well I finally decided to do a reef tank

[ct67_72]

I moved recently and brought all my fish to the lfs. I ended up moving back and now I have an empty tank. I have wanted to do it for some time so now I am! so what I have is a 29 gallon tank, I have apc fixture with 2 65w bulbs one actinic and one something (was a plant bulb) and l.e.d.'s.
I will be buying most likely a rena or eheim canister filter, I have one powerhead now. I think Im going to try an inline heater.
so my question is, does this sound like a good setup? Im going to get my live sand tomorrow and possibly the live rock but I may order it. I plan on having a couple clowns, a shrimp some corals and possibly an anemone.
any input is greatly appreciated

 

[Devilishturtles]

Sounds like a good plan to me. When it comes time to change the bulbs you'll probably want to look into maybe a 10000k bulb instead of the plant bulbs.

A pair of clowns, 1-2 other small fish, inverts and corals sounds like a great setup.

 

[ct67_72]

cool thanks. yeh one of the bulks is 10,000k I forget what the other one is.

 

[melosu58]

Anytime is good for a reef tank. LOL Sounds good on the set up but as Lindsay said make sure your lighting is in proper bounds for a reef tank also anenomes should be in a mature tank of about 9-12 months.

 

[ct67_72]

thats what I thought. I will not be adding any anemones until I am sure that the tank is stable and safe. so should both of my bulbs be actinic? and if I replace the daylight bulb what should i use? I see the 420 and 460 bulbs

 

[melosu58]

No you dont want both bulbs to be actinic . Maybe a 50/50 bulb for the other.

 

[Ziggy953]

I think with one Actinic and a 10k or even a 14k if you can find one will work very well for you.

Have a look at the articles section and start with this one ( http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15 )

 

[ct67_72]

oh yeah i have read all of those lol. I just wanted some specifics on my perticular setup. so it sounds like Im good. now what would my lighting be considered? 130w over 29 gallon tank, so is that like medium light?

 

[Lance M.]

I guess the words "low" "moderate" and "high" light mean different things for different people. I have a 130 watt fixture similar to yours (one 65 watt is 50/50, the other is actinic) over my 20 gallon reef and I consider it "moderate" light. But you should be able to keep lots of corals (leathers, zoos, mushrooms, lps, softies) without a problem.

I've been using Rena canister filters for about 4 yrs and I like them a lot, but I've never had Eheim.

O and I read somewhere that the prefered way to start a tank is the lr first then the ls so that the lr is on the glass bottom (or eggcrate or whatever) and stable. But I guess it really doesnt matter, just make sure it's stable.