illuminum
Aquarium Advice Freak
Alright, well I've found a nice tank for sale and it's a whole lot bigger than I orginally planned for (which was an 80 gal) , but the price seems right.
It's a 260 gal acrylic and is currently a FO tank with a large dog face puffer, pork puffer, 2 yellow tangs, emporator, rass, and a large maroon clown. I'd want to convert it to a reef system over time, but first I need some help from all of you here at AA.
According to the owner, it's got:
Chiller
UV Sterilizer
Skimmer
two over flows with extra bio balls
lots of coral (Fake) and rocks
custom hood with 4 long tube lights (unknown wattage, my assumption is they're VHO's, def. not MH's)
I got the photos and it looks like he's got a wet/dry filter under the tank and I've heard from many people that you do not want a wet/dry if you're going to run a reeftank. Can anyone provide some input on that? Pros & cons maybe? I could just empty it out and just turn it into a regular sump, right?
Also, if I do decide to turn this tank into a reef system, what sort of light requirements would I need? I don't plan on having any stony corals b/c I know I wouldn't be able to keep them alive w/o MH's. I would like to have clams though if it's possible. And how important are actinics in a reef? What benefit do they provide? What would I miss without them?
More Q's about the reef conversion...
Can I just start swapping the regular rock with LR, or use some of the existing rock as base rock for my LR, or is it slightly more complicated than that?
Is Live Sand really necessary? What are the pros of it and what are the cons of it? Could I just put a layer of live sand over the already existing sand, and would it seed the regular sand over time?
I know I just threw alot of questions out there that could be discusse for pages, but I would really appreciate some input here. This would be my first SW tank (I stuck to FW in the past for simplicity's sake). I've done a good amount of research on how to keep a SW tank and a reef system, but have a good while to go to become nearly as educated as any of you all. Once again, any help would be highly appreciated. One more thing, is there anything in particular I should keep an eye out for when I'm checking out the tank to make sure everything is ok?
(I'm so excited)
Thanks!
-Greg
Oh I almost forgot, here are the pics. They're big so I'll just link them for you.
Edit: I fixed the pics. thanks for pointing it out
http://www.s90123357.onlinehome.us/coppermine/albums/userpics/10013/underneath.jpg
http://www.s90123357.onlinehome.us/coppermine/albums/userpics/10013/uvfilter[1].jpg
http://www.s90123357.onlinehome.us/coppermine/albums/userpics/10013/full tank shot.jpg
It's a 260 gal acrylic and is currently a FO tank with a large dog face puffer, pork puffer, 2 yellow tangs, emporator, rass, and a large maroon clown. I'd want to convert it to a reef system over time, but first I need some help from all of you here at AA.
According to the owner, it's got:
Chiller
UV Sterilizer
Skimmer
two over flows with extra bio balls
lots of coral (Fake) and rocks
custom hood with 4 long tube lights (unknown wattage, my assumption is they're VHO's, def. not MH's)
I got the photos and it looks like he's got a wet/dry filter under the tank and I've heard from many people that you do not want a wet/dry if you're going to run a reeftank. Can anyone provide some input on that? Pros & cons maybe? I could just empty it out and just turn it into a regular sump, right?
Also, if I do decide to turn this tank into a reef system, what sort of light requirements would I need? I don't plan on having any stony corals b/c I know I wouldn't be able to keep them alive w/o MH's. I would like to have clams though if it's possible. And how important are actinics in a reef? What benefit do they provide? What would I miss without them?
More Q's about the reef conversion...
Can I just start swapping the regular rock with LR, or use some of the existing rock as base rock for my LR, or is it slightly more complicated than that?
Is Live Sand really necessary? What are the pros of it and what are the cons of it? Could I just put a layer of live sand over the already existing sand, and would it seed the regular sand over time?
I know I just threw alot of questions out there that could be discusse for pages, but I would really appreciate some input here. This would be my first SW tank (I stuck to FW in the past for simplicity's sake). I've done a good amount of research on how to keep a SW tank and a reef system, but have a good while to go to become nearly as educated as any of you all. Once again, any help would be highly appreciated. One more thing, is there anything in particular I should keep an eye out for when I'm checking out the tank to make sure everything is ok?
(I'm so excited)
Thanks!
-Greg
Oh I almost forgot, here are the pics. They're big so I'll just link them for you.
Edit: I fixed the pics. thanks for pointing it out
http://www.s90123357.onlinehome.us/coppermine/albums/userpics/10013/underneath.jpg
http://www.s90123357.onlinehome.us/coppermine/albums/userpics/10013/uvfilter[1].jpg
http://www.s90123357.onlinehome.us/coppermine/albums/userpics/10013/full tank shot.jpg