Reef Vault

I have a 45 gallon aquarium meant for marine fish. Where to start on making it a reef tank?

Connor K asked:

Hi there. I recently came by the biggest steal of my life (so far).

PLEASE read ALL of this for best info

For FREE, from my aunt, I have acquired a 45 gallon marine acrylic tank, with teak stand, a FluVal 304 canister filter with all necessities, a fully functional undergravel filter with 2 (very) strong power heads, an Aquaclear 50 gallon hang on filter, and a heater that works perfectly with its tank size. It even comes with a plastic hood (more details in a bit) and multiple air pumps, tubes, and air stones.

This acrylic tanks top, liek most acrylics have the folded in top, with a large slit on the back for filtartion mechanisms, a hole for wiring powerheads/heater, and two large, divided openings in the middle. On these two holes a plastic hood with a single 20w (lame..) freash water flourescent light is mounted.

My question is this. This tank was meant to be used for a marine tank. With the tools already at hand, what other equipment/test kits do I need to get this started and an estimate in price?

(btw i have a gravitometer already)

outside of obvious live rock/sand etc. what are the basic things I should buy/replace. I would like to find out if there is a stronger marine aqua light for this oddly shaped tank. (rounded front corners)

Its dimensions are:

exactly 3ft or 36in in length

15in deep

and 16in tall

ANY information on this would be an amazing help. I will pay attention to details in the answers and will be sure to grand a best answer!

THANK YOU!!

Done two years of marine aquarium research.

Dont live in a hot place- fog city San Francisco. 70 degress is a HEAT WAVE
PROTEIN SKIMMER NECESSARY FOR THIS SIZE?

how to set up a self sustaining aquarium?

InsaneOrCroak asked:

i would like to do one freshwater and one marine.

FOR THE MARINE:
i had a pretty rugged fish i got from a tidepool a while back that would eat live brine shrimp. i was thinking i could start a population of brine in my tank, then introduce the fish, and try to balance the amount it eats with the amount the brine reproduces. anyone ever try something like this? of course, the brine would have to eat something to keep going – microalgae, i read somewhere works well. can i just get some algae from the beach? how do you grow microalgae? also like to get a small shark… what’s the smallest tank size you need for that (pretty big?) ?

FRESHWATER:
No ideas of my own here…anyone ever set up a freshwater self sustaining aquarium before? Which fish should I get?

All ideas welcome. Thanks

what can i do to become a marine biologists ?

grassfairy19 asked:

I would like to contact the shed aquarium biologist by email.
if there are anything dealing with science i would be interested.

new saltwater aquarium please help?

Joseph C asked:

Im getting a free 20 gallon aquarium and since i have done very well with freshwater and have basically kept all fish including discus im ready to move on to saltwater. I think starting with a small tank would be a good test kit for me. Ive purchased a book which shows me lots of equipment but i would like to know what equipment is absolutely necessary to have a reef aquarium in a 20 gallon. I dont want equipment that i don’t really have to buy because anemones and fish are very expensive. Any answer would be great.