advice needed for new 29 gal

[hng]

Hey everyone, I would greatly appreciate alittle advice on a few questions. I had kept a 30 gal long tank for about 5 years before I had to move. The move ended up pretty much destroying my tankand its been a few years since I've had the courage to start up a new tank. I'm thinking about a new 29 gal tank with sump. Well, here are my questions:

1) lighting: I have an Ice Cap ballast that is about 8 years old. Should I go with VHO or compact fluorescents? I'm planning on keeping mostly soft corals and maybe one or two SPS. From what I've read, CF's are pretty intense and could support SPS. The CF sets from ahsupply.com look good but it only looks like I could fit 3 55 watt bulbs over the tank, which is only about 5.7 watts/gal. Is this too little light?

2) Protein skimmer: On my old tank I had a home-made protein skimmer but It got broken during the move and I threw it out. Should I buy a new one or build one myself. Any recommendations on a protein skimmer to buy or new design to build?

3) Sump return pump: I'm planning on having a corner overflow draining into an approx 15-20 gal sump. I've read a lot of the threads but can't seem to see what brand of pump is best or what power I need. Should the pump be installed in line or can I just submerge it for simplicity?

[Caoineag]

well I can't help with everything but as for sump pump if you like submersible, I love mag pumps and that is what I am going to use for my sump.

[Tim224DT]

Hello and welcome to TRT!! For the skimmer i would say go with an ASM mini or the Remora. I like VHO's better than compact flour. For the return pump mag makes nice pumps.

[three90s&125sump]

There are alot of variables to consider when talking about lighting. One is the turbidity of the water, another is the spectrum of the bulb.

The turbidity can change because of the substrate you have, the skimmer you use, weather or not you have ozone bioload, filter floss, the amount of water flow you have, ETC...

While it is possible to keep SPS under any type of lighting system the bottom line is how much of the right type of light reaches the algae in the corals.

As for the skimmer, if you can, build a geoff skimmer it will work great on a 29 gallon tank and be cheaper than buying one that may not work nearly as well.

The size of pump you plan on using is going to be affected by the size of the skimmer you use. I personally don't want any water being sent back to my tank that has not been processed by the skimmer. Remember that the return pump should not be considered the only source of flow in your tank. It will need to be suplemented by either power heads or a CLS of some sort.

The largest issue I see with your plans is that your tank is very small and you want it to be dominated by softies, they use chemicals to kill SPS corals and in a tank that small there will be very little room for dilusion of the chemicals and it will make it exceedingly difficult to grow your SPS or even keep them alive. If you want to have SPS and softies get only a 2 or 3 small softies and the rest SPS and run alot of carbon and be sure all the water leaving the tank to the sump runs through the carbon and be sure you replace it regularly.

[VWD]

Welcome to TRT!!!

On the pump. Mag is a very good pump. I used them all the time.

The lighting on a 29 gallon that will be plenty of light for most things. Things thatlike more light up high and other stuff lower.

For Your 29 I think a Bak Bak is plenty of skimmer. You can DYI if You like. You can do a shearch here in the DYI forum and find some good plans.

[reefBoyDc]

Welcome to TRT! I just upgraded from a 29. I really liked it. I had 3 x 65W PC lights. I was able to keep softies, LPS and a few SPS placed really high on the rocks. I even had a clam (very close to the lights).

As a sump, I used a rubbermaid tub. I used a MAG7 as the return pump and that was all the flow I needed in the tank (for softies anyway). I had a Euroreef skimmer in the sump, it worked great. You can make your own skimmer though if you want, as long as it fits under the tank.

HTH! 29s rock!

[Phishnoob]

Tim was right on with the advice about both the Mag pumps and the Remora. Mine have been just wonderful and work perfectly from day one.

[hng]

OK, sounds like SPS is probably out of the question. I think I will use power compacts for lighting as well. Another quick question or two. I read that you have to put wither acrylic or glass in between the lamps and the water. Do most people use a glass cover directly over the tank or place a piece of glass directly under the lamps? Has anyone had good success with the lamp kits from ahsupply.com? One more question, has anyone had good success ordering from GARF.org?

[motorslave]

Dont place glass directly on top of the tank. This will create heat issues and hinder the gas exchange that takes place at the water surface. The only lights I know of that require glass are the DE MH bulbs and the glass isd to reduce UV rays from the bulbs.

R