Want to setup a 2F reef tank, need HELPS!!!! TQ

[oceanloverm]

I about to start to setup a reef tank soon, but i'm still not unable to buy all the equipments that we need in a reef tank. Please advice.

Please advice if there's any thing which is not enough for a reef tank:

(1) 2Ft x 1.5ft x1.5ft tank, have a very smal overflow inside the tank, no sump

(2) Weipro 2012 Skimmer with a 2000L/H resun pump

(3) Diy DC fan to cool down the temperature

(4) 2ft 2tube ATI T5HO lighting set, 14000k and 20000k (haven't bought yet)

(5) Seio 620 or Seio 820??? which one shall i use? (haven't buy yet)

(6) Testkit (haven't buy, going for salifert brand)

(7) Hydrometer

(8) Rea Sea Marine Salt

Question:

(1) enough lighting for a reef tank?

(2) how much LR will i need?

(3) izit necessary for me to use a sump tank?

(4) izit a must for chiller?

(5) how much flow shall i need for a reef tank? Seio 620 better or 820 better?

Please suggest anything which is useful and miss out on the list, thanks guys!!

[RX_GAN]

it depends on wat kinda reef tank u gonna keep. if it's a SPS tank, then lighting not enough.

if LPS, u dun need too strong circulation or turnover. Chiller is highly recommended for reef tank.

for 2ft to be without sump is possible and tat depends on how u do it...without sump u must make sure that it's easy for u to do maintainence.

for LR, dun get too much for them becos due to space constraints and when u buy corals, u can stack them up. or else at later stage, u wun have enough space for ur corals.

good luck. u need to get chemical filter also.

[oceanloverm]

Thanks for the info but still got some questions wondering around my head. If i get a chemical filter, do i need to clean it monthly or weekly? If i want to take seio 820 into my tank, will it be necessary? SPS must have high demand of lighting, water temp & stability and high flow?

[kevink]

is there going to be any fish in the tank?? if u r going fishless i will say LR is all u will ever need. chiller is a good idea since we live in a hot place and evaporation is high my old nano when i started without chiller i have to top it up daily. and my LPS wasnt doing well at all wihout chiller.

[oceanloverm]

if i buy a resun cl280 for my 2feet tank, will it be enough? will the chiller sound very noisy? how loud is the noise, please describe or give an example. Approximate how much will it cost to my electricity bill monthly if i on 30days a month? Thank you for all the reply

[RX_GAN]

yup. u will need a chiller. go and search for the specs of it. the water capacity it can support. even that u are keeping a small tank, the higher the horse power the better becos that way u dun have to keep on firing the chiller. and tat means u spend more now, u save more in long term. and u need to take note of the return. wther it's enough for ur chiller. chiller, try to get it at average but not just nice.

for the chemical filter, u need to change it over sometime. like 3 to 5 months once. activated carbon...some other stuffs are avail. they are important becos they removes substances which are harmless and can't be measured. thereby reducing ur need to change water.

SPS requires super good quality of water to florish and grow...u need strong lighting. strong current is needed to removes all by-products and debris from the tank ensuring good water quality.

and also good temperature is needed for all corals. SPS or LPS. becos high tmp. can caused coral bleaching...using a fan can caused huge water evaporation and having u to topup daily. that will be troublesome right ? ahahah...

good luck then.

[kevink]

when the chiller is on it sounds a bit like ur air con. u can hear it but its not loud or anything there is different brand that is more quiet but u pay more than resun. IMO its not a problem it sounds much more quieter than those high rpm computer fan mod.

[Alvin Tan]

if i buy a resun cl280 for my 2feet tank, will it be enough? will the chiller sound very noisy? how loud is the noise, please describe or give an example. Approximate how much will it cost to my electricity bill monthly if i on 30days a month? Thank you for all the reply 

resun CL280 is very quiet..i had one b4...the chiller is in my room and i was nt disturbed by it at all...cos i cannt hear the sound.

for ur small overflow, it is best to get the strongest return pump that the tank can handle the flow, for lightings wise, i would recommend you to get 4xT5s HO..2 is not enough for the light spread..

a sump will be the best option if it is possible for you, the equipments you own can be installed inside the sump tank and by having a sump, more filtration media can be placed..eg activated carbon, po4 remover...consider to get a fluidised reactor?...tts another gd option for you to consider...with a sump, the return pump can be stronger which means the total flowrate and circulation will be increase largely in your tank w/o depending on wavemakers...

i do not have any wave makers in my old 2ft...and all the LPS are growing and colouring well..

also, i would suggest that you use tropic marin salt instead of red sea..

the last time i had a 2ft tank, my rocks was more than 35kg..

for the electricity bills, my house bills didnt rise up more than $20 either..

here is my old 2ft tank wattage...

return pump hailea 6540 : 100W

CL 280 : 280W

lightings : 96W

Chiller/Skimmer pump : not more than 60W??...

[cjh]

chiller not more than 60w?? what chiller is that??

[Alvin Tan]

chiller not more than 60w?? what chiller is that??

hi bro...think u read wrongly...is chiller/skimmer pump...

[cjh]

hi bro...think u read wrongly...is chiller/skimmer pump...

ohh lol ok ok.. paiseh see wrong... thought is chiller together with skimmer pump...

[oceanloverm]

Thanks for all the reply !!!

Now i have a problem, becuase of my tank have it's own internal overflow, and if i want to setup a sump tank, what should i do? How can i let the water from the main tank to sump tank? Please help me on this, really appreciate all the reply that you guys gave to me

[kevink]

sounds a bit strange if it has internal overflow did the sump not come with it?? anyway it should come with piping to go to the sump or you build one urself, the water flow into the overflow down the pipe to the sump and get pump back to the main tank.

[oceanloverm]

It's had a plastic overflow build inside the tank and can't be remove because it stick on the glass, HELP!!! Please tell me there's another method that i can link the main tank to the sump tank?

[oceanloverm]

1 more question Is UV needed inside a marine reef tank? is it a must? Please advice. Thanks

[RX_GAN]

for the overflow, u need to build a pipe system down. it's using gravity to pump the water down. depends on how u do it, some may drill a hole in the tank. :S but it may not be necessary too.

u can go to LFS and ask them abt it or hire someone from hardware shop to do it for u. :>

as for UV, it's utilises for eliminating bacterias and pathnogens. I suggest a ozonizer with ORP will be better becos ORP is important to a reef tank. if u running a fish-only tank, UV will be more sufficient for u. UV is also utilised in freshwater tanks.

[oceanloverm]

I don't think i will waste my precious money on drilling 1 hole on my tank since it is a second hand tank But i seen one article about about how to link the water from main tank to sump tank, they use i dont know that what material( something like plastic but it's expensive, letter start will A something), they make something like a hangon filter but just that it had no pump with it, using the gravity concept, they link the water to the sump. dont have the pic sorry will post up once i found the pic

[kevink]

those u saw is probably hang on overflow. the plastic is acrylic, and its not expensive u can buy them from hardwareshops and make ur own, u just heat the part u want to bent.

i agree with rx_gan though its better just to ask a pro to drill a hole and they wont charge u much for it.

[oceanloverm]

but i dont have a vehicle to bring my tank to the shop and drill a hole

[RX_GAN]

aiyooooo...

i tell u one best solution in the world. and one u can do it...no one else can.

and this will solve all ur problem.

call the person who sell u the tank and ask him...

and since it's a second hand, that means that person has his own way of using that outflow which is specially constructed to his demand.

and if u buy it thru a LFS, then ask them to do it for u.

they should provide this kinda service for their customer. if not, we go burn down the shop...ops...joking here..hahah..joking only..hahaha..:S

they wun tell u that hey, ur own problem...hahaha...if they do, then u come back to here.

think u ask the previous owner and he will give u a good answer.

hahaha.. dun waste money on another overflow box. the acrylic thingy is for ppl without a overflow.

even without a hole drill, u can do it.

let me tell u how. first u need a powerhead in ur sump.. from the outflow box in ur tank. u need a piping down to the sump. it can be a super super lousy powerhead as the powerhead is use as a aid in assisting the gravity.

cos water need to travel from the bottom of the overflow box to the top of the tank and once at the top of the tank, gravity can then play it's role. so that powerhead is use to draw the water to the top of the tank.

down at ur sump, tee-off the output. one to the powerhead and one to the sump..

hahaha...i think maybe i'm the only one crazy enough to come up with this.

good luck. now u dun need to drill holes but jsut pay extra for the powerhead and electricity bills.

the other output will work with gravity...so if ur return is 4000 and the powerhead is 2000, gravity will put in another 2000.

and in case u ask why dun just use powerhead to draw it down ??? becos there is no perfect system in using manmade product. a 1000l/hr powerhead may function more or less and sometimes when things are stuck inside, the balance will be off and hahahahaha...game over.hahaha

so thanks to Newton, we have this invention.

*weird....no one realised it's newton who contributed to this. and if he patent the rights to the usage of gravity....hohohoho....he dun have to starve for one million year...hahhahaha..

[oceanloverm]

Just read a threat regarding the diy of overflow pipe by Bro Melvin Now finally i found ways to suck the water from main tank to sump tank Thanks for all the information guys!!! Please help me beginner when i have any further queries

[oceanloverm]

Just visited one of the reefer for viewing his Resun Chiller cl280, anybody suggest me to get it or wait for a bigger horsepower chiller like cl450 and cl650? And for the chiller, i should use 2500-3000L/H pump to move it izit? Please help, thanks again

[sonicfrank]

OMG for reef player sump tank is a must to have.. to have enough bio break down the toxic.. is gd to hear tat yu find a way to drive water down to sump.. but if yu wan more infor yu can check out I~Aquatic they did sell I~Box.. The I~Box is a product that will allow you to automatically siphon water from your tank to a sump or to another tank below without having to drill a hole in your tank.. the best thing is no power head needed.. I use it when I having my 2ft tank too

Bro oceanloverm yu need to know wat yu are going to play.. SPS or LPS?? but I dun recommend SPS as yu still new in tis hobby.. my advise is to learn how to keep water be4 goin to any corals.. wat I mean how to keep water.. let say toxic..

the most basic is Phosphate(p04), Ammonia(NH3/NH4), Nitrite(N02) and the most headache Nitrate(N03).. to keep N03 at 0ppm is not a easy job.. other like ph, kh, ca, ma and more...

if yu going to keep LPS.. ur lighting is not enough.. get a 4 tube T5HO 14k.. 2 white 2 blue.. but yu going for Chiller than y not thinking of 75w 10k MH.. as for chiller if yu have budget than go for CL280 but ur electric bill in long term is high.. the better choice is CL650.. if yu buy CL450 yu juz have to throw abit more to get CL650.. eg.. CL450 $420 CL650 $460

RX_GAN is right.. the higher the horse power the better becos that way u dun have to keep on firing the chiller. and tat means u spend more now, u save more in long term.. OMG CL450 and CL650 use 2500-3000L pump.. CL280 2000L enough ba..

yu using Weipro 2012 Skimmer with a 2000L/H resun pump now.. yu might like to check out Reef Octopus Skimmer.. Try to get 2 FR 1 for charcoal other 1 P04 remover.. when yu doing cycle run ur p04 will go up.. reef hobby is not cheap at all..

Happy Reefing

[oceanloverm]

Hi Bro sonicfrank , thanks for the informations that you given to me (Bro RX_GAN also ) May i know why you asked me to view this Reef Octopus Skimmer specs? Izit powerful model of skimmer than weipro? ( sorry, very new to marine stuff had read some article a year back ago when i first interested in this hobby but until now still unable to setup one , so now still searching for 2nd hand equipments). Can i see the pics of FR 1 for charcoal & P04 remover and how much these equipments cost? I'm a poor guy, so i think i will start a very simple lps tank first. Thanks.

Another question ( too much question in mind ), where can i find a hardware shop inside the shopping center or somewhere around mrt greenline? I need to find some pvc pipes & elbows to diy my overflow any suggestion guys? Thanks.

If a chiller temp reader have problems with it, for example the temp reading is up by 5'c than the actual temp of the water, like if i want to set the chill the water to 25'c then my chiller needs to set it to 30'c then just i can get the correct temp (sorry for the lousy explanation...=P ). Is there any ways to fix this temp reading on the chiller? Helps!! Going to view a cl650 this coming friday.

[oceanloverm]

Can anyone teach me the method of using a pump to connect 1 chiller and pump water from sump to main tank? Do anyone have any pictures of it( i mean those piping stuffs)? how many liter per hour of pump should i use if the chiller is cl650? Thanks.