Would this work???? Any ideas????

[Mannie]

Ok so my sweets and I are looking to start with a marine tank. We have been looking at it for a few weeks and are both looking and researching and trying to find out everything that we can before we start. I feel like i have been in every LFS and pet store in the area. We are new to marine but we have a 55 gallon FW water tank. I know that SW is a total different thing than FW. Here's what we were thinking. For starters. The tank would be the base 29 gallon eclipse system(which looks like we would be able to upgrade the lighting in the future once we get used to this) To this for current we are thinking of adding the Hydor Koralia Water Circulation Pump which would move 400 gph. As far as the sand and rock we were thinking 30-40 pounds of live sand and 10-15 pounds of base rock with around 20 pounds of live rock. We looked at a few lighting upgrades that looked like we could do in the future once we get used to the hobby. To begin with we would be doing fish and rock only. Once we get used to everything and the tank is going well we can upgrade the lighting and filtration if need so that we could add a few corals. Does this sound workable or are we just kidding ourselves in to thinking we can do this?
Thanks,
Alan

55 gallon FW tank, 8 birds, 2 cats and a dog.

[Andrew]

[welcome]

Sounds like a plan to me. When shopping for a tank to start out the bigger the better. This leaves more margin for error if something goes wrong. A 29 gallon is a good size to get use to saltwater as long as you don't have any huge plans for the tank in terms of stocking and ect. :)

[Mannie]

No we really don't have huge plans for this one. Just live rock and some fish. I have to have a clown fish I just love them they are sooo cute. Maybe in the future and after a light upgrade we might do a few corals.

[Andrew]

Sounds like you have already done some research so you'll be off to a good start. Just be sure to ask all questions here to prevent mistakes and/or problems. :)

[Mannie]

We have def done our research. Don't go into anything with out t. I don't think I had any questions. we were just worried that what we were thinking of setting up might not work cause of the eclipse tank.

[Lotus99]

If you're talking about the Eclipse tanks with the filters built into the hoods, then that's not a great choice. It would be better to get the tank and lighting separately. The filter won't work well for saltwater.

[Mannie]

What part of it won't work well with the sw? We were told on another forum that we really didn't need a filter that the rock and sand would be the filter along with a cleanup crew. So we were just going to take the filter media out of the filter and just have water move thru it pretty much. That maks sense?

[Lotus99]

If you've already got the tank, then that's fine. I would probably just remove the filter part and use only powerheads for circulation. If you do have the tank, you could maybe sell the hood and use the money to get some better lighting :)

[Andrew]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10230033#post10230033 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mannie
What part of it won't work well with the sw? We were told on another forum that we really didn't need a filter that the rock and sand would be the filter along with a cleanup crew. So we were just going to take the filter media out of the filter and just have water move thru it pretty much. That maks sense?

correct. You can always do a simple Fuge mod and in the future add either a hang on skimmer or a Tunze 9002 skimmer. Along with regular water changes, you'll be fine.

[Sk8r]

I have a 54. WHat I went with: a 30 g sump, and 75 lbs of sand, I think, though more like 60---I think 15 went into the refugium; about 80 lbs of live rock. You can see in my sig what I keep. I used to run with a 10g sump and an Urchin skimmer, but this was way underpowered and got me in trouble. I oversized when I did a house move, and am much happier with the new skimmer and larger sump.

A HOB [hang on back] downflow box can let you have a sump on an undrilled tank. THis would be my choice.

But you've already guessed that here on RC everybody has a different formula and most of them work.

[Scuba_Steve]

Make sure you head over to the nano forum here on rc. Sounds like you are off to a good start! BTW, bigger is better, but there are thousands of successful first reefs that are nano cubes. As said the filter area is a great plac3e to place a small skimmer (most small ones are junk, go with one mentioned above), your heater, and a ref mod. I would also highly consider replacing the return pump with like a maxi 1200 or something.

[Mannie]

Well we just got home with everything. WOW the $$ flew out of the checking account. we got a 30 gallon long tank, a coralife light with 192 watts and moon lighting, 31 pounds of live rock, 21 pounds of base rock, 20 pounds of live sand, 30 pounds of reef sand, a 300 gph power head, hydrometer, thermometer, test kit, we got the water that was already premixed. This was actually suppose to be my sweets tank since I am into birds but when I started researching it seemed really cool. The next purchase is going to be a skimmer. The skimmer that we are going to get is also a coralife skimmer. Are we off to a good start. We nixed the whole eclipse tank thought we could do more with the one that we got today.

[Tennsquire]

Get the best skimmer you can afford. Lots of folks (myself included) will tell you that they have a box of junk skimmers in the garage. Wish I would have invested all that money in a good one the first time. I'm not familiar with the Coralife skimmer, although I know the company doesn't enjoy a great reputation for quality in general. What type (as opposed to brand) of skimmer is it?

Oh, yeah, and get used to money evaporating in this hobby. ;-)

[rbtwo4]

DO NOT GET A SEACLONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bluey101]

I think you made a great choice. I had the eclipse tank you were going to buy for almost 7 years. It was very difficult to keep anything but fish alive in the tank. Good luck with your tank and BOY you can almost start charging your friends a fee to come to your house to see the ZOO you have...:)

[Mannie]

LOL Yeah i do have a Zoo now. I think we are going to be happier with this rather than the eclipse tank. All tho my birds don't seem to like the new fish tank at all LOL

[Bluey101]

Well keep us posted on your tank....Trust me when I tell you I have no room to talk....I have a desert tortoise....6 month old yellow lab, and two sw tanks....:) Good luck and have fun...It is a great hobby!