29g question

[chevyII]

I recently aquired a 135g for my fresh water fish so now I have a empty 29g. I am thinking I am going to attempt a semi basic saltwater setup. The only thing I have that is re useable. is the tank and two Aqua Clear 301 Power Heads.

I was thinking maybe 2" of southdown sand and about 40-50lbs of liverock. It will be low lighting to begin with as I am not too worried about coral yet. Just want to get a cycle started. I will be adding maybe a couple clowns (maybe a anome) and some corals or a clam or 2 once the tank is going good.

I have no trouble doing weekly water changes, my question is with a setup like this will I need a skimmer? or will the LR and the 2 power heads be enough filtration with weekly water change?

As this is my first SW and I would like to take it slow and cost down to begin with how does this sound?

 

[benjen]

Those powerheads should give you plenty of circulation. For a deep sand bed, I have repeatedly read that you want at least 3" to get the benefits of the nitrate reducing anaerobic bacteria. 40 to 50 lbs of liverock should be good with most varieties of LR. (1.5 to 2 lbs per gallon is usually the safe range. 1 lb per gallon is the minimum.)

As to the skimmer, the smaller the tank, the faster organic waste becomes a very big problem. If you went with Ray Pollett's method, you could use a single Emperor 400 and skip the skimmer, but I believe the majority of nano-reefers and small tank users consider it an important piece of the system to give you a bit more reaction time before a problem might crash your system.

So... A skimmer might not be necessary, but it's a good bet unless you are pretty confident that you really know what you are doing.

Some soft corals don't need much light, but anenomes, clams, and hard corals can require 5 watts per gallon or more.

 

[mogurnda]

Your plan sounds good, although I agree with benjen about the sand bed.

There are few disadvantages to skimming, aside from initial expense, and it really helps a small tank. The AquaC Remora or CPR bakpak 2R will match the size of your tank nicely.

 

[chevyII]

thanks for the replies. I posted on reef central as well and they also recommened the AquaC Remora. So I will start searching the classifieds for a deal now.

 

[Andy16]

I thought the same thing about corals when I was in the process of researching for my nano-reef. Now I am saving up for metal halides Im going to get the CPR skimmer that mogurnda mentioned for my 20 gallon tank. I heard a lot of good things about the Remoras too but you have to give a little more $$$. The skimmer is important if you like fish and want to keep as many as you can. If you have a light bio-load you dont need a skimmer and can just do water changes once a week. I dont have a protein skimmer on my tank right now and it just came out of the algae stage last month and my tank is 7 months old. A skimmer would probably reduce the time it takes for that stage to end.

My sand bed is made up of aragonite livesand.(its like araglive or something like that i forgot the brand but its popular.) I also added beach sand I brought home from florida becuase I wanted more. My sand bed is pretty good and I think it really helps keep the algae down as well as keeping the water clean. My sand bed is 5 inches in some places but has an average depth of around 3 1/2 inches.

The anenomes need a lot of light and good water conditions to survive. Their survival rate in aquariums is very low becuase they are so hard to keep. If you want to keep one you wont be able to have a low light setup.

 

[knowthemath]

I have the Remora with the skimmer box. I can't imagine doing without it. Skims contantly. At some point, it become clogged (my fault, not the skimmers) and my pH dropped drastically. Within a few hours of running, everything was hunky-dory.

Anemones are hard to keep, and you will definitely need more light for one. I've just returned my clown because he's stressing my anemones. After it split, the clown was too large or too loving for my anemones; I'm not sure which, but he's back at the lfs. I'm hoping that will save the anemones.