Thinking about getting a saltwater tank for my birthday

[gljvd]

My 30th is coming up in Sept and I was thinking of going saltwater. I've been lurking here for at least a year. I read all about cycling so I know what to do there. This is the set up I was thinking of

30 Gallon long takn from pet smart for $70

$50 Refactometer

$30 Odyssea heater

$35 Hydor Koralia circulation pump. Not sure of what GPH to go with. I'm guessing 2 of them however ?

14ich Reugium + skimmer $85

I would put the heater , sand and live rock in the Refugium and keep it out of sight. The Hydor Koralia have magnents which I like , I know my friends heater in his fresh water only had the cups to hold it and it ended up coming off and cracking on the bottom of the tank . I'm not sure if the heater is to powerful.

So this is my plan. Right now my gf and I are saving money to get married but we are leaving at our parents houses to do so (it sucks but free rent helps alot) So I don't have a crazy amount of room. So the 30G tank would just be until my gf and I get a place and then depending on the place we would go to 75 to a 150g tank. So some of this stuff I would like to be able to move foward or into a small tank for my niece and nephew.

I want to have some coral so here comes my last question. Lighting. I rather go LED . Can I build my own lighting rig , are there any guides , i've looked but haven't found one . How about pre build LED set ups that don't break the bank .

Ecoxotic pro 19w 12,000k LED would one of these work along with its reflector ?

http://www.ecoxotic.com/aquarium-led-lights/panorama-modules/panorama-pro-module.html] Or mabye one of these ?[/quote]


I would certianly love to build the led rig myself and most likely save alot of money doing it. Any advice would be great.

For corals I figure some brains and other low light guys and mabye a clam

 

[mr_X]

no. that fixture won't work. i would skip the refugium/skimmer combo thing too...a hang on refugium is not a bad idea, but the skimmers they couple with them are garbage.
a clam is a high light creature. you'll need stronger lighting than LPS require.

 

[gljvd]

Thank you.

Can I grab that refugium and just add something like the odyssea ps75 protein skimmer ?

Or perhaps I can simply make my own I guess.

What about the heater. Is that over kill for the tank or will I be fine ?

 

[carey]

i think a 500w heater on a 30g is way way overkill.

I have a 150w in my 29g and a 250 in my 55g.

Not sure of how well the odyssea skimmers work but I would just skip the skimmer all together. If you do proper water changes weekly you won't need it. I have a 29g that is running skimmer free with no ill side effects.

 

[gljvd]

Thank you , So I can run with no filter using the live rock/ coral instead and no skimmer ?

The other question is what power koralia circulation pump should I get. Are two 550GPH good enough . Should I get one more powerful and one less ?

The way I'm figuring is

$70 for the tank
$50 refractometer
$30 150Watt heater
$35 x2 circulation pump

$220 total. I can pick up one of those master test kits for $40-50 at the LFS so I guess like $260.

I would just need to make a light fixture prob about another $100.

 

[huma-huma]

Ebay for the rwfractometer. ... 30 bucks and I believe carey has the link lol

 

[francis]

umm idk if someone said it but $70 for a 30 gallon is too much. look on craigs list you can get a huge tank for $70

 

[carey]

Here's the link for the refractometer

Salinity Refractometer 0-10% ATC Aquarium Salt Water - eBay (item 230393088138 end time Aug-18-11 22:09:51 PDT)

 

[mr_X]

the right fixture to keep clams is going to be much more than 100 dollars.
don't forget the cost of the live rock (at least 30 pounds) and a bag of sand.

 

[huma-huma]

And in comes carey with the link save lol

 

[carey]

And in comes carey with the link save lol

Lol I have most of these links saved cause it comes up so frequently.

 

[gljvd]

umm idk if someone said it but $70 for a 30 gallon is too much. look on craigs list you can get a huge tank for $70

I don't have the room for anything bigger and I haven't found a 30g long within driving distance yet. I wont be buying anything till sept 6th at least so I will keep looking.

the right fixture to keep clams is going to be much more than 100 dollars.
don't forget the cost of the live rock (at least 30 pounds) and a bag of sand.

Yea , I think I can build a nice LED set up for about $150 using cree bulbs for the 30G L .

Also the live rock shouldn't be a big problem the LFS by me has it kinda cheap and they will also give me some from a coral tank they have had for years so I can cycle faster

 

[dralarms]

Too bad you are not close, I'm going to have extra live sand and live rock left over when I get my tank finished.