new tank question

[miami13]

Can a 38 gallon tank run, and succeed sumpless? Will it maintain ok with live rock, protein skimmer, and powerheads? With proper lighting I'm hoping to house a mixture of corals along with clams, and fish.

thanks in advance

 

[AF Founder]

Can a 38 gallon tank run, and succeed sumpless? Will it maintain ok with live rock, protein skimmer, and powerheads? With proper lighting I'm hoping to house a mixture of corals along with clams, and fish.

thanks in advance

Yes it can. However, you must maintain a balance between the input of waste from fish, uneaten food, etc, and the tank's abilty to export the waste. Bottom line, very few fish and careful feeding. Get the invertebartes established, then add fish very slowly.

 

[miami13]

thanks for the response Terry,

I purchased the tank, and am waiting for the stand, which should be ready in a week or so. I'm reading as much as I can in the meantime.
I'm planning on using an aqua c remora hangon skimmer. Is there a particular formula for figuring out how many/size powerheads will be needed. I know I'm a little ways off, but I'm also trying to plan ahead for my lighting setup. With proper fans, and central ac would (2) 175 Halides work ok ? The tank is 36" in length and 19" in depth, and has the center bracing in the middle. I assume this eliminates the option of one bulb over the middle. Any suggestions ?

thanks again for the help....

 

[Anonymous]

two halides should be fine(i had a 36? or 46?[memory is hazy] bowfront w/2 175 10k corallife halides- did just fine)not familiar with that brand skimmer,if it adds microbubbles into the tank, jury rig a sponge under the return to trap 'em.(the bubbles hurt sponges, and can collect in 'caves in your live rock)if you haven't purchased the skimmer yet, check out the red sea berlin hang on, it'll process the volume of your tank with room to spare, and it's really low maintenance(pers. recommendation).the skimmer should prob'ly be able to process 3-5x the volume of your tank oer hour(any other thoughts on this?)try also a mag drive 350 gph and tee it to each corner (pvc).with the outlets at the bottom, pointing to the front middle third of the tank on a timer. or some such similiar arrangement with two powerheads(they can be 'pulsed' alternately with simple timers)hope this helps

 

[Al]

Miami13
If noise is an issue with you, you might want to rethink buying a remora - it's a good skimmer, but the CPR bakpak will handle your tank and will run a lot quieter.