marine reef setup

[Ben]

i'm looking to do up a marine reef tank (6x3x3)as a donation to a school. However i have little experience in such a setup. my family have sought several quotations, but i need opinions from non vested parties. i need to know what are the equipments the tank needs, and the reliable brands, estimated price etc. i also need regular maintenance, so if anyone have any contacts, please help me out.

i have the following items from one of the quotations:

1)6x3x3 cabinet tank
2)DE Lighting 150w complete with electronic ballast and TS bulb 20,000kx3 sets
DE Actinic blue T-5x2 tubes
3)ARTICA chiller ¼hp DBE 200 complete with automatic sensor control
and EHEIM 1250
4)auto topup tank
5)co2 system (didn't know marine tanks need this)
6)CALCIUM REACTOR complete with aragonite media, bubble counter
and pump
7)DELTEC protein skimmer and needle valve injection pump EHEIM
8)BERLIN concept filtration system complete with main pump AQUABEE,
GEORGE FISCHER piping and valve,filter wool and activated carbon.
9)Assorted hard and soft coral 80 pcs, fish 15 pcs, live marine rock 200kg
And white Philipine sand 50kg.

inputs as to what the critical stuff i should be aware of, what i really need and don't need would be much appreciated.

[valerossi]

Originally Posted by Ben

i'm looking to do up a marine reef tank (6x3x3)as a donation to a school. However i have little experience in such a setup. my family have sought several quotations, but i need opinions from non vested parties. i need to know what are the equipments the tank needs, and the reliable brands, estimated price etc. i also need regular maintenance, so if anyone have any contacts, please help me out.

i have the following items from one of the quotations:

1)6x3x3 cabinet tank
2)DE Lighting 150w complete with electronic ballast and TS bulb 20,000kx3 sets
DE Actinic blue T-5x2 tubes
3)ARTICA chiller ¼hp DBE 200 complete with automatic sensor control
and EHEIM 1250
4)auto topup tank
5)co2 system (didn't know marine tanks need this)
6)CALCIUM REACTOR complete with aragonite media, bubble counter
and pump
7)DELTEC protein skimmer and needle valve injection pump EHEIM
8)BERLIN concept filtration system complete with main pump AQUABEE,
GEORGE FISCHER piping and valve,filter wool and activated carbon.
9)Assorted hard and soft coral 80 pcs, fish 15 pcs, live marine rock 200kg
And white Philipine sand 50kg.

inputs as to what the critical stuff i should be aware of, what i really need and don't need would be much appreciated.

doesn't require this "co2 system (didn't know marine tanks need this)". Have to invest in Protein skimmer. That's a very important equipment in marine.
If there coral, lighting and chiller is important.
The school electricity bill will surely increase.

some items you're missing:
wavemakers
other reactors for phosphate removal and activated carbon
also i dont really understand the "item" marked "BERLIN concept filtration system", can you explain that?

Originally Posted by valerossi

doesn't require this "co2 system (didn't know marine tanks need this)". Have to invest in Protein skimmer. That's a very important equipment in marine.
If there coral, lighting and chiller is important.
The school electricity bill will surely increase.

the co2 system is to be used with the calcium reactor.
and OP did mention he's looking at a deltec skimmer,
and one more thing important for coral is water motion - wavemakers
it looks like price is not a big problem, you could check out the waveboxes made by tunze. for such a big tank, the swaying coral would look amazing.

Originally Posted by Ben

i'm looking to do up a marine reef tank (6x3x3)as a donation to a school. However i have little experience in such a setup. my family have sought several quotations, but i need opinions from non vested parties. i need to know what are the equipments the tank needs, and the reliable brands, estimated price etc. i also need regular maintenance, so if anyone have any contacts, please help me out.

i have the following items from one of the quotations:

1)6x3x3 cabinet tank
2)DE Lighting 150w complete with electronic ballast and TS bulb 20,000kx3 sets
DE Actinic blue T-5x2 tubes
3)ARTICA chiller ¼hp DBE 200 complete with automatic sensor control
and EHEIM 1250
4)auto topup tank
5)co2 system (didn't know marine tanks need this)
6)CALCIUM REACTOR complete with aragonite media, bubble counter
and pump
7)DELTEC protein skimmer and needle valve injection pump EHEIM
8)BERLIN concept filtration system complete with main pump AQUABEE,
GEORGE FISCHER piping and valve,filter wool and activated carbon.
9)Assorted hard and soft coral 80 pcs, fish 15 pcs, live marine rock 200kg
And white Philipine sand 50kg.

inputs as to what the critical stuff i should be aware of, what i really need and don't need would be much appreciated.

Based on my understanding of the tank (6'x3'x3'), the minimum are required.

1) 3 x 150W of MH Lighting Sets are not sufficient for the light to penetrate to a depth of 3'. Suggest that you opt for 3 x 250W of MH using 14K instead of 20K (very bluish)

2) The Artica 1/4 can't handle the heat generated by the MH Lights as well as the return pump, skimmer pump, wavemakers, etc. You should look into the StarMex Compressor Chiller.

3) Preferably a Deltec PF601S CR with pH controller (American Marine) controlling the supply of CO2 via a solenoid

4) Deltec AP902 is the preferred choice or at least the AP851

5) Suggest that you opt for the Ocean Runner 6500 as the return pump rather than the AquaBee. Deploy 2 x OR6500.

6) Forget about using George Fischer piping as they are overhyped. Normal pvc piping will do based on my experience with them.

7) Additional equipment needed are Schuran Nitrate Filter with ORP Controller and the UVC UV Steriliser. You can consider optional equipment like the Sander Ozonizer with ORP Controller.

Fyi, my 6' SPS tank equipment list as follows:

a) 3 x 250W MH with a StarMex Compressor Chiller
b) 2 x 80W T% ATI Actinic
c) 1 x Schuran Nitrate Filter with Milwaukee ORP controller
d) 1 x PF601S Deltec CR with American Marine pH Controller n 3L Catalina CO2 Cylinder
e) 1 x FR Phosphate Removal Media using AquaBee500 as a feed pump
f) 1 x FR filled with GAC using AquaBee500 as a feed-pump
g) 1 x Deltec Auto-Top System using infra-red
h) 1 x OR6500 & AquaBee5000 Return Pump
i) 1 x APF600 Protein Skimmer
j) 1 x Tunzewavebox
k) 1 x Tunze TS24 Kit plus 1 x 6055 nanostream plus 3 x MaxiJet modified 1200
l) 1 x Sander C50 Ozonizer
m) 1 x UVC UV Sterilizer withn AquaBee 500 as a feedpump

Hope this info helps and you are most welcome to have a "eyeball to eyeball" encounter with this tank or to have a realtime discussion, pm me just in case I am out-of-town.

[Ben]

i have to admit, almost all these stuff are alien to me. so please keep that in mind when replying i don't really undertand stuff like SPS etc....

so the thing i'm missing is the wavemaker. and what's an ORP controller?

Check this out: http://americanmarineusa.com/

What is SPS?
In general, the Small Polyped Stony corals have small polyps and in most instances they are either branching or plated. SPS hard corals are generally considered more difficult to keep than the LPS or soft corals and are not recommended for beginners.

Originally Posted by Ben

i'm looking to do up a marine reef tank (6x3x3)as a donation to a school. However i have little experience in such a setup. my family have sought several quotations, but i need opinions from non vested parties. i need to know what are the equipments the tank needs, and the reliable brands, estimated price etc. i also need regular maintenance, so if anyone have any contacts, please help me out.

i have the following items from one of the quotations:

1)6x3x3 cabinet tank
2)DE Lighting 150w complete with electronic ballast and TS bulb 20,000kx3 sets
DE Actinic blue T-5x2 tubes
3)ARTICA chiller ¼hp DBE 200 complete with automatic sensor control
and EHEIM 1250
4)auto topup tank
5)co2 system (didn't know marine tanks need this)
6)CALCIUM REACTOR complete with aragonite media, bubble counter
and pump
7)DELTEC protein skimmer and needle valve injection pump EHEIM
8)BERLIN concept filtration system complete with main pump AQUABEE,
GEORGE FISCHER piping and valve,filter wool and activated carbon.
9)Assorted hard and soft coral 80 pcs, fish 15 pcs, live marine rock 200kg
And white Philipine sand 50kg.

inputs as to what the critical stuff i should be aware of, what i really need and don't need would be much appreciated.

Rough estimate based on the equipment (Deltec & AquaBee) listed above, your damage should be around five digits ie more than SS$10K and this amount doesn't includes additional gear suggested by other reefers.

Just for your info, the Artica 1/4hp is not able to support the 6'x3'x3' tank based on what you intend to have.

[Ben]

that's roughly the quotation i got so far, in excess of 10k. maybe the tank dimensions are about 6x2.5x2.5, would the chiller be powerful enough in this case?

[Ben]

keep the suggestions coming, i've learnt alot about marine setups just the past few days, but i'm still clueless about many things. i may well do a little tank for my home after reading up so much

how about regular maintenance for the tank, is weekly overkill?