New to salt - from Ames

Hey all, the joining of this forum has been long overdue. I've been involved in the local freshwater clubs for years but am finally having the urge to dive into salt. I currently have 9 freshwater aquariums in my house and have multiple planted tanks with CO2 injection. I'm sure I know several of you from the interwebs and may have met some of you at the local swaps as well.

My plans are to use my 40g long tank in the basement to set up a zoa only tank. Don't really want to mess around with a refugium at this point in time for am looking for any advice. Planning on running two koralia powerheads, a skimmer, and led lighting. Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome to the club!

 

Welcome!

Are you running a sump?

 

I'd prefer not to if at all possible, but can if you think it is necessary. I'm diligent on weekly water changes as I am forced to do them with my planted tanks or they explode with algae.

 

It is definitely possible. I like them to keep the heaters & filtration out of the tank as much as possible, but everyone is different. A good hang on back skimmer will work good

 

Perfect, I may add a sump at some point, but this is going in my basement and won't really be viewed by anyone so the heater/skimmer doesn't bother me. There are SOOO many nano skimmers out there. I've been looking around, is there one you could recommend by chance?

 

HOB skimmers do the job but fair warning, If it ever throws a fit water goes everywhere. An internal (in sump)skimmer is ideal. If it throws a fit the water remains in the system. You could go ultra simple and operate single cell tank with rock skimmer and return pump. It definitely makes the maintenance easier.

 

Thanks for the input! This is in an old home with concrete floors in the basement, so I'm not too worried about a mess, but I have been looking internal anyway.

Hydor Hydor Slim Skim Nano Internal Protein Skimmer Aquarium Skimmers

This Hyodor model seems to have some good ratings and should be about perfect.

 

Depending upon your bioload (and don't over feed if you are running primarily softies and keep up on your water changes you don't have to have a sump/skimmer.