Converting FOWLR to Reef! Need help!

[MrMexReefer]

Hello everyone!

After my mom took one look at my nano 20 long tank, she was so amazed she told me to take over her ugly FOWLR tank, and convert it to reef!! So now, I need help. Its a 45 gallon coner tank with stand that they bought at petco. Its the one that has a pentagon shape, but has a 90 degree angle on one corner.

My questions:
-There is no room for a sump in the crappy stand, so will their eheim canister filter be enough for filtration? They already have a good amount of LR.

-I will mostly attempt to keep some soft coral in there - xenia, zoanthids, shrooms, leathers. Keeping that in mind... what is the most cost effective lighting ficture? It currently has two clear plastic slots in the top for those flourescent fixtures, but im assuming that even with both of them running, that wont be enough light for the corals? (considering the tank is about a foot and a half high?) If someone can point me in the right direction, that would be great. Even a DIY kit would be okay, my dad is a handyman.

-What kind of power heads should she get to help with keeping good flow for the corals (Does anyone have some used ones??)

-Because nitrates are probably ridiculously high because of the fish in there now... should i take any other extra precautions when doing the change? I plan on doing 2 water changes of 50% over about a 3 week period prior to making the change. Also... I will be getting rid of the damsels (unless anyone advises otherwise for some reason)

-She has a coral banded shrimp in there... is he okay to stay?


Anyone else have any ideas of things i need to look out for?


PS: if anyone wants to donate any frags for this new reef tank, it would be greatly appreciated I will post pics of the progress once all the planning is done.

 

[MrMexReefer]

52 views and no advice? ouch

 

[jski711]

i can give you a free frag of xenia and.

i would test the water and see how the parameters are. nitrates, nitrites ammonia calcium alk and ph. then go from there. i would not do that big of a water change bc that water is full of good bacteria that you would be getting rid of by replacing 100% of the water. before adding fish and coral get the calcium up bc i dought in a fowlr tank that the calcium is even close to 350, get it up over 400 and you alk at a good spot. between 7-9. but do this and get it stabalized first.

about the filter if there is enough live rock in there i suppose that would be ok but the only thing that would worry me is the water turnover rate, you should be close to 10x per hour and im not sure if a filter like that can handle that turnover rate.

damels get rid of them imo. they are usually mean and do well with aggresive tankmates like tangs, puffers and other bigger fish but they still bully bigger fish so i would take them out and see if you can get some store credit for them.

shrimp can stay but i wouldn't add anymore shrimp bc they are notorious for making other shrimp dissapear.

lighting might be the most pain. at least some pc if not vho lighting. i had a 45 hex tank with 120 watts pc and i was able to keep a gbta xenia, shrooms and zoo's with no prob

if not a mh pendant fixture would look neat over the tank and that way you could leave the top completly off or have your dad build a canopy with an open top and sides that face the wall. hope that helps and let me know when your tank is up i got a xenia frag waiting with your name on it.

jake

 

[MrMexReefer]

Thanks a lot Jake!!!! GREAT information. I will take note of the water changes, and measuring the parameters. What test kit do you recommend for measuring the calcium???

getting rid of the damsels soon, and just keeping the yellow tang and a gold stripe maroon clown.

you dont happen to know where i can score some cheap PC lights do ya?

thanks again

 

[Pufferpunk]

i would not do that big of a water change bc that water is full of good bacteria that you would be getting rid of by replacing 100% of the water.

Not true. Although large water changes may be too shocking, because of changing the water parameters too greatly, the bacteria that keeps our established tanks "cycled" does not live in the water column. It lives on surfaces--in rock, sandbed, etc. On my FW tanks, I do 50-80% weekly water changes w/o harming the bacteria at all.

 

[dohc97]

Juan dont mention the yellow tang , the tang police are everywhere:fun5:

 

[Dux Hunt]

46gal tank

46gal tank

I have the same tank (2 yrs now) and built a sump out of a 15gal tank. It's on an angle and pitched at one end (towards the out take pump), a little tight, but works great. Have a 24"-2x65watt pc that fits just fine with the moveable legs over an open tank. For flow I use 2 maxi-jet 900's (I think). Lots of softies,shrooms, a yellow tang, maroon yellow stripe, black/white percula, and standard orange/white percula clowns that have been tank mates 12+ months.

Will be moving it all to the new 75gal in the next few months.

 

[MrMexReefer]

What brand fixture is that Dux Hunt? Im glad to hear you had such success with it... i dont think my mom would be too happy if i told her she had to shell out $300 for a MH fixture. haha


haha i know what you mean Jose. Its actually not a yellow tang.. its...umm... yellow watchman goby. Yes, thats it.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I've grown a lot of cool stuff under PCs for the past 2 1/2 years. Just have to be careful what you pick & do lots of research 1st, on lighting requirements.

Granted, everything looks MUCH better under the new T5s!

 

[joroscoe]

Some people here have successfully dosed sugar to reduce nitrates because it leads to a bacteria explosion. Research it and dose conservatively.

 

[glassbox-design]

you've got pm...

 

[medic29]

I just switched my tank to a bigger one that now has a sump, but previously I was running my reef tank with live rock and an enheim canister filter and doing just fine. Most of the biological filtration is done by the live rock anyway, the canister filter was just on there for a little added biological filtration and some mechanical filtration. I used a couple of power heads to get the amount of circulation in the tank that I wanted....that is what is important...especially with soft corals such as leather corals. Lighting is the other item. Until this past weekend I had been using PC lighting and all of my corals did very well. Some of the more "light needy" corals had to be placed higher in the water column, but that was easy enough. You could always take the top off and place some egg crate there and get a MH penant or one of the Coralife lights that hang on the side/back if you wanted more lighting, but I think the PC would be way more than enough for what you want to keep in there.

Essentially, you shouldn't have to make very many modifications to begin having coral in there. The biggest....the lighting and adding some powerheads.

I hope this helps.

 

[MrMexReefer]

Flint, Medic, Thanks for the input! Tonite when i get home from work, Im going to start the work, and post some pics. THanks alot!

 

[Dux Hunt]

light

light

I just sold a perfect 24" Coralife 2x65watt for $70. A new one is $125, but post here that you are looking for one. I'm sure someone has one to sell.

IMO- Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) always applies. If you are going softies, you don't have to go crazy on lighting.

God Luck!

 

[triple j]

A general rule of thumb for soft corals is 5 watts of light per gallonI I have a 55 gallon with 4- 65 watt comp. fluor. bulbs and have had good success with mine, even have a clam that is doing great for about 4 years now. Just remember that fluorecent lights get tired and start to loose thier effectiveness and have to be replaced once a year if not a little sooner. Best of luck. Take plenty of pics as you go, wish I had.

 

[MrMexReefer]

Pics!

Pics!

as promised.... here are pics!


Welcome to my moms heavily evaporated, super nasty, nitrate ridden FOWLR:
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/eclipsedoctor/momstank001.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

the "aquascaping" :
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/eclipsedoctor/momstank002.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

tank inhabitants: (blue stripe damsel, 2 black and white stripe damsels, 1 yellow tail damsel, 1 domino damsel, 1 yellow tang, 1 maroon clown, 1 pijama cardinal. Please dont kill me for her overstocking... I told her, she didnt listen. We are getting rid of everything cept the tang and the clown, if you want one for a frag, PM me!)
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/eclipsedoctor/momstank008.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

the pijama cardinal being shy:
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/eclipsedoctor/momstank009.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>


and now, these guys HAVE TO GO! PM me to trade for something!

choco-chip star:
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/eclipsedoctor/momstank005.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

green spine urchin:

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/eclipsedoctor/momstank004.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>



Finally, this is her "filtration": (as you can see... NO room in the stand for a sump )
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/eclipsedoctor/momstank011.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>


and last pic: what the water looked like after i sifted the sand for detritus, and scrubbed all the algea off the glass:
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/eclipsedoctor/momstank010.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>


Comments please!!