Advise: SW setup for beginner

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M

mastatee

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 18, 2011
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USA
I'm on the process of converting my 90gal FW to SW. What kind of lighting do I need if I'm intend to do mostly live rocks and fishes, might add some corals later on. How many lbs of white live sand and rocks do i need, and please give me others things I might need to establish my sw aquarium
TIA
 
For LR and fish, almost nothing, your rock might not look the best, but if you went with VHO or PC you could keep it looking pretty.

I always recommend MH, but LED is making good strides, and people are having success.
 
mastatee;5004942; said:
I'm on the process of converting my 90gal FW to SW. What kind of lighting do I need if I'm intend to do mostly live rocks and fishes, might add some corals later on. How many lbs of white live sand and rocks do i need, and please give me others things I might need to establish my sw aquarium
TIA
Click to expand...

+1 to Fleshy on the lighting.

I recommend keeping your sand bed under an inch, so something like 30 lbs. or so should do the trick. I believe I have 20 lbs. in my 75(same footprint). Do not buy "live sand" however. It is a waste of money and is not alive. Save the money and just buy the dry sand in the type you want. The live rock you buy will seed it in time.

As far as amount of live rock, that is up to you. Based on the look you want and the fish you intend to keep the amount will vary some. You want to maintain an open rockscape when you do buy the rock, with plenty of caves and nooks and crannies. I also recommend stacking your rock down the middle of the tank and not against the back wall. Putting rock on the back wall creates lots of dead zones for wastes to build up that you cannot clean.

What are you planning on filtering the tank with? Have any ideas on the fish you want yet?
 
nonstophoops;5007134; said:
+1 to Fleshy on the lighting.

I recommend keeping your sand bed under an inch, so something like 30 lbs. or so should do the trick. I believe I have 20 lbs. in my 75(same footprint). Do not buy "live sand" however. It is a waste of money and is not alive. Save the money and just buy the dry sand in the type you want. The live rock you buy will seed it in time.

As far as amount of live rock, that is up to you. Based on the look you want and the fish you intend to keep the amount will vary some. You want to maintain an open rockscape when you do buy the rock, with plenty of caves and nooks and crannies. I also recommend stacking your rock down the middle of the tank and not against the back wall. Putting rock on the back wall creates lots of dead zones for wastes to build up that you cannot clean.

What are you planning on filtering the tank with? Have any ideas on the fish you want yet?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. I'm currently have the wet/dry filter (superflow model 3) with bottom drilled tank and that the reason why I want to convert the tank into SW. As for the fishes I might go with something that easy to maintain and cheap due to the fact that I'm a beginner, you have any suggestion of what kind of fishes are suitable? Also, do I need a quarantine tank for new fishes before I add then to the tank? So you saying just buy a normal sand should do the trick?
thanks in advance
 
FLESHY;5006154; said:
For LR and fish, almost nothing, your rock might not look the best, but if you went with VHO or PC you could keep it looking pretty.

I always recommend MH, but LED is making good strides, and people are having success.
Click to expand...
Thanks FLESHY. May I ask, what MH stand for? what is the cheapest model of LED if I want to go that path.

thanks
 
MH stands for metal halide.

Search, for reeffiltration on google, they have some great units that they are selling in small batches over on reef2reef, and they might have them up on their site.

www.reefkoi.com is another site with some cheap units, but people have been reporting good success I guess you will just have to get over there and check them out!
 
Otherone;5008846; said:
Best advise - listen to these guys they've been a god send for me.
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You are too kind! I stick around this salt section because I just hope that we can all help each other and have a positive experience.

Some (unnamed) reefing sites are incredibly hard to squeeze information out of, and are often quite cynical I find. Unless you are a member of the good ole boys club your questions are stupid, and your threads arent worth anyone's time. Not the same here in our little MFK community.
 
FLESHY;5007896; said:
MH stands for metal halide.

Search, for reeffiltration on google, they have some great units that they are selling in small batches over on reef2reef, and they might have them up on their site.

www.reefkoi.com is another site with some cheap units, but people have been reporting good success I guess you will just have to get over there and check them out!
Click to expand...
FLESHY, You think this http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/prod/251384/product.web is what I need? or you have any suggestion?
I just wanted to make sure I get the right lighting
thanks
 
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