Any advice and comments would be helpful

[Vijay]

i've had all sorts of FW fish for as long as I can rember but am starting my first SW i'll be converting a 15 gallon eclipse i'll have an internal skimmer-no name because it's the only on that'll fit in my tank i'll have a substrate of silica sand 3.5"deep and abou 5 pounds of Live rock i know i should have more but i don't want the LR to be the focus of the tank i'll have a 18"power GLO bulb maybee some polops and mushrooms will be added after cycling but after setup i'll add a small butto poplop frag only $5 CAN -$3US i'll use coralife salt which comes in a 50gal mix i'll put about a 5th of tha bag in and add more slowly checking as the salinity goes up. i'll get three and a asterea snail and a zebra hermit crab two weefs after setup and in December i'lladd live corals -that is if i can afford them

any other info and help would be helpful, thanks

I know the lighting is a Big issue the thing is that i don't want to change to PCs so i'll end up going for a 50/50 bulb if thats better the but i think the power GLO is better because it's a tall tank 20"x18"x10" i've decded to go for a deeper sand bed 3.5"because i have lots of sand. at my lfs they have the same model tank set up with a bubble coral, sand polyps, a gargonian, mushrooms and a lellow leather and they only have one power Glo bulb. they don't run a skimmer but they do verry frequent water shanges, i hope thta with the skimmer i'll be abel to prolong water changer a little i plan to buy ao Ap master saltwater test kit and test al parameters before adding the frag. as for corals i'llonly have a few

- a piece of LR with about 15 red mushrooms on it

- 6 small button polyps on a piese of LR

-a colony of ylloy Polyps

- a bobble coral

-and maybee a green star plyp if i can find one

What bulb is better-power glo or a 50/50?

this looks like too little light but the lfs useg the power glows on

corals and some have been there for years living happily-can't be sold because attached to the base rock

 

what do i need to feed and supplement these coral with?

since the lightine is a bit low i know i need to feed them protoplankton

and probally calcium and iodine because of the skimmer

anything else?

the fish which are the real reason i'm setting this tank up i want to have 3ellow tailled damsel[max 2", can i keep these fisn in a 15gal?

as far as lr it's around $5us a lb where i live an it's a little outa my price range so i plan to get some lace rock and seed it with 3 lb of lr

o and the skimmer will ba a sanders skimmer

Thanks

[tinyreef]

the power glo is a nice bulb, i used it on my first nano when i started it, replacing the standard eclipse bulb at the time. still insufficient. upgraded to 2x13w pc's. still insufficient. settled on the 27w & 13w pc's, just enough for the 6g. you have a tall tank, a liability with a low light source as the water column will filter light transmission from source to target (distance really matters).

 

for what you want to have the power glo is ok for some and very insufficient for the others. shrooms and non-photosynthetics can go under the pg. it resembles a uri aquasun in visual light that we can pick up, albeit little true spectral & output resemblance.

 

the yellow leather (assuming its a sarcophyton elegans) would need much more light. if it's one of the regular toadstools it would still need/thrive at least pc's. the gsp will need at least pc or vho to grow/thrive or you can overload the hood with actinics and day bulbs (4x15w of NO).

 

the gorgonian's typically an advanced coral. i'd get that last, out of all of the ones you listed.

 

three yellow-tails in a 15g is a little tight but you may be able to stunt them. i'd go with two as they may not school very well. they will be the dominant fish in the tank (think wolf pack). good luck!

[Vijay]

i don't recall mentioning leather or gorronions correct me if i'm wrong i think i'll go with just mushrooms and some button polyps which they have at my lfs in verry low light and they grow like weeds

anyway tanks tinyreef bt your desktop reef looks good

what about feeding the corals

[Vijay]

i'll hane a verry shallow sand bes of reef sand rather than silica sand and will be adding a fluval internal filter -smallest one i'll have only 5 pounds of lr because the stuff in my area is'n verry dense and otherwise my tank won't have any swimm ing space