Thinking Of Going Reef Tank, Is My Tank Too Small?

[Jeff000]

Hi, I want to start by saying I am just now looking into what it takes for a saltwater tank.

I have a 37 US Gallon Tank, 18"x20"x26" tall. I find its awkward with freashwater.
I know the smaller the tank the harder it is, but figure this might not be too bad. The current fish would go to a good home.

I have an Ehiem canister filter, I dont know if those work for reef or not, but I havent looked into that part yet, just more looking on wheather my tank is good or not.

Thanks.

 

[Eelzor]

Hey Jeffz, welcome to the dark side of aquariums - saltwater

Sounds like the tank your describing is a bit like a cube shape? If you've done your research on how to startup a SW tank (heaps of useful pinned threads here), then that tank is fine and your good to go. I'm not entirely sure if maybe you should pick certain fish for the tallness of that tank, I personally don't think it should matter - just as long as the fish are small and suited for a 37G. 18"x20"x26" isn't too bad imo.

You've mentioned 'reef' in your post, so I take it from that your going to get corals, a few fish and inverts perhaps. Unfortunatly the eheim will not be a good choice for filtration as in reefs your main source of filtration is natural - the Live Rock, and eheim external filtration canisters tend to keep a lot of nitrates stored.

For filtration most here will recommend sumps, refugiums, etc. If you can afford this then by all means it would be the premium form of filtration on that tank. Other cheaper options are hang-on biowheel filters and some wet/dry filters. Depending on what your stock is, that would also have an effect on what equipment you need. (For reef I would probably assume you'd want the best out there)

But regarding your main question, yes that tank will be fine.

Edit: And one last thing, no tank is too small for reef I've seen them as small as 1L.

 

[Jeff000]

Hey Jeffz, welcome to the dark side of aquariums - saltwater

Sounds like the tank your describing is a bit like a cube shape? If you've done your research on how to startup a SW tank (heaps of useful pinned threads here), then that tank is fine and your good to go. I'm not entirely sure if maybe you should pick certain fish for the tallness of that tank, I personally don't think it should matter - just as long as the fish are small and suited for a 37G. 18"x20"x26" isn't too bad imo.

You've mentioned 'reef' in your post, so I take it from that your going to get corals, a few fish and inverts perhaps. Unfortunatly the eheim will not be a good choice for filtration as in reefs your main source of filtration is natural - the Live Rock, and eheim external filtration canisters tend to keep a lot of nitrates stored.

For filtration most here will recommend sumps, refugiums, etc. If you can afford this then by all means it would be the premium form of filtration on that tank. Other cheaper options are hang-on biowheel filters and some wet/dry filters. Depending on what your stock is, that would also have an effect on what equipment you need. (For reef I would probably assume you'd want the best out there)

But regarding your main question, yes that tank will be fine.

Edit: And one last thing, no tank is too small for reef I've seen them as small as 1L.

Thanks for the reply

I think after reading everything the part that I didnt understand the most is this

"Once you get over a pound per gallon of live rock, you can remove all filter media. The live rock will harbor all the beneficial bacteria you need, and the skimmer will remove the excess organic compounds. Also, if your live rock has not successfully seeded your deep sand bed,(DSB), you will want to get a bag of live sand. This will introduce "critters" into your system. You are shooting for an ecological balance. You will need crabs, snails, sea cucombers, brittle stars, etc. Normally called a clean-up crew. You can get good package deals on these"

Does that mean I could do with just a skimmer? and the tank would self clean enough to do without a pump?
I guess its just a bit confusing to me.
I figure it wouldnt be hard to get above 1lb per gallon, esspecially if I cover the whole back.

The tank is a tall cube, (virtical rectangle), so there isnt much space under in the stand to hide things. and 3 sides are viewable, the back is in a corner thats like 135 degrees so only a little bit to hide things behind too.

A couple of the corals I want are bubble coral, candy coral, some anemones (I think thats the right name).
I like the electric scallop, but they said its alot of maintience.
My gf wants a clown fish to name nemo, lol
And the lfs has a green mandarin goby that I really like.
But I havent looked into the actual fish part yet, or how many would fit, but I figure a few colorfull ones that stay small would be good.

Also the lfs has a "tank cleaner kit" it has
10 - Cerith Snails
05 - Nassarius Snails
10 - Nerite Snails
01 - Queen Conch
01 - Sand Sifting Starfish
10 - Mexican Turbo Snails
10 - blue leg hermit crab
10 - Mexican Red Leg Hermits
01 - Cleaner Shrimp

They said it would be good for the type of tank I want. They said a couple of them can get big, but said when I think one it too big for my tank they will exchange for a smaller one at no charge (as larger ones are worth more).


EDIT: for the water, it seems when setting it up tap water is fine, but for water changes use water that has been filtered via reverse osmosis, right?
Can I use ro water from the grocery store? its about half the price as the lfs. and its closer to me. Although the lsf is only a different way home.

EDIT2: for water movment, how would I do that with a taller tank then long? I dont have that much room to be putting powerheads all over, and the water doesnt have far to go.

 

[SkiFletch]

The ideal filtration is Live Rock (1lb/gallon minimum) coupled with enough powerheads to turn the tank over 20x per hour and a skimmer. Canisters, hang-ons, undergravel filters, and trickle filters are not used in marine aquaria since they can all lead to undesireable nitrates down the road. LR has the ability to complete the nitrogen cycle and process nitrate, hence its used prefferentially. THe powerheads keep water flowing over the porous LR so that the bacteria stay alive and it can catch detritus to then be eaten by the cleanup crew.

I'll touch on cleanup crew next... Thats a decent package, but to be honest, its too much for your tank. You'll have a lot of out-competing for food by the cleanup crew at those high numbers and see significant losses. If it were my 37g tank with a small footprint I'd get:

10 - Cerith Snails
10 - Nassarius Snails
05 - Nerite Snails (or Trochus snails)
01 - Small Brittle Star
01 - Mexican Turbo Snails
05 - Mexican Red Leg Hermits
01 - Blood Shrimp

Blueleg hermits are very predatorial both on each other and snails, hence I removed them. Mexican Red legs (also known as scarlets) are much more docile. Queen Conch's would possibly get too big for that small sand bed and/or be out-compted for detritus by a brittle star and the ceriths/nassaurius which also like to sand sift. Nerite and trochus snails can get big and I'd rather have more carrion eaters (nassarius) to keep uneaten food to an absoloute minimum hence I swapped their numbers. True Mexican tubos can get close to tennisball sized and may put the rock stack at risk hence I dropped their numbers to 1. A sandsifting starfish has no place in a tank with a footprint of 18x20" and would starve to death and risk your other inhabitants. And finally, I prefer blood shrimp to skunk cleaners since the blood shrimp are less apt to trample corals searching for food.

Now for the corals you mentioned. An anemone will REQUIRE a metal halide lamp over that aquarium especially with its depth. Your best bet is probably an electronic ballast 175watt bulb. THis can be troublesome if you have a center brace... Do you? Bubble and candy corals dont require much more than 2 PC (power compact) or 4 T5 bulbs spanning the length of the tank. They will do just fine under metal halides though.

Electric scallops are not for first timers, and IMO, not for smaller tanks. They require target feeding of phytoplankton/cyclopeeze multiple times per week. These required feedings will play havoc with the water quality in smaller tanks, so its best to just leave these alone.

Mandarin Gobies are also exceptionally difficult to keep dispite their cheap prices and beauty. Problem with mandarins is that 80-90% of the individuals will feed ONLY on live copepods, isopods, or flatworms in the aquarium. A small tank like your 37g cannot support enough of those natural prey for the mandarin and it will eat all of them and eventually starve to death. There are exceptions to that rule, but not worth the risk IMO.

For your water, go on ebay and get yourself a TDS (total dissolved solids) meter. The pen type are the most convenient. Tapwater should not be used ever due to the likely presence of dangerous heavy metals, organics like nitrate/phosphate, and inorganics like silicates... All of which pose a threat to an aquarium longterm or shortterm. If you want to know if you can use water from your supermarket, you'll need to test the TDS of it. Try buying a gallon of "Distilled" water. Spring water is no good as it has too many possible contaminants (yes the springwater they charge $3 a bottle is not pure and sometimes even worse than tapwater). MOST distilled water is suitable for a reef. If it has a TDS of less than 10ppm, go ahead and use it. If not, buy yourself an RO unit or purchase from your LFS. Either way, the TDS meter which is a mere $15 shipped will be invaluable to test incoming water to make sure it is in fact pure.

As for powerhead placement, try and have one down towards the bottom and one towards to top. Point them at glass or rocks to turbulate the flow

 

[Jeff000]

Thanks for the great reply everyone here is so helpfull

A little seaching seems to show that 2x 400 gph powerheads are pretty common and not all that big, although 3 250 gph ones are smaller yet, but need more glass space.

Thanks for the tips on the coral and fish, I will plan the fish and coral more close when it gets close to the time to add it.

I have no center brace. I think the 20" wide lighting fixure is going to be the hardest.
Metal Halide is pretty much HID lighting for cars right? (thats just a curiousity question).
That will be the only light? or will I need a uv light too or anything?

I have a TDS meter, So I will test the water for sure.

Your revised clean up list makes much more sence, I think that list I got is a general thing for take over 30g. your list will also be cheaper although I expect the trasition to cost about 1000 by the time I get fish.

For some reason I think getting the lr in the right sizes and shapes to build what I want is going to be the hardest part.
Will I want one power head pointed right onto the rock formation? I figure it will kinda fill one most of the way up and then the other back corner only a few inches up from the sand, and should I kinda keep it off the glass in the back so water can flow all around it.
Seems the current would be alot for the fish, lol but I guess its all good.

 

[SkiFletch]

Eh, there's no way the current will be too much. If you've ever dove on a reef and gotten pushed hundreds of yards along it by the current you'd understand how much flow there is out in the wild

Powerhead placement is unique to each setup so I can't say for sure which way you should go. Just try to avoid deadspots is my best advice, as un-specific as that may be.

Now that I think about it, with your tank as deep as it is and having such a small length, you might want to seriously consider metal halides if you want to stock corals. Short length T5 and PC lamps dont have much "punch" to get light down deep into the water column (water greatly dissapates the light's power at depth) so they are not a good choice if you want to keep anything much more than softies near the bottom of the tank. Because halides put out so much more light they tend to reach the bottom of the tank quicker so it probably is your best option. On a tank like that you'd probably want a single 175watt MH bulb with a kelvin rating of 10000k to 14000k. And yes, aquarium metal halides are similar to automotovie HID lamps but obviously a yellow car lamp is not good for reef aquaria .

If I may ask, are you a US or UK resident?

 

[Jeff000]

Eh, there's no way the current will be too much. If you've ever dove on a reef and gotten pushed hundreds of yards along it by the current you'd understand how much flow there is out in the wild

Powerhead placement is unique to each setup so I can't say for sure which way you should go. Just try to avoid deadspots is my best advice, as un-specific as that may be.

Now that I think about it, with your tank as deep as it is and having such a small length, you might want to seriously consider metal halides if you want to stock corals. Short length T5 and PC lamps dont have much "punch" to get light down deep into the water column (water greatly dissapates the light's power at depth) so they are not a good choice if you want to keep anything much more than softies near the bottom of the tank. Because halides put out so much more light they tend to reach the bottom of the tank quicker so it probably is your best option. On a tank like that you'd probably want a single 175watt MH bulb with a kelvin rating of 10000k to 14000k. And yes, aquarium metal halides are similar to automotovie HID lamps but obviously a yellow car lamp is not good for reef aquaria .

If I may ask, are you a US or UK resident?

I am a Canadian resident actually but I do ship alot from the states.
Metal Halide is no problem, I dont mind the expense for something that will work.

My buddy is coming to get my fish this weekend, so I will clean it out really well (without soap) and then fill it with ro water.
I'll have to research more to know where to go from there. I 2 Coralife lights, they are each about 8" long, they used to have a purple bulb in them, but I took them out. Would putting the purple bulbs back in be good enough light untill I get coral? I cant remember the wattage off hand, but it was enough that my freashwater plants really grew well, even from the bottom of the tank.

 

[SkiFletch]

Sure, that'll be enough light until you get corals. You might want to PM Lynden and ask him where he gets his online equipment from since he's a canadian resident . Ebay is also always a good source for hardware IMO. And if you're looking into getting a skimmer ever in the future, ont his side of the "pond" the best hang-on are prolly the coralife superskimmers.

Those lights will be fine with fish only and LR, but before you get corals you should have the halides burning