My Marine tank.....help please.

[fishfingers]

Hi Guys.

I had my new tank set up for fresh water fish untill i fell in love with Marine fish.

I am prepared to throw the $2000 i spent setting up the decorations in the tank to get what i really want. I was told id be a fool starting with a salt water tank and that scared me. I am prepared to spend as long as it takes to get it right and learn as much as i can from you guys.

PLEASE HELP ME! I live in Sydney Australia.

TANK: 1200mm by 1200mm by 800mm high.
Glass is 12mm thick sides and bottom is 15mm thick.


Tank has a wier in one corner. with a 40mm inlet for water going down to spinning arm in bottom tank with bio balls and 25mm pipe for water pumped into tank.

Bio ball tank is 750mm by 750mm by 400mm high.


Pump i have is a Davey pump and works at 7000lph.

Air pump i have is Hi-tech aquarium air pump 7500

Have 4 lights over top of tank. 36w at 1200mm long Sylvania Grolux lights.

2 heater.......Tetratec 300w HT 300.


Will the coral be ok and rock???????

How much live rock would i need to get for this tank?????

A skimmer????????? external or internal. Euroreef??? What size?

If i have missed anything please let me know guys.

I dont care how long it takes or how much $$$ i spend. I want to get it right.

Thanks heaps for any help.

I am not too good with metrics but I am guessing 48 x 48 x 31 at about 300 gallons (1200 ltrs or so)...with that in mind if that indeed is the case

#1 Yes. Live rock and corals will be just fine I think. Not sure I really caught the filtration system as I have never seen anything like that here in America. I think it will be adequate though.

#2 I would suggest 300-350 maybe a tad more. Prehaps a little less for Fish only.

#3 Yes, definitely get a skimmer! Euroreef rated at 300 gallons or metriuc equivelent.

Might wanna think about a Calcium Reactor to boost calcium levels in the tank if SPS or Clams will be in the mix in any decent numbers or sizes. For this tank, if I got the demensions converted to inches correctly and SPS corals and Clams are part of the game plan, you will want 4 x 400 watt metal halides and 4 VHO tubes to back them up. A refugium in my opinion is always a good thing to have on a coral tank. Just an idea

[MikeS]

Your lights are too weak for anything but very low light corals....if you have the money to spend, an upgrade in lights would be a great place to start. Lights will depend on what type of corals you wish to keep.

We have a good article section here....take some time to browse through that...

The key to this hobby is lots of research and paitence.... :D

Mike