Several Questions from a Reef Newb

[trevorstratton1]

Hello everyone,

I have a 29 gallon aquarium that I have kept 2 clownfish, a pincushion urchin, a skunk shrimp, a few hermit crabs, and lots of snails in for exactly a year now. I wanted to have that year under my belt before expanding into the coral world.

With that said, it is time for me to try my hand with coral. I am thinking about starting with a single colony of zoanthids. So, the first question is how will my tank's current inhabitants (namely the pincushion urchin and hermit crabs) do with the zoas?

Next question is how many gph should I aim for from a powerhead. I currently rely exclusively on the filter for waterflow and want to increase flow before adding corals. I have seen mixed reports from between 4-100x tank capacity, and just wanted to get a personalized response on this question. Also, feel free to recommend powerheads that are affordable (under $100, preferably less).

Finally, do I need to do anything special in terms of lighting. I currently just run white lights for about 14 hours per day. Please feel free to help me on this if you can.

Thank you,
Trevor

 

[Spare time]

1. The zoas are fine with those

2. The powerhead depends on the design and the corals kept. If you know what features you'd like in a powerhead, I can recommend some. Turnover rate doesn't matter.,

2. Yes corals need a good light. I can pick one out for you if you have a price range.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Let us know what type of light are you running. 14 hrs. of white light seems a lot if it does not have a ramp up and down. As far as powerhead goes, your best bet would be a variable wave action. Non- programmable constant streams have their place but you need something to mix up the flow. For your price point I would recommend a Hydor or Jeboa, You can also get a Current USA powerheads for cheap right now because they are going out of business. I run in one of my tanks two 600's and they just work. I think the bigger ones have issues though because it pulls too many amps through the distribution box.
As long as your crabs are well fed they should not be a problem. Be sure to brush up on your Zoa and Paly safety procedures.

 

[trevorstratton1]

1. The zoas are fine with those

2. The powerhead depends on the design and the corals kept. If you know what features you'd like in a powerhead, I can recommend some. Turnover rate doesn't matter.,

2. Yes corals need a good light. I can pick one out for you if you have a price range.

I appreciate your response. I really don't have any specific features in mind for a powerhead. The only thing I would say is that it would be nice for it to be on the smaller side. As for a light price range, hopefully that could be done for around $100. Thanks!

 

[trevorstratton1]

Let us know what type of light are you running. 14 hrs. of white light seems a lot if it does not have a ramp up and down. As far as powerhead goes, your best bet would be a variable wave action. Non- programmable constant streams have their place but you need something to mix up the flow. For your price point I would recommend a Hydor or Jeboa, You can also get a Current USA powerheads for cheap right now because they are going out of business. I run in one of my tanks two 600's and they just work. I think the bigger ones have issues though because it pulls too many amps through the distribution box.
As long as your crabs are well fed they should not be a problem. Be sure to brush up on your Zoa and Paly safety procedures.

The white light is just two tubular LED bulbs. There is no ramp up or down, it is just on during the day and off at night. I've been aware that it is probably too much white light, but wasn't all that concerned with it when it was just the fish. Thank you for getting back to me on this.