Aqueon 36 Gallon Bow Aquarium

[menno]

Hi All -
Been doing lots of reading on here - wish I had space for a large tank, maybe later

So I was looking at used tanks in the 25-50 gallon size, but I only have 36" of space tops. I came across http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...n=Product+Type for $99, which is not actually much more that used tanks. Thoughts?

Trying to keep the initial cost a bit low - getting my feet wet first - I'm planning to get some live rock and a power head, and go through the cycle. Then hopefully add a fish or two.

So I guess my first few questions will be - what lights? any feedback on the tank? and any used stuff that I should be looking at?

Planning to buy everything used. Anything I should not be used?

Thanks!!

[TheMikey]

If you're only looking for a fowlr setup, you can put any kind of lights you want on your tank as your fish won't care much about the intensity.

Other than lights, you'll want powerheads (vortech mp10/20, though if you're trying to keep costs low Koralia 2s are your better bet), a skimmer (buy based on the size of your tank and bioload) a good heater (probably easiest to buy at the store), fish food, and salt.

I'd also recommend a refractometer.

[menno]

Thank you. So should I go based on 5 watts per gallon for lighting? Assuming eventually I will have some coral... A 36 gallon would be 180 watts.

Any example of a decent light I should be looking at?

[TheMikey]

The watts per gallon rule is an antiquated one at best and really doesn't apply any more (I think there's LED systems that power 100g + tanks with as little as 120 watts...). Your best idea is to find out what you want to keep now as it's much easier/cheaper to buy one set of lights at the start that will do whatever it is you want.

At 21" high, your best bet for penetration is going to be with MH or LED I think. Though you could be successful with LPS and SPS with a T5HO as well (SPS would just have to be higher up). A 150 or 250 MH might be your best bet but a 4 x 24W T5HO might also be a good option.

If you plan to do corals, I'd say to buy a decent light right off the bat. Even if you don't add them for a while, it's just a little more money you can try to save.