new marine set up

[linzi]

hello
i was wondering if anyone could give me advice.
we are thinking of converting our tropical freshwater tank to a reef
tank, with coral, inverts and some fish.
we have a 350l tank (juwel trigon 350)it has a internal filter which
pumps 1000l/hour (aparently)which includes a heater, and 4 flourescent
bulbs built into the hood (2x 36" and 2x 15")
Our thoughts were to have about 30kg of live rock, a skimmer (probably
the Deltec mcE 600 hang on)4-6" of sand (would live sand be necesary?
and do we need this depth of sand?) 2 or 3 powerheads (each with an
output of 1000l/h)and replace the tubes with 3 marine white tubes and
1 blue maine tube. We would also replace the filter media with
efusubstrat.
does this sound ok or do we need to consider anything else.
we would, of course, be buying a reverse osmosis unit, salt,
hydrometer, testing kits etc.
any infomation would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
linzi

[Billy]

"linzi" > wrote in message
om...
| any infomation would be greatly appreciated.
| thanks
| linzi

Welcome to the obsession.<g>

Good choices on much of what you posted. The RO unit is an excellent
move. I'm not familiar with the filter, but keep in mind that
biological filtration in a reef tank is different than in a
freshwater tank. In other words, lose the media. In a *reef* tank
(not so much in a fish-only), even low nitrate is a serious enemy,
unlike in fw, where nitrates can get pretty high and cause no harm,
and the filter media will be a nitrate factory. Your live rock is
your filter. With the amount of LR you intend to get, you likely
won't need any other filtration, just the powerheads for circulation.
I'm a major advocate for sumps and refugiums, if only to increase the
overall water volume and have a place to grow macroalgae to assist in
denitrification.
Your lighting will need some serious upgrading, to Power
Compact(PC) Very High Output Fluorescent (VHO) or even Metal
Halide(MH) or a combination. Many inverts and virtually all corals
require lighting beyond what Normal Output flourescent can provide.
PC is the most cost effective route, but limits you from some types
of corals.
The deep sand bed (DSB) is not "necessary* though it's debatable.
Many swear by them, others rebuke the theory. Do your own research. I
have 2 salt tanks, one with sand, and it's 2 inches at most.

Subscribe to rec.aquaria.marine.reefs as this group is pretty much
unused.
Go to www.reefcentral.com , sign up and start reading.

hope this helps and keep posting.

Billy


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