I recently bought an established tank, and everything is going great, the livestock are healthy (and no longer shy), and tested levels of ammonia, nitrate/ite, ph, and salinity are all within range, however I have a few questions.
The tank is 40gal, with 40lbs of liverock (that was a rough estimate as the owners didnt know, so i did the whole "weigh self with giant bucket of LR - weigh self" technique)
It has a biowheel 200 filter
CPR backpack protein skimmer
and penguin 550 powerhead
single 50/50 light (not sure on wattage, but i want to upgrade to reef capable lighting)
My questions are:
From research ive done, it seems with the skimmer and the live rock (also about 1/2in live sand) is the filter entirely necessary?
Also, since its only a 40g tank, would a sump be practical? Ideally down the road i know I will have one with my dream 75-120 gal tank, but for a 40gal, is it necessary? I cant seem to find the reasons to ever not have a sump, but then again, I am VERY new.
Also, the tank is not predrilled, so the sump would have to intake from the top of the tank. Is this even possible? If it is, are there ways of increasing the asthetics to draw away from two giant pieces of PVC over the top of the tank? Can water even drain down into the sump this way?
As for the lighting, i eventually want to turn this FOWLR into a reef, research shows that metal halide seems to be the preferred, the tanks is about 2 feet deep (left tape measurer at job site) but ive heard varying arguments over the amount of wattage to depth, can anyone provide clarification/personal experience?
Also, the powerhead I have now simply submerges into the tank, which is bluntly an eyesore, what are ways to remedy this, even including replacement? whats out there?
Thank you in advance for even reading this post, double thanks if you reply =)
Im just a new hobyist with an apetite for learning, and while ive done research on almost all of this, I find the personal experience route yields the best results, and from what ive seen so far on this site, it looks like there are quite a few learned professionals here.
The tank is 40gal, with 40lbs of liverock (that was a rough estimate as the owners didnt know, so i did the whole "weigh self with giant bucket of LR - weigh self" technique)
It has a biowheel 200 filter
CPR backpack protein skimmer
and penguin 550 powerhead
single 50/50 light (not sure on wattage, but i want to upgrade to reef capable lighting)
My questions are:
From research ive done, it seems with the skimmer and the live rock (also about 1/2in live sand) is the filter entirely necessary?
Also, since its only a 40g tank, would a sump be practical? Ideally down the road i know I will have one with my dream 75-120 gal tank, but for a 40gal, is it necessary? I cant seem to find the reasons to ever not have a sump, but then again, I am VERY new.
Also, the tank is not predrilled, so the sump would have to intake from the top of the tank. Is this even possible? If it is, are there ways of increasing the asthetics to draw away from two giant pieces of PVC over the top of the tank? Can water even drain down into the sump this way?
As for the lighting, i eventually want to turn this FOWLR into a reef, research shows that metal halide seems to be the preferred, the tanks is about 2 feet deep (left tape measurer at job site) but ive heard varying arguments over the amount of wattage to depth, can anyone provide clarification/personal experience?
Also, the powerhead I have now simply submerges into the tank, which is bluntly an eyesore, what are ways to remedy this, even including replacement? whats out there?
Thank you in advance for even reading this post, double thanks if you reply =)
Im just a new hobyist with an apetite for learning, and while ive done research on almost all of this, I find the personal experience route yields the best results, and from what ive seen so far on this site, it looks like there are quite a few learned professionals here.
