Going from FOWLR to my first reef tank? lots of questions!

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Ok so at this point I'm leaning towards a 4 bulb t5 HO (96w). Can someone confirm for me what types of coral this could maintain.
Can this type of fixture just sit on top of a hood with a glass panel or does the tank have to be open? I'm worried about fish jumping out if its topless.
I will most likely be running an AC50 filter on this 20gal tank. Will a circulation pump be necessary too?
This is going to be a stupid question, but how do you acclimate corals? Drip acclimation just like fish and inverts? And then do you just throw them in like fish or somehow mount them somewhere or something?
And I've heard of corals killing each other. Should I be concerned about this?

Just to go over it again. For a 20gal high I'd be looking to do:
2x ocellaris clownfish
1x royal gramma
1x bicolour angel OR flame angel
1x manadrin dragonette
2x fire shrimp
2x Mexican turbo snails
1x sand sifting starfish
And a bunch of assorted corals.

Would this all be too much? And YES I'm well aware of the difficulty in keeping a manadrin and would only add it once my tank is very well established, full of pods and even supplement pods as necessary.
Same with the starfish- add it later.

Would the starfish eat the blood shrimp?

Also I will be using aragonite sand (not live) and be doing a deep sand bed. Is this okay?
And what problem will develop down the road by using tap water?

Thanks everyone for the help and advice :)
 
DON'T use a glass top! It will cause heating problems in the tank (essentially turning your tank into a greenhouse), and pH problems. If you are worried about your fish jumping, you can put a screen over the top of the tank.

I'm not 100% sure, but your stocking list seems like too much (but I'll let someone with more stocking knowledge jump in on that one)

I cannot stress how important it is that you do not use tap water! Phosphates, nitrates, silicates, copper, and iron: just a few of the things that can be found in tap water. You don't want to be introducing these kinds of things into your tank, ESPECIALLY if you are going to be housing corals. Get an RO/DI system, even used on Craigslist or eBay.

I did some research on Deep Sand Beds a while back, and it seemed like there were two sides: either they absolutely loved them, or they hated them. I just decided that I didn't want to start messing with something that I didn't know much about.
 
fishmonkey said:
DON'T use a glass top! It will cause heating problems in the tank (essentially turning your tank into a greenhouse), and pH problems. If you are worried about your fish jumping, you can put a screen over the top of the tank.

I'm not 100% sure, but your stocking list seems like too much (but I'll let someone with more stocking knowledge jump in on that one)

I cannot stress how important it is that you do not use tap water! Phosphates, nitrates, silicates, copper, and iron: just a few of the things that can be found in tap water. You don't want to be introducing these kinds of things into your tank, ESPECIALLY if you are going to be housing corals. Get an RO/DI system, even used on Craigslist or eBay.

I did some research on Deep Sand Beds a while back, and it seemed like there were two sides: either they absolutely loved them, or they hated them. I just decided that I didn't want to start messing with something that I didn't know much about.
Click to expand...

+1 agreed.
 
on a nano, the electricity is minimal from the lights, so there shouldn't be much of a jump on the electricity bill
 
Ok so my ultimate question then is what type of corals could I have with a quad t5 (96w)?
And what type of corals could I have with the taotronics dimmable 120w LEDs?
Thanks
 
Rpbustillo said:
Softies and Lps with the t5s possibly some sps. With the LEDs you can keep whatever you want
Click to expand...

Exactly. With the T5's, you could keep some SPS if you were to put them towards the top of your rockwork, to give them the most possible light. With LED's, you could have generally anything. Have you considered doing a DIY LED setup?
 
I don't think I'm handy enough to do DIY lights. But it's looking like I'm gonna order the taotronics dimmables. Does it matter how high above the tank the lights hang if its dimmable?
What are the different types of corals? I want to research the different needs of each.
Hard corals
Soft corals
Sps
Lps

Do I have that right? Am I missing anything? I'm feeling very overwhelmed by this whole thing. There's so much I don't know about.
How do you acclimate coral?
Do you just drop them in like fish or do you place them somewhere specific in the tank? If so, how do you make them stay in place? Or do they move themselves?
Does the size of your tank restrict the corals you can get? Do they outgrow tanks?
Do they need to be fed?
I've heard of them stinging fish. Is this something I should be worried about?
Thanks
 
How do you acclimate coral? Do you just drop them in like fish or do you place them somewhere specific in the tank?
You can drip acclimate them. basically, you add tank water to a bucket that they are sitting in using some airline tubing so that it is a slow drip. That way the corals don't get shocked. Corals are VERY finicky.
If so, how do you make them stay in place? Or do they move themselves?
When you get a coral frag, it will be on a plug, and you can either glue or rubberband the coral to the rock until it grows onto the rock.
Does the size of your tank restrict the corals you can get? Do they outgrow tanks?
Yes! You do have to trim them occasionally, as they can get really big, and start hitting eachother.
Do they need to be fed?
I've heard of them stinging fish. Is this something I should be worried about?
Yes, a few corals will "sting" other corals, so you have to be careful.
 
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So many questions, let me see if I can answer them. lol SPS= Hard coral (small polyp) LPS= Large polyp Softies could be anywhere from a leather to zooa's. :)

I usually temp float the bag in the sump or tank then dip them, after the dip they can go in. Deoending on the coral will dictate where you place it. Mushrooms on the bottom say and SPS higher up your rock work. Most corals dont move, they stay where you put them unless a rogue hermit or snail moves them. lol Tank size doesnt actually dictate the coral but you wouldnt put a huge flowerpot coral in a small tank, they need room to stretch out and many corals have long tentacles that can and will sting other corals so you dont want them on top of one another.
keep a nice tank with good parmeters and light and the corals will get huge. :)
Most corals appreciate some food but in my experience its not a necessity as they get most of what they need from the light and when you feed the tank.
Can't say I've ever had a coral sting a fish but they do sting each other. I had a flowerpot frag fall face down on my palys and lost the flowerpot. :-(

Hope that all helps some.
 
Thank you guys so much for all the info. What do you mean when you say you dip them?

Here is my main question at this point:
With dimmable 120w LEDs hanging over a 20gal high, how high above the water would they need to hang? And how much would I want to dim them?
What is the biggest tank that these lights could support?
 
Two Little Fishies ReVive Coral Cleaner 16.8oz

Basically, the idea is to dip them in something like this to help acclimate them to your tank.

Those are some pretty good LED's! That is going to be REALLY powerful in your tank. I would say about 50-75% power? It all depends on your corals... Honestly, I would have no problem putting that on a 30g tank.

But I think Carey has used these in the past? She'll be able to give you more info.
 
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Probably less than 50% to start with. Lots of these in use now. Many of us have been growing hard corals with them for several years.
 
I did a search, and the only info I found on this was: "since they are not waterproof, they should be at least 10" off the top of the water". That does seem a bit high, but then again, there would be less salt creep to clean up. I think you should just start with them a few inches off the top of your tank. I think I saw that it was dimmable, so I don't see why it would be a problem.
 
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