New Tank, some filtration questions

I'm going to be converting a tank I've used for the past year to grow baby african cichids, into a 29 Gal reef tank.
What I have now, low lighting and a fluval 204 canister with ceramic pre-filter, sponges, biomax and chemi pure.

My plan.....
Scrub down the tank, empty the water.
Remove all the filter media and clean it out. Throw out the chemi pure.

Question #1, can I somehow reuse the ceramic, biomax and sponges?

The fluval will hold:
Sponges
Ceramic pre filter
Phosphate Sponge
Nitrate sponge
Chemi Pure Elite
Bio Max

Question #2, does the canister line up sound good? This is the part I'm most worried about.

Next, I am getting sand and live rock from a friend who is taking down and consolidating his ten year old reef tank. I'll have roughly 30 pounds of live rock.
Further, I'm going to have a power head in a strategic location and a hang on skimmer.
I have a small heater right now and it should be fine as it's been good for a while.
I have an Orbit light system with a 6500K and a 10000K bulb. One of the first things I'll do is I'll replace the 10000K (since it's very old) with actinics. It fits this tank perfectly and each bulb is 65Watt, so it will be a total of 130Watts.

Question #3, Is the 6500K paired up with an Actinic ok?

Thats all I have for now and will be doing as much as I can this weekend.

 

have there ever been copper used in the old fresh water tank?

 

No copper that I know of. Just tap water, buffer, and lake salts.

 

IMO opinion if you get a HOB skimmer the canister is not necessary. I would also replace the 6500k instead of the 10k, 6500k really is the wrong spectrum for coral and is more prone to stimulate nuisance algae growth, 10k is about the right spectrum for good coral growth and the 6500k should be replaced with the actinic. Im assuming these are PC (power compact) lights. Those will do for now but in the future I would consider the T5 route as these provide better par which is what is the key to good coral growth and colorization. What fish are you planning? In a smaller tank I would look into the clowns or possibly a pygmy angel, dottybacks and gobies are good choices as well. I would also like to say stay away from Xenia and GSP (green star polyps) they are easy to grow but also hard to contain once they take off. Instead for some good beginner coral look into zoas and shrooms

 

Thanks for the info.
Would the canster be bad at all for the tank? I figure, since I have it, I'd might as well use it, unless it causes more harm than good.
As far as stocking. I was thinking about a rose bubble tip anemone with a picaso clown. I also really like zoas, mushrooms and gobies. But I'll be going slowly.
Also rather than going with Green star's, I was going to try out blue star polyps. Obviously, the main attraction is the Rose Bubble.

 

I have never owned a Nem so Im not 100% sure but I think you will need better lights, also I do know water quality is a big issue with them so you will definitely need to keep up on water changes. As far as the canister goes I honestly dont have any personal experience but if you want to use it I know they can be adapted to run carbon and with a Nem in a smaller tank I think that could def be beneficial, you will have to research that further. GL with the tank and be sure to start a build thread with lots of pics when you get things going we all love those

 

with the canister. i just have a poly filter, LR crushed/rubble, ceramic beads and bioballs. seems to keep my balance really well.

 

+1 on getting an HOB skimmer, I have a RemoraC on my 55g reef and I love it. I would not use the canister, it will just be a headache to maintain down the line. The crap that gets stuck in it will become a Nitrate breeding ground.

I think it's best to start a FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) first & then go to a reef when you are more comfortable with SW keeping. I wouldn't recommend going with a Rose Bubble until your tank is established at least 6 months down the line. They also require much higher lighting than what you currently have. You'll need at least 4-6 T5 bulbs to keep them happy. Nems are not things for the beginner, they roam around the tank when unhappy and can crash your system if they get caught in a powerhead/intake + they can sting any corals they touch to death while roaming. You wiil also need to screen any ph or intakes before adding one. They need stable water params & you will need to stabilize your system before you can consider adding one. Trust me, wait on the nem until you're ready (I have 3 but waited 8 months).

Here's what you'll need iMO

- 20-25lbs of Live Rock + 20lbs of base rock
- 30lbs of sand (live or inert)
- HOB skimmer (a must)
- 2 powerheads (recommend Koralia's)
- Salt mix (I like Instant Ocean)
- Refractometer
- extra powerhead & heater for mixing saltwater
- 5g bucket & or BRUTE container (grey/white) for mixing/WC
- RO/DI unit if you are going reef tank
- A good heater 200w-300w

The most expensive part of starting a SW tank is the Live Rock, but it's also one of the most important. It will act as your biological filtration, so get quality stuff if you can. If you are not going to use RO/DI water, you will need a dechlorinator & most likely need a reactor to lower phosphates in your water, like the phosban 150.

Also you can keep using your Orbit light for the FOWLR & then when you go to a Reef you will need to upgrade.

That's my best advice for now. I started my tank as a FOWLR and then moved to a Reef very slowly about 6 months in. Here is an older pic of how it evolved. A FOWLR is much less work & pretty cool in itself, you'll see my Rose BTA's in the top-left.

 

the canister will be fine but be aware that it will get dirty quickly and require weekly cleaning to prevent it from encouraging nuisance algae blooms.

 

I agree with MoJoe except for one thing. I'd go with all base rock and just get one piece of Live Rock from a local store (you'll save a lot of money this way). Make sure it has nothing but coralline algae on it. All the other stuff on the Live Rock looks cute and impressive, but trust me, you don't want to take a chance with what's lurking on/in that Live Rock. One outbreak of bubble algae or Aiptasia and you'll be wondering why you ever tried Saltwater. Not trying to scare you off, just trying to prevent you from making the same mistakes a lot of people have made (the ones who usually end up quitting Saltwater).

I also recommend the AquaC Remora skimmer. I have one and it is definitely the best HOB skimmer I've ever owned.