Have questions!
Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:47 am
So it is possible that I am going to be getting a 40 gallon tank with a rena fillstar xp1, some lights, and a rena smart heater. Not sure the watts on it. Salt water setup. With a blue spotted toby. I am trying to get my hands on a bacpack for 50 bucks. First few things, what can the toby be with? I REALLY wanna know that because if only the toby is gonna be in there, plans may change. Also how many lbs of sand, and LR will I need. At my home depot theres play sand, 50 lbs for 3 bucks.... How do you cure LR. Overflow box/sump whats easier and whats better? What do I need for it?
If the tank is only 40 gallons you wont need a sump, just a good external filter I would say an Rena Xp2 / XP3 would do the trick, fill the filter with Carbon, Rowaphos (Removes Phosphates) and Filter Floss (polishes the water).
That takes care of your Chemical Filtration!
Now for Biological Filtration use LiveRock as a rules of thumb I got this quote from another forum on how much liverock to use:
"The correct amount of live rock to have in a reef tank is between a minimum of 1 pound per gallon and a maximum of 1.75 pounds per gallon. Somewhere in the middle, like 1.35 pounds per gallon, would be ideal. Do not exceed 1.75, unless you want to turn some quality live rock into base rock, which would take at least a year to recover and resemble what it was before other rock was stacked on top of it."
So I would say 40 - 45 lbs of LR will be sufficient for a 40 Gallon tank, you will however need to ensure strong water flow thru the Liverock so that it can filter your water effectively for this you will need a Powerhead for e.g. Koralia 2 , 3 etc.
You also want Aragonite sand or coral for your marine tank to ensure a stable PH of which aragonite sand will buffer your waters PH thru the release of calcium compounds from the sand, do not use crappy play sand in marine tanks, dont look natural and does not do anything for your water!
Finally because you will be keeping toby / bluespotted puffer you will need a Skimmer all the skimmers you have posted above are crap, for a Puffer Tank you will need a motor driven Skimmer so I suggest either
Deltec MCE300, Tunze DOC 9002 or a Bubble Magus 3.5. All these skimmers are QUALITY and powerful which will keep your water crystal clear while removing thick black gunk in the skimmer.
As for tank mates if you were to buy a Toby Puffer it is quite possible that you could keep 2 Tobies in the same tank as they very gentle puffers, or you could keep a Toby and a pair of Clownfish maybe some blennys/gobies.
If you want a bluespotted puffer (Cathigaster Solandri) these two are quite placid puffers and could be kept with other fish i have just mentioned.
you may also want to look into Dwarf Angelfish like the Flame Angel or Coral Beuaty are also great fish to go with these types of puffers.
Hope that Helps
BW
If the tank is only 40 gallons you wont need a sump, just a good external filter I would say an Rena Xp2 / XP3 would do the trick, fill the filter with Carbon, Rowaphos (Removes Phosphates) and Filter Floss (polishes the water).
That takes care of your Chemical Filtration!
Now for Biological Filtration use LiveRock as a rules of thumb I got this quote from another forum on how much liverock to use:
"The correct amount of live rock to have in a reef tank is between a minimum of 1 pound per gallon and a maximum of 1.75 pounds per gallon. Somewhere in the middle, like 1.35 pounds per gallon, would be ideal. Do not exceed 1.75, unless you want to turn some quality live rock into base rock, which would take at least a year to recover and resemble what it was before other rock was stacked on top of it."
So I would say 40 - 45 lbs of LR will be sufficient for a 40 Gallon tank, you will however need to ensure strong water flow thru the Liverock so that it can filter your water effectively for this you will need a Powerhead for e.g. Koralia 2 , 3 etc.
You also want Aragonite sand or coral for your marine tank to ensure a stable PH of which aragonite sand will buffer your waters PH thru the release of calcium compounds from the sand, do not use crappy play sand in marine tanks, dont look natural and does not do anything for your water!
Finally because you will be keeping toby / bluespotted puffer you will need a Skimmer all the skimmers you have posted above are crap, for a Puffer Tank you will need a motor driven Skimmer so I suggest either
Deltec MCE300, Tunze DOC 9002 or a Bubble Magus 3.5. All these skimmers are QUALITY and powerful which will keep your water crystal clear while removing thick black gunk in the skimmer.
As for tank mates if you were to buy a Toby Puffer it is quite possible that you could keep 2 Tobies in the same tank as they very gentle puffers, or you could keep a Toby and a pair of Clownfish maybe some blennys/gobies.
If you want a bluespotted puffer (Cathigaster Solandri) these two are quite placid puffers and could be kept with other fish i have just mentioned.
you may also want to look into Dwarf Angelfish like the Flame Angel or Coral Beuaty are also great fish to go with these types of puffers.
Hope that Helps
BW
, Tunze DOC 9002