Couple Questions

[pumbus]

Ok so i'm thinking of converting my 90G to salt,on it right now is a fluval 404 and an Ac70 Powerhead,it gets the water circulating pretty good,if i have enough surface agitation do i need a protein skimmer

The fish i will have is a voliton lion for sure,which brings me to my next question,can i have 2 lions with tankmates or is that pushing it,beceause i would also like to have a trigger and a moray of some sort,most likely a snowflake

Do i need 1lb per gallon of LR since i'm not going to have a huge amount of corals/anemomies ,but i would like to have a couple for some color,the lighting i will get for it will be a double tube 4' T5,what corals/anemomies will be able to live in that lighting

Oh and the tank is 48x18x24
I think thats it,lol

 

[drummereef]

pumbus,


[welcome]

 

[drummereef]

I would suggest a lot more flow than just the AC70 and Fluval. I would invest in a couple Tunze Nanostreams or Koralia to bump it up. Typically we like around 25x or more turnover in the display. That would roughly be 2250gph for your 90g. I would recommend at least 1lb/gallon of live rock too. The rock is the primary source for biological filtation, so the more the better. If you have enough live rock you can ditch the mechanical and bio media in the Fluval/AC70. These media types tend to collect detritus that leads to nitrate issues anyhow.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1031074

 

[barrierreefcf]

If you plan on any corals anemones you will probably want to bump that lighting to four T-5's. Mushrooms and Star Polyps will probably live under two though. Its also worth giving some thought to your overall plans. The fish you are planning on keeping are usually kept in fish only with live rock because they eat a lot of food and get large. The nutrient input will be very high. You will grow a lot of algae if you put the correct amount of light for corals on a high nutrient system. You will end up going crazy changing enough water to keep the nutrient/algae level under control. Also, snails are one of your best friends when it comes to eating algae. You planned fish will consume them. I'd either choose different fish, get four T-5's and do a true reef or stick with two T-5s, the fish on your list, get a top notch skimmer to remove nutrients, and try mushrooms.

Good luck

 

[pumbus]

well the fish i have mentioned are pretty much the only SW fish that interest me so if i don't go with those i'l be keeping my breeding pair of midas that currently inhabit the tank,what are some corals or anemomies i would be able to keep with one double tube 4' t5

 

[papagimp]

double tube T5? You talking about a power compact or talking about a 2 x t5's? FYI, I have seen on several occasions suppliers calling there Powercompacts bulbs something else that makes ya think there a t5 bulb. The tubes on a PC bulb are T5 sized, but it's not a T5 bulb. If what you are refereing to is a single PC bulb over a 90g tank, don't expect to keep any anemone's and you'll be severly limited on the types of corals you could add in there.

I'd also like to add that surface agitation and protein skimming are two completely differnt things. More surface agitation in no way suggests that you would not need a skimmer. A skimmer is used to remove dissolved organics from the water column, surace agistion is used for gaseous exchange.

I probably wouldn't try more than one lionfish, due to the smaller size of the tank. Don't get me wrong 90g is a nice decent size, but the footprint of 48 x 18 doesn't give much room for a "wide" fish like a lionfish to move around. Any accidental bump into either you or a tankmate could be disastrous.

As for 1lb per gallon, the corals and anemone's don't care how much rock you have, they just need the proper food and current, the rock is for filtration purposes, and yes you will need at a minimum of 1lb per gallon. I'd go closer to 2lbs with a lionfish, they can be a tad messy which will only add to the bioload.

 

[kuoka]

With a tank your size, I'd get a skimmer. You want the agitation (surface and otherwise) to help move the bad stuff into the sump and eventually into your skimmer. If you don't have a sump, there are hang on type skimmers available but you might want to find a way to conceal it.

Oh yeah, Welcome to a great new hobby! You're in for a fantastic journey.

 

[pumbus]

the light i'm referring to is a double tube 4' T5 compact flouresent that puts out something like 120W,no i don't have a sump beceause i have a bearded dragon tank under my 90G

i'm a little short for time so i'l give more info on my situation when i get back

thanks for all the help everybody