18g Setup with many questions

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scbauer

New Member
Hello all,

This is my first time posting on Nanotank.com and my first experience with saltwater tanks. I have been reading on saltwater for some time now and have talked with the local pet store as to the correct setup for my 18g (20x20x10). I was looking at an HOB (Hang Over Back ) Refugium for filtration. In addition to this I already have 2 power heads that produce enough circulation for the tank. For the heater I have a 100 watt fully submergable. Will that refugium HOB filter be enough? Also once I have the water mixed with the salt is it ohk to start positioning the sand and live rock to let it cure and cycle? Thank you all in advance and your site has been very helpful.

Steve

P.S. Ill be posting pictures of the process once I make up my mind about the filter and actually start.
 
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Jennie

New Member
Well first of all Welcome to Nanotank! Glad to have you here!

You've taken the first step into Saltwater by doing all the reading prior to actually getting into. As for the HOB fuge, as long as you have plenty of LR in your tank, the fuge is just an extra bonus. It sounds like you have everything to start your tank up. Don't forget the pictures (we love pictures here), and good luck!

Again, welcome to Nanotank. :lol3:
 
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scbauer

New Member
Lighting for 18g

What would you all recommend for a light? I already have a lid (plastic with flip front ... and place for light fixture to site on clear plastic). Is it worth it to use the same lid and just buy a new light fixture or shoudl I change the lid altogether? Also, how many watts should I be looking to use?
 
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Jennie

New Member
What direction are you planning on? Do you intended to keep coral, and if so what kind? There are varias types of lighting, but depending on what you have planned it's really hard to say now.
 
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incysor

New Member
The main thing that determines what kind and how much light you need is the type of corals you want to keep. Different corals have differerent light needs, some require very little light, and some require a lot of light. Once you figure out what types of corals you like then you look at how much space you have to work over the tank and you can choose the lights that'll work for you.

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jcs11236

New Member
hey incysor

do u think my lightin is good 36 watt pc for y 10gal hex --all i have is mushrooms and polyp-do plan on gettin no stony corals
 
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incysor

New Member
Yeah, probably. Although Hexes tend to be deeper than a regular tank of the same volume. How deep is the tank?

I've got 32w over my 6g, but it's only 10 inches deep.

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incysor

New Member
It's probably a little on the low side. I'd Just try to keep most of your coral placed closer to the top of the tank than the bottom. If you decide to upgrade a bit later you can always rearrange.

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scbauer

New Member
lighting

Is there such thing as over lighting? The reason I ask is because when I went to my local satl/reef store they recommended a 96W double blue white light. This was because of the depth of my tank. Is that overkill? Let me know what you all think. Thanks again for all of your help.
 
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incysor

New Member
If it'll fit over the top of the tank I'd go with it.

A standard 10g tank is about a foot deep, and there's lots of folks with the 96w powerquads over them. Your tank is likely a bit deeper than that.

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shaggydoo541

New Member
I have your exact tank and if I could do it all over again I would do MH. I have 130w of PC and everything close to the top loves it. However I can not keep anything alive in the lower half of the tank (except mushrooms). Because of this I have run out of space to keep anything new and so am looking to upgrade my tank and lighting. If I would have just started with MH I would be much happier right now, but it all depends on what you want to keep. Good luck with your tank.
 
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dragon79

New Member
shaggydoo541 said:
Well looks pretty good. I would personally put in more rock especially since the tank is so tall. Good start
Click to expand...
I agree. I do like how you have it set where you are keeping a gap on the left and on right so you can clean the glass with ease, but if you can get larger pieces that stack a bit higher, it would help out. best of luck.
 
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shaggydoo541

New Member
Good point dragon. Keep the rock away from the rock for easy cleaning. Also keep that sand bed in the front so you can put some corals in it. I wish I would have done both these things but didn't and so have a hard time placing certain corals (since they prefer a sandbed) and cant get to the glass in a couple places.
 
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incysor

New Member
You've got a lot of nice pieces/shapes of rock there, but for a reef tank you should be starting with 18-36lbs of rock. I generally go with 1-1.5lbs of rock per gallon and make up the rest with the rock the corals come attached too.

I think you're off to a great start. I really like the high versions of tanks. It seems like you can do a bit more interesting rock scaping with them.

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scbauer

New Member
Im gunna pick up some more rock and build up, hopefully this weekend. Also I was told by my local pet store to put a damsel in my tank for bacteria and what not. Would you agree with this?
 
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