New 28 Gallon Bowfront Questions

Hello,

I recently bought a 28 gallon marineland bowfront tank that i was running as a freshwater tank. Recently i drained the tank because i want to run a saltwater setup. I have been reading for about 3 weeks, books, online, and i just recently joined 3reef which i have gathered alot of information from, but i still have a few questions

1. I have an Aquaclear 70 HOB filter that i cleaned out and bought new filter media for. I am wondering if all the filter media should be used for a saltwater setup. I have the filter foam, the carbon and the white "bio" pellets or whatever they are called. I will also be using a HOB protein skimmer which i havent bought yet as i am still researching a good one to buy.

2. I am wondering in which order to basically put it all together. Rock First, then sand, then water?

3. As soon as everything is added to the tank, i am aware it will be cloudy from the sand being stirred up. During this time, should i be running the AC 70 filter and the skimmer? Or should i wait to turn on any form of mechanical filtration until the sand settles.

Any answers are helpful! Sorry to be long winded/New!

 

You won't need the bio media in the HOB filter. All biological filtration will be done by your live rock. The skimmer isnt needed during the cycle and is actually recommended that you don't run it during the cycle. Definitely put the rock in first and set it on the bottom of the tank and then add your sand, you don't want to build a rock formation on top of the sand to later have the sand shift out from under it and it fall over.

Add rock, then sand and run your aquaclear to help clear the water up. The pad will clog alot during the settling of the sand but you can just keep rinsing it until the sand settles.

 

Great, thanks for the quick response. This means i could actually add sand and water as soon as my rock ships and just run my filter and hold off on buying a skimmer for maybe a month or so.

 

Yeah you can do that. With a 28g tank, you could actually avoid the skimmer all together but, it would mean much more work in constant water checks and changes to control the water levels. I wouldn't recommend this though.

 

would you reccomend even worrying about a sump for this size tank? i've been looking into a HOB overflow box and how the piping and pumps all work but it's all really confusing.

 

A sump is always a good idea, and would give you more water volume to help with parameter swings. However it isn't a necessity, you can do without. I agree that a skimmer isn't an absolute must, but it will help. You don't need it right away either, I would recommend saving up and buying a good one, most of us have made the mistake of skimping there and have had to buy a better one soon after.

 

+1 to insanepain. all you'll really need as far as filtration may go would be good amount of LR and good water flow and a skimmer, (hydor slim skim!) I have a 29g Biocube, and its all about water quality

 

my local fish store is actually trying to push a coralife hang on the back skimmer im not sure what model. i was going to go in this week to get some RO water but my rocks from Bulk Reef Supply havn't got here yet. I went with 20lbs of "reef saver" dry rock and i was planning on seeding it with some live from the store. Prices for fiji live rock are 10$ a pound around me so theres no way i could afford to fill the tank with all live rock. Im not worried about how much time it will take to cycle, the longer the better.

 

stay clear from that skimmer