new 36g corner tank.

[smalls]

hey guys i just purchased a 36 g corner tank and stand and just wanted to get some suggestions on what the best way to set it up. i guess first off what type of filtration system do you think i should use? was thinking about a wet/dry wouuld it be better to get tank drilled or just use overflow box? as far as lighting i want to be able to keep pretty muuch anything i want so what am i going to need to do that. i saw a diy hood in this forum i was thinking about building. well this is going to be about a 2-3 week project ill deep yall posted on what im doing to tank to ghet info.

thanks smalls

 

[incysor]

I like wet/dry filters. I think an internal overflow looks a bit nicer, and is a bit less of a headache, but you'll have to find someone to drill the tank for you. If the tank has a tempered glass bottom they won't be able to drill through it. They could probably drill through the back panel though as sides usually aren't made of tempered glass. That said it may be esier just to use a HOB overflow box. I don't think they're that big a maintenance issue. Although periodically you want to clean it out to make sure that you don't have algae growth inside that will slow the drain down.

For lighting, you'll have to be more specific about what you want to keep. "Anything you want.", or "everything", really isn't specific enough.

With that, about the only thing people can do is tell you to go with a metal halide setup with some type of actinic supplimentation. However it's more difficult to tell what size metal halide rig would be appropriate. That depends more on the depth of your tank, and if you want mainly a SPS tank or not. If your'e not interested in SPS, then you can probably get away with vho, t-5, or a pc setup. In that size tank you're not going to be able to do an extensively mixed tank. You can either do softies, and LPS with possibly a few of the easier SPS, or mainly SPS, with maybe a couple LPS, and maybe a couple softies if you can set up your aquascaping so that there are some shadier areas where they'll be a bit more protected from overexposure to the light.

B

 

[smalls]

update: k first off i decided to go with a sump/refugium which i should be picking up tomorrow. i am having the tank drilled alsofor asthetic reasons . i picked up a rio 2500 to run it all as well as a dual 24" current fixture putting out 130 watts of light to start with. as far as what i wanna keep i think mainly softies and lps. weell let me know what yall think so far

smalls

 

[Kris]

Sounds like you are off to a good start. You will thank yourself later when it comes to the sump/fuge. Its cool to see all the creatures that grow in a fuge that normally don't hang around topside unless the lights are out.

Your lighting should also suffice for the time being. Should be plenty for softies. You will notice that softies will expand and "reach" more when there is not enough light or just enough. I find this really nice to see in a tank instead of having so much light, that stuff just doesn't stretch as far.

Got any pics yet?