setting up a reef tank ( complete noob!)

[fantapants]

hey Guys, i have decided that im going to use my 2x1x1 tank as a reef tank. I have spent all day trawling forums/fact sheets/websites.......and im still a bit clueless!


Am i right in thinking that the live rock will act as a filter but i need to use a filter aswell to circulate the water and to be sure the water is clean? I have seen a squillion different ypes of lights and i have NO idea what type i need. Also, a tank that size, do i need a protein skimmer?


please be patient with me......i am probably gonna ask a million questions before i start my shopping lists.

[scarlettdecourcier]

Hi I've been thinking about doing this too, I have a freshwater tank at the moment but would love to branch out. I was speaking to a woman today who has a reef tank shop, she said you need a blue light, and that the rocks do provide filter but yes you need a filter as well. She also said that you can buy special tanks that come equipped with the blue light in them (apparently they can be quite hard to find).

I'm really not an expert myself but she definitely knows what she's talking about when it comes to freshwater fish so I imagine she's pretty up on the reef scene too

Good luck!

[fantapants]

Originally Posted by scarlettdecourcier

Hi I've been thinking about doing this too, I have a freshwater tank at the moment but would love to branch out. I was speaking to a woman today who has a reef tank shop, she said you need a blue light, and that the rocks do provide filter but yes you need a filter as well. She also said that you can buy special tanks that come equipped with the blue light in them (apparently they can be quite hard to find).

I'm really not an expert myself but she definitely knows what she's talking about when it comes to freshwater fish so I imagine she's pretty up on the reef scene too

Good luck!

i have seen the tanks with everything built into them. I seriously considered guying one but i fancy something a little bigger and this tank is empty so will be perfect. I Just need to figure out what else i need to get it going . And what order i do things in. Its exciting !

[Andy]

You will need to begin with about 20 kilo of live rock, heater, filter, lights (depending on what corals you plan to keep you can have T5s, LEDs,Metal Halides etc), powerhead for flow and some way of measuring salinity preferably a refractometre. You might not need a skimmer but would recommend getting one. A tank that size will be slightly harder to keep stable than a bigger one but if you keep on top of it it will be ok. I would recommend trying to incorparate a sump into your system if you can it will make life easier and you can hide most of the equipment in there.

The love rock does act as filtration and some people use it as the only method but I would say you need something else too as in a small tank you might struggle to keep the params stable. Some people use an internal canister filter or an external filter filled with media to help. I use a deep sand bed in the sump and its working for me.

Lighting is a big topic for debate with some people swearing by T5s others metal halides and some LEDs. If you are not bothered about electricity costs and the cost of changing bulbs look into metal halides.

[cnella]

would 20kg of live rock in such a small tank be too much? I'm looking at getting one of those orca 550's and was thinking around 10 or so kgs of live rock would be suffiecient and that would be in 128 litres!

think i'll be looking at this thread often too for advice, ive had marines in the past but it was at least 10 yrs ago and then it was just fish, sand and tufa rock, never had real live rock.

[Andy]

I think people say roughly 1kg of live rock per gallon but as long as there is good flow around the rock it won't matter if you have more. Better to have too much than too little.

[alpharoyals]

Scrap the tank you have and buy yourself an all in one like a redsea max 130D or a D&D nano cube or a river reef. They will have everything you need to start off and they look so much more tidy as they don't have all the electrical equipment visible in the tank. Its a great way to start where you can learn all the basics, I done it for a year then upgraded to my 100 gallon tank and I am so glad I did it that way as I was a complete novice in the marine world and I have learnt as I have gone along.

HTH

[Corsetts]

That is a little small for a reef tank, but you'll be able to keep softies and probably some LPS corals in there.
You shouldn't have a seperate filter on a reef tank, the skimmer (you need one IMO, check out the Deltec HOB skimmers) and the live rock will provide all your filtration.

Do LOTS of research, pm me for links if you want, but be warned, they're not overly easy to set up/mantain and they're not cheap to run.

Oh, and they're very addictive

EDIT: You can have too much rock IME, I'd be looking at 5-10Kg max in a tank that size.
I'd also go with T5 lighting, it's cheaper to run and you'll struggle finding a suitable halide for a tank of that depth.

[Corsetts]

Originally Posted by alpharoyals

Scrap the tank you have and buy yourself an all in one like a redsea max 130D or a D&D nano cube or a river reef. They will have everything you need to start off and they look so much more tidy as they don't have all the electrical equipment visible in the tank. Its a great way to start where you can learn all the basics, I done it for a year then upgraded to my 100 gallon tank and I am so glad I did it that way as I was a complete novice in the marine world and I have learnt as I have gone along.

HTH

This is probably your best bet TBH, by the time you've bought all the kit for yours, you could probably have picked up a complete system.
The D&D kit is extremely good

[chrisg82]

I myself have just starting to setup a reef tank, will take few photo for you later, managed too get a river reef tank off ebay for about £35 including stand and tropical fish, I then sold the fish on here for £15 so £19.
Would say the 95 ltr river reef is amazing with so many opitions and would have paid more for it.

so far got 7 kg of live sand and about 11 kg of live rock in there, 4 turbo snails and 3 hermit crabs.

good few learnings as well, like purchase ro salt water from local fish shop to save hassle. and purchased rock from 3 different shops and best bit came from a pets at home store which is covered in life and little creatures.

Cheers

Chris