A Walk To The Salty Side

[lokkochaa]

Ok, so we have decided to redecorate and generally do up our house, I currently have 5 tanks in different rooms. The community tropical is moving to the kitchen and is changing into a bigger discus tank they are close to outgrowing their current home. I am thinking of changing the Discus tank into a reef tank (after being cleaned down etc). I have never had one before and it will look great in the new lounge. So a number of newbie questions (bearing in mind i have kept fish for around ten years)

What essential equipment do i need? Heaters, Skimmers etc?
In a 120L (25 UK gallons) how much substrate will i need?
As above how much live rock will be necessary?
Lighting wise - will 2 marine specific lamps be enough?
Inhabitants - what kind of invertibrates/livestock will i be able to have? Obviously i want this to be the focal point of the room and as pretty/lively as possible?

This will be quite a slow process so i know it will take time to move my other fish, decorate the room, clean out the tank, buy the eqipment, cycle add rocks etc

Thanks

 

[-Nemo-]

Seffie, I'm borrowing your red text in quote boxes idea

Ok, so we have decided to redecorate and generally do up our house, I currently have 5 tanks in different rooms. The community tropical is moving to the kitchen and is changing into a bigger discus tank they are close to outgrowing their current home. I am thinking of changing the Discus tank into a reef tank (after being cleaned down etc). I have never had one before and it will look great in the new lounge. So a number of newbie questions (bearing in mind i have kept fish for around ten years)

What essential equipment do i need? Heaters, Skimmers etc? A heater, skimmer would be good to have and you may also look into a sump/refugium. A sump/refugium is basically a smaller tank connected (plumbing wise) into your display tank. It would hold your skimmer and heater as well as some other stuff. It's basic role is to add more water volume to your entire system and to aid in filtration.

In a 120L (25 UK gallons) how much substrate will i need? For a regular sized sand bed, 14 or 15 kilos will be fine.

As above how much live rock will be necessary? Ideally, 14 kilos will be a good amount of liverock but syou don't necessarily have to start with that much (especially from a financial stand point). Starting with around 7 kilos will get the job done for cycling just as well.

Lighting wise - will 2 marine specific lamps be enough? This question largely depends upon your ideas for coral. If you only want fish, lighting won't matter too much. If you want coral, you should do some research and see what you might want (soft coral and/or hard corals (SPS and LPS). Hard coral have a higher lighting requirement than soft corals do.

Inhabitants - what kind of invertibrates/livestock will i be able to have? Obviously i want this to be the focal point of the room and as pretty/lively as possible? You have lots of choices here. Your first decision will have to be similar to my above comment. What kind of tank do you want? Fish only? Corals? A "community" tank? An aggressive tank?

This will be quite a slow process so i know it will take time to move my other fish, decorate the room, clean out the tank, buy the eqipment, cycle add rocks etc

It's always good to plan ahead

Thanks

 

[lokkochaa]

Hi Nemo, thanks for replying!

I would ideally love a reef tank, i really like the idea of having a small ecosystem in my tank. After looking around i think i would prefer soft corals (seem easier to look after and "move", i would aslo like a number of livestock in there too - hence one of my biggest questions - compatability. There are so many different choices i am wanting to know whats recommended. Its not a huge tank so the larger species are not possible, but i would like a few interesting things in there.

I was aware i need a skimmer, been looking at these already! What ttemerature as a general rule is needed? I currently have my discus at around 30 deg C.

However i wasnt aware about the sump so will start researching these!

 

[-Nemo-]

Lighting: Basic lighting for softies would be Compact Fluorescent lighting. 2 bulbs would be great for softies. Something similar to this: http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13733&pcatid=13733


Temperate: a range of 26-28C is usually good.



Fish: These are just some examples of good reef safe fish there are plenty more out there! A clownfish species, Dwarf angel (some may nip at corals!), Various blennies, various cardinals, firefish, various gobies, hawkfish (caution with these guys, some may go after inverts), Reef-safe Hogfish (like candy hog), various jawfish, various reef-safe wrasses (sixline, fairy wrasses).

Inverts: lots you can do. Various snails, hermit crabs, shrimp etc.

 

[lokkochaa]

Ive always been a bit dubious about open topped lighting hoods, however the lid on mine has 2 tubes in it already so should be fine, also have another powerpoint for another light so sounds like im ok!

Overall doesnt sound like i need to get a huge amount of stuff to set it up - which is good!

Think im going to have to do some research into what is available locally marine wise and speak to some of the staff. My LFS has a good marine section!