Thinking of jumping into the reef...

[GoldfishJoey]

Hello all! So I have a few questions... actually a ton. Sorry. So here's the deal I have a heartland 60 gallon tall aquarium tank that currently holds my goldfish in it after re homing my goldfish I want to tackle saltwater. I've had this tank established well over a year and a half and i'm ready for a new adventure.

Problem is my lighting. I have the regular fluorescent lighting that comes with the tank and from the research I have made it's not sufficient lighting for corals or reef tank. I've seen some really costly great looking LED hoods and I definitely want to get LED lighting so it cut down the cost on the electric bill. Anyway, my question is what is sufficient lighting for corals? My tank measurements are

L=48inch
w=12.5Inch
H=25insh

Give or take. Im still trying to determine what type of coral I want. Aside from trying to determine the difference.

Anyway, I need help determining what I need to adequately maintain a saltwater tank. This is what I currently have available to my tank. Will I be able to incorporate this into my saltwater tank?

Cascade 1000 canister filter
Aqueon 75 HOB filter
Aqueon 950 water circulator
a UV light

I found a protein skimmer for 100 gallon tank at pet-smart for 100 bucks is that something I should look into buying?

I've heard of sumps being used and it all sounds great however, i can't drill into my tank. :/

Sorry for the broad questions… I'm just confused to the lighting situation and what I can keep and what I can't. What I can get rid of and all that good stuff. I'm trying to get as well informed as I can before I jump into. I even bought a book called simple guide to Marine Aquariums. Anyway, I dont want to sound like a total dweeb but I don't want to end up spending more money then i have too.

Thanks guys for the information in advance. I really appreciate it. Maybe you can lighten the confusion that i'm going through. lol

 

[Fishfreak1]

For a sump you really don't have to drill unless you want to go the safer way and do something like a herbie overflow method. You can get a hang on back overflow and return which will be good if you can't drill your tank.

 

[Dreamsound1]

A protein skimmer would be nice to have and if you want to do a protein skimmer you can get a hob overflow cause that's what I did on my 43 gallon

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Very interested in this thread. Similar situation, same canister filter. Want to know about lighting as well, but 55 gallon.

There are better prices for protein skimmers. We happen to be Amazon shoppers and lots of better deals for skimmers than that.


SRC <><

 

[GoldfishJoey]

For a sump you really don't have to drill unless you want to go the safer way and do something like a herbie overflow method. You can get a hang on back overflow and return which will be good if you can't drill your tank.

I've never heard of the herbie overflow method. I will look that up. I was wondering how valuable would a sump compared to HOB's. hmm... Thanks for your help.

 

[GoldfishJoey]

A protein skimmer would be nice to have and if you want to do a protein skimmer you can get a hob overflow cause that's what I did on my 43 gallon

Interesting. I've never heard of this HOB overflow. Haha... I feel so out of the loop now.

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Very interested in this thread. Similar situation, same canister filter. Want to know about lighting as well, but 55 gallon.

There are better prices for protein skimmers. We happen to be Amazon shoppers and lots of better deals for skimmers than that.

SRC <><

I'll do my browsing on the net and tend to find deals on eBay and what not. haven't tried amazon though. Maybe il give it a whirl.

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Are those HOB overflow boxes noisy? What's a good one to have? And what size sump would be needed?

 

[Dreamsound1]

Yeah there kinda noisy

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Yeah there kinda noisy

Hmmm....

 

[Mrc8858]

Honestly if your really wanting to get into reefing. Do it right the first time around because you'll regret it until you fix it lol. I would say either empty the tank and drill it or find one that is drilled or can be drilled. From there on just start piecing it together to fully suit what you want. This will spread your total cost out, give you plenty of research time (very important in SW), and lastly you won't be "settling" for anything.

 

[Mrc8858]

I promise you everyone will agree with me once you buy your first coral it becomes an addiction lol you will always be looking to upgrade or simplify your setup until you flat out go bigger haha.

 

[Dreamsound1]

Well yeah I would bet it is and I'll tell you what else is addition is setting up your first fish tank is wanting to setup more cause I'm setting up 2 more tanks myself

 

[GoldfishJoey]

Haha... My BF would not allow me to get a bigger tank. So a 60 is as big as he allows me to go. I've tried to get him to budge but he's not giving in. I've tried everything. No luck. I went from a ten gallon, to a twenty gallon and my 60 is it. So I can't go bigger. Lol

 

[Dreamsound1]

Well that sucks but 60 gallon is a good size but thank god my girlfriend will let me do a 110 gallon

 

[Sgc1107]

When I first was intrested I bought the saltwater book for dummies! Currently retreading it now after a few months of having my tank I understand more. IMO it was a good start, you may want to look into it

 

[Dreamsound1]

That's a good way to learn and even by talking to your LFS employees

 

[Mrc8858]

You can check out bulkreefsupply.com too. They offer great videos on a lot of their products which will help give you an idea of what it is and how it works for SW equipment. YouTube is also a great location to learn from. Just remember there's more then one way to do it right so except all the different methods and opinions until you feel comfortable making up your own mind on how you feel about certain methods.

 

[Dreamsound1]

But if you go to petco or pet smart or walmart I would not even bother to ask someone who works there unless you really trust them

 

[Dreamsound1]

But with the sump question you had I would do a 20 or 30 gallon tank for a sump for a 65 gallon