My new 65 reef

[MoBayRasta]

Dimensions are 36x18.5x25. Filtration consist of 135 pounds of fiji live rock, sea clone protien skimmer and an ehiem canister filter. Substrate is crushed coral. Lighting is 36 inch smart lite 50% 10,000K daylight 50% actinic lamp 96 watts.

Only corals in the tank are mushrooms that seem to be thriving,and various corals that have grown naturally on the live rock. Fish are 3 clowns all diffrent and one blue damsel.

The tank has been set up for a year and a half. The bulb has never been changed. How long are compact florescense bulbs good for? Does it need to be changed immediately?

What other corals can be grown under this light?I know it is pretty weak and I plan on adding more but do not know how soon.

Is the filtration sufficiant? Anything I should add? There are also a couple of smaller powerheads in the tank.

Should I use one of my unused wet dry's with bio balls or just as a sump?

Can I add more fish? I would like to add a royal gramma and some type of tang.

I would like to add a deep bed of live sand. Can I add the live sand on top of the crused coral? Do I need to put the live sand under the live rock or can I just add it around it?

What lighting would you add to this set up.

Got the whole setup for $350 and the guy is delivering it and setting it up. Lots of extras such as new bucket of salt, test kits and such. I feel this is a pretty good deal, what do you think?

Thanks. Peace and Respect

 

[ReefLion]

Without going into details, I would remove the crushed coral and convert to deep sand bed. Run searches on this board for how to do that; it should be done slowly.

Remove the cannister filter.

PC bulbs are typically good for 6-12 months.

You will need more light for many other types of corals. There may be some corals you can keep under there if positioned corrected, such as leathers, colt and other soft corals. I would recommend upgrading in any event.

If you use a sump, do not use the bioballs.

Run lots of searches on this board for DSB, deep sand bed, crushed coral, wet/dry, cannister, etc. There's a lot of info.

Tim

 

[reefatic]

Sounds like a deal to me.
You definitly need to add more lighting as that is a deep tank. I would use the PC as a suppliment to a single 250 watt halide. Get an actinic bulb for the PC and a 10k halide.
Ditch the cannister, but keep for phoszorb, carbon, etc.
Use a sump with a real skimmer in it, that seaclone is good for weighing down papers, but not much else.
Other than that, sounds like you have it covered. Enjoy in moderation.

 

[Ryan7]

reeflion and reefatic are right on the money!!!