setting up a reef tank

[kdub2332]

I am going to be getting into setting up a reef tank i currently have a 55 FOWLR tank and i was wondering what would be a good way to start setting up a reef tank

 

[gem]

What equiptment do you have on your FOWLR? Lighting, filtration, etc....
I think knowing what you have now would aid anyone trying to give any advice in what you might need to convert to reef.

 

[kikireef]

Are you trying to convert it or start another new tank? If your converting I would say you should look into making sure your lighting is good and in the correct spectrum for keeping corals. We need some more info from you first about what you plan to do. For example...softies, hard coral, tank size

 

[jimmy n]

The best way to start is to read every single build thread you can get your hands on, emulate what you like and scrap what you don't.

You can learn a lot about what do, and more importantly what NOT to do.

 

[kdub2332]

i have a 55 gal FOWLR tank and i have a wet/dry sump with bio balls, i heard when doing a reef tank you would take these out is that true? and i am purchasing a 260w pc light with lunar leds on it. im thinking about starting with some polyps and some soft corals

 

[kikireef]

I have heard that bioballs have a negative affect with nitrates over time. I would run a sump with a refugium and some macro algae. I am currently running (4) 96 watt PC bulbs on mine and it looks great and I get good growth however I don't have any SPS. I think your lighting will be good with polyps and softies. I would purchase all the equipment needed such as the sump and skimmer and get everything ready so you can change it all out in a day or two instead of doing it over time and subjecting your tank to any possible negative shifts. For example I wouldn't buy and hook up the sump until you also have the skimmer ready to use. If you run a fuge you will need some kind of lighting for it. Doesn't need to be fancy and the length of time (12 hours on or 24/7) will vary from person to person. I run mine 24/7 but others have (and insist) on 12 hours on/12 hours off.

As far as corals I would start out with some easy ones such as frogspawn, zoos, hammer coral. I love zoos because they come in ton of different colors and grow fairly quickly. Be sure to research them a lot before purchasing on a whim. I recently got a sun coral and love it but it require constant care of feeding at least every 3 days while I feed mine every day.

Decide also on a sandbed. Aragonite or fine sand. I have fine sand and it took a while to get algae controlled on it. I have heard that aragonite doesn't give you as many problems with algae accumulating on it as fine sand does. I don't know from experience anything about aragonite though.

Be sure you have good flow. I think the 3 most important things to a reef tank is good lighting, good flow and a good skimmer. These are 3 things you shouldn't go cheap on. Buy the best/biggest skimmer you can fit and afford within reason of course (You won't regret it). Make sure you have no dead spots. If you plan to do SPS in the future you should but the correct lighting now instead of wasting money on upgrades later (which is what I'm probably going to end up doing)

That is just my 2 cents and I'm sure many others may disagree or have their own opinions but I hope that help you out. Best of luck and happy reefing.

 

[flamron]

Buy a 120, make the 55 your sump, get some MH or T5 lights, buy the biggest skimmer you can afford (overrated for your tank size hopefully).

Go slowly and you will see good results. Go quickly and you will see results faster, but you will probably regret it 98% of the time.