the end of the month i'll have something to show for all of this!

 

[1979camaro]

just a heads up, sometimes replies in the SW section will be kind of slow...there are really only about 10 regulars here...but, even if it goes without a reply for 6 hours or so, don't panic, someone will get to it

 

[Megalatherium]

sorry if i seem frantic, but im a little nervous, this is a whole new world to me.*twirlysmi

 

[shwnicus]

Hopefully at the end of the month i'll have something to show for all of this!

just a note, its possible that cycling your live rock may take a bit of time (more than a month) given the amount you may have. buy cured LR, i know it costs more, but is worth it. there's a great sticky in the nano forum section. its for setting up small tanks, but the general concepts are the same, just scale things up for your tank.

a sump would be nice to stow away the protein skimmer and heater, etc. too bad is not drilled, but not the end of the world, overflows work great. I ran my 75g for 7 years that way.

all i all,it could be as long as 3-6 months before your tank is truly ready for a significant bio-load. take your time and be thorough and it will be an easy and exciting process. the clean up crew alone can be some of the most fun to watch!

good luck and enjoy!

 

[Megalatherium]

I had a gut feeling that this would take a decent amount of time, but is there any retail store (like Petco or Petsmart) that would sell live rock that is already cured? Or a sight were i could order rock that is already cured. Any site that sells any aquarium supplys (filters, heaters, power heads ), and if it would really make it much easier, i could most likely drill a hole at the botton for a sump (a how to link would be much appreciated).


P.S - Is it a tough process to order certain fishes of a site, like LiveAquaria *SUNSMILE* ?

 

[shwnicus]

i got my first set of clean up crew from etropicals.com, which now a part of liveaquaria. good experience all and all. a LFS would be better so you can pick your pieces, do the smell test (if it stinks real bad leave it, its not cured yet). i know you can drill a tank, but i wouldn't advise it. maybe its just me, but if its not den right, you've destroyed an expensive tank and probably put 135 gallons of water on your floor too. an overflow works just as well, just doesn't look as nice. petwarehouse.com (links to another but i forget how to spell it) sells good equipment at decent prices, and also is part of the liveaquaria system.

as stated, check out the sticky on the nano forum and scale up, it says how. it'll tell you everything you need.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Most of the online places sell "cured" live rock, but you have to remember that during shipping it will have some more die off and will need to be cured a little bit again. From what I understand, this should be much less time than initial curing, and less smell and all. Based on the pricing around me, for 130lbs of LR, I would get it shipped... online you can get it around $4.50/lb shipped (probably less if you were getting 100+ lbs), the cheapest I've ever seen it is $8.50/lb... that's a big difference for even 10lbs, let alone 100+.

Fish you can also get online, but remember that since the tank has to be stocked slowly, you'll have to get multiple orders, which means paying the shipping each time. Lots of more commonly available fish (most gobies, clownfish, others depending where you live) are going to be a lot cheaper to get locally, and then you can check them out to make sure they're healthy and eating. It shouldn't be tough to order online, but that shipping can get pricey.

BTW... were you planning on a quarantine tank? For a 130g, that's not a bad idea. Especially since you're planning small fish... a 10g or 20g would do fine.

 

[Megalatherium]

About the quarantine tank, im sitting on either a 15 gallon and i believe about a 25 gallon, cause i was thinking about it this morning when i woke up

I also need to check out that sticky thread in the nano section, keep posting advice if you find the time *SUPERSMIL

 

[aresgod]

I dont know if I would spend the extra change on ccured live rock when you are just going to cure it in your tank....it will save you a little money, and so what if it takes longer...salt water is a hobby for patient people.