dmck

silicon not needed but will ensure a longer life of the soldering. 1ft above tank will reduce any splashes but there may be splashes when u clean the tank or catch fish.

A tank that holds fresh water will be fine for salt water. another major cost you should consider is the amount of live rock you will require. Live rock is one of the major filtration components, both mechanical and biological, in a salt water tanks. You should have roughly 1/3 of the tank as live rock. This will mean much less water in the tank and therefore less horizontal pressure on the glass as there is less water volume, so the added weight of salt water vs fresh water (which is very minimal) is greatly out weighted. Live rock in australia cost about $10/kg and for a 6ft tank you will want 100Kg or so. second hand equipment will cost roughly skimmer $200 lighting $300 rock $500 wave makers $200 (for cheap) or $1000's for top of the range equip and then the expense for livestock (corals and fish) is up to you.

perfect led build. Ive used these DIY leds a few times for tanks I maintain in australia (i work for an aquarium store). The price is great. I use silicon to ensure no conductivity/corrosion between the soldered points. (make sure you use a High temp/ motor vehicle silicon so it doesnt melt/warp) just wipe a small amount over the soldered points. (1mm think) silicon is easy to remove and very cheap compared to your lighting cost. the optic lenses are a good guard to salt spray for the led's themselves, just make sure you clean them (once a month to once every 3 months depending on how dirty they get) to ensure correct light transfer into the tank. these lights are perfect for a tank up to 45cm deep to keep LPS and soft corals but would recommend to keep SPS at a max of 35cm deep if light was 20-30cm above the tank.

wow. Im amazed that this is even a question offered. skimmer is basic equipment required to run a salt water fish tank. Im from australia, work in an aquarium store, and cant believe that people would sell a marine set up with out a skimmer. any fish, or other live stock (corals, inverts, etc) require nutrients to survive in an aquarium. These live stock will produce protein as a waste of the food they eat in the form of protein. Protein skimmers remove this waste, as well as excess phosphate (that cause major algae problems) and are a must for any sustainable salt water aquarium. The only exception is if you do weekly (at least once a week if not twice a week) water changes of 10-20% to manually remove this waste. I know that aquariums can be run without skimmer but for the money spent on coral and fish ($20-100+ ea) the small investment of even a cheap skimmer costing $100 can and WILL save you $100's if you wish to run a successful aquarium in the long run and not have fish and coral die. Correct skimmer, lighting and live rock will ensure you have a marine aquarium for the long term (1yr+)!!! Im a reefer since 2008 and have had fresh water since 1998. Have had 8x2x2ft reef and currently run a newly set up 3x18x18inch mixed reef. scrubbers are good at removing some waste but I have seen time and time again aquarium that run very well without scrubbers but not aquariums that run without skimmer. The more you can spend on a skimmer the better. SKIMS singapore are top of the range and well worth the dollars spent. please look at the poll and buy a skimmer. scrubber is worth looking at in the future if you really need but skimmer is a MUST!!!!!! hope my experience helps. here a pic of my tank. no scrubber but nice big skimmer.... check out www.masa.asn.au tank journals. almost none have scrubbers but almost ALL have skimmers.