150 Gallon Salt Water Tank Setup - Need HELP!!

Hello All,

So happy I found this forum. I just purchased a 150 gallon with a corner overflow built in, this is my first fish tank and I thought about getting a smaller one to start off but the price of the tank was just too good to pass up. I know I'm a fool, my wife has already made that clear to me. The tank came with a wet/dry sump filtration and a gravity overflow so I'm guessing I need a 150 gallon skimmer if I'm going to go the saltwater route.

I've watched a bunch of YouTube videos but most of them are for basic setups, I guess my first step is to clean the tank, put it in location and then what do I do???

my questions to the experts on this forum are...

1. Do I need a skimmer? If I decide to do freshwater with live plants, do I need to purchase anything else besides the sump that I already have?

2. How do I prepare 150 gallons of water ready for my tank? Can I just attach a hose to my outdoor faucet, fill the tank up, add in solution and salt or do I need to prepare individual 5 gallon buckets?

3. What do I need if I want to reef tank? I would like Anemones, clown fish, purple tang and any others that you guys can recommend.

4. Do I need a reverse osmosis system? I read this on another forum.

5. Would my setup be easier if I went with freshwater with live plants?

Please feel free to give me as much advise as possible. I think I've completely went out of my mind and it's scaring the life of me thinking about how much work I need to or where to even start.

 

Welcome .
Yes you need a protien skimmer when you get over 30 g as a 'rule' .
You want one rated for 2 times your tank volume [add sump] so like 320 gallon$ ! I hope you got a good deal on the tank !
If you don't know salt you could set up a FOWLR and maybe in a year look to upgrade it to 'reef' .You need to have the tank running minimum of 6-8 months before you should introduce a anemone so the timing works ..
Yes to RO/DI .
I have a reef still since the 1980s ,120g now ..I strongly prefer my 60 other freshwater tanks including my 180g in my livingroom ..
Go freshwater ,master it and then you get another tank for salt.
Sumps are easy but again if your first you should enter the game as gracefully as possible ...
Marine tanks and filters are unforgiving of newb mistakes and at 150 gallon mistakes will not be cheap ..
Welcome again and don't be afraid .If you want marine it is not that complicated ,it is more expensive definitely .

 

Yes sir! The tank cost me $450 with the stand and everything else I mentioned in my question. Plus its a cube tank which is perfect for the location I wanted to put a fish tank in. I completely agree in getting into this as gracefully as possible. I'm seriously considering getting started with freshwater tank with live plants, it seem so much cheaper and easier to maintain.

 

Fresh water is way cheaper than doing a reef tank. If you did a 150 cube reef tank you could easily spend $10,000.
If you go reef you’ll need an RO or RODI and a skimmer. I agree get a good skimmer at least twice your water volume.
Then you’d need lights, pumps, power heads, lots of sand and lots of live rock.

 

The Wet/Dry Sump isn't best suited to saltwater (better for freshwater). Here is how my drilled 90 gallon with a corner overflow is setup if you want ideas. Your setup wouldn't necessarily be easier but it would definitely be less expensive on that scale with freshwater. All depends on your budget and what you are willing to commit to though:

 

Thank you for the helpful video. My setup came with two hoses, one is flexible and the other is standard and what I see in your video, the return pump is on the left side and would use a standard hose and flexible hose on the right side, is that correct? Also, once I have everything in place and added the water in my tank, do I dechlorinate first before turning the filter system on or after? Do I need just pour some tank water in the back and turn the motor to get the system started or is there more to it?

 

Can you post pics of tank and sump ?
Basically fresh or salt you have the whole system hooked up and fill the tank .
When the water reaches the overflow it will naturally flow to sump even with no power ..Gravity and predrilled overflows are great !
You keep filling the tank which is flowing water into the sump until the sump is about2 inches from top..Not close to overflowing .
The system is now full. Turn on pump and let run or adjust pump speed and then let run and stabilize for 5-10 minutes .
Now with system running draw a line or use tape to indicate where the water level is in the pump section of sump .
That is "full when running" level and you should never top off or fill higher when tank is running .
When power fails the sump will return to the level you originally filled it with power off.
Make sure the return lines are not below the surface of water in tank or they may syphon more water into sump then the overflow would have allowed ..

Fresh or salt ?
You need to pre mix salt before adding to tank IMO ..You would likely be using RO/DI so no dechlor ..
In fresh you can fill tank how you choose and dechlorinate in tank .

 

Thank you for the helpful video. My setup came with two hoses, one is flexible and the other is standard and what I see in your video, the return pump is on the left side and would use a standard hose and flexible hose on the right side, is that correct? Also, once I have everything in place and added the water in my tank, do I dechlorinate first before turning the filter system on or after? Do I need just pour some tank water in the back and turn the motor to get the system started or is there more to it?

No dechlorinator as you should be using an RODI Water Source for a marine tank (tap often causes problems). As for the sump video you use solid piping for sure on the return going up to the display tank but a flexible hose can be used on the portion that drains down into the sump (that is how mine is setup).

 

No skimmer needed for fresh water and you can add after tank is cycled if saltwater. Keep in mind the cost for s/w is much much more than f/w. Fresh water you can add water and go for almost no additional cost. I would fill tank outdoors to check for leaks before taking a chance of ruining floors. The other thing is going reef is the hardest, most expensive s/w setup there is. Water quality has to be perfect, strong lighting is needed for coral health and you need to learn chemistry to feed the corals. Iodine levels and expensive test kits and just the cost of the salt are expensive. Plus the prettiest fish [many angels] seem to love a coral diet. In the long run you may have gone the least expensive route. I went from 55 to 90 to 150 to 240 gal tanks. Your starting near the top.

 

Can you post pics of tank and sump ?
Basically fresh or salt you have the whole system hooked up and fill the tank .
When the water reaches the overflow it will naturally flow to sump even with no power ..Gravity and predrilled overflows are great !
You keep filling the tank which is flowing water into the sump until the sump is about2 inches from top..Not close to overflowing .
The system is now full. Turn on pump and let run or adjust pump speed and then let run and stabilize for 5-10 minutes .
Now with system running draw a line or use tape to indicate where the water level is in the pump section of sump .
That is "full when running" level and you should never top off or fill higher when tank is running .
When power fails the sump will return to the level you originally filled it with power off.
Make sure the return lines are not below the surface of water in tank or they may syphon more water into sump then the overflow would have allowed ..

Fresh or salt ?
You need to pre mix salt before adding to tank IMO ..You would likely be using RO/DI so no dechlor ..
In fresh you can fill tank how you choose and dechlorinate in tank .

Attached are some pics of the tank and sump. Spent about 4 hours scrubbing it down with water, vinegar and salt. So it looks like the sump has three slots for three different filter types but the previous only had the balls and media filter. The small ESHOPS container was attached to the side with a U shape small pipe with one end in the tank and the other in the container, also had a screw in round filter. The guy said it was for overflow. I’m going to go with freshwater with live plants and community fishes. Going to get started and laying the substrate.

 

Nice ! That is I believe a Marineland .You are missing the front plate on the overflow . #3 in the first picture https://spectrum-sitecore-spectrumb...roducts/Tanks/CornerFlo Quick Setup Guide.pdf

You don't need the Eshopps box that is just another type of overflow the corner should function fine .Look at the picture in link above at the drain pipe also ..The way they have it [DURSO] helps to quiet it down a little ..
Get 'cut to fit ' pads that you can place in top section of wet dry and that is going to be the mechanical you clean often .

What pump do you have ?

 

Can you post pics of tank and sump ?
Basically fresh or salt you have the whole system hooked up and fill the tank .
When the water reaches the overflow it will naturally flow to sump even with no power ..Gravity and predrilled overflows are great !
You keep filling the tank which is flowing water into the sump until the sump is about2 inches from top..Not close to overflowing .
The system is now full. Turn on pump and let run or adjust pump speed and then let run and stabilize for 5-10 minutes .
Now with system running draw a line or use tape to indicate where the water level is in the pump section of sump .
That is "full when running" level and you should never top off or fill higher when tank is running .
When power fails the sump will return to the level you originally filled it with power off.
Make sure the return lines are not below the surface of water in tank or they may syphon more water into sump then the overflow would have allowed ..

Fresh or salt ?
You need to pre mix salt before adding to tank IMO ..You would likely be using RO/DI so no dechlor ..
In fresh you can fill tank how you choose and dechlorinate in tank .

Attached are some pics of the tank and sump. Spent about 4 hours scrubbing it down with water, vinegar and salt. So it looks like the sump has three slots for three different filter types but the previous only had the balls and media filter. I’m going to go with freshwater with live plants and community fishes. Going to get started and laying the substrate.

I have the cover just removed it for cleaning. Thanks for sharing the link it helps in understanding how the pipes are attached. The sump pump is Danner, I’ve attached pics of it and also the LED light, not sure if it’s sufficient for me pants but I’m gonna swing by the fish shop today and hopefully find someone who can enlighten me even more on my next steps.

 

Good deal on the cover . Yes Marineland for sure .
You will want a different light I suspect as that one will be marine ? 10k with blue..
FW plants like aprox 7k . There are some nice light that have sunrise/sunset features that you can program [fluval 3.0] ..
That pump will be loud ,generate heat [plus 4f to tank in most cases] and use more electricity then you need to .
Look into DC pumps like Jeboa . You can digitally control flow which save electricity even more if you turn it down ..

026039ea6cb3&pf_rd_r=7WJC0SBMVZPB0S4XEVX9&refRID=7WJC0SBMVZPB0S4XEVX9&th=1&tag=fishlore-20

 

Hello All,

So happy I found this forum. I just purchased a 150 gallon with a corner overflow built in, this is my first fish tank and I thought about getting a smaller one to start off but the price of the tank was just too good to pass up. I know I'm a fool, my wife has already made that clear to me. The tank came with a wet/dry sump filtration and a gravity overflow so I'm guessing I need a 150 gallon skimmer if I'm going to go the saltwater route.

I've watched a bunch of YouTube videos but most of them are for basic setups, I guess my first step is to clean the tank, put it in location and then what do I do???

my questions to the experts on this forum are...

1. Do I need a skimmer? If I decide to do freshwater with live plants, do I need to purchase anything else besides the sump that I already have?

2. How do I prepare 150 gallons of water ready for my tank? Can I just attach a hose to my outdoor faucet, fill the tank up, add in solution and salt or do I need to prepare individual 5 gallon buckets?

3. What do I need if I want to reef tank? I would like Anemones, clown fish, purple tang and any others that you guys can recommend.

4. Do I need a reverse osmosis system? I read this on another forum.

5. Would my setup be easier if I went with freshwater with live plants?

Please feel free to give me as much advise as possible. I think I've completely went out of my mind and it's scaring the life of me thinking about how much work I need to or where to even start.

Hey! Welcome! I have had 3 fresh water tanks and am only 6 months into my first saltwater aquarium and personally saltwater is WAY better. So much prettier, so much more to learn which keeps the hobby fun for a long time. If I were you I would go salt. Go to your local fish store and check out their sumps and ask them questions.

You do need a skimmer for sure.

You can drop a hose in and dechlor your water then just get your ph right and add salt. Mix it all up real well though.

You don’t need an RODI. You can buy water for $1/gallon at your fish store but rodI does make it easier but still not necessary starting out.

 

Hey! Welcome! I have had 3 fresh water tanks and am only 6 months into my first saltwater aquarium and personally saltwater is WAY better. So much prettier, so much more to learn which keeps the hobby fun for a long time. If I were you I would go salt. Go to your local fish store and check out their sumps and ask them questions.

You do need a skimmer for sure.

You can drop a hose in and dechlor your water then just get your ph right and add salt. Mix it all up real well though.

You don’t need an RODI. You can buy water for $1/gallon at your fish store but rodI does make it easier but still not necessary starting out.

I would disagree with the last part about starting with treated tap. The problem is that you have no idea what minerals and solids (ie Phosphates) are leeching into your substrate or rockwork that can cause long term problems and complications even if you just start out with it and no two municipal tap water systems (or even well water) are the same with what they are treated with, what they have in them, etc. There are even examples of of massive variants with what is in tap water simply from moving from one part of town to another. Always best to go RODI from the start. He can purchase it from the LFS but on a tank of 150 gallons that is going to make for a number of very expensive trips to the store and each LFS or even Chain Stores have variable pricing on what they charge for RODI (I've seen everything from free to over $2 per gallon). Give the size and scale he would be much better off buying an RODI system of his own as it will be cheaper in the long run.

 

I would disagree with the last part about starting with treated tap. The problem is that you have no idea what minerals and solids (ie Phosphates) are leeching into your substrate or rockwork that can cause long term problems and complications even if you just start out with it and no two municipal tap water systems (or even well water) are the same with what they are treated with, what they have in them, etc. There are even examples of of massive variants with what is in tap water simply from moving from one part of town to another. Always best to go RODI from the start. He can purchase it from the LFS but on a tank of 150 gallons that is going to make for a number of very expensive trips to the store and each LFS or even Chain Stores have variable pricing on what they charge for RODI (I've seen everything from free to over $2 per gallon). Give the size and scale he would be much better off buying an RODI system of his own as it will be cheaper in the long run.

True. I live in a good part of Colorado where our tap water is really clean.

 

Absolutely agree just buy an RODI system. Bulk reef supply has one for $150 you can’t go wrong with.
problem with trusting even good city water or a well is that you have no actual idea what’s in it. They test water for human safety not for fish tank water quality.

 

I’m going to go with freshwater with live plants and community fishes. Going to get started and laying the substrate.

Do you know what type of substrate your going to use? Search for planted tanks and substrate. Lots of information out there to get ideas.

Best advice is to take this slow, plan out what you want and how you want to do it. You don't want to have to redo anything - this will save time and $$. This is a fun hobby and can be very addicting. Ask lots of questions - plenty of experienced people here who can help.

Absolutely agree just buy an RODI system. Bulk reef supply has one for $150 you can’t go wrong with.
problem with trusting even good city water or a well is that you have no actual idea what’s in it. They test water for human safety not for fish tank water quality.

If you're going freshwater you only need an RO system. The DI is for marine aquariums.

 

Hey Guys, so I went with Freshwater with live plants. I figured salt water start up and maintenance would be too much of a commitment and out of my budget. Here is my setup.

Plants - Bucephalandra Red Mini, Alternanthera Rosanervig, Java Moss, Anacharis, Hornwort floating.
Rock - Dragon Stone
LED - Finnex Planted + 24/7 HLC
Return Pump - Jebao DCP Sine Wave Pump (thanks to @coralbandit for the recommendation)
Heater - Hygger 500w Digital Heater
No RO/DI system - Considering getting it though but from the reviews it sound like it's going to take me hours to fill up the tank using RO. Right now I'm using Seachem Prime to treat the water.
Substrate - Flourite Black
Gravel - Super Naturals sand - it's very fine and impossible to clean with the python clean and fill. I might change this out but I was hoping to get Cory catfish and read that they don't like stone or pebble gravel.

It's been a little more than a week since the setup and I added a few fish to get the cycle started. 6 Zebra Danios and 6 guppies - two of the guppies jumped out of the tank so now I have 4. I have a lid on it now so hopefully they don't try that again. One of the guppies might be in labor so I got a breeder tank and isolated her. I hope that's what the case is because she isn't moving around much, it's been close to 24 hours and I could see her breathing and moving her fins but she's just laying at the bottom of the breeder tank. Stomach looks a little big so she's either pregnant or bloated. Hopefully she is not sick. If she is I'm blaming the Seachem excel, which I stopped using. The other fish seem to be doing really well, they come close to the top when it's feeding time and they are exploring the tank constantly.

For the plants, I didn't go with a CO2 setup - too expensive and high long term maintenance. Plus in the long term, I want the tank to be self sufficient and I would only do weekly water change. I initially started using Seachem Excel as a carbon alternative but the java moss didn't seem to like it so I stopped using that, I've been adding Seachem stabilizer to help with the fish cycle and Seachem Flourish Advance as a fert for the plants.

I also got a small wave maker but I think it might too much current for the fish, the return outlets already produce a pretty decent current and the fish love to swim against it. I've been monitoring the water paramerters and everything seem to be good except for PH, it was showing above 9 the other but I don't think it's accurate. I got a cheap digital tester and haven't calibrated it. The fish wouldn't be able to survive in that PH so I might have to properly calibrate it before testing again.

Right now I'm only concerned about the Guppy - again not sure if she's in labor or sick, any of guys have experience with this?

 

Hey Guys, so I went with Freshwater with live plants. I figured salt water start up and maintenance would be too much of a commitment and out of my budget. Here is my setup.

Plants - Bucephalandra Red Mini, Alternanthera Rosanervig, Java Moss, Anacharis, Hornwort floating.
Rock - Dragon Stone
LED - Finnex Planted + 24/7 HLC
Return Pump - Jebao DCP Sine Wave Pump (thanks to @coralbandit for the recommendation)
Heater - Hygger 500w Digital Heater
No RO/DI system - Considering getting it though but from the reviews it sound like it's going to take me hours to fill up the tank using RO. Right now I'm using Seachem Prime to treat the water.
Substrate - Flourite Black
Gravel - Super Naturals sand - it's very fine and impossible to clean with the python clean and fill. I might change this out but I was hoping to get Cory catfish and read that they don't like stone or pebble gravel.

It's been a little more than a week since the setup and I added a few fish to get the cycle started. 6 Zebra Danios and 6 guppies - two of the guppies jumped out of the tank so now I have 4. I have a lid on it now so hopefully they don't try that again. One of the guppies might be in labor so I got a breeder tank and isolated her. I hope that's what the case is because she isn't moving around much, it's been close to 24 hours and I could see her breathing and moving her fins but she's just laying at the bottom of the breeder tank. Stomach looks a little big so she's either pregnant or bloated. Hopefully she is not sick. If she is I'm blaming the Seachem excel, which I stopped using. The other fish seem to be doing really well, they come close to the top when it's feeding time and they are exploring the tank constantly.

For the plants, I didn't go with a CO2 setup - too expensive and high long term maintenance. Plus in the long term, I want the tank to be self sufficient and I would only do weekly water change. I initially started using Seachem Excel as a carbon alternative but the java moss didn't seem to like it so I stopped using that, I've been adding Seachem stabilizer to help with the fish cycle and Seachem Flourish Advance as a fert for the plants.

I also got a small wave maker but I think it might too much current for the fish, the return outlets already produce a pretty decent current and the fish love to swim against it. I've been monitoring the water paramerters and everything seem to be good except for PH, it was showing above 9 the other but I don't think it's accurate. I got a cheap digital tester and haven't calibrated it. The fish wouldn't be able to survive in that PH so I might have to properly calibrate it before testing again.

Right now I'm only concerned about the Guppy - again not sure if she's in labor or sick, any of guys have experience with this?

Looks awesome!

 

Hey Guys, so I went with Freshwater with live plants. I figured salt water start up and maintenance would be too much of a commitment and out of my budget. Here is my setup.

Plants - Bucephalandra Red Mini, Alternanthera Rosanervig, Java Moss, Anacharis, Hornwort floating.
Rock - Dragon Stone
LED - Finnex Planted + 24/7 HLC
Return Pump - Jebao DCP Sine Wave Pump (thanks to @coralbandit for the recommendation)
Heater - Hygger 500w Digital Heater
No RO/DI system - Considering getting it though but from the reviews it sound like it's going to take me hours to fill up the tank using RO. Right now I'm using Seachem Prime to treat the water.
Substrate - Flourite Black
Gravel - Super Naturals sand - it's very fine and impossible to clean with the python clean and fill. I might change this out but I was hoping to get Cory catfish and read that they don't like stone or pebble gravel.

It's been a little more than a week since the setup and I added a few fish to get the cycle started. 6 Zebra Danios and 6 guppies - two of the guppies jumped out of the tank so now I have 4. I have a lid on it now so hopefully they don't try that again. One of the guppies might be in labor so I got a breeder tank and isolated her. I hope that's what the case is because she isn't moving around much, it's been close to 24 hours and I could see her breathing and moving her fins but she's just laying at the bottom of the breeder tank. Stomach looks a little big so she's either pregnant or bloated. Hopefully she is not sick. If she is I'm blaming the Seachem excel, which I stopped using. The other fish seem to be doing really well, they come close to the top when it's feeding time and they are exploring the tank constantly.

For the plants, I didn't go with a CO2 setup - too expensive and high long term maintenance. Plus in the long term, I want the tank to be self sufficient and I would only do weekly water change. I initially started using Seachem Excel as a carbon alternative but the java moss didn't seem to like it so I stopped using that, I've been adding Seachem stabilizer to help with the fish cycle and Seachem Flourish Advance as a fert for the plants.

I also got a small wave maker but I think it might too much current for the fish, the return outlets already produce a pretty decent current and the fish love to swim against it. I've been monitoring the water paramerters and everything seem to be good except for PH, it was showing above 9 the other but I don't think it's accurate. I got a cheap digital tester and haven't calibrated it. The fish wouldn't be able to survive in that PH so I might have to properly calibrate it before testing again.

Right now I'm only concerned about the Guppy - again not sure if she's in labor or sick, any of guys have experience with this?

Looks great. No shame in knowing your limits. It would have been an expensive adventure for salt water. Maybe some day.

 

Nice tank. Sounds like your off to a good start. Your going to have a lot of fun with this.


LED - Finnex Planted + 24/7 HLC - I have this light. You may need to add additional lighting. Your tank, like mine, is deep and you may not have enough par at the substrate for plants requiring med/high light. High light plants will not do well without additional lights. You may not like the 24/7 pre-program. Most people find it induces high algae growth. Since this is programable, you can program it to your own 24/7 operation.

Here is a light I am considering as it is a very close knock off to the Finnex 24/7+:


Plants -
Bucephalandra Red Mini, Nice plant, but make sure your tank has good stable parameters, you may get some melt.
Alternanthera Rosanervig, Requires med to high lighting and CO2. You may have trouble with this or at best slow growth without additional lighting and CO2.
Good choices: Java Moss, Anacharis, Hornwort floating


No RO/DI system - Considering getting it though but from the reviews it sound like it's going to take me hours to fill up the tank using RO. Right now I'm using Seachem Prime to treat the water.
If you do decide to make your own water for water changes, just buy a RO system. RO/DI is for salt only.

Substrate - Flourite Black
Gravel - Super Naturals sand - it's very fine and impossible to clean with the python clean and fill. I might change this out but I was hoping to get Cory catfish and read that they don't like stone or pebble gravel.
I like the way you have this set up -Looks great!

I've been monitoring the water paramerters and everything seem to be good except for PH, it was showing above 9 the other but I don't think it's accurate. I got a cheap digital tester and haven't calibrated it.
Take a look at the API Master test kit. Here's a link:


Wish you the best as you go forward with your new project.