55 gal. and 29 gal. questions????

[zippyjr]

Hello everyone,
I was wondering how much water flow is needed in the 55 gal. tank. We have the xp2 filter, and a maxi- jet wavemaker model 900. Is that enough water movement?
For my birthday my sister gave me a 29 gal. tank and we want to make it into a saltwater tank she also got me a penguin 150 bio-wheel filter. My question on that is what wave maker should we get for the 29 gal. We got the live sand and the water and salt today. My other question is what lighting should we get for this size tank? I was going to ask the pet store but the boy that was working wasn't to helpful. Everyone here has been a great help so far and I thank you all very much. Any helpful hints ?
Thank you,
Rose

[lcstorc]

The water flow and lighting both depend on what you want to keep in the tank.
A fish only tank needs less flow and lighting than a reef tank. Anemones and some corals require significantly higher lighting than other corals. Same for some corals that like high flow etc.
Give us an idea what you plan on keeping.

[zippyjr]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

The water flow and lighting both depend on what you want to keep in the tank.
A fish only tank needs less flow and lighting than a reef tank. Anemones and some corals require significantly higher lighting than other corals. Same for some corals that like high flow etc.
Give us an idea what you plan on keeping.

We are going to get live rock , we have live sand also. We are thinking about getting some mushrooms,frogspawn, ricordia, feather duster,anemone(maybe)candy cane coral,button polyp these are what we have seen and liked not sure which to get, need to read about them.
We did get a pulsing xenia, my daughter gave me it for my birthday, which we put in our 55 gal. tank only it looks like it melted. so that was very upsetting because the guy at the pet store said it was very hardy and we shouldnt have any problems with keeping it.
so with the 29 gal. tank I want to make sure we do everything we can in order not to kill anything.
Thank you

[Charlie97L]

Originally Posted by zippyjr

We are going to get live rock , we have live sand also. We are thinking about getting some mushrooms,frogspawn, ricordia, feather duster,anemone(maybe)candy cane coral,button polyp these are what we have seen and liked not sure which to get, need to read about them.
We did get a pulsing xenia, my daughter gave me it for my birthday, which we put in our 55 gal. tank only it looks like it melted. so that was very upsetting because the guy at the pet store said it was very hardy and we shouldnt have any problems with keeping it.
so with the 29 gal. tank I want to make sure we do everything we can in order not to kill anything.
Thank you

ok, first off, xenia isn't hardy. yes, it grows fast in the right conditions, but definitely NOT hardy. you have to take everything a LFS guy (unless you stumble on a really good one) says with a grain of salt. if they see you repeatedly eyeing some choice coral, 99% of them will tell you what it takes to get you to buy it. it's just how the "business" works. or you could have had someone who didn't understand that "fast growing" doesn't equate to "tough".

How new is your tank? What are you parameters? That will help us greatly in guiding you. if you just have saltwater in there, and no live rock, nothing will live... maybe a fish, but you'd be hard pressed for that, if the nitrogen cycle hasn't happened yet. without live rock, it probably hasnt... i don't think you can cycle a 55 with just live sand.

On a separate note, PLEASE don't get an anemone until your tank is at least a year old and stable. the lighting requirements vary, but they are extremely sensitive creatures.

the most important things to remember

1) go slow! patience is key. i've had my tank up for 8 months and have been adding at no more than 1 or two items per week, and recently, with bigger/multiple items, i've waited longer after introducing them for the tank to settle.

2) discover marinedepot.com , premiumaquatics.com , and drsfosterandsmith.com for your equipment needs. Unless a store is 100% marine, most of the equipment they have is geared towards freshwater tanks. ditch the biowheel and/or any canister filters. get a protein skimmer (hang on back if you don't have a sump, CPR's are great) and a few more maxijets. you'll need more flow, definitely, in a 55, than 1 900.

3) take measurements every few days for the first few weeks the tank is up. that will allow you to stay on top of any issues.

4) i'm sure you're aware, but if you put new live rock in a new tank, it will likely cycle. how cured the live rock is will determine how hard the cycle will be, but don't put anything in, if you can avoid it until after the cycle, or you risk killing it. a normal cycle with uncured rock takes approx 4-6 weeks.

keep us posted!

[lcstorc]

I agree with Charlie above. The xenia can be very tricky but can also come back from almost nothing so it may not be dead. Keep an eye on the rock and you may see it come back to life. Mine did anyway. It was melted to just a tiny blob on the rock and then one day poof one appeared, followed by another etc. This was all from moving the rock from one tank to another for about 2 hrs and the tanks are right next to each other and even share the same water. I believe it was the flow that it didn't like, but it is back in the original spot and doing well.
Most of the corals you mentioned are relatively low light corals, but most anemones require high lighting. As Charlie mentioned, they are also best in an established aquarium so I would hold off on that for now. If you plan on adding one eventually, go ahead and get the lights now to save the extra expense and hastle of an upgrade later.