Saying hi with a question

[Hermit]

Thought I'd say hi before peppering y'all with questions. I've been watchin the board for a while now and like most of what I see.

I have a 55g show tank. It's currently fish only. Some day when I feel more comfortable with the hobby (and can afford a bigger tank) I will have a reef.

Now to my question. At the beginning of March I decided it was time to get rid of the UGF. I changed the substrate over to a 1" bed of dead sand and added a Penguin 330. I've also added a couple of small RIO PH for circulation. What I'm wondering is how much of the sand bed I should vacuum. With the UGF, most of the decorations were pulled out to siphon the bed. Should I continue this practice with the sand bed. Also, I have about 10# of LR.

One last question. I want to add a couple 4' NO lights. My LFS has an icecap NO only ballast for ~$75. Why couldn't I just go down to HD and get a $6 shop light.

Thanks to all.

[dark horge]

Welcome, hermit

Your questions in reverse order:

2. Since its fish-only, you have a lot of leeway in choosing lights, have fun. Just keep in mind heat output. Not sure what you mean by 'shop light' --the term is too generic over here in Asia.

1. So... you have fairly thin sandbed, it ain't 'live', and you wonder how to go about siphoning it. Presuming you have no live rock (LR), you can siphon out square-foot portions at a time if you're convinced it's gotten so grotty it's affecting fish health. This saves the sand bacteria that break down fish waste (digestive and respiratory) from across-the disturbance.

However, it would be nice to have a sandbed that's partially "live": the worms and bugs can provide very healthy snacks for the fish, while helping break down fish poop and food scraps in sizes easier handled by bacteria.

Just introducing a small piece of LR can slowly seed the bed with some worms and bugs. Then you can experiment with thickening the bed in one easily-reached corner and see how it works out: a thicker bed harbors more life which can mean better water-processing power (and more snacks for fish).

I could go further, but it's better to know what sort of fish and 'decor' you've got in there

Again, welcome!


horge

[Hermit]

Thanks Horge,

For clarification I do have about 10# of LR. The other decorations are bleached and fake corals. The LFS said to siphon the bed using a clamp to reduce the flow, but I'm still wondering if that would pull many of the organisms living in the sand.

For the lighting, I'm thinking ahead to when I will get my reef tank. I was just wondering if normal ballasts from a home-style flourescent would corrode from the saltwater. Is that why a NO Icecap costs so much more. For now I would put white bulbs in it, but would eventually go with Actinic bulbs with MH in the middle (at least that's the current plan).

[Doug1]

A normal shoplite setup will definatly rust up quickly in a salt water environment, plus the tar ballasts used in most of them are noisy and inefficient and will burn out expensive "Aquarium" bulbs fairly quickly.
I just checked Icecaps website and the still list the Icecap 300 which will frive a couple 4' normal flourescent tubes at greater efficiency and more even light than the cheapo shoplites do. If it is anything like the 430 and 660 series electronic ballasts I suspect it is a great product. I use a pair of 430's and love them. If you are even sorta thinking about a reef tank put the 75$ towards the purchase of a 660 ballast instead so you dont have to replace it later as you realize you need more light than a couple normal output bulbs will yield, HTH

[ 05-19-2001: Message edited by: Doug1 ]

[Hermit]

Okay, But isn't that a little overkill with the lights. The biggest tank I can sell my wife on is 100s (60x18x21). If I am going to run to 250w MH, then VHO actinics would be too much, wouldn't it (especially 4)?

Also, why the DSB? The guys at my LFS, as well as all the reefs I've seen around here don't have any sand. Don't you get as many organisms living in a 1" SB?

[Rick O]

Hi Hermit,

Check out this VHO setup from Lamps Now: http://www.lampsnow.com/4lampvhokit.html
I have this setup on my prop tanks and it works very well. If you start out with VHO you won't have to worry about upgrading in the future.

Rick

[hamburglar]

I have yet to see too much light. I think your supposed to add lights untill you get a sunburn while cleaning your tank

[FishDaddy]

Hi Hermit,
A good plan for any tank is to think ahead to what you intend to do with it when purchasing any equipment. We have all wasted a lot of $$$ on things that just weren't suitable for our reefs as they developed.
I have a 55 with a 660 Ice Cap ballast, running 2 VHO's. I also have an AGA 40w striplight. This is minimal lighting for a 55 but I have some very nice soft and LPS corals. I will eventually build a hood that will accomodate another two VHO's, which the 660 will drive. Another possibility would be to keep the 2 bulb VHO setup and add 2 250w metal halides. These options are possible due to the versatility of the Ice Cap 660.
This incremental lighting plan will work because I started with the right equipment. I highly recommend this approach as you develop your tank.
The NO Shoplights will work for a time and decent bulbs are available in the daylight range from Home Depot or Lowes. A regular aquarium actinic helps the color. I currently have a 2 bulb shoplight over a 38 FO that houses a baby Chainlink Moray. This tank has 40# of live rock and a 5" sandbed so its ready to be a small reef when the Chainlink outgrows the tank.

A sandbed of 4-6" would be one of the best things you can do for your tank. As it matures, such a DSB can provide all the biofiltration you need for a reef with a modest fish load. Now would be a good time to add more sand. You would never need to vacuum a DSB; in fact, you shouldn't disturb a DSB; this is done by a good crew of clean up critters.
A 1" sandbed could house some good critters, such as worms and amphipods but would not afford the capacity for the anaerobic denitrifying bacteria that really makes the sand bed work as a biofilter. The bed must be deep enough to create the anaerobic conditions necessary for these bacteria.
Here are some excellent sand bed references: http://www.reefkeepers.org/faq/cache/33.html http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog...ek_090698.html http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish/li...=&RecordNo=166
I would also commend a couple of books:
Natural Reef Aquariums by John Tullock and The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner. Either is available online for less than $25. They contain comprehensive info for getting a reef started and have good refernces for fish and corals.
HTH
Dick

[Hermit]

Thanks to everyone. Lots of good info here. I had never thought the SB could make that much of a difference.

I will keep the questions coming as I move closer to getting that 'perfect' tank.