# Convering my 35 gallon to a saltwater reef



## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

So far i have these things purchased. I work at a pet store so getting access to everything and anything is pretty easy.

35 gallon

36" aquapro light - (1) 150 watt MH with (2) 65 watt compact flouresents and 2 moonlights
Super Skimmer - protein Skimmer for tanks up to a 65 gallon.

I am using an xp3 as a filter for now, untill i can get my other sump finished and then i plan on putting on a 20 gallon sump.

I was looking through some books and i found these to be some fish i am interested in:

i am going to figure out if they can go together, but my main focus was colour, i am going to have a lot of corals, and hope to have quite a few fish.

Anthias
DottyBacks
Gramma
Yellow or Blue Comet
Jawfish
Flame Angel
Marroon Clown
Wrasse
Midas Blenny
Yellow Watchman Goby

Can anyone tell me what i have have together in the tank? Highlighting would be good, or something easy to tell.

As well as

Shrimps - Cleaner, Peppermint, Pistol
A Clam - i have enough lighting
Flame Scallops
Small Starfish
Turbo Snails
Emerald Crabs

I have the liverock already set aside in the sumps at my work. I am just waiting for the lights and skimmer to come in on monday and i will start working on the tank.

Can anyone help or advise on this new venture?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Inflade said:


> So far i have these things purchased. I work at a pet store so getting access to everything and anything is pretty easy.
> 
> 35 gallon
> 
> ...


i would defintaly suggest narrowing down this list to maybe half as many fish listed

liveaquaria or etropicals has fairly good guidelines for fish requirements and a compatibility chart. dont just read as many fish profiles as you can find until you find one with the info you want to hear like saying you can keep a panther grouper in a 35 (just and exagerated example)



> As well as
> 
> Shrimps - Cleaner, Peppermint, Pistol
> A Clam - i have enough lighting
> ...


flame scallops typically require much more nutrient rich water tehn your going to be able to sustain

emerald crabs tend to get a taste for coral and become a problem an if your tank doesnt have an over abundance of algae then it will be loooking for other sources of food.


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## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

nismo driver said:


> So far i have these things purchased. I work at a pet store so getting access to everything and anything is pretty easy.
> 
> 35 gallon
> 
> ...


i would defintaly suggest narrowing down this list to maybe half as many fish listed

liveaquaria or etropicals has fairly good guidelines for fish requirements and a compatibility chart. dont just read as many fish profiles as you can find until you find one with the info you want to hear like saying you can keep a panther grouper in a 35 (just and exagerated example)



> As well as
> 
> Shrimps - Cleaner, Peppermint, Pistol
> A Clam - i have enough lighting
> ...


flame scallops typically require much more nutrient rich water tehn your going to be able to sustain

emerald crabs tend to get a taste for coral and become a problem an if your tank doesnt have an over abundance of algae then it will be loooking for other sources of food.
[/quote]

thanks for the information. i will check out that website. The above listed is some fish i am interested in. then i will be looking at what is compatable and wat isnt.

any more suggestions?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

if you didnt already get tehta light then get 36 inch 4xT5 fixture since one 150 halide wont have enough spread to cover the 36 inch width. or get the current USA sunpod with two 150 hqi's


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## Inflade (Mar 24, 2006)

nismo driver said:


> if you didnt already get tehta light then get 36 inch 4xT5 fixture since one 150 halide wont have enough spread to cover the 36 inch width. or get the current USA sunpod with two 150 hqi's


you are telling me that just under 300 watts over a 35 gallon tank isnt going to be enough light? thats like 7 watts per gallon


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## redbellyman21 (Jun 27, 2004)

if u r going to be working with sps corals, then nismo driver is right, it wont spread throughout the tank. If you go with lps and some fish u will be fine.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Inflade said:


> if you didnt already get tehta light then get 36 inch 4xT5 fixture since one 150 halide wont have enough spread to cover the 36 inch width. or get the current USA sunpod with two 150 hqi's


you are telling me that just under 300 watts over a 35 gallon tank isnt going to be enough light? thats like 7 watts per gallon
[/quote]

its not that 300 watts inst alot its how that light is spread out and for marine tanks you can forget teh old school watts per gallon measure.. the intensity or "par" is the type of measure that counts, par is the measure of usable light for photosythisis. so outside of the center 12 inchs of light the par is significant less then out side of the center 24 inchs your barely getting any effective lighting..

you could have 800 watts of compact florecent light over a 80 gallon tank and it wouldnt come close to running 500 watts of halide or 200 (4 bulb) or 300 (6 bulb)watts of t5

its all about the spread, a 150 metal halide bulb with a good relfector is generally considerd suffient for a a two foot area and the auqua light reflector is hardly a "good" reflector

you could just stack all your rock in teh middle of the tank an hove open space on the sides and position all your coral that needs high light towards the middle but that doesnt alwasy result int eh most attractive aquascape

this is a 70 watt over a 20 long thats 30 inchs, the center area had plenty of the light the outter areas had decent light but it was cut off about half way up the tank, a 150 will have the same spread but with more intese light unless you can hang the light higher over th tank but then the light will be spilling all over and its a pain to hang a fixture.









only reason i go into such effort to explain this is that i have been there before and you would be much better off with a t5 setup then one 150 thats not quite enough or two 150' that is kind of over kill both in initial cost and cost to run.


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