looking to start a reef tank out of a 60 gal hexagon tank?

fox3794

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 26, 2009
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norton, ma
a few months ago i took down my freshwater set up in the 60 gallon tank, and am thinking of starting to get into salt water and ultimately having a self sustainable reef.

so im fairly new to salt water, and basically the only equipment i have for this project so far are the tank and stand. the light is certainly not strong enough, and i am wondering what would be a good light to use for corals/anemone? will the tank be too deep to grow the corals with, or would a t5 be sufficient? also what would be good starter corals/anemones?

as for protien skimmers i am quite clueless as to what kind is necessary for a 60 gal, and is there any other equipment i would need?

also for filtration, i see on youtube that many people with reef tanks have a sump set up, are canister filters not ment for a reef tank? sorry if thats a stupid question, i would like to set up a sump, but i am not too familiar with them, and have never used one. any information as to why people use them and how to set one up would be much appreciated!

if i left out any important things for setting up a new saltwater tank please let me know!

thanks,
drew:nilly:
 

Otherone

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 2, 2009
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Lancaster,PA USA
T-5 will be fine for Soft corals and most sps corals - HOB protein skimmers will be hard to find for hex tanks however with a sump it will be no problem to fit one inside it. Sump - more room for mechanical + granular filtration need to scrub the water in a reef environment - also ease of access to these equipment's.

Good starter corals - mushrooms good, starter anemones BTA ( bubble tip)
 

fox3794

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 26, 2009
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norton, ma
sweet thanks for the help, im going with a sump made out of a 20 long, is it likely that a 60 gal. hexagon tank would have tempered glass? ive read only non-tempered glass can be drilled?
 

Amaroq

Candiru
MFK Member
Jul 1, 2007
490
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In The Little Town Of Bedrock!
I personally prefer the use of HOB overflows rather than having a tank drilled. Drilling it almost always reduces the value of the aquarium when you go to sell it later down the road. Eshopps is a solid brand for HOB overflows, not to mention their prices are hard to beat. Make sure you don't buy a overflow that requires some sort of pump to keep air out of the U pipes, like CPR ones. Reason being when the included Aqualifter pump fails air will collect in the U pipes and eventually stopping the siphon, thus causing your tank to overflow from your return pump continuing to pump water into your tank.
 

ckcdrummer

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 21, 2012
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CA
I personally prefer the use of HOB overflows rather than having a tank drilled. Drilling it almost always reduces the value of the aquarium when you go to sell it later down the road. Eshopps is a solid brand for HOB overflows, not to mention their prices are hard to beat. Make sure you don't buy a overflow that requires some sort of pump to keep air out of the U pipes, like CPR ones. Reason being when the included Aqualifter pump fails air will collect in the U pipes and eventually stopping the siphon, thus causing your tank to overflow from your return pump continuing to pump water into your tank.
I would have to agree actually, that makes sense. I have an eshopps PF-300 and it's great. The only upside to having a drilled overflow Is that you don't have to worry about the syphon breaking which could cause in a few gallons of water on your floor.


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