I would like to be able to keep a couple of corals in my tank and would like to know the real requirements, Some bloke on e-bay told me that my set up of live sand, fluval external filter and protein skimmer would be enough if I got some t5 bulbs and preferably a bit of live rock, is this right? also what are the best corals for a beginner to try?
Here is a list of important equipment you need:
- Strong Light (5 watts per gallon or more)
- Very good water flow (should have 10x the turnover rate of your tank)
- Protein Skimmer
- RO/DI unit (to purify the water before placed into the aquarium)
- Heater
- Test Kits (people try to save money and not use them or not buy them but they are one of the most important part of the system. Everything in your tank is in the water.... If the water is not good... Things will die...)
I think that is the basics of what you would need for a Reef Tank
Obviously you would need more things and Want more things but i think that is the basic
Easy corals that you could keep in yor tank with that setup would be: Leathers, Mushrooms, polyps, Xenas
I started with those corals with my 24 gallon tank and had great success...
the setup you require to keep corals will be more depandant on the types of corals you require. I.E hard ot soft corals...
T5 is a good choice for lighting, or even better, a metal halide setup. I prefer the halides rather than the T5 units...
Some good beginner corals include mushrooms, leather fingers, star / green polyps, zoanthids and button ployps...As with any fish or invert, research what your thinking about buying and make sure you can fullfill all the needs that the coral requires..
You dont NEED to have live rock to be able to keep corals..People run coral fragment tanks that are mearly just filled with water and have egg crate plastic on the bottom of the tank..The main things you need to keep corals is good enough lighting, excellent water quality, test kits for calc, alk and mag..
For corals in the tank, suggest at least 25x water turn over per hour
Here is a list of important equipment you need:
- Strong Light (5 watts per gallon or more)
- Very good water flow (should have 10x the turnover rate of your tank)
.
What do you mean by 10 x turnover rate of tank? sorry! According to the filter manual the pump output is 1000l/hour and flow rate is 420l/hour. would I need to add a power head?
flow rate is the total water volume that is circulated round the tank or tank/sump per hour...
so, if you have a 55 gal tank and want 25 x turn over per hour, you need water movement devices that can give you 1375 gallons per hour water movement ( 55gal x 25=1375 gph)...
So if my tank is 40 gallons needing 1000l/hour my flow rate is too low - filter being 420l/hour? I have a power head I was given which says on it 440l/hour if this is put in tank too does that mean I then have 860l/hour? Still not quite enough though! - will have to get bigger power head.
