First saltwater tank equipment choices

[bluesman]

Hi, I just found this wonderful board a few days ago. I've already read through a lot of the sticky advice and a fair number of threads.
I'm in the planning stage for my first saltwater tank and need some advice/criticism for how my planned setup looks. I have a good amount of freshwater experience and understand the basic principles of fish keeping, but I have never done SW before.
The tank that I'm planning to use is a 30 gallon extra long (48" x 12" x 12"). The tank is drilled and has a glass overflow built in one corner. I intend to have a 20 gallon long as a sump with as large an area as possible devoted to a refugium containing chaeto. For a protein skimmer I'm looking at the "Coralife Super Skimmer Needle Wheel 65 gallon Protein Skimmer". For the return I'm looking at the mag drive 700 pump. For the heater I was eying the Hydor ETH 200w In-Line Heater (I like this, because I might hang the skimmer on the sump and then I have nothing to take up space from the fuge). I'm also going to get a RO-DI unit, a refractometer, and an auto top off device.
I'm unsure about what kind of lighting I need. For the fuge I can get a compact florescent 12" 36 watt light for $50. Is this sufficient for the macro algae growth? Since this is my first SW tank I'm going to start out with just a sand bed and live rock, but I want enough lighting for corals in the future. I think I want to do T-5 lights, how much lighting is sufficient since the tank is so shallow?
The only other question i can think of right now is what is the best brand of salt?
How does this look for a setup as far as the equipment goes? I'm not worried about livestock or operation of the tank just yet as I'm going to be moving states in a few months. I just want to get the equipment and sump built so everything is ready to go once the move is done.
Any and all advice would be great, I don't want to buy anything and find out I made a mistake.
Thank you.

 

[mboswell1982]

personally, id recommend a reef octopus over the coralife skimmer, and for lighting, ur best bet, if you have the money to spend, would be the current usa nova extreme pros, they have a 48" fixture of T5HO lighting thats awesome, if you want, email me at chovuk1982@yahoo.com and ill shoot you the link to the lights. a lot of people would tell you to stay away fom an in-line heater, and go with 2 of them, one for backup incase one fails, and also 2 heaters because then 1 doesnt have to work as hard to keep the tank heated. and, just put the heaters in your refugium. again, just email and ill link you to both the lights and a skimmer as well

 

[bluesman]

I see a hang on and in sump version for the reef octopus skimmer. Is the cheaper hang on version ok, or do I want to go for the larger in sump one?
The Nova extreme pro is a bit expensive and do I really need that much lighting? The tank is only 12" deep and once you throw in sand and rocks it will be less.
What do you think about the Nova extreme SLR 216 watt?

 

[culp]

Originally Posted by mboswell1982
http:///forum/post/2865222
personally, id recommend a reef octopus over the coralife skimmer, and for lighting, ur best bet, if you have the money to spend, would be the current usa nova extreme pros, they have a 48" fixture of T5HO lighting thats awesome, if you want, email me at chovuk1982@yahoo.com and ill shoot you the link to the lights. a lot of people would tell you to stay away fom an in-line heater, and go with 2 of them, one for backup incase one fails, and also 2 heaters because then 1 doesnt have to work as hard to keep the tank heated. and, just put the heaters in your refugium. again, just email and ill link you to both the lights and a skimmer as well

+1 on using two heater. if and when a heater breaks or fails it most likly will break in the on position and if you have one heater and it does that it could kill all your fish.
most importantly always get the best Skimmer you can afford/ can fit in your sump
than secondly always get the best Lights that you can get or you will have to spend more money to upgrade.
and third get two or three good power heads for water movement.

 

[mboswell1982]

on the question of the skimmer, general rule of thumb is to get a skimmer thats rated for roughly twice of the water your using, so with you havin a 30g tank an a 20g sump, thats 50g, the reef octopus nw110 is rated for 90g, its an in sump skimmer, which is nice, and its only 150 bucks, and on the lights, yes, always go with the best lights you can afford, with your tanks only being 12" deep, u dont need MH lights, T5HO's will give you some amazing colors and awesome growth on any and all corals you want

 

[bluesman]

Ok so 2 heaters sounds like the way to go. Is it ok to have both next to each other or better to try to fit them on opposite sides of the sump?

 

[rotarymagic]

Originally Posted by Bluesman
http:///forum/post/2865228
I see a hang on and in sump version for the reef octopus skimmer. Is the cheaper hang on version ok, or do I want to go for the larger in sump one?
The Nova extreme pro is a bit expensive and do I really need that much lighting? The tank is only 12" deep and once you throw in sand and rocks it will be less.
What do you think about the Nova extreme SLR 216 watt?
SLR is junk you need the pro... individual reflectors are MUCH better than one big one..

 

[culp]

Originally Posted by Bluesman
http:///forum/post/2865228
I see a hang on and in sump version for the reef octopus skimmer. Is the cheaper hang on version ok, or do I want to go for the larger in sump one?
The Nova extreme pro is a bit expensive and do I really need that much lighting? The tank is only 12" deep and once you throw in sand and rocks it will be less.
What do you think about the Nova extreme SLR 216 watt?
normaly hang on skimmers are weaker than in sump skimmers.
and if i were you i would go with the Nova Extreme pro. first because with that light on your tank you could keep probably any try of coral. and second if you decided to upgrade to a larger tank that is 48 inches long that light would still be a good light for a 55, 75, and 90 gallon tanks.

 

[culp]

Originally Posted by Rotarymagic
http:///forum/post/2865242
SLR is junk you need the pro... individual reflectors are MUCH better than one big one..
Vary True! and with the heaters i have both my heater next to each other in my sump and they work just fine. they are about 4 inches apart though.

 

[bluesman]

Uggg the Nova extreme pro is $$$$.
But if that's the best way to do it, I guess I'll get that. It's better to get the one that I'll be happy with in the long run than to buy 2.
I learned that lesson when I bought some electric guitars last year. I bought a mexican strat first, then decided to buy a gibson LP a few months later.

 

[rotarymagic]

Originally Posted by Bluesman
http:///forum/post/2865263
Uggg the Nova extreme pro is $$$$.
But if that's the best way to do it, I guess I'll get that. It's better to get the one that I'll be happy with in the long run than to buy 2.
I learned that lesson when I bought some electric guitars last year. I bought a mexican strat first, then decided to buy a gibson LP a few months later.
yep you already know the reason lol... alittle more money up front than lots more down the road.

 

[culp]

can i ask why you want a 40 long though? it will really limit you on what type of fish you can have. and with sand and rock there won't really be to much room left.
i was considering buying a 40 long for a frag tank. until i went broke buying all my fish stuff.

 

[bluesman]

How about one of the 4x 216 watt current light fixtures that has individual reflectors? Nova HO X4 or Nova sundial T-5...

 

[rotarymagic]

the sundial wouldn't be bad on a 12inch tall tank.. it has some cool features, but for sps you definitely should get the pro.

 

[mboswell1982]

the current usa nova extreme pro's T5HO 36" - 6 x 39 Watts (3 - 10K / 3 - 460nm Actinics) for 300 bucks on one site, an thats the cheapest i can find em anywhere, they're 298.64 or something like that LOL

 

[bluesman]

Originally Posted by Culp
http:///forum/post/2865280
can i ask why you want a 40 long though? it will really limit you on what type of fish you can have. and with sand and rock there won't really be to much room left.
i was considering buying a 40 long for a frag tank. until i went broke buying all my fish stuff.

30 extra long actually...
I guess I want to try this as I already have the tank sitting in my basement and because the SW fish that I always liked looking at the most at the LFS were little gobies and other smallish fish. I know larger tanks give you more margin for error, but I thought it might be more manageable to do a smaller tank for smaller water changes. I also hate taller tanks, seems like such a waste of space to me.

 

[mboswell1982]

Originally Posted by Bluesman
http:///forum/post/2865317
30 extra long actually...
I guess I want to try this as I already have the tank sitting in my basement and because the SW fish that I always liked looking at the most at the LFS were little gobies and other smallish fish. I know larger tanks give you more margin for error, but I thought it might be more manageable to do a smaller tank for smaller water changes. I also hate taller tanks, seems like such a waste of space to me.
dude, i agree with you 110% on the tall tank, i hate the damn things personally, i much prefer a shorter, shallower tank than a taller tank, they're easier to clean for one

 

[culp]

if you are going to be keeping Goby's than you will need to find a way to get them from jumping out of your tank.

 

[bluesman]

Originally Posted by Culp
http:///forum/post/2865351
if you are going to be keeping Goby's than you will need to find a way to get them from jumping out of your tank.
Is putting a glass lid on top plus eggcrate over the overflow fine?

 

[mboswell1982]

just use nothing but eggcrate, it will you better, i think the word is oxygenation?? LOL anyway, it will help with gas exchange an stuff to have just the eggcrate instead of the glass top