36g Bowfront Upgrade

[mcgdz86]

Had an old 36g bowfront that I am converting from freshwater to saltwater. This will be make second reef tank. I'm hoping to keep maintainence/care easier so I will be doing mostly fish, with a few softies, and maybe a Nem for the clowns.

My first tank I used live rock and ended up just having one giant central island

This tank I decided to use dry rock... in hopes I could take my time a little more and create a cool aquascape. Well I rushed a little bit and wanted to refrain from using glue or epoxy so this is what I ended up with lol. The flat edges look a little unnatural but will provide stable edges for corals and hopefully will end up covered up a bit.

I got everything set up last night and will be waiting a bit for it to cycle. In the 36g tank I added 40lbs of live sand, 40lbs rock, leaving about 33g of salt water (including filter and skimmer). I repurposed my Aquatop 300 canister filter and added rock rubble, chemi pure elite, and purigen into its chambers. I also went for an oversized skimmer, an Octo classic 1000 hob. Besides the flow from the filter, which is not much, I'm adding a Jebao PP4 for tank flow and also a Hydor 425 for surface agitation. No sump or fuge. Still waiting on my lights and I'll post tank pics once I get them, but I ordered the Current Orbit Marine LEDs. Should definitely be enough for softies... a Nem might be questionable but we will see.


I am looking for advice on bioload... no matter what I'll take it slow and keep an eye on my levels, but I'm trying to come up with a general plan of what fish I want. Keep in mind I'll be running mostly just fish and softies so the water can be a little dirty, and I also oversized my skimmer. Here is a general plan, although I already know I'm gonna have to cut back a few fish lol.

Livestock:
Clown
Clown
Firefish
Kamohara Blenny
Sunrise dottyback
Six line
Lantern bass
Starry blenny
Chalk bass
Radial filefish
Bluespot jawfish
Dragonface pipefish

Tuxedo urchin
Sand sifting star
Scarlet skunk cleaner

7 hermits
7 margarita
7 bumble bee snail
7 nasarrius
3 Turbo

Any thoughts on any of the livestock? Also enough of a cleaner crew? Think this might be feasible? I'm guessing I need to get rid of about 4 fish lol. Again I'll be adding aquascape pictures once I get my lights in. Thanks!

 

[Johniejumbo]

I have the same size tank with the current orbit marine lights. Did you get the pro version of the lights or just the regular? I have the regular and i love it but it isn't enough for the high light needs of most nems. That is a lot to put in the tank as far as livestock goes. But as you said. Take it slow and you will find the limit. Happy reefing!

 

[mcgdz86]

I have the same size tank with the current orbit marine lights. Did you get the pro version of the lights or just the regular? I have the regular and i love it but it isn't enough for the high light needs of most nems. That is a lot to put in the tank as far as livestock goes. But as you said. Take it slow and you will find the limit. Happy reefing!

Glad to hear you like the lights... they are coming in the mail tomorrow but I wasn't really sure what to expect. I did not get the pro version, didn't want to get to crazy with lights on this tank. My plan was to put the light directly on the lid cover so it's basically on top of the water and maybe the par would be enough to support a nem... but yeah I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't.

 

[mcgdz86]

I have the same size tank with the current orbit marine lights. Did you get the pro version of the lights or just the regular? I have the regular and i love it but it isn't enough for the high light needs of most nems. That is a lot to put in the tank as far as livestock goes. But as you said. Take it slow and you will find the limit. Happy reefing!

Also which size lights did you get? I went with the 36-48" at 36 watts. Hoping it fits

 

[Johniejumbo]

I went with the smaller 24-30. My tank is only 30 inches wide. I would have liked to get a better light but I work with very little funds lol.

 

[Johniejumbo]

Glad to hear you like the lights... they are coming in the mail tomorrow but I wasn't really sure what to expect. I did not get the pro version, didn't want to get to crazy with lights on this tank. My plan was to put the light directly on the lid cover so it's basically on top of the water and maybe the par would be enough to support a nem... but yeah I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't.

It might. I know everyone said this light would only keep low light corals but I have good success with "moderate" light corals like star polyps, cespitularia, and plate corals. So I suppose we never know til we try!

 

[mcgdz86]

I went with the smaller 24-30. My tank is only 30 inches wide. I would have liked to get a better light but I work with very little funds lol.

My tank is probably the same size but I went with the 36 thinking that maybe part of that measurement was for the housing and not the actual lights. I'll find out tomorrow if it will fit or not. Maybe I'll just need to get another Kessil... that's what I have on my biocube but I didn't want to spend another $400 on lights (after mount and controller)

 

[mcgdz86]

Alright tank is still cycling and no readings yet (a little longer than I would like) and I've gotten most of my equipment hooked up. The only thing I'm waiting on right now is my ato.

The light I got was a little too long but it sits well on the lid and I'm still getting more watts in the tank than I would have with the shorter fixture.

I had to go with a lower water level to accommodate the skimmer. I really do love this skimmer but is has been a little difficult to set up. I'm having issues with micro bubbles right now but am hoping they will calm down with time.

The digital thermometer isn't permanent just using it to dial in my heater lol

 

[jsker]

good start

 

[mcgdz86]

Tank is cycled! I got to add the beginning of my clean up crew on Saturday.

I started off with 7 margaritas, 3 nassarius, 2 turbos, 5 blue hermits and 5 red hermits. I will add a few more nassarius and a handful of bumblebee snails at a later date (and hermits as they die/eat each other lol). Also a few stars and an urchin once the tank is more stable.

The tank has a good amount of diatom algae to feed the crew for now.

I'm guessing within a few days they will have mowed through this stuff and I'll go ahead and add my first fish

 

[Johniejumbo]

Yep. May have to feed them for now. In the inverts section of this forum lionfish lair has a great write up of what each crab and snail likes to eat.

 

[mcgdz86]

CUC sure did clear that algae fast! Still some on the glass... I'll need to look for a scrubber suited for curved glass.

I pretty much just transferred everything from my QT (well what started as a QT and turned into 2 clowns and a couple softies lol) into this tank. I really never should have tried to put corals into that tank but hopefully they will recover over the next few months.

Toxic Green Hammer

Neon Green Nepthea

May be too late for them to recover but we shall see. Also added 2 clownfish from the QT... they are looking great!

Meet Frankie and Speedy (my girlfriend insists on picking out names for everything lol)

Eventually I'm hoping I can get some corals they will host in. May not be able to do a Nem but maybe they would be happy in a toadstool or a different softie we will see. I had tried to put a Sebae into the QT (horrible idea I know) and they pretty much stayed away from it

 

[Johniejumbo]

Those clowns probably won't be too picky about a host. Mine love this cespitularia I got about a year ago.

 

[Diwrigh]

How is the tank looking now? I'm just about to start with the exact same tank and a very very similar setup/stock. Thinking:

2 clowns
2 firefish
1 Blenny

My main concern is how I take the basic bare 36g bowfront and make it reef ready? You said you dont have a sump, did you have to drill the tank or put an overflow in? I'm thinking I can just put a Tidal 55 filter, and a prot scimmer on each side of the top. Would that give me acceptable filtration?

Thoughts?