help!!! - beginner tank setup

[bonbon]

Hi Everybody.

I have no experience with fw or sw tanks before but I'm planning to set up my first sw tank. There's just a few questions that I need some help with. Feel free to suggest anything that I need to be aware of or need to know~

I'm planning to set up a 22g (36"x12"x12") tank and raise a pair of clownfish, several shrimps and some corals.
I've done some research on corals and here's a list of corals that I'm interested in getting that are more for beginners (I think):

Leather Umbrella Coral
Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral
Green Star Polyps
Colt Corals
Bubble
Fox Coral
Palys Coral
Kenya Tree Coral
Blue Clove Polyps

Now I'm having some trouble picking the right equipment for my setup and I want to get the best bang for the buck~

Lighting:
I read that a reef tank needs 4-6 watts per gallon and I was wondering which type of lighting I need to get: PC, T5HO, or MH lighting
and how much wattage do I need for my tank?

I was looking at the Aqualight High Output T5 30" or the Coralife 36" 2x96watt light. Any suggestions?

Powerhead:
I have access to a free Koralia 3. Is that enough flow for my tank or not enuf?

Filter:
As for the filter, I read on some sites that live rock is the only filtration that you need. Is that right? Or should I put a HOB filter? And if so, is an AC 30 good enough?

Any suggestions on this or any other pointers would be GREATLY appreciated! THANKS!!

[mike31154]

Welcome to the forum & the salt water community. Take your time, keep researching & get your budget ready for a bit of a hit initially & some continuing expenditures over time.

With respect to lighting, advances in this technology, particulary the advent of suitable LEDs for the hobby have pretty much made the watts per gallon rule of thumb obsolete. You really need to look specifically at each technology and match it to what your ultimate goal is. Each type of lighting produces a different ratio of lumens per watt. I would recommend, if you have the budget, try to go for LEDs right from the start, particularly for the smaller system you are planning. They use less power & provide more flexibility as to configuration as any other current technology offered in our hobby. You should have little trouble getting plenty of coverage at a reasonable price with LEDs on a 22 gal.

The Koralia will be a good start, but you may require additional flow as the system takes shape. No worries there, this can always be added. There are some innovative new products out there for flow as well these days. EcoTech VorTech & Tunze are major players, more costly than most, but also durable & offering plenty of options.

Live rock, sumps & skimmers are the mainstay of most marine systems these days. There are successful, nice looking system that run sumpless & without skimmers, but it's probably not a good way for a novice to start. If you have room for a sump, that can be a great addition to provide extra water volume and house equipment such as heaters/skimmer so that your display may be kept free of these items. HOB filter is fine, can act as a sort of refugium as well if you decide to go sumpless.

A couple of other things you might find helpful, an RODI system for pure water & some sort of top off system to compensate for evaporation.

I believe there are a few 'sticky' threads in the forum that will answer many of your initial questions as well. Have a look around & I'm sure you'll find plenty of great info to make the entry into the hobby smooth & relatively painless.

[SandSifter]

I think the last post pretty much covered it but because you are new to keeping any sort of aquarium I would consider going with a larger set up if your budget can handle it. You would more than likely be ok if you have done a lot of research and are the type of person who pays attention to detail but its never a bad idea to start off with a larger aquarium. Yes its more expensive in the long run but it will be easier to start with and not too long after you get into the swing of things with your 20 gal you will probably be looking to upgrade anyways! Oh and read,read, and read some more. There are a ton of great stickys, articles and threads on this site and a few others like it. Good Luck!

[Flash]

A korlia 3 is way too much flow. It's even a lot for a 90gl tank. How many shrimp are u planning on keeping in this 22gl?

[Jenn_737700]

IMO, the koralia 3 might or might not be enough, depending on which corals you may decide to keep in the future. The lighting should depend on that as well. But then again, you can always upgrade if, say, you need another powerhead. Good luck with your new tank

[bonbon]

Thanks for all the input!! It was a lot of help~

I've read a bit on the LEDs and it's quite a new technology. But I'm not sure if it's gonna be enough light for my corals. So I think I might go for the T5HO's as there's more information on it and it seems like that's what most people are using right now.

Any suggestions on the types of coral that are pretty and for beginners? I'm not set on my corals list yet and I'm open to anything.

I think at this point I should pick my corals first. How many should I start with first? 2-3? Or is that too little or too many?

[TheMikey]

The intensity of lighting will really come downtown what kind of corals you want to keep. One thing I've discovered in my experience with a nano tank us that the difficulty involved comes entirely from the initial setup. If you take your time and do it correctly there is little additional work related to the tank compared to a larger tank.

My 15g is very low maintenance. I don't have an ATO, so the majority if my time spent on the tank is manually adding water every few days and doing a bimonthly water change.

As for your specific questions: what's your end goal coral wise? I started wanting just a FOWLR, moved to sorties, then LPS and now I have SPS. I've probably lost a few hundred dollars on losses from replacing equipment, but it's all part of the process.

If you want to go with corals, look into a decent T5 system, MH or LED. watts per gallon is archaic and not really used anymore. Set your budget around $200-300 for lighting. Maybe try a DIY LED if you're daring, you'll probably be pretty happy with it! And it would allow you to keep SPS, if that's what you're into.

There's other things you can do too. If I were to start over with a fresh setup, I'd go with "dead" rock vs live rock. Having dealt with aiptasia and gha, peace of mind is a huuuuuge benefit. And it's much cheaper.

Welcome to the hobby

[rtram]

go simple. you can run a tank for really cheap, especially for a smaller aquarium. t5ho fixture, 2 or 4 bulb fixture. hydor nano's. no sump, ac50 if possible, because it is larger and can be converted into a HOB fuge if necessary. imo, its more important for you to learn how to keep your stuff alive and thriving before you go and drop a ton of cash on what is considered to be the future of lighting or the so called best form of nutrient export.

however, if you were planning on keeping this tank longterm, then i would recommend you spend more money and time researching on the quality of the products you're purchasing. however i still advocate for a sumpless reef for smaller aquariums.

stress the importance of maintaining water quality. keep your bio load modest and do your water changes. good luck!