30 gallon reef

67chevelle

67chevelle

Basset Hound
Jul 30, 2008
2,286
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I tried SW once,years ago,and everything was going well,until I decided to move in with my future wife,and she did not have any room for a tank.
So my SW experience is extremely limited,and like I said,was years ago.
Before too long,we will be moving,and I plan on taking the fish and plants out of my 20 and 30 gallon tanks,and putting them in a empty 55 I have.So that will leave me with a empty 30 that I would like to turn into a reef.

I know I will need salt and hydrometer.What should the salinity be?
I believe I will need 1 to 2 pounds of live rock per gallon. Does live rock usually have inverts that hitch hike,or will they need to be bought?

What kind of lighting is needed?I have a 2 bulb T5 fixture for this tank now.It is planted,and it has 1 10,000k bulb and 1 6700k bulb totaling 42 watts. Can this fixture be used if I change the bulbs? Is WPG more important,or is it the Kelvin temp? Or both?I think I would like to keep soft corals,I believe they are more colorful,is this true?How do you feed them?

Does calcium need to be added? Do you test for it? What else do you test for in a reef that you don't in a FW tank?

I know water movement is important but do not know why.Can someone explain this? How many power heads will be needed?
I have every size(literally,2 of most)Penguin and Emperor HOB filters that I could use.Will these work for a reef?If not,what kind of filter will I need? Is a protein skimmer necessary,and if so,what brand and size would be best?

What kind of fish could I have.I like clowns,,mandarin goby and coral beauty angels.Are these compatible,and will they fit in a 30? How many could I have?
I know damsels are good beginner fish and stay small.What else would be possible?
Although the fish are awesome,I would like to focus more on the reef itself.So what kind and how many fish are not that important to me.Just looking for some colorful suggestions.

Wow,this turned into a long post with a ton of questions! If anyone could help answer some that would be great!

This is not something I will be doing anytime soon,probably next spring or summer.I am just wanting to get an idea of what I will need to get to make this happen,and a general idea of cost.
 
Hmm..lots to hit on this one, and some things are kinda tough to explain in one post, but guide as best as I can.
The thing is there are many options on techniques and gear that are often debated even among exp reefers, but this is my opinion.
A refractometer is better than hydro, more accurate, and salinity should be 1.025-1.026.
Cured LR has the beneficial animals on it, and sometimes pests as well, but those are usually treatable, no way around that unless you go dry rock and long cycle, and even then they can come in on corals/rock/fish, so I'd go LR cured 1-2 lbs.
Sandbeds are debated, but my opinion is go deep, 4-5" or very shallow, 1" or bare.
Your light will be good, just change bulbs, one daylight, one actinic.
Calcium only needs to be added for hard corals, and I don't rec those for a beginner, really there are so many easy softies that look awesome.
Water movement should be at least 30x turnover, and if you have a sump, 3-5x in sump, and rest by powerheads in tank.
No mandarin advised at first, and read on them, special care needs, coral beauty is OK but they nip at hard corals often, clowns cool, but only one pair, not more.
Green chromis are one of my favs, one of the only damsels that aren't mean.
Bigger is better on tank size, more forgiving in water params.
Skimmer depends on sump or not, but for a 30g a remora or tunze would be good.
This is a good start.
 
What about using a Penguin 330 & 350 for filtration? Would that be sufficient?
Thanks guys,that was exactly what I was looking for....for now. :)
 
Well, this is where I'll let you learn me on FW stuff, not sure what those penguins are.
If a HO, those CAN be used, aquaclears I have used, and canisters w/out media, or maybe carbon OK, but REALLY it would be better to sell/trade for any kind of PH.
Forget all mechanical filtration, no sponges, bio's, wet dry, any of that.
LR is the biggest part of filt system, that and push water, that's it.
Skimmer is nice for waste removal, needed more for corals than fish only tanks.
 
davocean said:
Well, this is where I'll let you learn me on FW stuff, not sure what those penguins are.
If a HO, those CAN be used, aquaclears I have used, and canisters w/out media, or maybe carbon OK, but REALLY it would be better to sell/trade for any kind of PH.
Forget all mechanical filtration, no sponges, bio's, wet dry, any of that.
LR is the biggest part of filt system, that and push water, that's it.
Skimmer is nice for waste removal, needed more for corals than fish only tanks.
Click to expand...
Penguins are like aquaclears,HOB,(hang on back).
I don't want to spend the money on a cannister for it if you don't use any mechanical,and sumps are as foreign to me as SW,so for now,I would like to stay away from them.
You said trade them for any kind of PH. What is a PH?
No mechanical huh? Is that because they become nitrate traps? I had no idea. Good to know.
I know bigger is better.Same with FW. I have considered using the empty 55 for the reef. I just thought if I could use the lights on the 30,then they wouldn't just sit,and not be used.Same with the HOB filters,(penguins),that is why I wanted to use the 30.
 
I use a HOB Rena Smartfilter on my 29G along with a Phosphate Reactor. I don't use the media made for the HOB filter though. What I did was put a layer of marble size rock rubble on the bottom of the filter, then I use that blue filter pad you cut to size and sandwich a bag of carbon between filter pads. I replace the pads weekly with water changes and carbon monthly. I also don't have a skimmer on my 29G but I feel a 29/30G is right at the limit of where you start to require a skimmer. Since my 29G is just a softy/anemone tank I can do ok without a skimmer. If I wanted to do SPS corals in that tank then a skimmer would be needed.
 
If you don't go with a protein skimmer then make sure you do some weekly water changes. But personally I would recommend a portein skimmer, you can get a HOB style or one that will sit inside a sump if you want that route. For filteration, I don't use HOB's for my saltwater tank, I use a sump, but I have seen people covert their AC HOB's into mini fuges and they had great success.

When davocean said trade for PH, my terms, along with a another forum when you see PH its refering to powerhead.

Since you want to stay away from a sump, and don't want to buy a canister, I would look into converting the HOB's into a fuge, and then run a HOB protein skimmer.
 
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