Going Salty. 29G

[Addison]

Starting a 29G SW from supplies from a FW tank. So far I've got the water, sand, salt, a few pounds of rock, and a raw shrimp in there. Using left over equipment just for the cycling process I hooked up your standard, base model FW filter, a regent 10-20G filter and a 5-10G filter. So from what I understand in SW it's all about having a lot of waterfalls (gph) to move across the love rock which pretty much acts as your filter....correct? Will these filter work? Would they be more efficient if I remove the filter cartridge and added a mesh bag of live rock rubble? Or just get a new filter all together? I also seen a skimmer rated at 170 ghp for $22, good buy or don't waste my time? Also is a skimmer necessary for my tank size? Sorry for so many questions but I wanna do this right as its my first SW. Any and all help appreciate, thanks.

[Pschmitt]

Forget a new filter and buy powerheads for circulation. With enough rocks you won't need the filters for bio filtration just for mechanical and chemical (carbon, gfo). I'm not familiar with the ones you have but rinse the sponge (if it has one) when doing WC'S. Stock lightly and do weekly WC's and you'll be fine without a skimmer.

[Addison]

Excuse my newbness but what's gfo. And is a powerhead rated at 170 gph for $22 good or bad? (I meant to say powerhead not a skimmer in my original post)

[Addison]

How much flow is recommended for a tank that size?

[Paulm87]

You probably want between 10 and 15 times your tank volume if not more, so for a 29gallon tank you want 290gph and upwards. Anywhere up to 20 times.

[Pschmitt]

GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide). Used to lower phosphates which promotes algae growth. What I'm saying is you only want to use your filter to remove debris and not actually do the major water circulation. I am running a 29 right now but will be upgraded to a 53 soon. I'm using a MP 10 for water movement but there are other options like the koralia poweheads. How much flow depends on what you want to keep. At the very least I would strive for around 600 gph.

[Paulm87]

I've got an MP10 and I love it, so much better than a normal power head, the program's on it are great.

[Addison]

Ok I got one person say at the most have 580gph an the other saying at the least have 600gph. -_-

[Addison]

Trying to build a budget tank here and with college bills adding up I unfortunately can't add top of the line name brand equipment to my tank at the moment so a quick search on amazon and I get a 800gph by tech'n'toy 16.09 and a super vp-110 530gph by sunsun for 15.99. Any suggestions or comments on these powerheads?

[Pschmitt]

Don't know those brands, but whatever you choose get 2 (each pumping around 300 gph). I gave you my advice on flow to keep softies and some lps' s. Since you are on a tight budget I don't see you getting into SPS' s yet, so 20x turnover is a good starting point.

[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by Addison

Starting a 29G SW from supplies from a FW tank. So far I've got the water, sand, salt, a few pounds of rock, and a raw shrimp in there. Using left over equipment just for the cycling process I hooked up your standard, base model FW filter, a regent 10-20G filter and a 5-10G filter. So from what I understand in SW it's all about having a lot of waterfalls (gph) to move across the love rock which pretty much acts as your filter....correct? Will these filter work? Would they be more efficient if I remove the filter cartridge and added a mesh bag of live rock rubble? Or just get a new filter all together? I also seen a skimmer rated at 170 ghp for $22, good buy or don't waste my time? Also is a skimmer necessary for my tank size? Sorry for so many questions but I wanna do this right as its my first SW. Any and all help appreciate, thanks.

The live rock doubles as the filter. There is a TON of surface area on live rock compared to regular rock. This gives plenty of room for aerobic bacteria to thrive which i the normal cycling bacteria in a fresh water tank as well as anaerobic pockets for nitrate consuming bacteria to thrive.

I would HIGHLY suggest the hydor koralia powerheads, they are pretty much the best low price powerheads you can get your hands on for reef tanks. You chould look at 10x the tank volume per hour in a fish only setup with far higher gph in a reef tank.

The standard freshwater filter isn't necessary. The GFO is getting into more advanced reefing with SPS or LPS corals and not needed for a beginner looking to set up a basic tank.

As for the skimmer, I would look at different ones. A standard decent skimmer will cost about $150 for a smaller tank. Also, Buy a skimmer rated for a bigger tank than you have at the moment.

[Mebbid]

Also, seeing the posts that happened while I was typing the last one. The standard recommended flow for a tank is 10x-40x per hour. I would lean more towards the 40x than the 10x myself.