Reassurance Needed

[fishyidealist]

Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum and to marine tanks. I have kept a 30 gallon (I'm in the US) tropical tank for many years, and I seem to have a green thumb for it. I recently had to breakdown the tank, and now that it's been dry for many months, I want to start it up as a reef tank.

I've done a lot of reading, but I want to make sure I understand a few things. I apologize if this is a repeat of other posts, but I've tried to go through as many newbie posts as possible before resorting to my own.

1. I successfully used an undergravel filter in the tropical tank. Can I use that same one for marine, or is there a different marine undergravel?

2. Along the same lines, I used a Whisper filter on the tropical tank. Now, I know I can't use that for the marine, but do I need to replace it something else if I plan to use the undergravel and live rock?

3. There is no way I can do a sump. Is that going to hurt my tank?

4. The hood of my tropical tank has two long lights, but I know they won't cut it (I plan on one coral and lots o' live rock). Will the marine lights fit in standard hoods? And what would you suggest?

So you know what I'm envisioning...

30 gallon, sand base, live rock (used to cycle tank), two captive bred clowns, one coral (one that the clowns might adopt), one pompom crab (they are hilarious), one cleaner shrimp, and a little clean-up crew.

I hope this makes sense. My morning coffee hasn't worked its way through me yet!

Many thanks.

 

[Matthew5664]

Hello and Welcome,

I'll try with some of your qusetions.

1> Undergravel Filters UGF aren't any good with marean tanks youd be better off taking out the rised tebe and leaving the sand as a Deep sand bed DSB and using the powerhead for flow. Your filtration will cosist of Live Rock LR.

2> you could use the whisper as a refugeum or for chemical filteration (Carbon and posphat remover)

3>No you don't need to have a sump

4>Yes you ccan change the bulbs for Marine white/ blue ones (don't know any in the US)

Stocking sounds good

 

[fishyidealist]

Hello and Welcome,

I'll try with some of your qusetions.

1> Undergravel Filters UGF aren't any good with marean tanks youd be better off taking out the rised tebe and leaving the sand as a Deep sand bed DSB and using the powerhead for flow. Your filtration will cosist of Live Rock LR.

2> you could use the whisper as a refugeum or for chemical filteration (Carbon and posphat remover)

3>No you don't need to have a sump

4>Yes you ccan change the bulbs for Marine white/ blue ones (don't know any in the US)

Stocking sounds good

Thanks! I was just looking at your extensive tank posting. Very cool! I appreciate your advice. I'll ditch the UGF and stick with live rock only.

Man, I love this forum!

 

[Chac]

1. I successfully used an undergravel filter in the tropical tank. Can I use that same one for marine, or is there a different marine undergravel?

NO UG FILTER

2. Along the same lines, I used a Whisper filter on the tropical tank. Now, I know I can't use that for the marine, but do I need to replace it something else if I plan to use the undergravel and live rock?

As Matty says look in to using it as a Ref

3. There is no way I can do a sump. Is that going to hurt my tank?

NO - not a nesessity

4. The hood of my tropical tank has two long lights, but I know they won't cut it (I plan on one coral and lots o' live rock). Will the marine lights fit in standard hoods? And what would you suggest?

Marine Lighting will fit in your hood, you may have to Mod it but they will get in there, unless you want to get Halides or a Luminaire

30 gallon, sand base, live rock (used to cycle tank), two captive bred clowns, one coral (one that the clowns might adopt), one pompom crab (they are hilarious), one cleaner shrimp, and a little clean-up crew.

I hope this makes sense. My morning coffee hasn't worked its way through me yet!

Loos like a plan

 

[SkiFletch]

to the salty side of life.

Sounds like you've got a great grasp of things here. I'll just comment on the sump issue. Your tank at 30gals is technically a nano and the benefits recieved from using a sump will not be all that great. As a general rule of thumb sumps are good things to have on tanks ~50 gallons and up. Its a nice option on a nano but not required, especially not for what you're planning on . Good luck and make sure you post pics and feel free to ask questions.

What lighting and corals were you considering?

 

[fishyidealist]

to the salty side of life.

Sounds like you've got a great grasp of things here. I'll just comment on the sump issue. Your tank at 30gals is technically a nano and the benefits recieved from using a sump will not be all that great. As a general rule of thumb sumps are good things to have on tanks ~50 gallons and up. Its a nice option on a nano but not required, especially not for what you're planning on . Good luck and make sure you post pics and feel free to ask questions.

What lighting and corals were you considering?

Thanks to everyone for their encouragement. You guys rock!

I was thinking of a soft coral (I like the look of them), but I know many need a lot of light. To be honest, I haven't figured out the lighting issue yet. I don't want to go crazy (can't afford it), so I was thinking about HO Flourescent, because it runs cooler (so I've read). Is that right? Would that be okay for the coral? I could keep the coral higher up to give it the intensity, but I don't know if the flourescent would give the right spectrum.

I will definitely do pics, but I must warn you that I probably won't put this together for a few months. I don't have the funds to buy all at once, so I'm going to slowly buy supplies every time I find some extra cash. I'm pretty excited though.

Thanks again!

 

[Lynden]

In a tank like yours, I would reccomend either PC (Power Compact) or T5 HO. I don't think that T5s are that special though, just upgraded flourescents. Metal Halides are the most powerful; they are very good lights. That is, if you don't mind getting your skin burnt to the case whenever you touch it However, the last line in my signature is probably worth a read IT'S TRUE!

-Lynden