New Tank Question

[Pez]

I am considering buying a nano reef aquarium 24 gal. I have a 2o gal. standard tank would it be fine to convert this into a reef aquarium I would use a 100 watt heater hot magnum canister filter. I would buy upgraded lighting and fission nano skimmer hydor koralia pump. The nano I am lookin at is 209.00 in the Foster Smith catalog . Is there an advantage to the nano set up or would my route be fine. This would be my first attempt at this so that should be considered. Thanks Pez

[Fenix]

Both routes would be fine. If you upgrade your current lighting i m sure it will be better than the 24 gallon.

[Rue]

You can certainly use your 20g and set it up...

But it might be cheaper just to buy the nano...

I'd price it out...

Keep in mind too, you can do more fiddling about...if you're the fiddling type...if the components are all separate...

[Pez]

Thanks for the help what would the min. lighting requirement I would go with the moderate light corals I see this would be the biggest expense the upgraded lighting I am alittle nervous about committing to a Nano because if I am unable to succeed at this I am stuck with a nano where as if I just convert I can go back to my community tank. I have been doing alot of reading on this and really want to give it a go.

[Rue]

Eesh...I never remember light intensity...T5s are your best bet though...you would just have to buy the right size for your existing tank...

[coachfraley]

What is the width of the tank?

[Pez]

The tank is a standard 24 by 12 20 gallon. I was reading the post of the person who was turining a 10 gallon into a reef that post gave me alot of info

[cocoa_pleco]

with the 20g, if you were to get around 200w of lighting (probably could only fit that much on the tank by MH) you could keep any coral, but for the most i would get 120w

i would recomend these

http://cgi.ebay.com/VHO-24-380W-Metal-Halide-Reef-light-Aquarium-Lighting_W0QQitemZ160201731757QQihZ006QQcategoryZ4 6314QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or these (i have the 48" 260w model of this one)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110218423189&ssPageName=MERC_VI_RCRX_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT&refitem=160201731757&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=active_view_item&usedrule1=CrossSell_LogicX&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget

[Tooch]

Thanks for the help what would the min. lighting requirement I would go with the moderate light corals I see this would be the biggest expense the upgraded lighting I am alittle nervous about committing to a Nano because if I am unable to succeed at this I am stuck with a nano where as if I just convert I can go back to my community tank. I have been doing alot of reading on this and really want to give it a go.


Bear in mind that if a reef doesn't work out to your liking, you can always turn the nano into a community as well. My lfs has 2 nano's set up at the entrance, one a reef and one a community

[coachfraley]

Civic is right, the nano cubes work well as FW tanks, if you decided to switch back. I used my 12g for FW, then converted it to SW.

BTW, I doubt you will switch out of SW, it is WAY too much fun!