30G tall salt

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J

Jrob

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Apr 7, 2011
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Michigan
24x12x24--

What kind of lighting would you guys use for a tank this tall....i was looking for a T5-HO fixture, and i found one on aquatraders.com - that had it fairly cheap...just wondering if i needed something with a bit more power because of the height???

Currently there is no water in it at all...but when i get the water in it, i will have an aquaclear 110-is this going to be sufficient enough to filter it..until i can afford a protein skimmer..??

how many lbs of live sand would i need?

how big of a powerhead is required in a tank of my size....??

Lastly,

My water at my house normally tests out to be a ph of 8.2-8.4, but the water is really hard, no chlorine, no nitrates/trites--i was wondering if this would be sufficient for salt....or if i should still import water like i do for my 30 fresh...from a fire station who has 7.5 ph and perfect clarity/quality

Thanks everyone--sorry for so many questions
 
inhabitants were most likely going to be--
1x blue velvet damsel
1x yellow damsel
Until the tank is stable and cycled, then i was going to throw in a few snails, a shrimp or two and maybe an anemone or some coral if the lighting was good..
 
If you go with T5 HO's, you need to get one that has parabolic reflectors that wrap around each bulb. That would add to your lighting intensity... I run 250w metal halides on my 24" deep tank and I run T5's on my 20" deep tank... I have a anemone and sps under the T5's, but they can use some more light than the T5's are providing, so I'm putting led's over it.

You can have a bare bottom tank or 8" of sand... There isn't a requirement for sand. I try to stay around 2" of sand (about 20 lbs for your tank)... With 2" I don't have to worry about any nasties that get accumulated deep in the sand bed getting stirred up and fouling my water, and I still get the fauna in the sand bed...

The aquaclear will be fine, that's what I used when I started in the hobby. Just stay on your water changes weekly to get the proteins out that your skimmer usually pulls.. 10-15% a week... Your live rock will be doing a majority of your filtration.

Your flow will be decided by what you want to keep... SPS likes higher flow, softies and anemones like a little softer flow... Ex. I have a 600 gph PH in my 34g and my return pump is pushing about 300 gph. It just depends on what you want to keep... You want enough flow to keep everything in suspension so your skimmer can get it...

Natural seawater runs at a ph of 8.2, so your water is fine... I would get an RO/DI filter for your reef tank though... If your on city water, they add some stuff in there that your high dollar corals probably will not like... I run one, just because I would rather spend the $100 on a water filter than take the chance of something getting in my water harming thousands of dollars worth of livestock... Hope this helps some....
 
Huladad said:
If you go with T5 HO's, you need to get one that has parabolic reflectors that wrap around each bulb. That would add to your lighting intensity... I run 250w metal halides on my 24" deep tank and I run T5's on my 20" deep tank... I have a anemone and sps under the T5's, but they can use some more light than the T5's are providing, so I'm putting led's over it.

You can have a bare bottom tank or 8" of sand... There isn't a requirement for sand. I try to stay around 2" of sand (about 20 lbs for your tank)... With 2" I don't have to worry about any nasties that get accumulated deep in the sand bed getting stirred up and fouling my water, and I still get the fauna in the sand bed...

The aquaclear will be fine, that's what I used when I started in the hobby. Just stay on your water changes weekly to get the proteins out that your skimmer usually pulls.. 10-15% a week... Your live rock will be doing a majority of your filtration.

Your flow will be decided by what you want to keep... SPS likes higher flow, softies and anemones like a little softer flow... Ex. I have a 600 gph PH in my 34g and my return pump is pushing about 300 gph. It just depends on what you want to keep... You want enough flow to keep everything in suspension so your skimmer can get it...

Natural seawater runs at a ph of 8.2, so your water is fine... I would get an RO/DI filter for your reef tank though... If your on city water, they add some stuff in there that your high dollar corals probably will not like... I run one, just because I would rather spend the $100 on a water filter than take the chance of something getting in my water harming thousands of dollars worth of livestock... Hope this helps some....
Click to expand...

awesome thanks for the info...
the t5's i was looking at were from oddysea
http://www.aquatraders.com/24-inch-4x24W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-p/52303p.htm

ok cool i didnt know if there was a requirement, fauna?? what about excess food and poop, how do you get it out if you have sand..??

10-15% and when i do that the water i add back in should be mixed salt right??

for right now i plan on just keeping some damsels, and a few beginner corals, maybe an anemone and a clown...but nothing too complicated

i just found out that my R/O water only dispenses 2 gallons per hour, so i would actually have to use the 7.5 ph or try to use my well water, which is extremely hard...no city water here...my buddy has it and i wish i did would make life easier...

thanks for the help
 
Fauna is animal life - flora is plants. I believe he is refering to micro-organisms that grow in the sandbed sometimes refered to as "Reef Bugs" not sure fauna was the right term as this stuff is a bacteria. They help clean the sandbed and are said to be 30% of the diet for most corals, clams, cucumbers, etc..

Salt doesn't evaporate - so top off water should be fresh, this stabalizes salinity. W/C's should be saltwater, this stabalizes and refeshes everything else - PH,Cal,Mag,Alk.02

If going for anemones it is suggested to have an established stable tank running for approx. 1 year prior. This gives the tank time to establish a food source for the anemone as well as a strong working bacterial base to convert the nasties. Anemones are also photo-feeders so strong lighting is needed for some, T-5 min.

Your Liverock and sandbed should raise and stablize the PH. so long as you continually use the same water source and slowly acclimate your fish and inverts most should adapt and all will be fine.
 
Otherone said:
Fauna is animal life - flora is plants. I believe he is refering to micro-organisms that grow in the sandbed sometimes refered to as "Reef Bugs" not sure fauna was the right term as this stuff is a bacteria. They help clean the sandbed and are said to be 30% of the diet for most corals, clams, cucumbers, etc..

Salt doesn't evaporate - so top off water should be fresh, this stabalizes salinity. W/C's should be saltwater, this stabalizes and refeshes everything else - PH,Cal,Mag,Alk.02

If going for anemones it is suggested to have an established stable tank running for approx. 1 year prior. This gives the tank time to establish a food source for the anemone as well as a strong working bacterial base to convert the nasties. Anemones are also photo-feeders so strong lighting is needed for some, T-5 min.

Your Liverock and sandbed should raise and stablize the PH. so long as you continually use the same water source and slowly acclimate your fish and inverts most should adapt and all will be fine.
Click to expand...

ok thanks for the dictionary lol..i had no clue..as long as they are good thats all i need to know hahaha
ok i thought that, just had to make sure..
ok cool good to know..
awesome, i just didnt want the 7.5 ph to murder my fish...it wont kill the rock 'fauna'? lol
 
today i purchased
20lbs live black/white argonite sand..
hydrometer
50lbs salt
powerhead 500gph
thermometer

i also tested my water when i got home...straight from the bathtub-(pool test strips...ran out of fish ones ..fml)
0 chlorine
0 bromine
7.8-8.4 ph
180+ alkalinity
0 stabilizer
100ish total hardness

so can anyone see a problem with using this water to start the tank with???
i plan on using my r/o water to do water top offs with that, because that only dispenses 2 gph
 
Loose the Pool Test Kit it is useless for fishtanks. Of all the things that can be tested right now all you need worry about is Salinity - for anemones and other inverts - 1.025 is a good stable reading. It will take forever for your tank to cycle thru with a powerfilter and sand. Add 20-30lb's of Liverock - this is your key biolgical filter. Then test for PH, Ammonia, Nitate and Nitrite.

And just an FYI 180+ ppm Alk for a pool is very high - should be between 80-120 ppm - but but all that cal and mag may be very good for a reef tank.
 
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