MonteCarloZ38

I finally moved all my freshwater fish to my old 29gal tank and using my 75gal as saltwater.
So far this is what I have: 30lb of live sand and 30lb of collected beach sand (total 60lb of sand). About 10lb of live rock (total goal is 100lb but cant afford it right now).

The tank is cycling right now and I am taking my time with it since there is no filtration or power head. I purchased a AQUACLEAR powerhead 70 (400gph) on ebay for 31$ and Fluval 405 canister filter (300gph) for 120$. I think that should be enough water circulation using the 10x factor.

My question is: Since the Fluval 405 has 4 trays, can I use 1 for sponge and 3 for bio, will this be enough biological filtration if I just have 10lb of live rock and maybe 1 clown fish, 1 tang and 1 foxface? I will add more live rock latter but 5$/lb is too much for me right now.

Also I have a airpump for 100gal, do I need to use it or will the filter provide enough aeration ?

Thank you.

Peterpiper

Hi MonteCarloZ38
Welcome to fishlore,
good move getting the powerhead and canister filter.
In the lowest tray place your bio media.. ie ceramic's etc in the next place your coarse sponge and as you go up in your trays go with finer media.
Each time you add more LR you will have some die off that may put your tank into a mini cycle.... So you may want to think about curing it in a tub.
Most marine tanks use skimmers to remove proteins from the water and to do the O2 exchange... IMO a skimmer is a must for this size marine tank..

sgould

Welcome! Here are some suggestions:

1) Ideally you want 20x tank volume in water flow in a marine tank. Look into another powerhead.

2) I agree with Peterpiper 100% on the protein skimmer. You really do need one.

3) On the canister filter, if you leave the sponges in you will need to be very diligent about pulling them out and cleaning them regularly. Some say once a month, but I would go every 2 weeks. Otherwise they will turn into little nitrate factories on you!

4) If you direct the outflow of either the canister or the powerhead to the surface, no additional aearation should be necessary. You just need to create a surface current...you don't need a geyser or anything.

5) Look into ordering live rock online. As an example, you can order from Live Aquaria, and even with the shipping end up paying $1-2 less per lb. I use that site as an example because I have ordered rock from them twice myself and have been happy both times. Other sites I am sure are just as good.

Best of luck!

MonteCarloZ38

Thank you for all of the info