n00b starting my first 30 gal from scratch

[scarymonster]

Hello!

New to this forum and relatively new to small marine tanks or nano tanks as they are called. I inherited a 20 gal 3 years ago with only freshwater knowledge. Thank God for the Internet and decently run salt water aquarium shops. It needs help right now so I'm saving for a skimmer, Tunze 9001.

Anyway, I also received a 29 gal freshwater tank that had some cichlids and pleco. Sold the fish and want to set up a reef tank from scratch. I'm saving the old equipment just in case (it all still works) but I have some questions on initial setup maybe you can help with:

1. Was going to scrub the tank with vinegar and rock salt until sparkly clean. Then rinse well with distilled water and dry with microfiber. This ok or should I do it differently?

2. I notice alot of salt water tanks don't have a hood on them anymore. Why not? I have a hood on the 20 with a Zoo Med led light. Aren't they supposed help keep evaporation down?

3. I can get live sand in bags in a few different light colors and also black. Is black natural for a reef? I think it would be cool and different but then might lose some definition in the tank. Thoughts?

4. I want to add quite a bit of live rock in smaller pieces to "build" a pretty good sized reef inside the 29. Can I get away with the bigger Tunze 9004 and all the rock for filtration?

5. Will corals start to eventually grow once the tank has been running for a few months or do you have to introduce some?

6. The 29 does have a wood stand that I can beef up in the bottom to accommodate the external filter, refugium, protein skimmer, reactors, timers, all kinds of expensive stuff. Do I really need all that for this small of a tank?

I know these are probably stupid questions but any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[ndz98]

Hello!

New to this forum and relatively new to small marine tanks or nano tanks as they are called. I inherited a 20 gal 3 years ago with only freshwater knowledge. Thank God for the Internet and decently run salt water aquarium shops. It needs help right now so I'm saving for a skimmer, Tunze 9001.

Anyway, I also received a 29 gal freshwater tank that had some cichlids and pleco. Sold the fish and want to set up a reef tank from scratch. I'm saving the old equipment just in case (it all still works) but I have some questions on initial setup maybe you can help with:

1. Was going to scrub the tank with vinegar and rock salt until sparkly clean. Then rinse well with distilled water and dry with microfiber. This ok or should I do it differently?

2. I notice alot of salt water tanks don't have a hood on them anymore. Why not? I have a hood on the 20 with a Zoo Med led light. Aren't they supposed help keep evaporation down?

3. I can get live sand in bags in a few different light colors and also black. Is black natural for a reef? I think it would be cool and different but then might lose some definition in the tank. Thoughts?

4. I want to add quite a bit of live rock in smaller pieces to "build" a pretty good sized reef inside the 29. Can I get away with the bigger Tunze 9004 and all the rock for filtration?

5. Will corals start to eventually grow once the tank has been running for a few months or do you have to introduce some?

6. The 29 does have a wood stand that I can beef up in the bottom to accommodate the external filter, refugium, protein skimmer, reactors, timers, all kinds of expensive stuff. Do I really need all that for this small of a tank?

I know these are probably stupid questions but any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Welcome to r2r! Let me try to answer as many questions as possible! Ask as many as you have. No stupid questions here.

#2) If you have a hood on it can stop the gas exchange between the water and the air. If you are looking at something to keep the fish in, typically people use screen tops. It allows light to go through without having to give up a cover all together.

#3) The color sand you get is really whatever you like. There isn't a right colored sand and a wrong one. I've seen some cool tanks utilizing the black sand and vice versa.

#5) To answer the question first, corals will not pop up on there own unless you get some live rock from someone else that has some on it. Otherwise you would have to introduce your own. But before you add corals you want to have a established tank first. It could take several months or even a year to have an established tank. Coralline will pop up naturally on its own under the right conditions. It's typically purple.

#6) You don't necessarily need every single thing. If you're going to build a sump to put underneath, I would definitely have a refugium and a protein skimmer especially if you plan on keeping corals at some point. I have a 30g tank with a 10 g sump. All I have in the sump is my protein skimmer, heater, chaeto, filter pad, and some chemi pure elite. Nothing fancy but it works.

 

[SantaMonica]

#1) This will not hurt, but probably not needed unless tank was treated with copper.

#4) With enough rock and sand, you will have enough filtration for a year or two until the rocks fill with phosphate. Skimmers don't remove nutrients, so it would not help; it would only make the water appear to have with less food particles than a real reef does.