New to SW and have some questions

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C

Cobizzle

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 16, 2008
32
1
0
Connecticut
Hey guys and gals, I have been keep freshwater fish for about 10 years now and I feel I am fairly experienced in the freshwater aspect of the hobby. I have always wanted a Salt Water tank and now I think I am going to make the switch and set up my 75 gallon as a saltwater tank.

Because the tank was set up as a freshwater, I found i was getting sufficient filtration out of two HOB Aquaclear 110s. Can those filters be used for SW? I am not very familiar with saltwater and as far as I know, the best setups for saltwater are ones which are drilled with overflow boxes.

Also, what is the difference in equipment needed between having a FOWLR, a FO and a Reef? I realize that Reef is the most involved and I would be spending a considerable amount of money to get the lights, wet/dry protein skimmer etc....

If anyone could lend some advice as to what would be good equipment to have for the tank would be useful.

Thanks!

-Cobizzle
 
you could get away with your AC110's for your fowlr or fo and reef. lighting is really the only difference between a reef setup and a FOWLR and FO tanks. what is your plan anyway? if its reef i would use 1 ac110 for mechanical only then a few powerheads for water movement. if you can get your tank drilled that would be best IMO more water makes a reef tank easier to maintain.
 
I would really like to do a reef but as already noted, I'm not sure how to go about getting the tank drilled...I also dont like the HOB overflow boxes...im hesitant in case a seal ever lets loose with those. They seem to be more trouble than they are worth...what type of lights would a need for a reef tank compared to a FO or a FOWLR?
 
FO tank would only require a standard compact flourescent fixture, FOWLR would require something a little more powerfull, you could get away with high output compact flourescent with like a 50/50 bulb just make sure you have the correct kalven rating for salt water. and for a reef you could go 2 ways if you are willing to spend more money you could go with a metal halide setup which IMO is the best but you could get away with a simple HO compact flourscent like coral life makes but you would be limited on which corals you could have.
 
Thank you very much for the information...How should I go about getting the tank drilled? I would really like to have this done as I think it is a much better way of filtering the water.

-Cobizzle
 
well i would take it to any class manufacturing facility im sure they will drill it for you. if not just do a google search lol that always works for me. good luck reef tanks are soooo much fun you find something new everyday and find yourself a good reef fourm like 3reef.com there are alot of stickies and articles that you will learn alot from.
 
for FO the lights don't matter cuz there is nothing photosynthetic
Same for FOWLR
For Reef you can use T5's, CF, or MH

You can use the filters on saltwater too
If you want, turn 1 of them into a refugium
 
live rock is alive and requires light in order to filter the bioload of the tank. t5's are an absolute min when it comes to a reef you will need alot of tubes to have enough light. as far as the filter you will only NEED it for mechanical on a reef tank. your live rock filters your bio.
 
Live rock is called live rock because it has beneficial bacteria already living on it which complete the nitrogen cycle. The bacteria do not need light to survive. They need a source of ammonia, which are the fish and invertabrates. T5's are actually very good sources of light, almost as good as MH. Mechanical filtration is not needed in a reef tank because the waste is eaten by detrivores. You only need to occationaly get the waste off the rock with a turkey baster
 
your live rock will not thrive under standard flourscent lighting simple as that. cobizzle is looking to start a reef tank so this argument is useless. i'm simply suggesting what i think would help him have a succesfull reef and what has worked for me.
 
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