Hi I'm new and have questions!

JAnderson1

Reefing newb
Hello to all!

I'm excited to start my new (and first) saltwater tank! I've a freshwater tank before, nothing major, but have always wanted a saltwater. My wife is getting me a 45gallon bowed front for anniversary! I'm very excited. I've been doing some research about what I might want to put in it. Nothing big. I want a reef tank just a few corals like a bubble tip and clown or a frogspawn. Of course those are things I have to work up to. I'm not in any hurry. I know I have to work up to those things. So I thought I would put a few questions for the pros out there.
With a 45 gallon tank how many powerheads would I need?
I would eventually like a mandarin so I was thinking of getting/making a Refugium/sump/skimmer. Still trying to wrap my head around how it works or will work for my tank. Do I have to drill my tank? Can the pipes hang over over into the tank? Like I said I'm new!
I'm just trying to have a plan in place before I do anything instead of throwing water and fish in there and going gung-ho!
I don't like the look of the stand (it's used) so we want to restain it. Does it matter what we use?

I hope I'm not asking to many questions. Just excited and want to have a plan in place. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Justin
 
Justin welcome to the site and there are never to many questions we all ask questions it doesn't matter if its your 1st day or been in it for 30 years so ask all you want. Drilling the tank is nice as long as it can be drilled if not you can do a hang on back overflow. power heads really depend on the live stock you are going to run and its better to use 2 or 3 smaller ones then one big one. Rule of thumb and this is just to get you close is 40 times the tank size on the power heads and 10 times on the return pump. Live rock should be 1 to 1 1/2 lbs per gal of water
 
Hello Emmett0122!

Thanks for the welcome! I appreciate the response. For clarification if I have a 45g tank I would need/want about 45-68lbs of live rock? Is there live rock that is better then others? What about live sand?
With the power heads what do you mean by "40 times" and "10 times return"? Thanks again for the help
 
as far as the rock it is personal preference and the sand doesn't have to live sand most use aragonite sand main thing it that it is silicate free sand and dont get really fine sand because you will have a sand storm in your tank. so for a return pump i would say around 700 to 800 gph because you have to account for head loss for the power heads they should add up to about 2000 gph depending on what kind you get weather they are power heads or wave makers
 
Welcome aboard. If you want a sump, it's best to get a tank that's already drilled. Most tanks today are tempered and if you drill them, they WILL break. As for powerheads, I love, love, love the Jebao wavemakers. My corals perked up when I put them on. They are cheap and seem to be pretty good at doing what they do.on a 3-4' tank one or 2 of the WP-25 pumps would work.
 
As far as sump/refugium/skimmers are concerned. Like I mentioned previously I would like to make mine. Would a 10gal be sufficient size for a 46gal display tank? I've been reading all kinds of articles and watching videos about what other people have done. I have a buddy that's going to help me build it. Thoughts?
 
I think a 10 gal tank is too small because it's just hard to work in a little tank and any in sump skimmer will take up the majority of of the tank. I think a twenty is about as small as you would want to go. And you may want to pick out your skimmer and return pump so you know how big the areas for those items need to be and how large of a sump you can fit under your tank or in your stand and work from there. Whenever possible go as large as possible 1 for the larger water volume which will be more stable and 2 there will be less chance of needing to upgrade as quickly.
 
Drill it! I wish I did my display..... drilling sounds so complicated, but is the easiest thing to do. Look at folks displays and you'll get some good ideas from there and then incorporate that in to yours. I suggestion, go for a square tank. 1st it takes forever to clean the bow with the magnet because of the curve, 2nd the glass messes with your eyes. Just my opinion and I have a lot of them... Welcome aboard
 
+1 on the sump go as big as you can i started with a 10 gal sump with my 55 gal but i had a DIY skimmer then went to a 20 gal witch i moved to the 150 when i set it up and added a 7" filter sock and reef octopus skimmer. i ended up taking out the refugium section of it so i could fit my filter sock and skimmer. i just had a 30 gal given to me but im not sure if its big enough to fit all my stuff and have a refugium i have to check it this weekend. and let me tell you once a system is up and running it sucks trying yo make changes. so just some food for thought for you as you work on getting everything set up. and +1 on drilling the tank if you can. my 55 i couldn't drill it so everything was HOB my 150 is reef ready and i love it
 
Thanks guys I really appreciate the input. I'm trying to decide what I want to do and get a game plan before a drop of water hits the tank.
Is there a certain size skimmer I need?
Where would I even have a tank drilled at? Not sure I can it's a used 45g bow front. I get it at the end of the month so I can check then. It's a gift so im not complaining.
 
Thanks guys I really appreciate the input. I'm trying to decide what I want to do and get a game plan before a drop of water hits the tank.
Is there a certain size skimmer I need?
Where would I even have a tank drilled at? Not sure I can it's a used 45g bow front. I get it at the end of the month so I can check then. It's a gift so im not complaining.

Check with your LFS most in my area will drill tanks for you, or if your comfortable with the tools you can do it yourself.
 
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