10g to 30g FOWLR

[nanoreefer]

well my 10g nano dosent seem to be what i whant it to be, and i realize that i like the fish & inverts a littel more than the coral(iam still putting some coral in a 2.5 on my desk though )and the lighting is to much $$, so what would i need for a 30g FOWLR? iam getting the tank soon and my grampa is makeing a stand for it, iam planning on makeing my old 10g a sump but iam not sure how to make the pluming ect, i was thinking of using an old HOB filter and put a pipe in the bottem for an over flow so i wouldent have to drill the tank, then when the power gos out the filter will stop and the sump whont overflow?, right now i have about 10lbs or so of LR and was thinking of getting base rock and let the LR and LS seed it(but how long would that take?)sence iam getting short on funds, most important how mutch flow would i need? i have a 201 power head and a penguin 170 HOB how many more PH would i need? what would be good lights to help bring out the colors of the fish ect? and i would like to stock it with a flame angel, firefish, flasher wrass or 6line, maroon clown, 2 skunk cleaners, choclate chip star and mabie some more small critters is this to much bioload?

any more advice would be great !

thanks!

[Ruth]

I can't really comment on using those filters as I am not very good an modding things to work. I will say that I think you bioload is a little bit big. Wrasses like lots of swimming room and my experience has been that in a smaller tank they have a tendancy to jump. I am also not sure on the star fish as I have never had a chocolate chip but I do understand that they need quite a large sand bed in order to be properly fed. You don't want to get too many fish in there because with that volume of water if things go bad from a slight overfeeding it can get ugly in a hurry. Your best bet would be to add you smaller fishes first and just keep them for a month or so and monitor your water quality. If it is fine and you are not having any troubles try and add an additional fish. Always add the shy ones first and progress to the most aggressive. Not sure about a flame angel in that size tank but I am sure someone will jump in. I have a coral beauty in my 230 and can tell you that he has grown to about 4" and is quite aggressive so I would think that the flame will be similar.
HTH

[fishmanty]

Don't drill the bottom of a HOB filter! drill the SIDE!

Filters like AC's, use the water that the pump sits in to create a suction to suck more water in. If you drill the bottom, too much water will flow out and you'll never get that suction!
So, drill the side above the filter, as close to the top as you feel comfortable drilling, but not an higher than the overflow part.

Thought you'd like to know what, before you ruin an AC. :P You might have thought of that, but by the wording you used, it sounded like you didn't.

if you are going to go FO, bigger the sump the better. The more flow the better. all that you know, but yeah.. for the fish, I have no clue.

Good luck, keep us updated!!

Ty

[Johnny Reefer]

If I understand your plan correctly...you want to use the HOB filter by actually plugging it in to pump water into your sump and then have a powerhead(s) to pump the water back to the 30. Correct?
If so then I would advise against that. The flow of each of the two (HOB and PH) would have to match exactly. Otherwise something's gonna overfill. Either the sump or the main tank. It's too risky, IMHO. You should have only one electrically powered resource in the loop (IMHO), which is most commonly a pump or PH in the sump since this is usually positioned below the main tank. The feed for the sump should not be powered, but rather, it should be a simple gravity feed by way of a main tank overflow, IMHO.
IMHO, get the tank drilled while you have the chance!

Cheers,

[nanoreefer]

well ive bin thinking a lot about my options on setting up this tank and i would like to set up a 55 but i know i wont have enugh after i get the PHs and more rock ect, the tank i was getting isent in the gratest shape but i may be getting another larger one(not sure on size but it comes with a stand)so i will see how that works out or i may have to buy one(i dought it though )ive also bin thinking about what i will be putting into it, i was thinking of getting a small trigger and seeing how i liked it and if i could keep up with the WCs ect and if i liked it set up a lager open tank for it, but is there any other fish, shrimp you can keep with a small trigger? how long would it take a nigger or undulated to get to full size? sence this will be FOWLR would it be ok to use my tap water(witch comes from a well)for it? and i have a laguna 384gph pond pump could i use it in salt water ?

thanks