Long Time Away and a Brand New Start

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doodlecricket

AC Members
Dec 17, 2001
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Chandler, AZ
www.marykay.com
Okay, so I am not exactly a newbee, but I have had about an 8 month vacation from the aquarium world. I moved and had no where to set the tank up, so down it came.

Now I would like to get things rolling again and I am hoping that I will run into less problems the second time around.

I have a 29g Glass aquarium, 2x55w PC from CoraLife, about 20lbs of rock (still wet because it was in another's aquarium for "safekeeping", but I don't really think it is still "living") and 50lbs of playsand. I also have a couple powerheads (Maxijet, but not too high of an output if I remember correctly).

I was thinking of doing a nano-type reef, skimmerless, filterless. Maybe even an area-specific reef, like a nice Caribbean.

Does anyone have any suggestions on which direction I should head. I guess we can say I am starting at the beginning because the tank is empty, and I already know how to cycle so spare all that... :) . I am looking for help as to good "beginner" quality corals, good light fixtures... maybe even an "ideal tank recipe":D

Okay... okay... I just want someone to say "Hey, that tank looks awesome" and for me not to be kicking myself for choosing too tough of corals or something.

I am looking to spend about $300 just to get started.... just to keep me from going into sticker shock... and I know of a few good LFS's that I can get some great seeder sand and live rock...
 
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mogurnda

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Apr 29, 2003
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DC,
Welcome to Aquaria Central! Great to see another person on the marine side of things.

If you want to go Caribbean,Tampa Bay Saltwater has awesome aquacultured live rock with tons of interesting hitchhikers. One problem with doing a Caribbean tank is that you can't get many corals because of the collecting ban. Some gorgonians at this point, although there are rumors that aquacultured corals may be on the horizon.

You can probably get by with the fixture you have if you are limiting yourself to polyps, large-polyped stonies and and soft corals. You could make a pretty nice small reef with that selection.

Have you got a marine aquarium club nearby? I know there are some clubs in AZ, but I'm not sure about Chandler. If so, you can probably get some frags to start you out. I basically filled my tank with free frags from the club here.

Why do you want to go skimmerless? I know there's a lot of debate about removal of beneficial nutrients and organisms, but so far it seems mostly theoretical with little data to back it up. A skimmer seems like a safety net, especially on a small tank. But I can't say that I feel strongly about it, lots of people have thriving skimmerless tanks.

If you take a look at my profile, the system I use for my 20 would work fine for a 29. I'm not advertising it as the perfect system, but it has been stable and relatively easy to keep. Just:
20 gallon tank
40 lbs gulf live rock
130 watts of PC light
CPR bakpak skimmer
CPR aquafuge filled with worms and chaetomorpha
400-450 gph closed loop with (scwd for wavemaking)
a bunch of corals
 
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doodlecricket

AC Members
Dec 17, 2001
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Chandler, AZ
www.marykay.com
Thanks for the response, mogurnda. I was thinking Caribbean because I used to use etropicals.com for a lot of my purchases, and they specialize in Caribbean/Atlantic specimen... I am going to have to do some rethinking if I cannot come across some decent aquacultured stuff....

As far as going skimmerless... I did before and it wasn't too bad... and the skimmer may be a safety net, but it also removes a lot of the trace elements in the water, which cause even more testing and additives... again... I may rethink that one as well.


---tabitha
 
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mogurnda

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Apr 29, 2003
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removes a lot of the trace elements in the water, which cause even more testing and additives
Click to expand...
Like I said, as far as I have been able to find, that's more in the realm of lore. Could be true, but I have yet to see any proper comparisons. Aside from keeping Ca and alkalinity up, feeding and water changes have always been enough to keep my water chemistry in line. I sometimes wonder whether anything would change if I took off the skimmer, though. Probably not much.
 
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