Advice on new marine aquarium
Jeff Knudson
I am interested in setting up a new saltwater tank with a few fish
and some live rock/reef stuff. I am condidering a Clarity Plus 29 gallon
acrylic aquarium with UGF and maybe a Whisper Wet/Dry or a Skilter power
filter. Does this combo sound ok for the beginner marinist? I was
condidering a 29 gallon because of size constraints on my house.
Thanks for the info!
dhoe...@erols.com
Hi Jeff
I am still kinda new at this, but I know you wont like the Whisper. I
used one at first too, cause I had it left over, and it was awful. My
ammonia would never cycle out and my other stats werent stable either.
I am currently using a Emporer 400, but it is new and I'm not sure what
how it is doing yet
If you are going to do reef and live rock you wont want the UGF
and I've had no experience with Skilters, so I cant comment
Have fun
Traci
dhoe...@erols.com
Geoffrey Norris
Jeff Knudson wrote:
>
> I am interested in setting up a new saltwater tank with a few fish
> and some live rock/reef stuff. I am condidering a Clarity Plus 29 gallon
> acrylic aquarium with UGF and maybe a Whisper Wet/Dry or a Skilter power
> filter. Does this combo sound ok for the beginner marinist? I was
> condidering a 29 gallon because of size constraints on my house.
>
> Thanks for the info!
I keep a mixed fish/live rock aquarium; 40 gallon custom built glass.
My advice to you is to ditch the UGF, as all the deitrus it collects
will adversely affect your live rock. Even if you try to "vaccuum up"
the deitrus in the substrate, this will require far more effort than
it's worth, and besides, will be very hard on your mini-reef.
Also, if you are getting a wet/dry or some other type of bio-filter, the
UGF is a moot point anyway, as they are usually considered far less
effecient. Check out the FAQ on filters; it is really quite good -
you'll soon see that UGF's are not held in high regard among marine, but
_especially_ among reef/live rock aquarists.
Many people recommend a skimmer as the most important piece in your
filter system, and then plenty of good quality, CURED live rock. I use
a Fluidized Bed biofilter + live rock & weekly small water changes with
good results, but then I keep only 2 fish in my 40 gallon (therefore 20
gal per fish!) for what it's worth.
I'd also recommend you check out "Successful Saltwater Aquariums - a
beginner's guide" by John H. Tullock , or any other book that others on
this group may recommend, as well as the FAQ.
Feel free to email me if you want to know more about my mixed fish/rock
tank; it's relatively new (5 months) so I can relate to some of the
questions/problems you may have/experience.
Happy New Year Everybody!!!!!
Geoff in Moose Jaw.
DC
In article <5abuec$1s...@news.doit.wisc.edu>, Jeff Knudson
<jknu...@students.wisc.edu> wrote:
> I am interested in setting up a new saltwater tank with a few fish
> and some live rock/reef stuff. I am condidering a Clarity Plus 29 gallon
> acrylic aquarium with UGF and maybe a Whisper Wet/Dry or a Skilter power
> filter. Does this combo sound ok for the beginner marinist? I was
> condidering a 29 gallon because of size constraints on my house.
>
> Thanks for the info!
Avoid the acrylic aquarium. Soon you will have coralline algae growing
(with a little luck) and it will be a pain to scrape it off the acrylic
without scratching it. Most reef hobbiests have abandoned acrylic.
Avoid the UGF and skilters, and really even a wet/dry for a reef. The
skilters dont work, even with modification, and the wet/drys may lead to
high nitrates, and are really just unnecessary-as are fluidized bed filters
in a well set-up system.
My suggestion is 30-50lbs of live rock and a good skimmer. If you dont
want to put a sump on the system, a CPR BakPak is ideal. It is a
combination skimmer/biofilter that actually works. Most of us have pulled
the biobale stuff out of it, and then there is a nice space to put in
heaters, carbon, polyfilter, or whatever your heart desires. There are a
few other hang on skimmers in the same price range, but they just dont do
the job the BakPak does. I've spent hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars
on junk equipment.
Do it once, and do it right.
_____________________________________________________________________
DC Potts
ath...@avalon.net
Project PicoReef http://www.avalon.net/~athame/pico.html
OrBiTaL
On 31 Dec 1996 20:52:28 GMT, Jeff Knudson <jknu...@students.wisc.edu>
wrote:
>
> I am interested in setting up a new saltwater tank with a few fish
>and some live rock/reef stuff. I am condidering a Clarity Plus 29 gallon
>acrylic aquarium with UGF and maybe a Whisper Wet/Dry or a Skilter power
>filter. Does this combo sound ok for the beginner marinist? I was
>condidering a 29 gallon because of size constraints on my house.
>
> Thanks for the info!
>
Forget the UGF filter, I've used a Skilter 250 for years on my 30
gal and it's worked well. A lot of people have mentioned the CPR
Backpack on this group, I looked at one and it looked good for the
money. I'd check in to them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-SS [FoS VGA]
http://www.warped.com/~kwagner
email me for logos, bbs ads, etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~