Reef tank start-up

I don't plan on running the reconmended amount of live rock (1.5-2lbs) per
gallon so i was told that an off set would be a wet dry and after the tanks
breakin a year or slowly remove bio-balls and once they are all gone go with
a refugium. Any sanity to this idea?
"Billy" wrote in message
...

"FordStyle" wrote in message
. com...
|
| "perkinskr" wrote in message
| news:955Kd.4670$Vg3.1464@lakeread05...
|
| Ken,
| Prices at the LFS usually are higher than mail-order. You are
pretty much
| stuck on the tank prices as they are too costly to ship. If you are
willing
| to do it in parts it can be done cheaper.
| The mag 12 would work well but you could do it with a 9. Turnover
actually
| should be higher overall but can be accomplished by the pump and a
few
| powerheads or wavemaker in the system to get this figure. Pump is
available
| for about 55-60 online. The protein skimmer can be had for less by
same
| maker. CS8-1can be gotten for 429.00 or a CS6-2 which is fine for
that tank
| for 369.00 at premium aquatics. You don't need a wet/dry but can do
a DIY
| sump fuge for less and a little work. Bio balls can actually cause
nitrate
| problems if not kept in check. UV sterilizer is not necessary at
this time
| and its debatable on the pros/cons of it in a reef softie tank. A
RO/DI unit
| that works fine for reef tanks can be had on Ebay and the like for
under 100
| for a 6 stage unit.
| Check out reefcentral.com and the forums to get some ideas. I was
in the
| same boat you are in now last year and saved $$$$ looking around
for parts
| and just getting the tank at the local fish store
|

Good post. I agree with every word. I would like to add that the
wet\dry filter would be pointless in most reef tanks as the the Live
Rock takes care of all biological filtration needs.

billy

"perkinskr" wrote in message
news:549Kd.4679$Vg3.61@lakeread05...
I don't plan on running the reconmended amount of live rock (1.5-2lbs) per
gallon so i was told that an off set would be a wet dry and after the
tanks
breakin a year or slowly remove bio-balls and once they are all gone go
with
a refugium. Any sanity to this idea?

It's a workable method, but you have to be on top of your maintenance at all
times in order to keep nitrates down. Especially since you say you'll be
light on LR at first.
Whether or not you can ever remove the bioballs will be completely dependent
on the total amount of LR. If you have enough to support the systems
bioload, then you could remove the BBs at any time (slowly, of course). If
you never install enough LR to support the load, then you will need to keep
at least some of the bioballs to compensate.

HTH,
Kev