planted tank guy that wants to start a reef

[Luukosian]

Hello,

I've had several successful planted tanks for years and 1 brackish tank(T. fluviatilis , and Vespicula depressifrons) but have yet to wander into the world of the reef tank. I recently got a 55gal glass tank and stand from a local auction(real cheap) and for some reason I got it into my head that i haven't spent enough money and want to start a reef tank lol.
Not sure where to start since first of all im sure the tank doesn't have sufficient lighting(2X24" flourescents i think) and I dont have a filter. I would like to have a sump/overflow because that sounds like the route to go but I dont want to spend a ton of cash because I know I'm going to have to buy live rock and livestock as well. What is a cheap place to get a pump(thinking 20 gal sump)and are there any bargain protein skimmers out there that are worth it? I know I'm asking a lot of questions and I've spent a lot of time reading about this reef stuff over the years but...just want to make sure I'm doing everything right before I spend all the money.

ps. I have co2 tanks that I use for my planted tanks...is it worth the money to have a calcium reactor for a begginner tank?

If anyone spends the time to read/answer this thanks!

[Varga]

that was me like 7 months ago

converted and never looked back. you dont need calcium reactor right away but keep the co2 tank.

you can have live rock and maybe some soft corals with your existing lighting.

look on craigslist for used ones I just got an overflow box for $30 and a drilled 55g for $20

when I started I dropped a ton of cash on equopment only to find the same stuff used and much cheaper

in a 55g I would mix 50 punds of dead base rock wich is cheap, with 30 punds of LR

[vdituri]

Good advice there, I tell you what.

[Luukosian]

Did'nt expect such a quick response thanks! Im not planning on converting as much as adding a reef tank(dont tell my girlfriend lol). Im pretty resourcefull when it comes to finding cheap equipment online but my lfs is pretty bad with saltwater, they've told me some things I knew were obviously wrong(you can tell by looking at their display tank). So if i put the live rock with the dead rock the live will populate the dead eventually right? Another big concern i had was that they charge like 1$ a gallon for RO water.....my tap has like 10ppm nitrates i probably cant use that right? should i buy a unit?

[vdituri]

The RO unit pays off in the long run definitely.

checkout your local home improvement store. Sometimes they are alot cheaper than the LFS for RO units.

[Varga]

I had a 100 gallon planted tank, added a 20 gallon reef tank, within a month all the plants went into the 20 gallon and the 100 is now the reef tank

I never as the LFS anything. I learned pretty much everything I know from this forum

I would buy a ro unit for sure. I got mine from Ebay, very happy with it

[Luukosian]

Yeah, my lfs trys to gouge people on just about everything since the other one in town went out of business so most of the stuff I buy is online. They sell brackish fish as freshwater(still some knight gobys suffering there that I dont have room for) and basically just try to get you out the door spending your money. But I've found some 108 watt power compacts on ebay that I was thinking about getting, but I dont want algae if i have low light corals will that do more harm than good? Also ( hope you guys have some extra time on your hands lol) what kind of supplements do I need for a low light set up

[Luukosian]

oh yeah, and I'm from iowa (pretty much right between the atlantic and pacific) so people around here don't really know too much about this stuff. Would post some pics of my planted tanks but they never look that good with the cheap camera I have, always reflects the glass and what not