new set up help

i have a 20 long with 2 marineland penguin bio-wheel 150's ,20lbs of live sand and about 20 lbs of live rock . i have a power head at one end of the tank for current .fish in the tank consist of a turbo snail and 2 domino damsels. my question is ,will this be efficient for a nano reef tank or should i just keep it a marine tank? i do plan on adding a protein skimmer soon. thank you for any answers ...

it depends on what kind of light you have and what kinds of coral you plan to keep.

i have a basic hood light set up, 8000 k ,full spectrum day light , i plan on upgrading ,what would you suggest? i want to keep candy cane ,zoanthids ,polyps, feather dusters and coral banded shrimp.would this work ? im new to reef tanks and appreciate all feedback,i was told i didnt need the hob filters ,because the live sand and live rocks take care of the filtration. just a p skimmer. is this true?

the light you have will work for softies,zoa's and LPS like candycanes but you will probably want to move the LPS "candycane"higher in the tank, if you are planning a mixed reef then a good 4-bulb T5 light fixture would be a great upgrade, the reason I say 4- bulb is because you can get a better mix of color then you can with just a 2 bulb fixture. yes you can get rid of the HOB filter they are nitrate factories and not something I would use on a reef, a good skimmer and the LR and LS will be fine as a matter of fact with your Bio load right now you don't even need the HOB filter if you do 10% water changes weekly but as the load increases you will want a good skimmer.

i also have a 56 gal marine aquarium with a fluval 305 ,is this efficient enough for my tank ? but i seem to still have a nitrate problem , tested it and its at 2.0 is this normal ? tanks been set up for 3 months , regular water changes , crushed coral as the sub strait. thanks for the replys. i learn more and more everyday here.

strongarmtattoo wrote:

i also have a 56 gal marine aquarium with a fluval 305 ,is this efficient enough for my tank ? but i seem to still have a nitrate problem , tested it and its at 2.0 is this normal ? tanks been set up for 3 months , regular water changes , crushed coral as the sub strait. thanks for the replys. i learn more and more everyday here.

F/O tanks can handle less then perfect water quality better then Reef tanks but still 0 is what your goal should be on the Nitrates, Nitrites and Ammonia. your Nitrate problem is most likely being caused by the canister filter and the crushed coral because the crushed corals traps Detris and there it sits and decays same with a HOB or Canister filters they need to be cleaned throughly and the media changed often to keep this from happening. you can also vaccuum your crushed coral when you do water changes and that will help get the trates down as well as having some Chaeto in the DT works well. whats the load in the 56G?
any LR? what is your source of water? @ 3 months the tank is still young..

i cleaned the crushed coral,water change , and bought cheato,,cleaned the filter and new media , the guy at the store said i dont need aeration,is this true? my source of water is tape water , i only have 2 blue damsels and a Blinny till tank is set, not sure what LR and DT meens , im new to this .thanks for the help.

LR is live rock,DT is display tank sorry it's a habit. how are you using the chaeto? no you don't need aeration just good water current. tap water is full of all kinds of cr@p that's not good for a reef tank, you can either buy distilled or buy water from you LFS "local fish store" or invest in a RO/DI unit "Reverse Osmosis, De-Ionization" remember when it come to success in a reef tank water quality is very high on the list. no problem we are here to help:)

Cwhip is da bomb when it comes to knowing about reef systems! She's helped this noob out of some really difficult, frustrating situations! I've only had my tank up and going since the end of August and it's my first SW tank ever....making it into a reef tank.
Definitely chuck the tap water! I had so many problems and alot of it has cleared up (literally) using distilled bottled water from Wmart.

thanks for the advice ,cwhip has already made me a believer .

i cleaned all the brown growth on my live sand , and its back within 24 hours how do i get rid of this or is this normal , i run my light for 9 hours a day

those are Diatoms they will go away on there own as the tank matures perfectly normal. 9 hrs is fine..

diatoms r good , cool thanks

your welcome:)

the fellow at the LFS said to buy a breeders net ( the square ones you see in the corner of aquariums) and to put the cheato in that since i dont have a sump and it should be fine . i m not sure he's rite...plus it looks like cr@p.

you can buy a HOB fuge with a light Dr Foster and Smith sells them but there not cheap, I used one for a long time and loved it.

was starting a 10 gal fuge under the tank with my new protien skimmer , in the fuge i will put aquarium mud, LR ,and cheato , is this ok? it will also have my heater and light on it

I've never used mud but I've heard it can be a real mess.
all you really need is live or dead sand if you want it, live rock and chaeto.

my tank levels are all at zero ,my damsels are all healthy and i went out and bought a beautiful coral beauty for it , got rid of the HOB filters and got my refugium and skimmer installed , still waiting on a good light set up , then will start buying softies , zoanthids and so on, thanks all for the help . will post pics soon

All I have are a couple of freshwater tanks (small freshwater tanks) and know nothing about saltwater setups, so I have been really interested in following what you're doing. It doesn't matter what I read here, I learn something. Can't wait to see your photos.

its been changed up a little but it is working great