Setup Advice

[mattyd1701]

Hi All

im looking into starting up a reef tank for the first time after having a tropical setup going for a while i got my eye on this tank River Reef Aquarium 48L and thought it would be a good place to start off its a 48l tank so its about 10-11ish gallons i think.

2 questions i have seen these tanks setup and a few videos on youtube but none that i have seen have used a Powerhead, does it really needed to have a Powerhead or will the filter do a good enough job circulating the water?

and how much Live rock should i use? i dont want to make it over crowded with rock just want a good moderate amount to make it look nice

any suggestions on what coral would be a great help aswell planning on having 2 clown fish in there if there ok with that size tank

and any advice to start with would be great aswell

thanks in advance

 

[lljdma06]

Hi All

im looking into starting up a reef tank for the first time after having a tropical setup going for a while i got my eye on this tank River Reef Aquarium 48L and thought it would be a good place to start off its a 48l tank so its about 10-11ish gallons i think.

2 questions i have seen these tanks setup and a few videos on youtube but none that i have seen have used a Powerhead, does it really needed to have a Powerhead or will the filter do a good enough job circulating the water?

and how much Live rock should i use? i dont want to make it over crowded with rock just want a good moderate amount to make it look nice

any suggestions on what coral would be a great help aswell planning on having 2 clown fish in there if there ok with that size tank

and any advice to start with would be great aswell

thanks in advance

1st question - go for 1-2lbs or LR per gallon. You can't think of puttiing LR to make a tank nice. LR becomes your most important biological filter in your tank and it's extremely important that you have enough of it for longterm success.

2nd question - what coral you get depends on your lighting. I don't know the lighting in a River reef, I'm not UK. Do you know the lighting?

Advice to start, go slow, read up, do your own research. While forums are great, it's always good to actually read books on the subject.

Welcome to the salty side.

L

 

[ALW]

Hi All

im looking into starting up a reef tank for the first time after having a tropical setup going for a while i got my eye on this tank River Reef Aquarium 48L and thought it would be a good place to start off its a 48l tank so its about 10-11ish gallons i think.

2 questions i have seen these tanks setup and a few videos on youtube but none that i have seen have used a Powerhead, does it really needed to have a Powerhead or will the filter do a good enough job circulating the water?

and how much Live rock should i use? i dont want to make it over crowded with rock just want a good moderate amount to make it look nice

any suggestions on what coral would be a great help aswell planning on having 2 clown fish in there if there ok with that size tank

and any advice to start with would be great aswell

thanks in advance

1st: TBH yes, in a marine tank we aim for around 20x turnover. You can you the powerhead on the filter but I would use any of the media. They cause more problems than solve. Filtration on a marine tank works differently to a freshwater tank.

2nd: As llj has already said LR, live sand and Macro algae's are a marine tanks filtration. For that size tank you will need around 5-7.5kg

3rd: As for corals, well I don’t really know what lighting is on the river reef. You should be ok with some soft corals like Leathers, Xenia and Mushrooms.

Again as llj says do plenty of reading it always helps to plan things out.

 

[MBOU]

Lighting is 2 x Compact t5s on a River Reef with a few low wattage LEDs.

Softies like Leathers, mushrooms, riccordea, zoas and so on would be good....

Though be carefull with leather corals and toadstools as they do grow huge and its only a tiny tank...

If you can go for the River Reef 94, it will give you a lot more space!

 

[mattyd1701]

as said by MBOU the lighting is 2 x Compact T5's with i think its 8 Blue Low Power LED's

i would love to go for the bigger size tank but as this tank is going into my bedroom space is a issue so the 48 would be a nice little fit into the corner of the room.

and i will most deffos take a look at some other forums and guides and see what they say if anybody has any knowledge of any websites/books that have helped them in the past and when they first started up it would be a great help aswell

the problem i think i will come against later on is where will i get my live rock/corals/fish i live in the Northumberland Area of the UK and to my knowledge the only local pet stores i know only deal with Cold water and Tropical fish and i don't really want to buy Rock/Coral/Fish over the internet so if anybody in and around the Northumberland/Newcastle area knows any dealers who sell live rock/coral/fish could you drop me there address/number etc so i can check them out it would be a great help and much appreciated

thanks for all your input... i suppose i better make a few hours free and make google my new best friend

Oh and a Merry Christmas To You All