Changing To The Salty Side At Last

[bristolsparks]

Hi guys

Hope you can give me some pointers into what extra equipment i would need to change to the salty side. I would like to keep some fish, live rock and some small soft corals.

I currently have a Roma 200 tank, 100x40x55cm, 200 litres. I am running freshwater setup with a fluval 205 external filter, 200w heater, 2 x T8 lights

I understand i need to completely start again with the tank, just would like some advice on extra equipment i will need for a tank of that size.

LFS siad i would need another fluval 205 running and a protien skimmer,different lights, anything else?

thanks for you help in advance

 

[-Nemo-]

You don't need a fluval at all. The live rock will essentially be doing the same thing (and a better job at doing it).
Other than that, are you planning any kind of sump? I'd at least look into one as they are quite nice and handy to have.
If not, the only other thing I can think to add to your list is 2 or 3 powerheads. You want about 20x turn over an hour. So basically you want 4000LPH (liters per hour) in total.

 

[bristolsparks]

well if i dont need the fluval 205 filter i would have a little room in the roma 200 cabinet to hold a sump. How big of a sump would you reconmend for a 200 litre tank?
i guess i would need somewhere around 25KG of live rock?
Would i need a protien skimmer on gthe sump as i would like to have some soft coral?
Also i have T8 lights so i would need to convert to marine, which one would you say i go for?

anything else?

thanks for your help

 

[-Nemo-]

A 75-90L would make a nice sized sump.
25KG would be a good amount.

Yes, still would go with a protein skimmer there are kinds which sit inside the sump so look for ones like that. Just make sure it will infact fit in there!

You said you want just soft corals, but take a look at some of the hard corals. Eventually you may want some and regret not getting a better light. AK claims that over there you guys can get Metal halide floodlights for cheap. That would be great for hard corals. Otherwise, T5s would be good.