29 gallon starter tank
 

I have a 29 gallon aquarium that i am looking to convert to a saltwater feef tank. I have had years of experience with african cichlids but seem to be very lost in what to do when it comes to saltwater. i could use some help with understanding what the best type of equiptment would be to put in their. What type of filter should i use. What is the deal with live rock and how does it affect the nitrogen cycle. It would just be really helpful if someone could fill me in on exactly what needs to go into a 29 gallon aquarium to succesfully maintain a reef tank

What kind of stand is the 29 gallon on? If you could fit a 10 gallon sump underneith it, when you tear your tank down you could have the 29 gallon drilled for an overflow. I personally feel this is the best route to take. I currently have a 20 gallon in my room that is a reef tank and I am constantly trying to remove the scum that comes to the surface. I just bought a 20 gallon tank that is drilled to replace my non drilled tank and am getting ready to add a 10 gallon sump also. Not sure how new you are but a sump is a tank that sit underneath your display tank usually inside a stand that houses all your heaters, skimmers, etc. That way you could have a skimmer that was hidden. What brand of skimmers is a whole nother debate. I personally use a euroreef on my 75 gallon but am not sure of a good skimmer for smaller tanks. Now on to live rock.....I would personally fill it up with base rock since it is basically dead live rock and you don't have to pay a ton of money for it. Then just buy a few pounds of live rock to get it going. In 6 months all the rock will be thriving with life in it and you saved yourself a ton of money. Have you decided what corals your wanting to keep, because this will determine what lights your going to want. Lighting is another big debate. Personally if you just plan to keep soft corals and such, you could get away with a power compact fixture which is much cheaper than some of the MH setups. I am going to let all this soak in for a while since it probably seems overwhelming. Do your research, it pays in the long run. I lurked around this site for nearly 6 months before I started to purchase equipment and trust me it payed off.

Things you need for a Reef Tank:

1. High intensity lighting- MH(Metal Halide, most intense per watt), T5(high output flourescent tubes), VHO(older version of high output lighting and still very effective), PC lighting(IMO PC's are best used for supplements at best)

2. Filtration- Protein Skimmers are the most used and IMO the best way to remove nutrients and are medium to low maintainence. DSB=Deep Sand Beds- use the depth of the sand bed to harbour worms, bacteria,...etc. that makes for a great biological filter, but requires more work(sand replacement and critter replacement). This method is often used to supplement the other methods in what is called a refugium.. Mechanical filters- power filters remove organics with carbon and filter pads, but create mass amounts of nitrates and may also release Phosphates and silicates back into the water if they are not cleaned regularly. Trickle Filters- work very well but the end product is nitrates. So nitrates may become an issue. Live Rock(LR) can be used to supplement all of the above(The best for the nitrogen cycle overall).

3. Additional Flow- Stream pumps are best- high flow and dispersed in a wide stream. I use Tunze Streams, a maxijet modification, and have just ordered a Hydor stream. Vortechs are worth a look as well.

If the tank is not drilled for a below the tank sump, you may need hang on versions of skimmers or refugiums. You can add on over the side overflows if you want a sump on your tank without drilling(IMO drilled is more convenient)


If it were my system, knowing what I know now, I would use is one 250 Watt 14 Kelvin Phoenix bulb. An Octopus skimmer for a skimmer(Deltec or Euroreef for a better skimmer with recirculating skimmers being the best). If you want a Hang on Skimmer the Coralife super skimmer is good and so is the Remora skimmer.. Forty to sixty pounds of LR in the main tank. A SSB(Shallow Sand Bed) at about 1 to 1 1/2 inches deep. I wouls use two Tunze 6000 on a multicontroller for flow.

You might want to check out these two sites...

[url]http://saltaquarium.about.com/c/ec/1.htm[/url]
[url]http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1031074[/url]