29 gallon build

dylan94

Hello everyone, it has been a while since I've been on this forum with holidays and stuff, but now that everything is almost over, I am coming back with a plan :)
So as you may know, my plans for a large Discus tank and a nano reef were crushed. I have found a compromise that is halfway between those two extremes.
I have a 29gallon freshwater aquarium and a 10gallon freshwater aquarium. They are inhabited by guppies and kribs and tetras and although I love my tanks, I am kinda getting bored of them :(
So my master plan is to convert the 29 gallon aquarium into a FOWLR aquarium, using the 10 gallon as a sump. Here is the layout of this plan:
-29 gallons
-30lbs live rock
- 4'' live sand
- good protein skimmer
- one or two powerheads
- existing HOB filter without filter pad, just carbon

NOW EXCITING PART... STOCKING LIST :)
- 2 ocellaris clown fish
- 1 firefish
- 1 coral beauty angelfish
- 1 bangaii cardinal fish
- 10 red leg hermit crabs
- snails??? (will they get eaten by hermits for their shells?)

so far i have a deal on a used skimmer, powerhead and test kit for 60$
30 lbs of live rock for 60$
I am planning on buying regular sand, which will become live sand by being colonized by the live rock
What kind of sand would be good??
I need to buy salt also... should I buy just enough or should i get one of those 160 gallon worth pails?
Do I need a reverse osmosis filter?? Theyre pretty expensive and I don't want to buy water from the LFS every time I need to top up the water in my tank.
Dechlorinated tap water isn't an option is it???

Oh btw, I made sure this one is actually going to go through :) The whole family is up for it and it is going to go well :P

reefsahoy

congrats on your decision on a SW tank. buy live sand if you can afford it or make sure you buy good clean dead sand. get sand that the grain is not silty. the reason for this is when you add a power head it won't stir the sand and the water will stay clear.

RO, I highly suggest one with dI. If you go without one make sure you use quality water for topoff and SW making. Usually newbies will save $ and go tap, it will work for awhile then for most algae will start and get out of control due to poor water quality. if you start out with know quality sand, water and live rock you will surpass most of the newbie start up errors.

badxgillen

awsome man..glad to hear you got into salt.. but it does sound like you better get your tap water checked out...all the perameters..the whole nine yards..if you cant afford an R O Unit..

dylan94

Does anyone know where I could buy an RO unit for a good price?
Considering my tank is only 29 gallons I won't need a big 100GPD unit, just a 25 or 10GPD unit.
For dead sand to become live sand, should I buy crushed coral or some other sand... I know that there should be NO SILICA SAND to avoid algae problems.
Thanks everyone btw:P
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reefsahoy

you live in qubec so just google ro/di and see what pops up. for live sand if you introduce live rock bacteria. flora and fauna will eventually go to the sand. what ever gpd ro you get consider how many ours you will have to run it for water. so if you are going to change 10 gals for a 25gal/day you will have to run it almost 12 hours.

dylan94

Ya that's true and the higher GPD isn't usually that much more than lower ones. I think 50GPD would be fine, but 100GPD would be optimal. I've looked for some things on sites like eBay, but they look really sketchy. Like I saw a skimmer that I had never seen before or heard of, selling from Hong Kong and it was 6$ and 6$ shipping. So 12$ for a skimmer from Hong Kong.. like I'd might as well just refer to the black market of protein skimmers lol. It's a scam no matter how you look at it :P
So ya, I have to keep looking. I have a feeling that if I buy one from my LFS it will be quite expensive. So far, I haven't really seen any RO units for less than 100$.

For the sand: I am going to buy 'dead' sand and let it get colonized by the flora and fauna of the live rock. I'm going to give the tank a while to get settled anyways. But, how do I know how much sand to buy? I want a 4'' sand bed for proper nitrification conversion (probably didn't make sense but you know what I mean :P) so do I buy 20lbs or 30lbs or 40lbs? Is there a way to calculate this, or do I just look at the size of the bag and estimate how much I need?

ALSO (I just dont shut up lol)
I would like my 10 gallon to be a sump. Could I just fill it with water like the other tank and then put the filter, the heater, the skimmer and maybe some sand and live rock? And then have the return pump just pump water back up?
OR
Do I have to do the whole dividing the tank with glass sheets and having different sections and whatever?

And for CUC, can I have red led hermit crabs (more docile than blue) live with snails? I want hermit crabs for sure and I know snails are really good at their job but they kinda freak me out :P especially when they're like 5'' big :S I haven't really looked into starfish, but that would be cool. Sea hares gross me out to the max. I was at the LFS and they had two huge ones in an aquarium and I couldn't look at them, because it would repulse me. As for shrimp, I was going to get 2 skunk shrimp, but if I have a neon goby and skunk shrimp as they are all parasite removers I don't know if that would be bad or not. Coral banded shrimps are also amazing. So pretty much I want hermit crabs and shrimp :)

Thanks

dylan94

I just read Pasfur's article about quarantine tanks and I decided to have my 10 gallon as a quarantine tank, until my tank is fully stocked, then I can either convert it to a sump, or keep it as a Q-tank. I am going to buy all of my equipment as HOB (protein skimmer, heater, filter).
I might be bringing my freshwater fish to the LFS today, or another day.
Pictures of tank and equipment to come :)

dylan94

In place of using an RO unit, can I use rainwater/melted snow that I boil to kill all parasites and living organisms. I know that rainwater is just pure water (soft). Would that be feasible?

Pasfur

Nick is going to hate me for saying this... but I think this is a great idea. Even better, spend an extra $10 on another 10 gallon tank and have both a Q tank and a sump!

If you buy a hang on skimmer, make sure it have an overflow! Most of them do not.

We are talking about your WATER. This is the most basic of all problems. Buy an RO unit. In the US we can often find them online for $100 or so, depending on the quality of the unit. Not sure what you will pay, but it is worth it.

dylan94

Okay, I will try to buy a RO unit.

With the Q-tank, I figured when there are no fish in it I could raise brine shrimp.

I am going to start buying equipment. I am going to buy 40lbs of Key Largo base rock and 40lbs of bahamas aragonite sand from Marco Rocks and then seed it with a small pieces of cured live rock from my LFS. Cost 120$

As for skimmers I was looking at the Oceanic biocube skimmer which I'm sure everyone is going to advise me against :P and also the red sea prizm hang on skimmer.

I am hoping that I can trade all of my freshwater fish and plants for a koralia powerhead.

Then all I have left is the RO unit. Which I'm trying to find a good deal on.