i have a couple questions

[goalk33p3r]

what is a sump? what is a refungium? what do each of them do?

[Redfish]

A sump is a tank or some kind of container that sits under or below the bottom level of the main display tank. The reason for this is so that the lower tank can be gravity fed from the main tank. Some of the people that have larger tanks will have a sump that's sit in another room or even in the basement of their houses, most people with smaller tanks place the sump tanks in the cabinet under their display tank.The reason for the sump: Is so that you can have a place to put a mechanical filter for you display tank and to have pumps wether in the sump or plumed out of the sump to pump water that has been skimmed back into the main display tank. Now the refungium is used by most people for two reasons, Pod growth, Pods are small animals that most all saltwater fish eat and the refungium is like a farm for them. The refungium overflow is plumbed into your sump so that any pods that overflow from the refungium into the sump is picked up by your return pump and pumped into the display tank. The second reason: is a place to grow a certain type of algae. Dissolved food, fish poop, seed weed in your tank turns into nitrates in your tank. Nitrates in a soft corals tank is not to much of a big deal, but in an SPS coral tank they are, this algae in the sump will eat the dissolved food, poop and seaweed keeping your nitrate level lower.

[Damion]

So what is the difference between soft coral and SPS? (since we are learning here)

[sweetpea355]

SPS stands for small polyp stoney corals which have an hard calcium skeleton with lil polyps over it. Soft corals are just that ( soft) like mushrooms or corals without skeletons, and the last one is LPS which stand for large polyp Stoney coral, they have an hard calcium skeleton with large polyps over it like a torch coral or chalice coral.

[Archie]

soft corals are classified as octacoral, that is each polyp has 8 tentacles

hard corals are classified as hexacoral, that is each polyp has tentacles that are divisible by 6 (example would be alvepora has 12 tentacles per polyp, while gonapora has 24 tentacles per polyp, where acroporas have 6 tentacles per polyp)

soft corals do not lay down calcium for a base except for blue ridge and organ pipe

hard corals do lay down calcium for a base

[Damion]

So it is advisable to start your saltwater tank with soft corals? Mushrooms, I assume those leather things fall into this category, and similar?

What is an anemone classified as? I think those are cool, plus my daughter really wants a clownfish when Daddy gets a SW tank - she will probably want a Blue Tang (I think that is what Dory from Finding Nemo is) as well...

[goalk33p3r]

lol my son loves nemo must watch it all the time lol and dory is a blue tang when are you planning on starting your salt water tanknd how big are you going to go with it

[Damion]

It will probably be a few months (after Christmas most likely). I am building a new office onto my home and will want to put one in there. I was thinking anywhere from 100 to 300 gallons as I heard that the bigger it is, the easier it is to maintain levels.

I also have to learn a bit more and see a few setups. One day, I am going to stalk Phisher and check out his setup since he lives close...may start hanging out at the store and following others home to stalk their setups too, lol - watch out

[goalk33p3r]

lol i will be right there with you. i am really new also i have a 55 that i got going on now it has 9 pounds of live rock in it, a southern puffer fish that i caught and a baby brittle sea star that i found in one of my live rock but i think my puffer ate him i hav not seen him in a couple of days hope he is ok. i buy a 4 to 5 pound rock every pay check that is why i have very little. if i had the room i would go big also. what kinda fish do you have in you fresh water tank

[goalk33p3r]

sea anemone are a group of water dwelling, predatory animals of the order Actiniaria; they are named after the anemone, a terrestrial flower. As cnidarians, sea anemones are closely related to corals, jellyfish, tube-dwelling anemones, and Hydra.

[Redfish]

I am going to throw my 2 cents in here for what its worth on starting an SPS tank, some may agree and some may not. I used to go to the casinos (before I was married,) and play 7 card stud poker, it was fun, easy and I could play for along time, not lose much money, some times I would even win, and I could get a comp for a free dinner, life was good, then I got married, just kidding. People that I knew, that played a lot would always ask me, why don't you step up your game and play Texas Holdem. I would tell them, 7 card stud is fun, Texas Holdem is not fun, its work, those people are out for blood, so I didn't play. I look at mixed reef tanks and SPS tanks in the same light. Mixed reef tanks are easy, good lights, a descent skimmer or like Sandy, no skimmer at all, a water change in the tank every two to three weeks, make the right choices on fish, dose some two part every week or so and the tank will pretty much take care of its self. SPS tanks on the other hand are work, you have to know what you are doing. I am not trying to scare anyone here, just saying, do your home work before jumping in. Do I plan on playing this game, yes I do, my plan is for a cube tank of some sort, and I can't wait.

[sweetpea355]

+1 for redfish, I would say not to start out with sps untill your more experienced. It's almost like school softies(elementry),lps(highschool),sps(college). But hang out our fav lfs and u can learn a whole lot from Gerwin and customers.

[phisher]

My tank is pretty close to being presentable and you are welcome to have a look...no stalking required.

I have to go against the grain here, if you want an sps tank I wouldn't start with soft corals first. The design of your system needs to be based on what you ultimately want to keep. If you set up for softies first you may as well plan on many $$$ in upgrades to do sps later...or set up for sps first. Many people seem to graduate to sps from lps simple because lps typically has more appeal to new hobbyists, the corals are larger, cheaper and have lots of movement. Its easy to get a colorful and full looking tank. Sps isn't really harder, it just has different requirements and requires a lot more patience. You need big bucks to get a full sps tank, or patience to let small pieces grow out.

You should decide what you want to keep before you buy your first piece of equipment, then plan you purchases around that.

[Archie]

...

[sweetpea355]

Well Archie can u shed some more light on this subject pleaseeee.