help me get started please

[aquandrew]

oh okay are two 750 gph powerheads enough for right now? i know its not enough for coral but its going to be a while til i get anything like that it will be a fowlr for a while

 

[Voshon247]

Yeah that might do just make sure there are no dead spaces in your tank because that trap ditrus and helps promote cynobacteria

 

[Rmckoy]

Yeah that might do just make sure there are no dead spaces in your tank because that trap ditrus and helps promote cynobacteria

As long as you have current , you want stronger current areas ?
I think the most important thing is to have the water on the surface moving for proper gas exchange .
When I first started I didn't know about it .
It wasn't before I had a thick smelly/ oily sludge on the surface of my tank .

 

[Voshon247]

It would also be best if you had the going opposite direction. For example one at the top of the tank pushing water to the left, and one at the bottom or middle pushing water to the right

 

[Rmckoy]

I have 1 in both back corners at the top , facing the center and a bigger one about 6" down going to the left .
Everything seams to be good .

 

[aquandrew]

i plan on having one on the top right of the tank and one at the bottom left and the return pump will be in the middle ive just started reading about gas exchange

 

[Rmckoy]

I think I might read a little more about it

 

[aquandrew]

okay so i found this light for a pretty good deal and someone on the ratings said you could grow just about any coral with it would this be a good light for a beginner growing low-medium light corals? i dont want to spend a lot of money but i really want to do just a reef tank with a couple of small fish http://www.aquatraders.com/48-inch-4x54W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-p/52305.htm

 

[Voshon247]

Iam not the best on light but I believe it was like for every gallon you need like 2-3 watts of light and for sps you need about 4 watts per gallon. I don't know if this is true and I don't know if being dual compacts or flour dents affect these but for my 30g I have 2 dual 96w compact flour sent and some of my mushroom when I fist started evaporated soon as I put it at the bottom of my tank. I had to put dark tissue or a plastic back in one area between the tank and the light and keep them there until they got used to it. I currently do this for ally new softies and polyps

 

[aquandrew]

what do you use for the dark tissue? do corals have to be quarantined to? will my qt tank be fine with a full spectrum fluorescent light?

 

[Voshon247]

what do you use for the dark tissue? do corals have to be quarantined to? will my qt tank be fine with a full spectrum fluorescent light?

I don't understand what you mean when you say dark tissues. i just usually get a brown tissue of some sort and make it damp to become darker and i have a slit cover between my light and tank but it is best you dip new corals in a coral dip and the quarantine them just incase of pets because most dips don't kill egg of pest just the already live ones. Also you should get light for that size quarantine tank because the corals are going to be in there for a week so there going to need light to feed off so like an led, metal halide or t5 would be best.

 

[aquandrew]

im just confused haha this tank doesnt have a lid its open top will i need to get a lid to put the tissue under the lights? and im pretty sure my light is a t5 fluorescent full spectrum but the bulbs need to be replaced soon anyway so is there a better bulb to buy?

 

[Voshon247]

im just confused haha this tank doesnt have a lid its open top will i need to get a lid to put the tissue under the lights? and im pretty sure my light is a t5 fluorescent full spectrum but the bulbs need to be replaced soon anyway so is there a better bulb to buy?

Sorry for confusing you I didn't mean your tank I was talking about mines and you might eventually want to get a screen or mesh to put over your tank. It wouldn't be nice fishes jumping out. Also about the bulbs how much can fit in. I know mine ate 2 dual bulbs so 2 dual bulbs can fits some can fit 6 others 8.