Hello

brandond20

brandond20

Member
Hey Everyone. I'm new to the reefing scene. I have always loved the beauty of the sea, but living in the middle of the country (Missouri), I figure I'll bring it to me by starting my first tank, although I feel a little bad about it, because it's taking away from that ocean's habitat.
I have decided on the tank size: 29. I would like to make a reef aquarium with a couple shrimp and a few clowns and such. I plan on buying the tank and stand sometime this week. I still have tons and tons to learn, so it will be a while before I get everything up and running. But I really look forward to getting it cycling here in the not so distant future and start putting some life into it.
A few questions:
-Can I just seed regular sand with LR, eventually turning it into live sand? That would save some money, I'm a student afterall. haha.
-What kind of lighting setup should I get for a 29gal reef? I know that different reef need different lighting, but I was wondering if I could get a good idea of what would be good for most.
Thanks guys, I look forever to posting up some initial pictures sometime soon.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Hello!!
You can seed sand with LR, or even just a handful of LS.
If you want to be able to keep any types of corals or clams, I would go with metal halides.
 
brandond20

brandond20

Member
Ok cool, that's about I thought about the sand. I've been hearing metal halides are the way to go. What kind of wattage lights would you recommend?
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by brandond20
Ok cool, that's about I thought about the sand. I've been hearing metal halides are the way to go. What kind of wattage lights would you recommend?

I'm not sure about the wattage. I actually only have PC lighting myself. Their are lots of people on here that can help you with that though. :happyfish
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
All depending on what type of corals your planning to keep. If you pick stuffs like frogspawn, hammer coral, leathers, zoas, etc. You don't have to have MH to do the trick, T-5's or PC's would do the trick. You can look into stuffs like Sun Pod at 150 MH HQI. :happyfish
 
ak_reefer

ak_reefer

Member
I suggest that you do a little research on the hobby itself. This board is great for a lot of info but I found that if I read it was a little more clear to me. There are a couple of books that I think would be great tools for you, "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert Fenner and "The New Marine Aquarium" by Michael S. Paletta. Just my 2 cents
 
jam1e

jam1e

Active Member
I agree with ak_reefer .. "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" is my favorite Marine fish book .. I've read it cover to cover at least three times ... you should get it .. It gave me most of the "fish smarts" I have today .. (if I even have any) ahha .. but if you ask me if you're on a budget I'd go for PC's .. just becuase they are much cheaper and you can still have a lot of coral with them .. just not some anemone's though
 
brandond20

brandond20

Member
Great. These message boards have been awesome. For the past couple days I've have just been going through the boards reading for hours and hours. I also have a book on the way so until I get it I'm reading all I can online. I'm definitely going to go slow, as for now I'm just going to buy the equipment I'll need anyway; tank, stand, sand, rock, salt mix, etc. I'll probably have it all put together in a month or two, but I'm going to wait a little bit on organisms till I learn enough to feel comfortable.
 
brandond20

brandond20

Member
Can anyone recommend a good place to buy metal halide lights? I think I'll only need about a 175watt system since I'll be running a mainly softie 29gal. Maybe only 175watt, I'm not completely sure. Any recommendation?
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by brandond20
Can anyone recommend a good place to buy metal halide lights? I think I'll only need about a 175watt system since I'll be running a mainly softie 29gal. Maybe only 175watt, I'm not completely sure. Any recommendation?
150 would do if your only donig softies, pc would work fine, MH isn't really needed for softies, but 150 would do, 175 is a bit of overkill on a 29.... :happyfish
 
120reefer

120reefer

Member
They both seem to be the same fixture... :notsure:
with 130w. PC.. I'm sure you can keep softies, zoos, shrooms, and some LPS
 
120reefer

120reefer

Member
Sorry... if you want to keep more "light demanding" LPS and SPS corals, anemones, clams, ect..... i would recommend searching for T-5's or Halides with similar wattage...120-150 watt fixtures should be more than enough for a 29
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by brandond20
Which one of those looks the best in your opinion?
They're the same fixture.... :happyfish
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by brandond20
Any suggestions on where to look for lighting like that?
There's different sites to shop for lighting. You can check the popular auction site or sites like Hellolights dot com, Aqua Cave, etc. Just type in Power Compact in search.... :happyfish
 
brandond20

brandond20

Member
OK thanks. I think I have pretty much decided on not gettin MH, just a little out of my price range and PCs should be fine on softies in a 29gallon. I think I'm going to go with a Current USA, Satellite Compact Fluorescent Fixture w/ Lunar Lights. It comes with Dual Actinic (420nm/420nm) and Dual Daylight (6,700K/10,000K) bulbs and also a lunar light. Heres the site for it:
http://www.aquarium-supply.biz/order...ng_CU_Sat.html
What do you guys think of that for my 29 gallon reef system? Sorry about the sites I listed before, I didn't realize they were the same.
Also two more questions:
1. Can you guys direct me to a good site that talks about sump tank setups and setting up the aquarium for it?
2. What kind of paint can you use to paint the back of your tank?
Thanks a lot guys, I appreciate all your help. Me being the newbie that I am, I need all the help I can get. haha
 
byancey

byancey

New Member
Hey brandon...I am watching your thread due to the fact that I am trying to set up a 29 gallon for softies also. I have already set up the tank for FOWLR and now I want to add some softies so I need to upgrade all but the tank itself. I have read and studied and read and studied and I am just lost in all of it . I had already checked out the lights you say you are getting and pretty much decided on those myself. I was told T5 would be best but I have had no luck finding any 30 " ones .MH is also out of my budget . I already have over 20 pounds of LR doing well in my tank along with 2 Ocellaris clowns. Now I want to build a sump and that is where I get most confused. Maybe some one will clear it up for both of us.
 
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