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I have currently got a 70g troical tank with 2 heaters, canister filter, air pumps, two lights and i need some help on setting up a marine tank. What other equipment would i need eg. skimmer, lighting?, new filter, any help would be appriecated

You really don't need the air pumps. You will need two powerheads to move the water. A HOB filter is an option. As for the lighting, that will depend on teh tank you wish to keep. A FO (Fish Only) FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) or reef. FO needs only basic marine lighting, around 1watt per gal. A FOWLR will need more light, 1.5 to 3watts per gal. A reef will need more then 3watts per gal. Around 5watts or so.



Dan

thanks for the reply, a couple of quick questions, can i still use my canister filter as my main filter and can i just buy the globes with high watts for reefs to fit in my current double lighting system

If you want to use a canister filter, I guess you can use it. But I really see no reason to have it.

As fo ryour lights, I really don't know what you have. I will assume you have standard flor. lights? If so, you can get standard marine lights and use them in your fixtures. You will get 10watts per foot of bulb.



Dan

if i dont use my cannister filter, what do i use to filter the tank then

You can do it several ways:

Use live rock as your basic filter with HOB or powerheads for water movement.

Use a wet/dry filter system or sump/refugium.

Do a combination of both.

Cost is what will be the deciding factor. How much do you want to spend on this? Live rock will run you a lot more than your basic wet/dry system, but they do make the tank look more natural than your FO tank setups.

Seeing how you already have the canister filter, there is no problem in using it. Mainly live rock will provide your biological filteration. A simple HOB filter will scrub your water an dalso give you the chemical filteration if you need charchol.



Dan

is a sump needed, if so how do you make your on sump or do you buy them

You can buy them, or make them, it's up to you. There are several plans on the internet for them, I just don't have any site avalible to me at this time. You don't need one, but it is nice because it adds more water to the system making the system more stable.



Dan

There are several reasons that a lot of people recommend sumps/refugiums.

Added filtration with the additional live rock/sand, which means you can have a slightly increased bio-load.

Good place to grow macro algae.

Good place to place your skimmer.

Good place to add your trace elements.

Good place to grow live foods, such as copepods.

Can be made cheaply with a rubber maid tub, but does add to the overall expenses, due to additional lighting, live rock, live sand, etc....

I personally feel that the costs are far outweighed by the benefits for any tank 50 gallons or larger.

John

hey thanks for ya reply do you no any good sites where i can get plans for a diy sump for a 75g tank im just in the process of deciding whether to got saltwater or not and learning all about saltwater in general

I *think* that cichlidcentral.com has a lot of DIY articles, you may want to see if they have one for sumps.

I'd be interested in finding one too, as I have a similar size set up right now GL...I hope you're dragged over to "the Dark side"

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

You can try taking a look here.
http://www.kingvinnie.com/aquaria/diy/links_page.asp?cat=41

Dan

You can also do a Google Search for "DIY Sump" or "DIY Refugium". A lot of different sites will come up like sea.org, that have a lot of DIY information, but you have to register with those sites. You will also get a lot of information from sites like about.com.

John