Converting Fluval Roma 240L into Marine

Spacemonkey · Feb 29, 2012

:squigglemouth:
Hey guys, Im new to the forum, i've been on other forums that focus more towards tropical Tanks and i have had tropical fish tanks for the last 7 years,
I've seen marine but never concentrated on them really, But recently i've seen a lot more in the marine environment that i love,

To be completely honest Tropical fish are Nothing compared to marine.

Sooo , I walked into my LFS recently and am soo amazed by the variety and instantly decided i want nothing less than a marine reef aquarium,

Iv'e been on other forums and asked for advice but literally had no replies over the last 4 days, so as a resort i've been in and out of my LFS about 7 times.
I know a fair bit now and am starting to gather equipment.

My Hagen Fluval Roma 240L aqaurium has the holes in the bottom for an external filter so will be easy to add a sump, so i'm going to buy a 60-80L aquarium for the sump. I will use perspex to divide how i desire and will have my protein skimmer etc in the sump. I've had a look inside my lighting unit and i can easily convert it into a T5 unit, I will also be buying two of the GLO 2x54W T5 HO units so i will have 6 bulbs in total which should be more than enough, only thing is how many of what bulbs, im thinking two of the actinic blue bulbs and the rest im not sure.

Any idea how much LPH flow rate i'll need for circulation in the tank? 2x3000 or more?
I plan on having a Deep Sea Bed and all the little critters that come with, i will be having live rock and corals too, the fish i have an idea of but will decide fully in the future.

What kind of sump output pump should i get? Any idea how much Flow rate it should be? and, what equipment will i Need for sure? Is a clacium reactor and phosphate reactor needed? or can they be added after a while? I've read about the Calcium reactor add-on chamber which removes Co2 Is that imperative aswell?

I am very new to marine and want to get it right for sure, i will certainly be taking my time with this.

Thanks All,

Dan

Spacemonkey · Mar 1, 2012

Anyone Got any input?

Thanks

Spacemonkey · Mar 2, 2012

Or perhaps I've joined the wrong forum?

Thanks anyway

cdness · Mar 2, 2012

Hi Dan,

You have lots of questions and I am not 100% familiar with the G -> L conversion, but I can try to help...

For flow people range from 10 times to 40 or 50 times turnover. To give you a better number for flow we'd need to know what kind of reef are you going to have. Will it be a softie tank, lps tanks, SPS tank, or a mixture of all of them? If it is more toward softies running a total of 2400 lph should be enough. if it is a mixed reef I would look closer to the 20 or 30 times turnover which would fall between 4800 and 7200 lph. If you are going all SPS you can go higher but it may not be needed.

Reactors and skimmers and UV filters OH MY!... This is the overwhelming part of the hobby. There are many options for you and they can all be added at any time. You do need to plan the size of your sump to fit the skimmer if you are doing an internal skimmer though. Also for just starting out, water changes and the occasional dosing of calcium and alkalinity is all you need. Calcium reactors are more for when you have an established reef or lots of calcium demand.

The best thing for you to buy is an RODI unit for filtering out your tap water. This will pay for itself many times over by avoiding the headaches associated with tap water.

Also remember that nothing good comes fast in this hobby... Go slow and research all decisions.

By the way, welcome to reef2reef!

Netta Fish · Mar 2, 2012

When you build your sump be sure your baffles are glass on glass or you will have problems in the future. A ca reactor is only useful in a coral aquarium even then that it something you wait to get when the tank is settled and stable. A protein skimmer would be a better buy than the reactor that is a must.

Spacemonkey · Mar 7, 2012

Ok thanks guys, Thank you very much, I'll be keeping a mixture of corals most likely, maybe not sps but definitely lps and softies.
Ill go for to 30-40 times over, im sure that'll be enough, if not i can always add more, i'll be going with the deep sand bed and loads of live rock and it will be a work in progress. I will definitely be getting a protein skimmer and RODI unit, And am not sure what one the store has ordered for me, They Let me know which one would be best for my tank size and it's been ordered so ill check that, Im looking for a 60-90L Sump so will buy a plain aquarium and build my own, Only thing is, when you say baffles must be glass on glass i guess you mean the internal barriers i use must be glass and not perspex etc? can i ask why? i thought perspex would be easier, But if its not safe or time/cost efficient ill go with glass.

Thanks aqain guys, I'll keep you all updated.

P.s I've already bought T5 Endcaps and ballast and wired them into my existing Fluval Lighting unit, Works perfect, but had to use juwel marine/blue bulbs as the normal 54w dont fit, Luckily the juwel ones did, And theyre bright. Will also be buying 2 of the 2x54w glo ballast units and they will be at LFS very soon.

Starting to get somewhere.

Spacemonkey · Mar 12, 2012

Ok Update, Ive bought both lighting ballasts and am chosing the bulbs, i've already got a juwel actinic blue and the juwel marine bulb as they fit in my lighting unit, however i will have to get the other 4 the same as the 115 GLO bulbs wont fit as they're too long, so, I was thinking of 2 marine, one more blue and one colour bulb, Im not gunna buy the bulbs for a good while though, gunna get the sump and skimmer ready first.