29 gallon saltwater?

First topic message reminder :

can anyone give me a list of stuff i'd need for a 29 gallon saltwater tank? I've never done saltwater before and I wanted another 55 but the wife wouldn't allow it so I'm thinking a smaller setup...

You talkin to me or the other person?

thanks for the link, I bookmarked it so I can check it out later when I've got time! Can't wait to push this through with the wife and get it going!

::dunno who he was talking to but it's cool, more info is always a good thing::

lol both i guess!!
mostly to the person who asked what Live Rock Was!!! lol

alkomist wrote:

do it do it do it do it do it do it!!!!!!!!!
how much?

Ok so i went and looked at the setup today after work.Its a 30g with black pine stand and matching canopy. It also has a tube light that i will most likely give to my younger brother. 75 bucks. I think its a good deal. Especially after seeing it and knowing exactly where im going to put it. Then next week i guess i will get my sand a penguin biowheel 350. Then i will work on getting a circulation pump, a decent test kit, and every day i look on craigslist for a nice t-5 ho since im going to just do a fowlr with a pair of clowns since my wife loves those and some rock and may add a few snails later. Do salt water tanks require different heaters that fw. Ive seen some listed as sw heaters. Any other suggestions?

I'm not a huge fan of hang on the back biowheels for saltwater. They work great but contribute to salt creep so you'll have more cleaning to do. I prefer to use a canister filter on smaller tanks like that with the output pipe on the side of the tank pointing across lengthwise. Get good filtration and good current. As far as a test kit, don't use the strips! They're worthless. I like the Aquarium Pharmacueticals master test kit for one that's easy to find and affordable. Red Sea is my favorite though. A bit harder to find on shelves and a little pricier but worth it. There are some others that even better but also higher on the price bill. If you're only doing FOWLR I honestly wouldn't worry about anything that extensive. If you go reef, though, I'd upgrade. Below will be a link to a site with pretty much anything you'll ever need for a tank. I can't wait to stop by their store when I head north to meet the in-laws next spring. Also, you don't really need a t-5 ho if you're doing a FOWLR. Won't hurt, but in the absense of light dependent plants/corals lighting is really more for the human veiwing experience. Running too much light will contribute to massive algae problems. If you do decide to go with the t-5, do some research on spectrum possibilities. Some colors of light are more usable by algae than others so you want to keep those low. I can't really remember which off hand, though.


www.thatfishplace.com

Well if anyone could suggest what type of bulbs i should run i would appreciate it

08can-am wrote:

Well if anyone could suggest what type of bulbs i should run i would appreciate it

T5 is the way to go. You can pick a unit up from Walmart for $10 (lighting section).

wall-mart is great!

do not go with the walmart ones!!!!!!
dont cheap out on lights bro!
with a good t5 fixture you can go reef EASILY by switching out one bulb and presto!!! REEF LIKE WHOA!!!
besides a Fish Only tank still has to look pretty! thos cheap walmart ones wont bring out your fishes colors!!! just keep looking on CL!! you will find what you want!!!
also look into LEDS! theyre a lil more expensive! BUT WAY WORTH IT! you get a nice shimmer effect and they last for years! and wais WAY LESS electricity!!

DO NOT CHEAP OUT ON LIGHTS!:)


also your good with the HOB filter! just take out the bio wheel!!!!!!!!
and throw some live rock rubble in tehr behind the filter!
dont use a canister filter as they are nitrate factories!!!

KMX wrote:

wall-mart is great!

Instead of using 32w or 64w biocube lighting, I switched to a 8w T5 from Wally and my plants thrive. I use a 24" T5 15w for my SW tank and a single 48" for my 266g. Believe it or not, my electric bill last month was $33 and my house is 2600 sq ft.

alkomist...
T5 is T5. You can use different spectrum bulbs for your needs. My SW tank is full of corals and I've been using the same T5 for years. That goes for my 266g and 14g also. Never had one go bad on me.

rchan wrote:

KMX wrote:

wall-mart is great!

Instead of using 32w or 64w biocube lighting, I switched to a 8w T5 from Wally and my plants thrive. I use a 24" T5 15w for my SW tank and a single 48" for my 266g. Believe it or not, my electric bill last month was $33 and my house is 2600 sq ft.

Did you rig your meter!! Dang thats a nice electro bill. Mine was 75$ 1400SQ feet

KMX wrote:

Did you rig your meter!! Dang thats a nice electro bill. Mine was 75$ 1400SQ feet

No Sir! I'm trying to be energy efficient with all my tanks. I still have all the lighting that came with my aquariums. I just don't turn them on. Instead, I use the low wattage Wally ones.

using the same light on a sw tank for years...
you must have really bad Par then! what Corlz do you keep?? must be soft corlz lol a good sw tank needs its bulbs changed at least 2 times a year to keep corlz happy....at least thats what iv read!
also are you telling me that i can go and buy a walmart t5 fixture and place a 50/50 so and so watt bulb or a Fiji pink, or a 20,000k daylight bulb without a balast? if so imma be at walmart today and get like 5 of those!!!!
i too have used walmart brand bulbs on my tanks! but for sw i prefer the legit stuff just to make sure the tank is happy:)
how big is you SW tank?
id like to see some pix of it plz!

rchan wrote:

KMX wrote:

Did you rig your meter!! Dang thats a nice electro bill. Mine was 75$ 1400SQ feet

No Sir! I'm trying to be energy efficient with all my tanks. I still have all the lighting that came with my aquariums. I just don't turn them on. Instead, I use the low wattage Wally ones.

I don't use the lights on mine either. Most of the tanks I have are for breeding. I don't like to shine light on them all day....they won't breed as much.

^^^ LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

My SW is 26g with soft corals. Wally's T5s don't need a ballast and come with a single 65k bulb per strip. Different lengths have different wattage. My 24" has 15w, 13"-8w and 48"-29w. If you want different spectrum, then switch out the bulb. My reply is to dcninja and he's doing a FWLR. A single T5 96k is sufficient for him. You go by what you read, I go by experience.

KMX..I leave my lights on 8-10 hrs a day.

I'll take some pixs this afternoon.

i read what ppl that have been doin this b4 skimmers were invented write from their experience! lol
but i guess if it works then koo!!!!!

so can i get a fiji pink t5 or 50/50 and throw it on a wally fixture?
my main Q!^^^

26g with 15w Wally T5 that's 3+ yrs old.



14g with 8w Wally T5.



"so can i get a fiji pink t5 or 50/50 and throw it on a wally fixture?"

Sure you can! But you'll need 2 strips for 50/50 since it's a single bulb fixture.

nice looking tanks...Are you just using one bulb per tank???
I have not seen a 96k t-5 at wal mart around here the only ones I have seen are the 5k that come with the strip light...been to most of them all in norfolk ches and virginia beach.

I was looking for a t-5 strip light for my racks all i found were the under the counter models 24" in length which made them way more expensive than regular t-12 4 foot shop lights.

24" t5 was around $20-25 shoplight $10

Very nice looking tanks rchan very nice

but they sell 50/50 bulbs! ಠ_ಠ ?!

nice SW tank!!! the fire fish is awsome!!
lol all you corlz are soft corals! they can survive under most light!! but their colors end up beeing a nasty brownish yellow color! im sure that if you were to add some blue light to the tank youll have Very different colors from you Corlz! throw some actinics in their!!!:) or maybe even a 50/50 bulb! they would do way better under that!
looks like shrooms and palys of some sort...............but yea! try another type of coral like zoas or favia or even brains! they wont live under that type of lighting! im pretty sure!!!!!


and the planted tank looks sweet!!!! plants all look very healthy!!!:)

Elrollo wrote:

nice looking tanks...Are you just using one bulb per tank???

Yes, 1 bulb per tank. They're the white ones without reflector. I guess you can call them shop lights or under-the-counter.

Thanks Elrollo and alkomist!

Awesome tanks!!Both look great!Great job!!

Here's what it looks like up top. I use the aluminum foil as reflector. With a regular hood, everything can be hidden.

dcninja757 wrote:

can anyone give me a list of stuff i'd need for a 29 gallon saltwater tank? I've never done saltwater before and I wanted another 55 but the wife wouldn't allow it so I'm thinking a smaller setup...

You'll need a power head, heater, protein skimmer (although mine never collected anything), refractometer, live rock/sand, salt and RO water or unit.