Ideas for 110 gal. tank... mainly live rock only. Please read...

[foots]

Hello everyone, well I've been having so much fun with my 12 gal. nano tank and watching the the life grow on my live rocks and the macro algae grow, that I've been thinking about what would be needed to change my 110 gal. (tall) freshwater tank to saltwater.

But here's the thing, I want to see if I can do this with as little equipment as possible. I really don't want to have to run a sump or skimmer.

This is what I have in mind. I like the look of the live rocks, CuC, and macro algae in a tank. Not interested in a reef tank or even fish for that matter, well OK, maybe one or two fish in this 110 gal. tank. But that's all. I love watching the life forms grow and the live rock develop.

This is what I already have on this tank, 2-dual 54w 48" T-5 light fixtures. (4- 54w bulbs total). Two XP3 canister filters and a Emperor 400 HOB filter (not using it, but I do have it). So my question is this, what do you all think would be the bare minimum as for as equipment that I would need to run a tank like this? I'd really like to hear your ideas and thoughts on this. Thanks

Foots

 

[PSU4ME]

Hmmmm....interesting. My first question would be the type of macro you want......some of it requires higher light which would require an upgrade to your existing lighting.

 

[Bearjohnson]

Also you probably want a at least a couple of fish to help keep the cycle going.

 

[redneckgearhead]

Without a skimmer I would be afraid that large frequent water changes would be necessary to keep nutrients at acceptable levels.

 

[foots]

@ Psu4me, well nothing major just something like the red and green gracilaria, and some caulerpa. Really just for the pods and to add a little color. I have these in my nano and the pods love them and I like the look and growing them.

@ Bearjohnson, with the cuc and me giving them some stuff to eat weekly I should be ok with the cycle. My nano has no fish in it, just the clean up crew and some macro algae and the tank is doing great.

Thanks guys... Foots

 

[foots]

Here is some pics of both my Nano and the 110 gal tall tank on my photobucket site. Just click on the link.

Pictures by foots222 - Photobucket

 

[foots]

Well looks like I will have to run a sump and skimmer on the 110 gal.

Any ideas on what size sump and skimmer I would need? Thanks

 

[PIMPALA]

not sure why you think you HAVE to run a skimmer and sump. many, many successful reef tanks with plenty of fish are sumpless and skimmerless (for lack of better words)


the reality, is that if you only have one or two small fish, a strong clean up crew, and lots of macro... with decent water circulation, there wont be any need for a bunch of equipment. you can skip the canisters, and just run powerheads, and do weekly, or every other week water changes.

and if you MUST have a skimmer, there are plenty of HOB options that work very well.


and if you MUST go with a sump, then you just need a HOB overflow box, and the biggest tank under the stand for a sump that you can fit.

 

[foots]

Hello Pimpala, no I really "don't " want to run a sump and skimmer.
That was the whole purpose of my post. Just when on one chimed in, I thought the consensus was that on a bigger tank was that a skimmer was needed.

I'm glad you took the time to post to me. I think I will give this a try. And like I said, I mainly want live rock, cuc and macro algae with maybe up to two small fish. Like a benny or goby and a clown. And adding the fish would be months down the line. After my rocks, macro's and pods have plenty of time to establish themselves.

Again thanks for the info.

Foots

 

[PIMPALA]

i'd still suggest water changes, but again, leave out the canister filter, and i wouldnt even bother with the HOB filter, unless you want to use some drop in carbon in it only. just keep an eye on it, and change is regularly.


powerheads, live rock, and a good CUC is all you really need to have a nice enjoyable tank, and with 4 bulbs of T5HO, you will have plenty of light to grow whatever macro (within reason) you want.


get er going, and post up some pics! your other tank is fantastic.

 

[foots]

I have an idea I'd like to run by you all. I know my post is about not wanting to setup and run a sump or skimmer on my non-drilled 110 gal tank. But after thinking about it and seeing the slight film of scum that floats on the surface of my 110 gal freshwater tank. I thought about doing a little diy project. Now this is really just for the sake of having a very cheap way with minimal equipment so as to skim the surface of my tank.

I have a 12 gal. Nano tank and was looking at how the back compartment is design. So I'm thinking about building something like this on the back wall of my 110 gal tank just for the surface skimming it allows. 3 compartments with a maxi-jet 1200 or 1800 in it for the pump. The tank is close to 29" high and 48" wide so I was thinking about building a box about about 20" wide and 12" high and about 4" deep (from back wall to inside tank) Also with this design, the box would be exposed to the lighting in the tank so cheto could be put in one of the chambers too. What do you all think of this idea

 

[DaveK]

Here are my thoughts.

What you want to do can be done. It's not something that I would rate as almost impossible. That being said, this is not a simple project. It's going to require that you go slowly and carefully, while keeping the stocking comparativly low. This requires a lot of "strength of character" not to add "just one more" fish or other livestock.

Ask yourself if you really want that kind of tank long term. A large tank with nothing but a CUC and LR might get really dull after awhile. Also ask yourself if you want the work of cleaning the canister filters weekly. In SW you want them to collect the dirt, but you don't want to leave it in the system any length of time. Untill you clean it, all mechanical filtration does is collect the dirt in one place, it's still in the system.

You might want to consider a smaller tank, since the tank is the least expensive part of the hobby. A 110 gal is very tall and is going to look like a lot of empty space, if it's not aquascaped well.

Good luck.

 

[foots]

Hello Davek, thanks for the reply. I'll try to answer a few of your questions. 1. I've had my nano tank up and running almost 6 months now. I know that's not a really long time, but my point is that I really just like how the live rock, macro algae and CUC go about their day to day business. It's all so interesting to me. I've watched my colony of copepods and amphipods build. I have one Emerald crab, one peppermint shrimp, a bunch of varies types of snails and some hermit crabs. A little over a month ago I bought a Scooter Blenny for my tank, well he ate up all the copepods and I decided to give him back to the pet store that I got him from. I prefer seeing the copepods. (I know, I'm crazy) I do have one mushroom and a few ricordea's that all seem to be doing very well (growing). And my macro algae is growing really well.

2. As for the Canister filters and the Emperor 400 HOB filter, I'm not going to use them once I go to saltwater. I plan on doing weekly water changes.

3. As for the tall 110 gal. tank and aquascaping. I plan on building from both opposite corners with rocks that go up to 2 to 3 inches from the water line. I know this is a lot of rock, but it and the sand is after all my filtration systems.

4. With the MJ-1200 or 1800 in the skimmer box I talked about building into the tank and maybe 3 to 4 more powerheads through out the tank. I think that will be enough circulation for the tank. I can always add more as needed.

5. With this bigger tank, I do think I may add up to 2 fish total. Like maybe two clowns, or a clown and something else. But I do know I don't want a lot of fish, that's for sure. (I've had 2 Serverums mainly in this 110 gal. tank for over 5 years)

Again thanks for your input...

 

[foots]

Well I know it's been some time since I've added anything to this post, so thought I'd just give an update as to what I finally did. I set my 110 gal. tall tank up with a 1/2 to 2 in. sand bed with around 125 to 140 lbs. of live rock. I run two Jebao pumps one WP-25 and a WP-40. Also a Tunze DOC in tank Protein Skimmer model 9005 and a FilStar XP3 canister filter running only foam pads inside. I use it with a little stick on skimmer tube (from my freshwater tank) to keep the water surface clean, it does a fantasy job. One Nova two bulb T-5 48" light. As for livestock, I have:

1. Blue Tang - small to med size.
1. Bi-color Angelfish - small to med size.
1. Bi-color Dottyback - I think full grown.
1. 4-Stripe Damselfish - I think full grown.
1. Bluefin Damselfish - this fish has gotten huge. ( I will replace him with the 4 or 5 Yellowstriped Cardinalfish soon).
2. Cleaner Shrimp - grown.

All the fish have been in the tank for over a year and a half or so. The Bluefin Damselfish has been in the tank for about 2 years, he is huge now!

Also will be adding about 4 or 5 Yellowstriped Cardinalfish soon that will replace the Bluefin. And a few snails alone with one small hermit crab. This tank has been up and running for close to 2 years now without any problems what so ever. All water testing is within specs. and I do about a 1/4 water change every month. I also clean the foam pads in the canister filter out monthly. This tank has proven to be very trouble free for me. The fish are growing well, fat and happy. I have a few mushroom corals (12 +/-) and a few Coral Polyps (40 +/-) and some type of Gorgonian (have made 3 cuttings from it) and a brain coral (has grown 2X in size) that came on some live rock I bought from Gulf Live Rock when I was setting the tank up. All have be growing and thriving in the tank for almost 2 years now.

So I think it's a success as to what I was looking for., even thought I went with the small in tank skimmer. The only additive that I add to the tank at times are Liquid Calcium. And it's only added about once a week.
I hope this may help someone else who maybe trying or interested in doing the same type of thing.

Foots