27 gallon reef tank

Agree. Those are not the measurements of a 27g tank.

 

Well that is a big embarrassment!! This whole time i thought it was 27 gallons

 

+1

That is a 10 gallon... You may want to consider going a little bigger. I would say a 20 gallon at least. The reason is that smaller tanks are much harder to keep stable. Even just having water evaporation from a tank that small can quickly send your salinity to dangerous levels.

Just my $.02 if you are only just getting started.

 

I am going to have to do that thankyou! Guess it will be a freshwater tank

 

No worries... A couple of quick questions:

• Do you have limited space that you want to go with those dimensions or could you go bigger?
• Do you have a budget in mind for the tank?

 

I do have limited space so nothing bigger than 27 to 30 gallons

I dont have a budget in mind but i dont want to go broke either

 

Ok, that is good news! The good thing is that you are doing research before starting! That is the first step to having a successful tank. So many people just start one up and then learn that they made a bunch of mistakes.

I personally would recommend going with a 29 gallon in that case. I really like the square layout of my aquapod, but the standard 29 is a nice choice too. It is really all based on your preference and you will know which you like better.

Are you planning to have fish only (FO), Fish only with live rock (FOWLR) or a reef tank with corals? This will help in determining what you will need in addition to the tank.

 

I would like to have a reef tank with coral. I love the way coral looks. As far as fish i just want small fish due to the size of the tank. I dont want anemones

 

Here is a pretty good article about what you will probably need:

Items needed for a Reef aquarium

I would recommend at least the following:

• Tank
• Lighting
• Live Rock
• Substrate
• Filter
• Heater
• Thermometer
• Water Test Kits
• Hydrometer or Refractometer
• Bucket(s)
• Salt
• Powerhead

Optional:

• Skimmer- water changes can accomplish the same effect
• Refugium
• RO/DI System- Highly Recommended as it will pay for itself over time

This is just a quick list and I suggest you read up on each to determine what you will want to get within each category. For example, corals each have there own requirements for lighting/ water movement. You will need to get equipment that will support the types of coral you want to get.

If you have any general questions about the list, feel free to ask.

 

Either way, 10 or 27 you should still be able to have saltwater. I own a 29g which I only keep 2 fish and plan to only add one more, the rest are things like snails, conchs, crab, shrimp, and several diff types of beginner corals, ie. leather corals such as Kenya tree, devils hand, also green star polyps, yellow polyps, hammer coral, and a stunner chalice. So far everything is doing wonderful -- I do not have a skimmer, but I do weekly water changes and keep my salinity between 1.022 and 1.024. the tank is probably 9months old and I am seeing some steady growth.

Just keep in mind the biggest four things in my opinion:
1) Good water flow, you do not want "dead zones" where detritus may collect
2) Quality lighting - make sure you have lights that provide high Par ratings (Photosynthtic Active Radiation) which will allow most of your lifeforms to grow. Almost 99% of what most captive grown corals are dependent on photosynthetic bacteria that live within
3) Must have good biological filtration, 2-3" of live-sand and 1-2lb of live rock per gallon of water.
4) Keep up with your water changes, and know your LFS(local fish store) water! With having such a small saltwater aquarium, most protein skimmers (which are used to filter out protein particles) are junk. I do not run a protein skimmer, I keep up with 5-10% weekly water changes or sometimes twice a month, and I have had very high success with this

If you can meet those 4 requirements I don't see why anyone can not have their own part of the ocean to call their own!

just do not over stock with fish .. fish = lots of poop which means a lot of ammonia, ammonia is deadly even to humans

Hope you find this useful and look forward to hearing about any further updates!! Keep us posted and pictures definitely make any forum thread an extra bonus for us readers!!!