Let's go shopping!

[Wavendon]

Let’s go shopping!!
OK, I see the wisdom of “bigger is better”. In for penney in for a pound.

Help me pick out the goodies…

Tank 75g, or what else is there in 48" length?
Sump, how big?
Protein skimmer in sump, what kind?
Lights, Ice cap 660 3 bulb??
Pump for sump return, what kind?
How much live rock, from where, FF Express??
Heaters, how many, what watts?
Ph meter, salinity, etc??

I guess when it comes to reefs, money is no object, or is it?

[Doug1]

Tank 75g, or what else is there in 48" length? 90 is same size, only higher 120 is 48x24x24(note price jump on 90/120 due to heavier glass) Reef Ready?
Sump, how big? as big as you can get away with
Protein skimmer in sump, what kind? AquaC EV 90 or bigger
Lights, Ice cap 660 3 bulb??Icecap is good, 4 bulb tho
Pump for sump return, what kind?Mag pumps are good, compact, size depending on tank size and overflow capacity
How much live rock, from where, FF Express??At least a lb per gallon,if not more
Heaters, how many, what watts?How big a tank and how cold does it get?

Ph meter, salinity, etc?? Pinpoint pH meter, refractometer for salinity
salifert test kits HAve fun

For a 75 gallon tank thats a standard tank depends what you want AGA or oceanic. Oceanic's are expensive,but worth it. Sumps also depends you can use a 30g tank as a sump or buy and off the self sump from Amircle or Ets even sells a standard sump or you can go totally custom and get a Lifereef Sump dome to your specs.Pumps well i like Iwaki and Little giant not really big on mags. Skimmer is a big debate you'll hear 100 different people suggest different kinds of skimmers based on personal experience. I have used ETS, lifereef, berlin and find that for my needs lifreefs was perfect ETS was really more powerful and the skimate was much thicker, but the life reef gave me more mounting options and had a larger collection cup. The berlin was somewhat my least favorite skimmer and was really underpowered in my case.Lights are simple I think you should go with halides for a few reasons VHO do not last all( 3-4 monthes) that long while halides last like 12 monthes before they need replacement.Two VHO bulbs is to small. More light is also better the most you can get the better. I would do two 250w halides with two 65w pc or even VHO if you do not mind replacing bulbs more often.halides will be a light system you can always use if you ever decide to move to a bigger tank you always have good lights, but with a VHO system you will need upgrades. Heaters are simple and straight forward just get 2 incase one blows out on you. Your kinda asking really broad questions. If you look at some of the members in this forum with nice tanks you will notice that they all do soemthing different from one another. It really takes you looking around and learning by trial and error. The most important thing you can do for urself is buy a really good book. Look at the animals you want to keep and use the as a guide line to the equipment you want to purchase. The corals will let you know when they are happy...

[Doug1]

Hmmmmmmmm VHO dont last but 3-4 months?????????

[Alice]

VHO generally last close to a year, especially with an Icecap or other electronic ballast. Just wondering where you got your figures Mike?

Not formiliar with Icecaps claims to 1 year but on the Hamilton Vho 3-4 month change is recomended. I have also read somewhere on the net with regards to all VHO as a general rule of thumb that a 4 month change is ideal. I wont get into arguements with this claims as I do change VHO about ever 4 monthes to avoid any problems. The article I was refer to initial I believe was writtin by Criag in an online issue of aquarium frontiers which after reading I do believe that after 4 months VHO's do lose some of there output and it is only downhill from there. So i change before any problems and leave all my lights only so they are at there peak output at all times

[bill-e]

Heheh, sounds like a vho bulb manufacturers dream.

All flourescent bulbs drop considerably after the first few months and I'm sure that no matter which kind of bulb you use, be it MH or Flourescent, replacing it every 4 months would be best for light output. I think it's current wisdom to change PC every 9 months and VHO every 9-12 months.

by the way, it's quite easy to compensate for diminishing light output, especially on a 4 bulb system. Stagger your bulb changes, ie. change one bulb every 3-4 months. This way your average light output will be higher and you wont have to worry about acclimation when you replace all the bulbs at the same time.