30 gallon tank

[appsgang43]

Hi,

 

I currently have a 30 gallon freshwater tank that I want to convert to Saltwater. Can anyone give me help on what king of filters, lighting and any thing else I might need for a tank that big. I currently have a 8 gallon Bio dome that came with everything, so I need to know what to get from scratch.

[shrimphombre]

If it were my 30 gallon tank i would plumb in a 10 gallon tank as a sump with a skimmer, and add a sunpod for light.

[lakshwadeep]

The vast majority of current SW tanks are setup using the "natural filtration" method. That means using live rock (and also live sand) as the basis for all filtration. So, you won't need any filters or filter media. Some people keep some polyester fiber or filter sponges to help remove detritus, but if they aren't cleaned often and get clogged up, they will become nitrate factories. A protein skimmer is necessary when keeping SPS.

 

This link has a great list of all supplies needed to keep a FOWLR or reef tank.

http://www.fishlore.com/saltwatervsfreshwater.htm

 

Basically, if you have adequate lighting (at least PCs), water movement, and filtration (at least 1 lb of rock per gallon), you'll be able to set up a good reef tank.

[appsgang43]

The vast majority of current SW tanks are setup using the "natural filtration" method. That means using live rock (and also live sand) as the basis for all filtration. So, you won't need any filters or filter media. Some people keep some polyester fiber or filter sponges to help remove detritus, but if they aren't cleaned often and get clogged up, they will become nitrate factories. A protein skimmer is necessary when keeping SPS.

 

This link has a great list of all supplies needed to keep a FOWLR or reef tank.

http://www.fishlore.com/saltwatervsfreshwater.htm

 

Basically, if you have adequate lighting (at least PCs), water movement, and filtration (at least 1 lb of rock per gallon), you'll be able to set up a good reef tank.

What do you mean by PC'S for adequate lighting?

[shrimphombre]

What do you mean by PC'S for adequate lighting?

 

power compacts

[Stephen-in-Va]

Give me a day or so and I'll have a post with info up of the new 30 gallon display with 20 gallon sump I'm currently taking a few minute break from setting up.

[ajlaman]

Do you want to only keep fish or do you want to go all out with coral? If you jsut want fish than just get live rock with pretty much any lighting and a filter and you'll be good to go. Coral is the best aspect of SW reef keeping. Pretty much this is how it goes. You need LIGHT. Your lighting system will make you or break you. You won't find any coral that doesn't like light. There are three very popular choices:

 

Metal Halide lights- these use up vast amount of energy and the bulbs alone cost between $40 and $100. But they are by far the best and the most rewarding because they release the most amount of photosynthetic available radiation, and when stuff starts to grow you'll be able to frag it (break it into pieces) and sell the frags for some major $$ which can offset price a little bit. For a 30g I would suggest a 150w or 175w bulb. Others would suggest 250w (and you will find people are overly passionate about their opinions), but in my opinion its way too much. The rule of thumb is you should have roughly 4-6w of power per gallon of water. Different species of coral require more lighting than others. The color temp (thats the K rating on bulbs) can play a big role as well. The higher the K, the more color and beauty you will see. A typical high K is 18,000k- 20,000k. Lower K (6700 and around there) grows coral much faster but with less color.

 

Power Compacts- These are flourescent bulbs that twist and double back on themselves. They're great for especially smaller tanks but go well with large ones as well. Many complain that they dull out quickly and lose their luster, but I personally use them on my 20g and I think they're great. They're also cheaper to operate and in initial cost than MHs, but you really get what you pay for. You will also find that many people think it's essential to have actinic light in your aquarium. Pretty much this is just a really blue bulb that your eyes can barely distinguish when they look directly at them. The nice things about PC lights are they can be 50/50 bulbs, which means half the light is the 'normal' type of light and the other half is actinic. Look at my tank's profile after my signature if you want to see what mine look like. I have a single 65w 50/50 PC bulb over my 20g.

 

Very High Output T5 flourescents- Many people use these in the hobby and they work well. They put out more energy than your typical flourescents and coral seems to like them, but once again they just aren't as good as halides. The nice thing about them is you can mix a number of different color temperatures with different bulbs. If you go by this route I would suggest that at least one of the bulbs should be actinic.

 

 

Filtration- natural. Don't use a skimmer unless you can't sleep well without one. They pretty much take protein out of the water and prevent the tank from obtaing vast amounts of nitrate, but at the same time they remove the vital trace elements from your salt mix that corals need to grow. I would get a hong on back filter and just put floss in it and then a couple of power heads to circulate the water. Live rock is the most important filtration componetn and it makes your tank look natural. I don't think live sand is as important to buy, because eventaully all of the good bacteria living in the LR will move to whatever substrate you put in (I recommend sand and I use normal play sand).

 

hope this helps and enjoy the hobby! Let me know when you start up and what you decide on,

Dan

[lakshwadeep]

power compacts

 

+1. Sorry, I should have explained that. However, I've seen that the standard glass 30 gallon (and 30 breeder) are 36" in length. So, you would do better to get a T5-HO fluorescent setup.

[lakshwadeep]

Very High Output T5 flourescents- Many people use these in the hobby and they work well. They put out more energy than your typical flourescents and coral seems to like them, but once again they just aren't as good as halides. The nice thing about them is you can mix a number of different color temperatures with different bulbs. If you go by this route I would suggest that at least one of the bulbs should be actinic.

 

I take exception to "they just aren't as good as halides", especially with a "short" tank such as the 30 gallon. The multiple bulb setups of T5s can be just as effective as MHs at lighting, and it may be easier for the many bulbs to provide both high growth and high fluorescence. If you want an accurate description of the many lighting systems offered, I highly suggest reading this article:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-12/newbie/index.php

[stanlalee]

If it were my 30 gallon tank i would plumb in a 10 gallon tank as a sump with a skimmer, and add a sunpod for light.

 

damn mind readers (let me guess you would have chosen a different skimmer so I'll answer in advance; its left over from another tank)

 

 

 

 

I recommend what he said. this is a fairly new set up (2 months old) but its basically 30lbs of live rock, enough "real" not pre packaged florida live sand to cover the bottom (not sure how much, its from a previous tank but cant be more than 10-15lbs), 10g sump (from my last 30g. it was designed to house a seaclone skimmer hence the coralife pump is where th cheato macro algae used to be), coralife 125 skimmer and sunpod for lighting, egay 600gph overflow box, viaAqua 600gph return pump, Maxjijet 400 sureflow modded (1400gph) and a Koralia 1 for circulation. It will house some LPS (nothing with long sweepers like hammer and frogspawn, acan, candycane, blasto type stuff), zoanthid and plenty of SPS. ZERO softies besides zooanthid.

[o0xerog0o]

I would recommend drilling and installing a sump for sure. I really wish I would have done that in my 30 Long... Oh well, live and learn. I've got a 175W metal halide that I'll be adding 2 36" VHO's to soon. For filtration, I have a Bak-Pak skimmer, and an Aquaclear 3-stage filter. An MJ1200 pump with two outlets, along with a Koralia Nano provide my flow. Good luck with it!