Switch to SW from Fresh

[Hara]

Greetings all,
I must say that this is quite a nice site, I can tell I will spend alot of time here.
Now, on to the topic.
I have decided to take the plunge into SW. I have a 55 gallon that the inhabitants of which are moving to a 150. I wish to turn the 55 to a FOWLR
tank. Can anyone tell me what possible problems I will be looking at. What type of equipment changes I will need to make?
I am running a Fluval 304 and 2 powerheads on the 55. I had wanted to go with a DSB and the Fluval. Is this going to be adequate? How much lighting will it require. Right now, it has the standard light strip on it with a
Coralife Trichromatic 6500k tube on it.
Thanks for the help..

 

[fishfreek]

I have decided to take the plunge into SW.

Great to hear!!! Be careful I give this warning now. ITS VERY ADDICTIVE...

Ok. back to the topic at hand.

What are you keeping in the 55 now. Are they cichlids? Just curious cause I have a feeling in a year or so that 150 is gonna be salty also. haha Thats how addictive this is...

OK so you want to go FOWLR. In a 55 gal tank I would suggest 50-75lbs of LR. Now you dont have to get all that rock at once. You could get it in 1/2 now and 1/2 later on. As far as your DSB a good depth to shoot for is 4-5".

Since this is gonna be a FOWLR I would suggest maybe 2 55W PC blubs at 10K for this tank. I personally prefer 10K bulbs as they put out a bit more white light than 6500K You should have enough light to support anything that comes on your LR in the way of mushrooms or poylps. If you want to encurage some nice coraline growth then toss a 4" NO actinic bulb in there also.

If you have a DSB and LR there is really no need for the Fluval unless you just use it for water movement.