My 58 gal show salt tank project.

[Nitroman77]

Alrighty well the past week or so Ive been converting my 30 hex tank into my new 58 gal show saltwater tank. I built the tank stand and im in the process of adding about 90lbs of live rock and fish along with some corals in the future. Above the tank im building a canopy to cover everything.
Here are some eary pics of the tank. The tank stand looks WAY to red in the pics, but is not like that and well it kinda looks like a Barn door in the pics haha. the walls are not pink either. hmmm weird pics.

1 clown fish
1 coral beauty angelfish
1 purple psuedo

2 penguine filters
1 protein skimmer
1 196 gal per hour water mover haha
2 600 gal water mover to help the water circulate.

I also just bought some LED car lights about 4 bucks and hooked them up to an old phone charger and they are going to be used for moonlighting at night that will glow blue.

[mrgadget]

Sweet! That's already got me thinking white sand, green water, and margaritas.

[Cal]

gonna need some stronger lights than those to support and promote coral growth Skeete

otherwise, nice looking start

[Nitroman77]

Oh yea I know Im getting one to replace the black one. The other is a 196 watt and im getting other lighting. All in due time, thats why its a project haha. I have to figure out the canopy so I can fit more lights on top.

[Nitroman77]

What Ideas can you give me CAL? About lights and other things I might need?

[Cal]

What Ideas can you give me CAL? About lights and other things I might need?

eeesh.. you sure you want to go there with me?

- make your canopy about 9 - 12 inches finish height above the top of your tank (distance from the top of your tank to the underside of the top of the canopy - i.e. not including the lip over the edge of the canopy to cover the top of the tank)

- or abandon the canopy idea and use pendant lights

- metal halide as your primary light source + compact fluorescents for color

- this is a good place to start for lighting http://www.hellolights.com/ : they have some good kits though I couldn't find any Metal Halide + Compact Fluorescent combo kits right away.

- install an overflow and put a sump at in your stand and get rid of all the overhanging filters - the live rock will supply plenty of biological filtration, you'll just need particulate filters and you can do this in the sump or with an in-tank setup. Otherwise, get some black background paper to hide the filters in the back.

- last i heard, these guys made the best protein skimmers: http://www.euro-reef.com/index.shtml

but i don't even run one anymore in my reef tank... haven't for a couple of years and have had no adverse effects

- decide if you want a fish or coral tank... in a 58 gallon tank with corals, it's best to keep the fish to a bare minimum and only beneficial species

- if you want to keep mushrooms, no matter what anyone says, stay AWAY from crabs. Hermit crabs are fine, but emeralds, sally light foots, etc. will eat your mushroom corals

that's a summary

[Nitroman77]

Thank you cal! Ill be looking into better lighting i know that for sure, although If I do fish mostly so I really need the metal and all that much light other than another 50/50? I know corals need a ton of light, fish they dont grow from it haha.

[Cal]

you only need the lighting if you keep corals - just about ANY corals... BUT if you keep fish and want to try and grow the purple coraline algae, then you're going to need better lighting as well.

this is why you have to decide now what you want to keep

If you go live rock and fish, you still have to be careful what fish you keep because many, like triggers, produce too much waste to sustain the rock. In addition, aggressive fish like triggers will peck and gnaw at the rocks removing just about any beneficial organisms that are growing thus defeating the purpose of "live" rock.

[Fishing Fanboy]

I hope you cured that liverock before you put it in the new tank.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/gene ... pagesid=59

[Nitroman77]

Yea its all been cured. Yea im def not getting triggers ive read too much abou them and how aggressive they can be.

[Fishing Fanboy]

A few years ago when I still had my 40 gallon saltwater tank, I had this one very mean tiger trigger that liked to tear out the eyeballs of other peaceful fish like a foxface tang.

[leo33]

depends on the type of coral you want to get your tank isn't to deep.if you go with soft coral you can get away with compact flourecent.if you plan on hard coral you will need metal halid.deffinitly get a good clean up crew.

[Nitroman77]

yea im not doing hard coral jsut soft so im getting another 130 watt compact which will be 260maybe 300 watt total with the other light. I also put a black back ground on the tank which I had left over to cover the cords haha.

[Nitroman77]

UPdated with more pics of the new additions to the tank.
6 Chromis fish, one Sailfin tang, and a pink coral.
Still waiting on the other light and building the top for it.

[Fishing Fanboy]

Very nice, but it would look much nicer when the Coralline algae starts to grow.