Lighting,skimmer,pump for 50G Help&Advice

[kumaranEKS]

Hai, First Thank you for trying to help me out.

I'm planning to set up a FOWLR with Anemone initially then add a few corals at a later stage.
kindly suggest me the best value (not very costly ones) Lighting, Skimmer, Power head and Return Pump.

Doing hell a lot of research confused me and I'm unable to decide.
I'm mainly confused on lighting.
kindly suggest me the best and i will go with it.


Display Tank size :-

Length : 27.5 Inch (across the front)
Width : 22 Inch (front to back)
Height : 20 Inch (Tall)
Total display Gallons : 50 (excluding sump)

5 Inch clearance above to have lighting (correct me if i need more space above, then i will have to reduce the tank height)

Sump size :-

Length : 23 Inch (across the front)
Width : 14 Inch (front to back)
Height : 15 Inch (Tall) (total available height clearance - 21 Inches )

Thank you for your Time & helping me out.

Thank you.

 

[vhuang168]

So mounting point for the light is 5" from the top of the tank?

Most lights are a few inches which leaves only a few inches to the water. Not much room.

 

[kumaranEKS]

Will 9 Inches be sufficient??

Do comment on my other questions..

Thank you for the time.

 

[bertoni]

If you use a controllable light source, like LEDs, then 5 inches should be more than enough, although some work with diffusers might be useful at some point. Metal halide bulbs often are run higher over the tank, but that's not necessary if you can find bulbs of the appropriate wattage.

 

[reefwiser]

For a FOWLR with anemone and on a budget I would look at T5. You can get a fixture several hundred dollars less than a LED fixture. Power heads you could use several models the main thing to think about is the ability to have foam covers on the power head to protect the anemone.

 

[vhuang168]

For lower initial startup costs, and the reduced height above water that you have, T5 will probably be your best bet. You can get a fixture that will give you the coverage and better for shadowing than LEDs.

 

[kumaranEKS]

@bertoni
@reefwiser
@vhuang168
kindly recommend me a good


can you recommend some brand / model? for lights(T5 & LED) brand & power head?

 

[johnc99]

My AquaticLife T5 fixture has 2 inch legs the future itself looks to be around 3 inches high. I think ATI fixtures are even skinnier (height wise).

Pump and Skimmer: I have an Eheim 3000+ and an Aquamaxx ConeS CO1. Really like them both. Pump is really quiet and (so far) super reliable. Skimmer has been a very consistent performer.

 

[DgenR8]

kumaranEKS,
You haven't posted recently, how are things going?

 

[kumaranEKS]

hai , thank you for the concern and love...

Have started Cycling my tank
Tank & sump dimensions as i mentioned earlier
Skimmer - Reef Octopus Classic 110 INT
Return pump - EHEIM 3000+
Lighting - Ai Prime ( might add T5 after few months)
Live Rock & Live sand
some chinese wave maker ( temporary for cycling)

these are the equipments, still finding the perfect adjustment for skimmer...
learning every day..

Do i need to use the Media? (Bio Balls, Ceramic Rings etc ) ??
should i use activated carbon for initial 40 days?
because my LFS recommends these..

Thank you for all the support and love extended...

 

[DgenR8]

Bio balls and ceramic rings are great at colonizing the bacteria that process ammonia and nitrite, but do not finish the job, leaving behind nitrate. Most in the hobby that keep corals tend to stay away from them, favoring live rock for biological filtration.
Running carbon certainly won't hurt. You should change it often, though. I don't use carbon for more than two weeks without changing it.