New to salt, need suggestions

[sandytoes]

Hey gang...My lovely wife gave me a 30 gal Oceanic cube for my b-day with a Kent Marine R/O unit. I plan on FOLR with maybe 2 A. Percula. I'm getting a Euro Reef protein skimmer. The one thing I haven't decided on is what filtration I should use. I have 2 Penguin 330's with bio-wheels from fresh water tanks that I no longer use, but I wouldn't mind getting a canister instead. What are your thoughts on the filters? Also, will a Coralife PC lighting system be enough light for an anemone in this setup?

 

[DaGoldenChild]

i have a canister for my 55 long it works great

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to RDO.

As for the filtration, live rock should provide most of your filtration coupled with the euroreef. You may want to put one of the penguin HOB filters or a canister on for additional waterflow and a place to put chemical media (carbon, PO4 remover etc) if need be. Note, adding conventional 'floss' etc is ok for a quick water polishing but leaving that or the manufacturers filter cartridge in can lead to a serious spike in nitrates as the bacteria cover the media. What I usually do is put small chunks of live rock rubble in my cannister or HOB and this seems to work real well. I am currently running a Fluval 204 on my 45 gallon FOWLR tank with 2 dwarf lions like this - the fluval is filled with varying sizes of live rock rubble and no other media except occasionally I will add some carbon.

For lighting - well with anemones I would overcompensate if at all possible for lighting. Believe it or not on a 30 galolon Oceanic cube you can get by just fine with a single metal halide pendant and it will be MUCH cheaper in the long run when you count in the replacement cost of PC bulbs.

Depending on the anemone you have I would say maybe go with a 175 watt pendant (one of the inexpensive 'bell' pendants would be ideal over this tank) and that would serve you well for almost any anemone bar a ritteri or possibly a sebae. Choose your anemone carefully , some are VERY demanding in terms of light and water quality / movement like the aforementioned Ritteri. An E.Quadricolor (bubble tip anemone) or a Macrodactyla doreensis (Long tentacle anemone) would be your best bets though I would reccomend a sandy base for the Long Tentacle if you go that route - at least 2" of sand they can burrow through and attach their foot.

Also from experience let me add you shoudl let your tank mature another month or two at least after your cycle is over before adding anemones. I would not personally put any of the more challenging species (H.magnifica/Ritteri for example) in a tank less than 6 months old.

HTH!

 

[sandytoes]

Hey thanks for the replies...I will definately heed your advice. I don't really want to use the penguins so I'll probably use a Rena XP1. I've had good success with the Rena's in my fresh water tanks.