New Fowlr

[FocusFin]

I am in the early stages of setting up a fish-only with live rock in a 56g - 30L 18D 22H tank.

I will have the following:

50 Lbs live rock
protein skimmer
2 power heads
< 2 inches aragonite
2 300 watt heaters

The tank is in front of a bay window in my living room which receives no direct light but is fairly bright. This tank housed my angelfish and some anacharis (which doubled in size in the first two weeks I had them). Is this a suitable setup for saltwater and given the amount of natural light could I manage with basic lighting (single 24 inch 20W sunglo T8 4200K) until the fall or do I need better lighting for the live rock?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Mike



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[sniggir]

nope that is all the light you need for a fish only... sounds like a good set up

[Faerin]

Sounds like a good start. As long as you're not keeping coral, all you need is enough light to see everything to your liking. I would suggest using smaller heaters though ... 2x300w is a lot for that size of tank, and if one ever breaks in the on position it could boil your tank fairly quickly. A couple 150w heaters should be plenty for that tank.

[porcupinepuffer]

Faerin took the words out of my mouth with the reference to the heaters... Bigger isn't always better. saltwater fish are less tolerable to sudden changes in the water. So smaller heaters is actually better as it will be slower at heating the water, and less stress on the fish. Onething that should be noted with sizing for heaters, it how much flow the aquarium will have. When you have several motors for powerheads, sump, skimmer... these all create a decent amount of heat that will aide in keeping the water warmer... As far as trying to use natural sunlight, I've read it can cause really aggrevating algae issues... Which has a lot to do with the sun shining in a lot more hours a day then what the aquarium lighting would.... And as far the light for the liverock, you're only concerin with fish only is the bacteria growth with the liverock to aide in the nitrogen cycle... so no light issue there... Regular lights can work fine for what you want, but I'd try and get some sort of saltwater lighting to bring out the best coloration of the fish, and look of your tank that you can...

[porcupinepuffer]

what powerheads/skimmer are you looking to get, and what fish are you looking to have in there?

[FocusFin]

Thanks for the advice on the heaters. I am hoping to eventually buy an 80 to 90 gallon hex and thought the 300 watt heaters would be a good idea for the future, but not.

I plan to buy the largest skimmer I can afford and as for fish I am thinking 3 or 4 moorish idols (just kidding). The idol is the reason I got into the hobby. Seriously, clownfish, cardinal and royal gramma. Nothing complicated and good beginner fish. Will do a fishless cycle.

Bought two Maxjet 600s today.

Mike

[FocusFin]

I went to buy my powerheads today thinking I would be buying two Maxi-jet 1200's only to be told that two 600's would be enough and 1200's would be excessive. I took their advice but now realize that 320gph is only a turnover rate of 5X to 6X per hour. Am I better off with the 1200's?

[Faerin]

Yeah, I would go for the 1200s ... shoot for a bare minimum of 10X turnover.

[az]

i would go with 2 900, 1200s on a 30 long is a bit too much for fowlr.