(Advice) Old Solana New 2 Me

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It's been 7 years but I'm back. I'm picking up a 34 Solana tomorrow and will take all the advice I can get. What skimmer,lights,sand and any other advice you have. And is the old rock he has good to use? It's dry and looks good. I could use some reasonably price equipment if you got it. Thank you in advanced!I'm excited!
 
Hello there. If you’re looking for live sand, CaribSea Arag Alive is the most popular and good quality, And their “special grade” reef sand is the most popular.

Your old rocks should be good, and just needs some seeding. This is provided that they were never exposed to copper or anything. That said, they may have lots of organics on them. If so, you may want to give them an acid bath first.

as for seeding your tank with nitrifying bacteria, any brand of product will do well. Many of them claim to be the best, but all of them are sufficient. If I had to recommend one, I’d say Turbostart (purple bottle). It’s good quality.

As for electrical equipment such as a protein skimmer, lights, etc.… There are so many options to choose, I’d say it’s more a personal choice than anything. Fortunately you don’t have to make that decision for at least a few weeks. So you have plenty of time to research. Meanwhile you can prepare your rocks, and begin growing your bacteria.

*I am personally not a fan of any small protein skimmers. Even managing the fish store, I’ve yet to see any that I’d say work well.
 
That's great advice. So I seed the rock with the Turbo start?

Yes, but I prefer to think of it as seeding your ‘tank’ with Turbostart. But you are right; The bacteria there are mostly for your rock.
 
Man o' man, that is an great little tank. My dad ran one and I took it over before resetting my old tank back up. Wonder if it's our old tank.

I didn't run a skimmer or let me say the I didn't dial the skimmer in. It was a HOB skimmer. Aqua C Remora. I used filter floss in the middle chamber with Chemi Pure. I used an ATI T5. inTankAquactics.com tailors their offerings to the all in on tank crowd.
 
Thank you for the advice! I just now got it running. But I think the pump is not performing like it should. The water in the first chamber is about 3 to 4 inches higher than the second. I thought the water was supposed to pour over like a spill way?
 
Hello there. If you’re looking for live sand, CaribSea Arag Alive is the most popular and good quality, And their “special grade” reef sand is the most popular.

Your old rocks should be good, and just needs some seeding. This is provided that they were never exposed to copper or anything. That said, they may have lots of organics on them. If so, you may want to give them an acid bath first.

as for seeding your tank with nitrifying bacteria, any brand of product will do well. Many of them claim to be the best, but all of them are sufficient. If I had to recommend one, I’d say Turbostart (purple bottle). It’s good quality.

As for electrical equipment such as a protein skimmer, lights, etc.… There are so many options to choose, I’d say it’s more a personal choice than anything. Fortunately you don’t have to make that decision for at least a few weeks. So you have plenty of time to research. Meanwhile you can prepare your rocks, and begin growing your bacteria.

*I am personally not a fan of any small protein skimmers. Even managing the fish store, I’ve yet to see any that I’d say work well.
So I'm not sure if my pump is working right. The water in the first chamber is about 3" higher than the second chamber. I thought the water was supposed to pour over the first wall like a spill way into the second chamber where the meda basket is?
 
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