Thinking About A Reef Tank

[CrazyCatPeekin]

In a couple of weeks...maybe a little longer...I will have a 29 gallon free so start something new. I have around 14 freshwater tanks going right now and I am thinking about maybe trying a smallish reef tank. At the moment, I am just considering the possibilities. I am thinking about a large rock structure, smaller fish that tend to stay close to the reef, and some interesting inverts. I'm just trying to get some ideas at the moment while I begin to make a plan.

I am thinking about building a sump from one of my old 10 gallon tanks. I don't want to drill, so I would have to do some kind of overflow box.

I am going to want to do easy corals to start off with...mushrooms, zoas, easy soft corals? I have T5HO dual lamp on there now, but it can be replaced if necessary.

Would you consider an RO/DI unit a necessity?

What is a typical reef set-up's temp? Is a heater or chiller generally necessary? Both?

Hydrometer or Refractometer?

As you can see, I am kind of all over the place right now. I am really just starting to think about this. Any advice that can help in these planning stages would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[johnnymisty]

Ro/di definitely necessary I keep my reef at 77-78 a chiller or heater is only needed if temps are high or low with t5's no chiller should be needed a heater maybe. Hydrometer or refractometer kinda just your preference I have both and my hydrometer is not far off my refractometer.
Just when ready get new bulbs for your light I like the ati bulbs myself. You'll also need some form of auto top off I have mine plumbed straight to my tank from my ro using a float valve

[beaver-man]

on a small reef tank I dont think RO/DI is necessary. You can just as easily go to your LFS and buy water, OR even go find a Watermill Express or something and buy super filtered fresh water and mix the salt in yourself. Does not take much and with that small of a tank it wont cost you too much, because your water changes will also be somewhat small.

[armthehomeless]

I have a hydrometer that I can give you.

[trbkrb]

Ditto on the RO/DI not being totally necessary. I had a 40B SW tank for about a year and just got RO water and had good results. You can get some more algae growth by not using RO/DI water, but most of the time RO water is decent enough. I would get a TDS meter though and test whatever water you do use before you mix the salt. The lower TDS the better. Single digit TDS is ok, but zero to 1 or 2 is optimal for a full on reef tank and is only obtained by a RO/DI unit. Some of the watermill type places have TDS in the 10s,20s or more.

With my new tank, I did get a RO/DI simply because I did not like picking up all the water I needed every week or two at the LFS. Much easier to just turn on a valve and fill up a couple of 15 gal tanks than to lug 6 5gal containers all over. But if you want to get into more advanced corals or a larger system, then a RO/DI unit becomes much more necessary.

A refractometer is going to be much more accurate, but if you are just doing basic corals you can get by with a hydrometer, if it is calibrated every once in a while and kept clean of salt. I bought my refractometer used for $20 on here.

You don't necessarily need a sump, the main reason for one is to hide a skimmer and any other equipment and hold extra live rock for biological filtration. You can use a HOB skimmer or even just use a HOB filter if you do more frequent water changes. I had zoas, mushrooms, anthelia, and a few LPS corals in my 40B tank without a sump or skimmer, only a HOB Penguin filter w/o carbon and a couple of maxijets for circulation.

Your lights should be OK for basic corals, but I would upgrade the bulbs like was said for better results.

And as for the temp, I keep mine between 78-81 and just use a heater for cold days and a few PC fans I rigged up to chill the water in the summer. The fans will cause more evaporation of water (which you will replace with fresh RO or RO/DI water only, no salt in it) and that evaporative action cools the tank. I have a temperature controller that turns on the heater when the tank temp gets below 78 and turns on the fans when the temp hits 81 to keep it balanced. But if you are on a budget, you can easily just hook up a basic clip on fan to the edge of the tank, and plug it into a timer to run them every day, say 2-7 in the afternoon or so, during the summer.

You will have to be diligent with your top off water on a smaller tank too, as the salinity swings could be a bit much if you evaporate more than a couple of gallons between topoffs. This is where an ATO is useful to automatically top off the tank with fresh water, keeping the salinity stable.

Come on over to MARSH-reef.org and ask away if you have any questions!

Thomas

[CrazyCatPeekin]

Thanks for all the info & the offer...I am still thinking about this. I've got some time to decide. In two months of knowing that this tank is going to be available I have considered a weird cityscape thing for glowfish, an axolotl, a pea-puffer riparium, a fancy goldfish tank or a saltwater tank.

The truth is, I really don't know what I am going to do with this tank yet. I am not sure if I want to jump into salt just now. I am thinking that I might wait until next year when I will be able to start with a larger tank and go with one of my other ideas for the 29 gallon.

Whenever I do decide to do a reef, I'm glad y'all are around to help!

[sunkenmetal]

One does not simply think about a reef tank

[CrazyCatPeekin]

whatever

[sunkenmetal]

it's a joke yo

[CrazyCatPeekin]

ah...the Mordor line...I'm a little slow tonight