a noob with some questions....

[madmax7774]

I admit to being a noob, but I have a few questions. I have decided to make a FOWLR tank in my office. I have purchased an oceanic 30 gallon hex tank and stand. I have what I believe to be a good filter, (eheim ecco 2234)a 150 watt heater, and a penquin 660 powerhead. I also put a small air block in their to bubble away. THe tank is roughly 18" accross the points of the hex, and about 25" deep. My first big issue is that the light fixture that came with the tank is a 15" 14W all-glass aquarium brand flourescent that most likely will not be good enough to have live/sand and live rock. I am going to seriously upgrade, and I am trying to decide between two choices. I can go with the 13watt retro fit which will consist of 2 Power compact flourescents of a variety of K temperatures. Or I can go all out and build a custom Metal halide with a 250 watt iwasaki bulb. I would prefer to use the Power compacts for noise/heat reasons, but I want to be sure that it will support the rock. I am interested in having some l basic live rock with maybe a leather / and or an anemone, and some nice clowns, and defiantely a lionfish.
Also, what are the ramifications of not having a protein skimmer on a 30 gallon tank like this? I will probably get one eventually, but funding preclused it right now.
John

[ski1297]

WELCOME!!! The filter is good but with a reef you do not need a big filter the LR will do most of the filtering. But if you use the filter just keep it very clean. The light is ok if you just want fish but if you want plants or coral you might need more light. Sand and live rock do not need a lot of light. But if you do want more light the PCs would be good for things that need lower light, the MH would be good for high light corals. I would get a skimmer on the tank if you want a lionfish. It will help keep it clean and make it a lot less work for you. I would say it would be better to have a skimmer than a filter. But when it comes to the lights think about if you want coral and what kind?

[Geoff]

Welcome to TRT!!!



hmm, a lot of things jump right out at me. for anemones you need bright light. a 250w MH is prolly overkill for that. how tall is a 30g? if it is about 12" tall than you can get away with VHO or PC lighting. you will still need to back the canopy full, but it can be done.

a protein skimmer is a must. i would trade in your eheim for a protein skimmer. that eheim will not help your tank any, it will prolly do more harm than good.

as for the fish, well i think you have to many listed. lionfish are quite big. you could keep one of the smaller dwarf species, but these are not swimmers. they are ambushers on the tank bottom. there is also the risk of the anemone eating the lionfish. i would stick with either 1 dwarf lionfish, not very exciting as a viewable tank. or go with just an anemone and a couple of clowns. any other fish you try and put in there would get bullied by the clowns.

do not cycle a tank using damsels. just use the LR itself and nothing else in the tank. you should also wait at least 6 months but preferable a year before getting an anemone. they need a mature tank. when i say mature i mean, the caretaker has a routine figured out and there is consistancy in the system. all new systems have a break in period when the aquarist is learning the ropes.

G~

[Phishnoob]

Welcome to TRT!!!

I started out with similar items to what you have and did the following eventually that works for us:

We upgraded lighting from the plain flourescent to a 4x65w retro kit. Several of our sponsors have these. I thing our customsealife thing with moonlights, day and night lighting was 200 bucks or so for our 55g.

Ditch the filter and buy live rock. Live rock is the whole heart and soul of the tank and it buffers it all. Recommended for a reef tank is about 1.5 pounds per gallon, but for fish maybe a pound will do.

A skimmer is verra important. If you do not have a drilled tank I cannot recommend the Aqua C Remora Pro enough with the Mag 3 pump. I got mine from our sponsor www.marinedepot.com for about 150 bucks and if you are old enough to have driven an old dodge dart with a slant six doing nothing to it and it works..then you get my drift.

The other huge thing to do is put in the rock..hook stuff up and just sit around for a few weeks and read and ask these folks stuff. This hobby has the most disasters due to impatience and improper research. I am probably the worst offender on this forum and speak from hard knocks.

Good luck with your tank and ask away!

[Phishnoob]

Wow we all posted at once with the same advice..what they said!