MarioG

Good morning all. I am thinking about taking the plunge into saltwater. My wife and I have been talking about it and we believe we are going to start somewhere between a 40 and 55 gallon tank. I just had a few questions if someone would be willing to answer....

I have read about sumps, canister filters, and wheel filters. I would really like to have a sump, but am unsure on how to set it up and cost of buying one could be a factor. For a tank this size would a wheel filter suffice? I was looking at getting a Marine Land.

I am planning on purchasing enough live rock at the same time and use it to cure the tank. Are there any problems with using different types of live rock stacked together?

I also live near a beach and have plenty of sand nearby. This isn't the cleanest or the greatest but it is sand. Would there be any problems with using this type of sand for my aquarium?

For my last question, what type of lighting should I use. I have a budget and everything at once is a pretty heavy expense. I would like to get something that will provide enough light for the rock. What price range should I be looking at?

Thank you for taking the time to read this.... any advice would really help me out.

Peterpiper

Morning? its 5.30pm in Perth WA..
Hello and welcome to fishlore!
Go with the biggest tank you can.. the 55g sounds good, just make sure it has been drilled for the overflow pipe ( its the issue I have now )
Here's a good link to get ya started
http://www.fishlore.com/SaltwaterAquariumSetup.htm
IMO Canister filters are the way to go.
No issue mixing LR.
No beach sand if its dirty and been exposed to pollution.
The lighting will depend on what you will have in the tank..
So what are you thinking of keeping?

sgould

Just adding on...

In the short term, you can use just standard flourescent lighting if all you have in the tank is rock and fish. Longer term, as Peterpiper said, it depends on what you want to keep. If you want to add corals and have a reef tank, you will need to invest in some stronger lighting. I would suggest either T-5 or metal halide. I spent a little over $400 on t-5 lighting for a 55 gallon tank if that helps you plan any. Metal halide could be quite a bit more expensive than that.

MarioG

Thank you for responding. For my tank I would like to start off slow. I just plan on placing rock, sand, and fish in there. I want to place corals, but will wait until I can get the tank established, and look into some decent lighting. Any suggestions on where would be a good fixture to start?

When you said to get it drilled for the overflow, what needs to be drilled?

I purchased a 40 gallon tank today. It killed me to get the 40 instead of the 55, but where we currently live, we just don't have that extra space.

I looked at some canisters, out of rena or fluva what would be a better brand. If you have any suggestions of others, I'm all ears as well.

I have read about power heads and was wondering for a tank this size would 2 be enough, and where should I point them. One of the people at the pet store told me to point it down and in hear I read to point it up. If I place 2 in there should they both be pointing the same way, towards each other? one high one low?

Sorry if these are a lot of questions, I just really want to start off right.


Thanks again

sgould

Both of those canisters are good ones. I went with Rena XP's on my tanks because of the pricing. They work great...nice filters.

On the subject of powerheads...do not think in terms of "how many", but rather in terms of "how much water movement". You should be targeting a minimum of 20x your tank's volume in water movement per hour. With a 40 gallon tank, you want 800 GPH water current in the tank. The powerheads you are looking at will be rated for a GPH rate...buy what you need to acheive the 800 GPH target. You can count the flow from your canister too...so if you get a 250 GPH canister, you only need 550 more from your power heads. When aiming the powerheads, you may need to play around a little to get things right. The idea behind directing one up is to ensure good water flow at the surface, which will help maintain oxygen levels in the tank. If you direct your canister output at the surface, then that will take care of that concern and you can keep your powerheads directed internally. You do need to be sure you have good water movement through your rockwork, as the live rock will be providing the biological filtration for the tank, so direct a powerhead at the rocks. In both of my tanks, I have powerheads on opposite sides of the tank, pointing in towards the center.

Are you planning on a protein skimmer? They are pretty important to a salt tank, so I strongly recommend you include one in your plan. I use Coralife Super Skimmers in my tanks, but there are many other good ones out there. The old adage "you get what you pay for" is very true with skimmers, so don't go with the cheapest thing you can find.

GreenMan13

I would not go with a canister filter and just put that money into getting a better skimmer. A canister filter will not be needed if you are going with enough live rock since it is doing the same function, creating an area for bacteria to grow and remove the nitrite and ammonia.

I would go with a sump if you can. It will not be that pricey but will help a lot if you grow macro algea in it. Try and find a used tank that will fit under the 40 gallon tank in the stand. The only other thing you will really need would be a pump to pump the water back to the main tank. The water will get to the sump from an overflow. A drilled overflow would be the best if you are willing to get the bottom of the tank drilled (of drill it yourself). The flow from the sump would count towards the tank water flow too.

Water flow you will need 10x min in my mind and from what I have read. More does not hurt though unless it is too much velocity in one area which can be fixed with plumbing. The important think other then the number though is making sure you don't have build up of debrie on the bottom of the tank anywhere...so more outlets pointed at more areas are better then fewer outlets only pointed at a couple spots.

MarioG

Thanks
I appreciate all the advice.

I am actually looking into getting the sump. I have changed my mind and decided to get a larger tank. My wife fell in love with the look of a 65 gallon tank so that is what we have decided to go for. I'm going to be getting it reef ready and have been looking into what it takes to make a sump.

I have heard that for reef aquariums it is better to not have a wet dry type of filter, and go with a sump that does not contain a trickle type media. Is this true or hear say?

Do you know of anywhere that it gives a pretty good explanation of what is required to build one? I have been looking for a while and have some ideas but still have some questions.

I don't plan on throwing everything in there as in fish and corals at the beginning. I'm going to start off slow with a few fish and work my way to other things. However, it is expensive and want to be able to make the next step without having to buy all new equipment.

GreenMan13

For sumps...
Melevsreef - look on the left for lots of info.
Baffle Idea - have not tried it but will when I set up my sump.

MonteCarloZ38

If u dont have the extra cash dont drill the tank! I have a fluval 405 which I got on ebay new for 120$
But petsmart.com has a biowheel for 42$, 2 of those would be grate and cheap!
As far as sand, I did the same thing. Got most of my sand from the beach and some live rock. But I would not recommend getting live rock from the beach since it has lots of bad stuff on it too like worms. Look for your stuff on ebay, its very cheap but takes time to get to your house.

agsansoo

I second GreenMan13 recommendation of Melevsreef.com ! I met melev (Marc) this weekend. Very knowledgeable about sump construction.