Return to the hobby

[Mark75]

Hello, I am returning to the hobby after a few years and would like help setup with my tank. I made many mistakes setting up my first tank and would like to be more sure of what I am buying this time around. I have a glass 30 long that I will be useing. The tank is not drilled. I will be keeping soft corals and a fish or two. I would love for some of you veterans to give me specific lighting and filtration options. I would like to keep this low budget if there is such a thing. lol. I plan on spending much of my budget on quality live rock. I have a hang on back skimmer and wet dry filter that I used with the previous tank but never liked it! It was very hard to get the syphion going in the J-tube and if the water level dropped I would lose flow. Can my glass tank be drilled? As you can see I have lots of questions, I will set back and let you guys get me started in the right direction. Thanks

 

[drummereef]

Mark75,


[welcome]

 

[Nano Chris]

I would assume you can drill the back, the tank might be tempered glass (you can't drill it, it might just be the bottom, some sides of tanks can be tempered, check with the maker of the tank by giving them call) if you want a closed loop system (plumbed with pvc) or you could go with a HOB overflow (i don't have one, i have a AGA Mega flow that was built into my tank) depending on if you want a skimmer you can put it your sump either way you go.

People have success with HOB filters if you don't want to drill or have a sump.

 

[crumbletop]

For a small tank with just softies and some fish, you can probably get by without a skimmer at all, and just do regular water changes. Then you just need to worry about in tank circulation. This would keep costs very low. I wouldn't worry about drilling the tank or doing a sump with a 30 long. Quality live rock is a good idea, and some wide-flow power heads like Seios, Tunze nanostreams, or Hydor koralias. The only thing you would need to consider is whether you want to run carbon, and if so where you can run it. HOB filters work well for that. For lighting you could easily use PCs for what you want to keep.

With the above setup, you are also golden for future upgrades, IMO. Say in the future you decide you want to keep stonies and have a bigger tank -- you wouldn't have wasted money on a skimmer, etc.

 

[drummereef]

I agree with crumbletop here. I run a 40g sumpless system. I do however run a Remora skimmer. I find with enough flow, moderate lighting, and balance in the bio load you don't really need much more. Sounds like a lot of work to drill a 30g for what it is. Just my 2c.

 

[r0bin]

I have a 75 and its not drilled, nor do I have a sump. It can be done. You could do a very low budget with your set up. Plus 30 longs are cool! Love the shape of those.

 

[kysard1]

I also just returned to the hobby after a long relo. I had a sumpless/skimerless 38 prior. It was all Soft and LPS and did fine with just a hang on the back macro refugium.

This time I drilled a 50G for a sump, large skimmer, and closed loop.

It is noisy.

The skimmer is a micro-bubble factory.

The closed loop has the flow stiffled down to nothing with the SCWD.

It cost $175 just for the plumbing pieces.


If I could have my time and money back I would go sumpless and skimmerless. This hobby is supposed to be enjoyable. A small tank does not need a sump or skimmer, just change 5 gallons of water a week and spend the money you saved on livestock.

 

[papagimp]

I would only consider this a temp option due to the quality of the products but aquatraders.com has some awesome pricing on light fixtures, I think I paid 169 for a 250w MH 24" w/ 2 x 65w PC and paid about $50 for a 2 x 65w PC fixture (28") and sometime last year I had purchased a 48" 4 x 65w PC fixture for about $125. Only problem I have had with any of these odyssea brand fixtures is that the 48" was not sent with a glass guard and the reflector wound up rusting over on me, the others work fine. In fact, I've had to replace a ballast in my nice Tek Light fixture after a few months and it's a good quality unit, while the cheapies I keep getting just keep working .

 

[Mark75]

Could I get some specific ideas about light fixtures and hang on skimmer/filters. I also have a RO/DI filter that has not been used in about 3 years, it has not had much water ran through it, what should I do to the RO/DI unit before putting it in service again?