Planning Nano Reef

[tahneen]

ok so for years i have been dreaming of owning my own sw tank and now im going to go for it!
ok so I have a spare 29g tank with heater and filter that came with the tank.
so is a protein slkimmer all i need for hardware or do i need a special filter.
oh and I almost forgot do I need a new light/hood
this tank use to house a pair of convict chiclids

I know its a little early to think of but what could I house in there
2 clowns, small goby and some cardinal ???

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, first question: Fish Only (FO), Fish Only With Live Rock (FOWLR), or Reef?

 

[tahneen]

well im thinking id like to get some live rock first then some clean up crew and maby after a couple months some coral

 

[SkiFletch]

Skimmers and special filters not really needed for a tank that small, waterchanges will suffice. You will need to upgrade your lighting to keep corals though. What type of corals were you thinking about?

Also, TBH, your largest challenge with a 29g is aquascaping the tank. As a 29 is not very wide front to back, having a thick enough base to support rockwork can be difficult to say the least. Hope you're up to the challenge

 

[steelhealr]

Agreed....a 20 long would be easier. Start in the FAQ section to get going. There is protein skimmer link in there too. SH

 

[tahneen]

well I have a 25g that is 30"longx13"widex16"tall and it has a heater and a submersalble filter that kickes out a pretty good current
but it doesnt have a hood or light, but i guess thats good because id just be getting a new one
well for the next couple of weeks it will be pure reasurch until I go down south in spring break to snorkel in the carribean!!!!!!!
oh and I have some konk shells, would they be good in there with the fish

p.s. I live on a small island and there is only one store that sells marine stuff so if I wish to get more harder to find stuff ill have to ship for it.

 

[SkiFletch]

Shells seem to be detritus magnets, I tend to remove all mine. Just personal oppinion though

 

[tahneen]

ok so for the past 5 days Ive been reasurching non-stop and found pretty much everything I need
if I need something else or if I dont need something please tell me and Im open to suggestions
well I was talking to a friend of mine who got all his stuff from ebay so I decided that Id get my light and skimmer of of there.

the light is a Jebo 30" light for low to moderate lighting for corals
the skimmer is a BOYU 120l/h
the hydrometre will be a Instant OCEAN
and my power heads will most likly picked up localy along with some sea salt

I already have multiple heaters and im not to sure on what to do about filtration
as many sites tell me the skimmer is all i need while others say I need a sump
I am open to suggestions and will apprecitate them greatly

 

[SkiFletch]

On a tank that small with presumably low-light corals, I wouldn't bother with a skimmer. Waterchanges will suffice here. I would however reccomend looking for powerheads online. In-store prices are WAY high 9 times out of 10. Try bigalsonline.com or ebay even. There's another canadian hardware distributor but I forget the name of it atm . Last word of caution, those instant ocean swing-arm hydrometers are rampant POS's. Not worth their weight in plastic IMO. It WILL drift on you over time. If you do choose this hydrometer, you will have to verify/calibrate it often. I'd suggest an ebay refractometer. Calibrate it once (since they're usually a bit off) and you won't have to do it again but maybe once a year.

Last thought, what are you using for your water source?

 

[tahneen]

thanks ski, I spent two hours readiing your journal and truely I think you should write a book about it
well Im kind of confused on 2 parts firstly
what tank do I use- the 25 has the same foot print pretty much but shorter than the 29
the 29 is 19" tall and the 25 is 15 or would a standard 10g be better but it will limit my fish
The second thing is Im still unsure on filtration, would the filter that came with it be enough
oh and what is the powerhead for other than a current for the coral
thanks for the help I realy apprectiate it

 

[SkiFletch]

The 25 would be easier to aquascape thats for sure... Would get my vote

If you're going to house corals, presumably you'll have Live Rock in the tank. LR is all the biological filtration the tank needs. You can buy a small canister or HOB for chemical filtration (carbon, phosphate remover, etc), but you won't need it for biologic. The powerhead provides flowrate so that corals can breathe, and provides flow to the bacteria and other beneficial organisms living on the LR. The natural reef is a very turbulent environment, and we're trying to simulate that in our tanks, hence the need for more flow than people are accustomed to with FW

 

[tahneen]

so for hardware all I need is a powerhead and a light since I have the heater and HOB
thanks for the help

 

[tahneen]

ahhhh
Ski said somthing about water source
I know you cant use tap water so I plan on buying 5g jugs of spring water then mix my own sw
is this recomended, what other ways can this be down
and if I have to get water from an established sw tank this might be hard as there are very few ppl with sw tanks on my island other than my lfs
all comments will be appreciated

 

[SkiFletch]

Dont buy "spring" water, its often just carbon filtered tapwater. As such it can contain nitrates, phosphates, silicates, or copper, all of which are potentially bad. If you do want to use store-bought water, you need "distilled" water.

 

[tahneen]

hey what other sources can I get it from
well today I had a bad experience with a store clerk at my lfs today and she was just so rude and she even watched me from outside the strore as I left
it was not a good experience but there is one clerck there who is realy good
oh yea and they wanted $100 for a 400gph powerhead that u can get online for like $30
would this be enough for my 25g-400gph