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[garvondavis14]

I recently bought a 63 gallon saltwater tank. I have never had a saltwater tank before, but I have researched quite a bit lately. The tank I bought comes with a protein skimmer (prizm), heater, lights, and about 40 lbs of live rock and a one inch deep bed of sand. I havn't received the tank yet, but there are also two damsels in the tank, that the previous owner described as purple damsels...He has had the tank up and running for a little under four months now. My question was, what size powerhead, and how many, would i need for this tank? I intend to slowly turn it into a reef tank, heavy on invertebrates and hermits/snails. Also, would metal halide be my best choice of lighting once I get the reef started? Thanks, Ryan.

I also do not intend to keep the damsels for too long...I will most likely give them to a friend when i start to establish my tank more...but i thought they might be interesting for a while while i am just getting started.

 

[OrionGirl]

What shape is the tank? I prefer to have one powerhead avery 2 feet at the fewest. You want to plan having tank turnover about 10 times an hour at the minimum, up to about 20 times an hour, so consider the powerhead size as well as number.

MH as the ONLY lights I will put on any future reefs, and am really regretting not starting with them in the first place. The difference is remarkable, both in terms of coral growth and health as well as appearance.

For the damsels--you'll kick yourself later if you have to pull them out. I can promise this-- catching damsels is the aquatic equivalent of greased pigs, but with more places for the pigs to hide. Most people end up completely tearing their setups apart to remove damsels. If you don't want the fish, don't put them in your tank--it will be easier in the long run.

 

[Oliver]

offcourse metal halides are better, but they are not exactly cheap. I run a reef on 3 lenghts of flurecent and I keep a wide variety of soft corals, including a beautiful boubble tip anemone. If you do not want to keep SPS coral then MH are not needed. But if you have the money then offcourse by MH's they are far better but often many times for expensive