what do i need

[fishboy87]

... Ok I'm thinking for the future.... I know I woould want to get a sw tank.... I have a 55 FW tank.... Ima move my FW to a 200 gallon and use my 55 for SW tnak with live coral.... What are the necessities for a SW... I been doing some research and figured out that Ima need a protien skimmer and a uv light in order to prevent algea growth...not sure if Ima need a cannister filter , but if I do i will use my fluval 405 .... I also understand that lighting is important for the coral.... Am I down the right track??? What else do I need? And how mich might all of these things cost me..???

 

[amdninjaboy]

If it was me Id keep the 55FW and use the 200 gal for SW.. You could have an awesome SW with a 200 gal tank, the more water in a saltwater setup the better..Lighting is the expensive part, need good lights for corals etc.. You are on the right track though... Im starting a 90 gal with a 35 gal sump and I will be at about $2000. I got a new tank $200, skimmer $350, Light $380, water pump $125, heaters $75(2), Sand $150, plumbing stuff $150. I already had the 35 gal for the sump.. Then some misc stuff and some base and live rock I will be around $2000.

Shane.

 

[fishboy87]

If it was me Id keep the 55FW and use the 200 gal for SW.. You could have an awesome SW with a 200 gal tank, the more water in a saltwater setup the better..Lighting is the expensive part, need good lights for corals etc.. You are on the right track though... Im starting a 90 gal with a 35 gal sump and I will be at about $2000. I got a new tank $200, skimmer $350, Light $380, water pump $125, heaters $75(2), Sand $150, plumbing stuff $150. I already had the 35 gal for the sump.. Then some misc stuff and some base and live rock I will be around $2000.

Shane.

Can you pease let me know what the sump and protien skimmer actually does... Why are their functions????

 

[Dary421]

The sump which is usually located beneath your tank serves many purposes ,..it increases the overall volume of water in your system which is important in itself because the more water you have the easier it is to maintain your waters overall parameters ,... It's also a area that you can grow some useful plant life such as chaeto which in turn helps to rid the aquarium of unwanted nutrients such as nitrates.
It's also any area where you can put alot of your equipment out of the way of your main tank for a more cosmetically pleasing look, such as your thermometer,reactors,pumps,protein skimmers etc.
The protein skimmer is as interesting piece of equipment which thru a controlled mass of micro bubbles pushes suspended organic particles such as uneaten food particles, fish waste and generally any suspended junk into a collection cup where it can be disposed of BEFORE it can decay thus causing unwanted things to occur in you tank,....hope this helps,...Dary

 

[fishboy87]

The sump which is usually located beneath your tank serves many purposes ,..it increases the overall volume of water in your system which is important in itself because the more water you have the easier it is to maintain your waters overall parameters ,... It's also a area that you can grow some useful plant life such as chaeto which in turn helps to rid the aquarium of unwanted nutrients such as nitrates.
It's also any area where you can put alot of your equipment out of the way of your main tank for a more cosmetically pleasing look, such as your thermometer,reactors,pumps,protein skimmers etc.
The protein skimmer is as interesting piece of equipment which thru a controlled mass of micro bubbles pushes suspended organic particles such as uneaten food particles, fish waste and generally any suspended junk into a collection cup where it can be disposed of BEFORE it can decay thus causing unwanted things to occur in you tank,....hope this helps,...Dary

So having a sump can allow me to hide my other parts from plain view... Cool..... Is it possible two have two pumps....

 

[amdninjaboy]

Two pumps for what??

 

[Dary421]

So having a sump can allow me to hide my other parts from plain view... Cool..... Is it possible two have two pumps....

Usually,...besides a small pump powering your protein skimmer or reactor,...you normally will only need one main pump ,...this "return" pump is used for pumping the water back into the tank after it's entered the sump via a overflow box or via a drilled tank,....think of it as a big loop,...water is taken into the sump from the aquarium then it goes thru all it's filtration etc and then it's pumped back into the main tank at the same rate it that it was taken in.....there's a lot of good info on this site ,.... Type in sump under search and that'll probably bring up a couple of days worth of reading