bigb51212

OK, Just starting to finally get into salt water so its time to have some fun but i only have a 30gal tank i have had sitting around and just resealed but i know i eventually want a 75-100 gal tank my question is can i buy equipment for the higher gallon tanks and us it in the 30gal? I know not to use the higher powerheads that will make the water to crazy in their and heater of course. But pretty much everything else a trickle down filter/sump, protien skimmer, uv sterilzer, canister filter and so on. so any budys input will help me alot but if not i guess ill stick to the books and go old school.

pepetj

Hi bigb51212: Welcome to Fishlore!

Unfortunately, a 30gal is considered a Nano SW and most equipment needed to run a Nano is likely to be too small for 75-100gal. The opposite is also most likely true, equipment for 75-100gal SW is probably too big for a Nano SW.

The info I have, as newby, is that canister filters are not suitable for SW (would require insanely frequent maintenance or become a nitrate factory). UV Sterilizer (and I use UV in some FW tanks) is not really needed. The rule of thumb for sump is to go with the biggest you can set up and protein skimmer usually require some adjustment regarding the tank setting (of which the total volume of water is one of the variables).

Lighting needs will depend on the type of SW you aim to keep: On one end, a simple Fish Only With live rock (FOWLR) can go with standard lights but special lighting is needed to keep most reef tanks.

Given the tendency to enter into Multi Tank Syndrome (MTS) I suggest you set your 30gal as Nano and then set the bigger tank so you keep both running.

bigb51212

sorry i forgot to post that, i was going to go with a live fiji rock fish only tank

aquarist48

Hello BigB and Welcome to Fish Lore. I'm sure you'll get some great responses from our salt tank members. Hope you can share some photos along the way
Ken

MizRamzi

Well you could get the 100 and use the 30 for a sump! Use the 30 for FOWLR. Use the 75 or the 100 for a reef tank. 75 reef with 30 sump. 30 frag tank. Ok I'll stop.

bigb51212

ok i did some more reading and i think it might be easyer and cheaper just to set up a refugium for this tank using my vary vary old 10gallon freshwater tank instead of using alot of the other equipment thanks though guys for the welcom and the advice im sure i will be talking to you soon and my camera is broken so when i get a new one i will post picks of the progress and also my freshwater tank to....