Upgrade time, suggestions please

[nstiesi]

I've had my very first attempt at salt/reef keeping since last fall. I am doing ok....I haven't had anything die, lol. In truth, I have 1 tomato clown, two small zoas, a single brittle star, couple lbs live rock (with even more base rock which should be live by now?), and 15 or so snails (various kinds) in a 20 gallon tank.

Yesterday I picked up a 29, which was pretty much my target size for this system. The question is, what to do now. As far as equipment, I have a DIY skimmer that works decently well, and a couple of powerheads. I have just graduated college, and once I get a job money should be less of an issue, so........

where do I go from here?

I have a spare 10g and 20g tank, should I sump/remote fuge this 29?

I currently only have 52W of PC on the 20g, so I will need a light upgrade.

What other equipment should I be looking out for?

I know I didn't ask to many questions, but with a 29 and a blank slate, what suggestions do you all have?

Thanks!

[NeveSSL]

Go where you wanna go, man.

Go for a bigger tank... if you want... or a nano reef for your new office when you get a job (thats what I'm looking at as I'm in the exact same position you are... just graduated and applying for jobs ) or whatever.

If you don't know what you want to try next, research some stuff and see what you can come up with.

Personally, I just want a larger tank. But my wife has said not until we get a house... lol... so I'll be waiting a bit longer.

Regardless, what I'm trying to say is do what you want to.

If you would like to keep the tank you have now for a bit longer, I would recommend upgrading the lights to T5s IF you want to do some more light hungry corals.

Have fun!

Brandon

[nstiesi]

Thanks for the advice!

The 29 is actually the size I wanted, my inquiries were more about what kind of equipment to go with it (fuge sump etc.)

I definitely need to hide my diy skimmer, its quite large and unattractive. Ultimately, I want a softy tank mostly, and some more fish, of course.

[psteeleb]

http://www.melevsreef.com/29g.html

I've seen some realy nice 29g (have one myself - but it's not a show tank per say)

The link I posted to Marc's old 29 is probably one of the nicer ones I've seen that at has some nice documentaion on the build, equipment, livestock, etc. HTH

[nstiesi]

thanks for the link steel....I've been reading that thread for the last hour, lol!

Great job he did. This thread might be a big idea farm for me sumping and fuge-ing the new tank. I dont know if I will be as in depth as that, at least not at first, but it seems like a good place to start.