16 gallon reef

[wgama]

I bought a 16 gallon sunsun tank from Aquagiant here is what i have for it so far: 1 Jialu submersible pump (powerhead)
1 atnic bulb that fits in to hood of the tank

What else will i need and will the atnic bulb be enough for inverts? (this is my first saltwater tank)

[Scuba Kid]

Sounds like you have a lot of reading to do. I suggest picking up a few books about saltwater and reef keeping, The Concientious Marine Aquarist by Bob Fenner being one of them. There are tons of articles online as well. www.reefcentral.com might be a good place to start.

Before you know what kinds of equipement you need, you need to know what you want to keep. A reef tank by definition houses coral...is your goal to keep some species of corals? If so, what kinds? SPS (small polyp stony corals) need high lighting and lots of flow. LPS (large polyp stony corals) need less light, but most still need a decent amount of it. Soft corals generally do not need high amounts of flow and most can live in relatively low-medium lighting conditions (depening on the species of course). However, any tank with corals, except nonphotosynthetic corals such as sun corals and some gorgonia, will need a decent lighting fixture to thrive.

As for filtration, your best option is lots of liverock. Around 20-30 pounds for this size tank would be a good number. You may or may not want a small protein skimmer (I'd opt for getting one, but if you do religious water changes it won't be as necessary).

You will want another spectrum bulb (one with more of a white hue) to go along with that actinic (a blue bulb). How many watts is the actinic? You may need to ditch the hood altogether and go with another fixture if the hood (really, the ballast in the hood) can not handle as many watts as desired.

You can also scrap the coral idea altogether and go with a FOWLR (fish only with liverock) tank. This would mean you'd have the liverock of a reef tank, minus the corals. Instead, more of a focus on fish and inverts like shrimp. However, in this size tank, you have only a few choices on fish, and you won't be able to house many of them.

My best advice, however, is that you do not start saltwater with a 16 gallon tank. Saltwater can be hard at first, especially reefs, because it is crucial that the water parameters stay at perfect levels. This is much harder to maintain in a smaller tank, and therefore things will be more stable in a big tank. If you really want to take the plunge into saltwater, I suggest starting with a tank no less tha 30 gallons.

[wgama]

Ok i tried to explain the whole small tank harder to keep thing to my mom but the guy at aquagiant said that wasnt true so im stuck with this tank. I would like to keep a clownfish, an anenome and som soft corals, I know that i need a skimmer and things like that but i was looking for suggestions.

[Scuba Kid]

You realize your lighting situation isn't going to allow you to keep any anemones right now? I don't even suggest a clownfish/anomene duo for a tank as small as yours.

[TheOldSalt]

Sorry, but there's just no way it's going to work. You'll never be able to keep an anemone alive in that tank without a miracle. Most folks don't seem to realize this until it's too late, but corals are much easier to keep, grow, and even breed than anemones are to keep alive. A new tank simply cannot sustain one, for many reasons I'm sure you'll be learning soon enough.

[nvsbandit]

your clown doesnt need an anenome. my two dont have one and they are still happy as clams.

in a 16g you could get two clowns and another fish in there with a sufficient amount of filtration.


THINGS YOULL NEED
new light eventually when you want to do corals.
sand
live rock (LR) - 1 to 1.5 lbs per gallon
some kind of filter (i suggest the aquaclears...love all of mine.)
heater
small powerhead is optional to get some more flow rockin.

i have 2 clowns and a yellow watchman goby in my 10g. my levels are fine.

soon everything will be in my 90RR thats cycling.

you obviously know about cycling?

[wgama]

ya I know about cycling. Does anybody have any ideas for a mini fuge??

This is what i am planning on having in my tank:
2 clownfish
1shrimp of some sort
1 starfish
and a clean up clue

[Scuba Kid]

What kind of ideas do you want for a fuge?

So this is not going to be a reef tank? No corals?

[s13]

You can keep aiptasia alive with that tank no prob.

[Scuba Kid]

hahaha, I actually think aiptasia are pretty cool...when they're not in my reef tank.

[s13]

Maybe you can grow some majanos too

[CollegeReefer]

Originally Posted by Scuba Kid

hahaha, I actually think aiptasia are pretty cool...when they're not in my reef tank.

Julian Sprung actually likes aiptasia, but he even said when he tries to keep it alive he can't and of course when he doesn't want it it just multiplies. Funny how that works.

[k-dawg-]

Originally Posted by Scuba Kid

Sounds like you have a lot of reading to do. I suggest picking up a few books about saltwater and reef keeping, The Concientious Marine Aquarist by Bob Fenner being one of them. There are tons of articles online as well. www.reefcentral.com might be a good place to start.

Before you know what kinds of equipement you need, you need to know what you want to keep. A reef tank by definition houses coral...is your goal to keep some species of corals? If so, what kinds? SPS (small polyp stony corals) need high lighting and lots of flow. LPS (large polyp stony corals) need less light, but most still need a decent amount of it. Soft corals generally do not need high amounts of flow and most can live in relatively low-medium lighting conditions (depening on the species of course). However, any tank with corals, except nonphotosynthetic corals such as sun corals and some gorgonia, will need a decent lighting fixture to thrive.

As for filtration, your best option is lots of liverock. Around 20-30 pounds for this size tank would be a good number. You may or may not want a small protein skimmer (I'd opt for getting one, but if you do religious water changes it won't be as necessary).

You will want another spectrum bulb (one with more of a white hue) to go along with that actinic (a blue bulb). How many watts is the actinic? You may need to ditch the hood altogether and go with another fixture if the hood (really, the ballast in the hood) can not handle as many watts as desired.

You can also scrap the coral idea altogether and go with a FOWLR (fish only with liverock) tank. This would mean you'd have the liverock of a reef tank, minus the corals. Instead, more of a focus on fish and inverts like shrimp. However, in this size tank, you have only a few choices on fish, and you won't be able to house many of them.

My best advice, however, is that you do not start saltwater with a 16 gallon tank. Saltwater can be hard at first, especially reefs, because it is crucial that the water parameters stay at perfect levels. This is much harder to maintain in a smaller tank, and therefore things will be more stable in a big tank. If you really want to take the plunge into saltwater, I suggest starting with a tank no less tha 30 gallons.

lol did you type that out or do you just copy and paste that for every new member?

[wgama]

I was thinking of a hang over tank refugium, any ideas, and maybe a bubble coral for my clownfishes. Dont worry everybody there will be corals

[karazy]

for lighting i would say on a tank that small go for T5HO or a T5HO HQI mixture.

for a fuge you can easily make one out of an aquaclear

[Scuba Kid]

Originally Posted by k-dawg-

lol did you type that out or do you just copy and paste that for every new member?

haha, I actually did type that all out.

[Ice]

Aiptasia ? Do you really want those in your tank ? They are considered as pest and they will overrun your tank in no time if left untreated.

Wow ... just wow .....

Gone away for a few months and come back to this.

[Scuba Kid]

Originally Posted by Ice

Aiptasia ? Do you really want those in your tank ? They are considered as pest and they will overrun your tank in no time if left untreated.

Wow ... just wow .....

Gone away for a few months and come back to this.

If you read more carefully, you'd see that the original poster did not say that and those that brought it up were only joking.

Although, aiptasia are really not all that bad when they're not in a reef tank and they actually make quite interesting little anemones to watch. I find their eating behavior pretty neat.

[wgama]

Okay guys (and gals) in a couple of weeks my family is going down south and while i stayy down there for a week they are coming back, buying salt for my tank, puting it in and then coming to pick me up and on our way back we will pick up live rock. So pretty soon my tank is going to be up and running.

[wgama]

I now have my tank set up with the live rock i purchased at Aquarium Illusiions yesterday here are some pics. The guy said come back in two or three weeks and he'll test my water. If the water is good i will be able to put hermit crabs and snails into my tank. The first picture is a picture of my rockwork( I will be adding more later), the second pictures is of my whole tank/stand and the last picture is of my filter.