Am looking to take the plunge into SW fishkeeping. I had kept FW fish when i was younger, but stopped because of frequent moving. I have a 45 gallon tank, will probably start with only 30+ lbs of LR and a DSB. I have an Emperor 400 filter to aid in filtration until i can afford more LR. I do not plan on keeping coral at this time ( will see how it goes), and am wondering what sort of light requirements for LR? Am planning on picking up 2 powerheads, so any suggestions on what size/brand i should get would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
New Tank Setup
- Thread starter ercfish
- Start date
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S
steve-s
Guest
If you are planning on keeping corals in the future, that should be your planning goal when purchasing lights. Do not buy lights just for the LR now if you intend on moving on to corals later, it's a big waste of $$.ercfish said:
If the light is solely for the LR and you never intend on keeping corals then anything in the neighbourhood of 2w/gal leaning heavier to the 420 nm spectrum similarly given off by actinic lighting would do.
Cheers
Steve
cmor1701d
Aquarium Advice Addict
You might want to get some base rock to put on the bottom. It'll become LR in a few (like 6) months. I got base Reef Rock 50lb (Carib Sea) from www.thatfishpalce.com for less than $42.00 + $13.00 for shipping.
The rock and DSB will do most of the filtration so you can remove the filter material from the Emperor and use it just for flow. Does that have a bio-wheel in it? That will probably end up raising nitrates, not a good thing for corals.
You want water flow in the 10-20x/hr range (450-900 gal/hr in your case). Maxi-jets get good reviews here. You might want to try using 2 Maxi-jet 1200s. I have a couple of Hagen 802's in my 125 and a couple of mini-jet 404 (free in my IO salt buckets) for added flow in the corners.
As Steve said, plan now for what you want your tank to end up as. I keep upgrading and it costs a lot more in the long run...especially lighting.
The rock and DSB will do most of the filtration so you can remove the filter material from the Emperor and use it just for flow. Does that have a bio-wheel in it? That will probably end up raising nitrates, not a good thing for corals.
You want water flow in the 10-20x/hr range (450-900 gal/hr in your case). Maxi-jets get good reviews here. You might want to try using 2 Maxi-jet 1200s. I have a couple of Hagen 802's in my 125 and a couple of mini-jet 404 (free in my IO salt buckets) for added flow in the corners.
As Steve said, plan now for what you want your tank to end up as. I keep upgrading and it costs a lot more in the long run...especially lighting.
S
steve-s
Guest
192w PC light would do quite well for most soft and LPS corals that you will readily find available in the hobby. For now, I would suggest researching on the many kinds available to be sure your set up can provide properly for them. It will still be quite a few more months before the tank is matured enough to keep corals so read as much as you can.
Cheers
Steve
Cheers
Steve
