Tank Re-Do / New Member.

[codetrick]

Hey everyone I'm new to the forum and figured I would just chime in and say hi!

so.. Hi!


Some background on me:
I have been messing around with salt water fish for awhile now. In the late 80's I was messing around with undergravel filters, canister filters, and cheap lightning on my 55 gallon tank. I then stopped for a few years and started up a new 75 gallon just last year using a trickle/sump system, UV, and 2 48" daylight bulbs and 2 48" atinics.
(Man the hobby changes)

But like most of us I need help.
I decided to go reef!
(Good for me.. bad for my bank account)

I have some questions on lighting but let me explain what I'm doing now just to make sure i'm on the right track.

Prep work:
The tank has finally been stripped and that horrible crushed coral at the bottom has been removed. I bleached everything and I think I am ready to go.

Water:
To solve my water issues I finally picked up a RO/DI unit and as I type I am filling the tank up. From this point on I promised myself to use nothing but RO/DI water to reduce the algae explosions I was having with city water. Even after the tank was cycled that **** city water and the silcates would cause all hell to break loose.


No Charcoal?
I will be removing my little canister filter that was running charcoal as a buffer so I hope this is a good idea. Someone had mentioned that some corals don't like charcoal? Welp.. its out the door... or should I keep it?

UV replaced:
I will be replacing my UV light with a new one (its been a year).

Sump:
The sump has been cleaned and a larger protein skimmer has been added.

Algae Tank?
Talking..reading.. it seems that more and more people are putting up small algae producing tanks to help reduce the amount of algae in their main tanks. This is also a source of food for some fish. So I will be building one... any suggestions not to start one?


Sand Bed:
I'm shady on this topic. From what I can tell I want to do like 2 or 3 inches of fine sand on the bottom of the tank followed by an inch of live sand from the LFS.

Live Rock:
After the tank has water and sand/live sand I will toss in my base rock followed by at least 50 pounds or more of live rock to kick the tank off again. Any reasons not go this route to jump start the tank?


Here are the questions I have.

1) Lighting: I will be dumping my 48" florecents and switching to VHOs and Metal Halides. What is a good combo to use for a 75 gallon 4 foot long tank.
I would assume the MHs would be atinic with 10k of light each. Followed by VHOs of day light stuff? I am soo lost on this.

2) Do I want the lightning up 100% before I put the live rock into the tank to jump start things.. or would the existing 2 48" daylight and 2 48" atinic bulbs be ok until the new lights are purchased.

3) Would live sand be needed to seed the non-live sand in the tank or should I just assume the Live rock would eventually jump start the sandbed?

4) Should i go right ahead and dump some star fish and stuff in the sandbed or wait until I have things cycled and fish in the tank.

5) Thats another thing. Should I dump a few fish in the tank while I have the new LR and Sand Bed going to help further things along?

6) **** this is a long message

7) Finally.. (for now)
What type of minerals or things should I put into the water to help promote the growth of corals and how would i test for these minerals. Do they make test kits for certain minerals that corals use. What do corals use or what suppliments do you guys use?

Ok.. wheeww.. long message. I'm tired.
I hope someone can reply with some answers. The internet is a nice place but there are Waaaay too many opinions on things and welp.. I trust the people here more than any other place.

Thanks,
CodeTriCk

[Alice]

Welcome Code Trick!

Sounds to me like you are getting the bases covered!

You might want to go to a deeper sand bed, at least 4 inches total for proper dentrification/ waste processing. You might try this article for more info
http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog...ek_090698.html

Add the live rock, it will be all you'll need to kick start the cycle in your tank. No more chasing damsels to get them out after adding them for cycling! Don't add any critters, or even live sand until after the tank is cycled. You wouldn't want to lose any of them due to high ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. You will get some life that will migrate down to the sandbed from the live rock but you'll get the most diversity from adding a detrivore kit, you can check those out with our sponsor, Indo-Pacific Sea Farms, Inland Aquatics and I believe a few other online MO places are now offering them.

Your existing lights will be fine while the tank is cycling.

Did I forget anything?

Again, welcome to TRT

[codetrick]

Thanks!

I will definately go ahead and read that article on the sand bed. I still find it amazing how much the hobby changes every day and this new sand bed stuff is..well.. new to me.

Now I just have to break the news to the fish that they will have to camp out a bit longer in the other tank before being allowed back into the one i'm re-doing.


ooh..
Lights..
I saw someone else here was using two MH 175w, 10k bulbs and two 95w atinics for 6watts per gallon. I think that would give me like 7.(something) per gallon. Is that overkill or good or need something else?

[DennisW]

Code,

Welcome to reefland!!!!!!!!! So you're ready to take a little walk on the wild side and try reefing huh? Well, welcome.

I will address the light issue. First thing you need to do is decide what types of corals/fish/inverts/etc you want to keep. For a mixed tank with different types of corals, etc, I would go with 2 250W metal halides. You want the halides to be 10K. That is a bright white light with some blue in it. Some folks call it "ice white". This is opposed to 5500K or even 6500K which has less blue. The higher the K, the more blue. A 20K bulb is blue. Anyways....you want the two 250W, 10K halides and then 2 110W VHO's. These are the floursent bulbs. You want these bulbs to be actinc (all blue). The ballast that I use was purchased from LampsNow online. It is electronic and it powers two 110W, URI, actinic bulbs. Works awsome and it is $125. It also comes with a 2 year warrenty and it saves you a little money over the icecaps. It comes all assembled. Just plug in your bulbs and you're in business.

For the ballasts for your two 250W halides, I would go with PFO. They are the best value and the most common right now. You will also need a couple reflectors for the halides. PFO makes these also. If you use URI brand bulbs for your VHO floursents, you wont need reflectors for them because they come with them built in.

I would like to emphisize(sp) that what I'm telling you is just my opinion. Im sure that if you have been lurking on the boards for anytime, you would have noticed that lighting is a highly debateable topic. What I've told you here is how I do things. There are many many many other ways to do it!!! Seek opinions then decide for yourself.

Again....welcome! And good luck! Feel free to post ANYquestions you have here. The people on this board are VERY VERYknowledgeable. Pretty darned nice also!

Dennis

[codetrick]

Thanks for the lightning advice.

So far my lightning range is 2x175w MHs & 2x 95w VHOs or... 2x250w MHs & 2 x 110w VHOs.

My worries are 3 basic things:
1) I don't want to end up with too little light or incorrect spectrum

2) Don't want too much light...and is too much light bad?

3) Heat displacement.

From what Ive read recently is that I want to go with electronic ballasts to reduce heat and even out bulb life. I also want to add Fans.
But should I keep the glass on the top of the tank?
Should I just scrap the hood and just hang the Metal Halids from the ceiling.. hmm?

Thanks for the advice so far everyone!

[DennisW]

Code,]

I don't think you can have too much light! Most animals will adapt to the light with proper acclimation. Proper acclimation however is the key. You would be hard press to equal the intensity of the noon day sun on the reef. I think I read somewhere that even two 400W halide bulbs dont even equal the intensity of the real sun on the suface of the reef when its CLOUDY!!!!

I think for a mixed reef, either of those setups would work. I would buy the most lighting you can buy, right now. You will end up buying it sooner or later probably. As soon as the SPS bug gets ya!!!!

You definitly want fans in the hood. Not really necessary I guess if you hang the lights from the ceiling or something. One thing that works really well is evaporative cooling. Placing a fan to blow across the surface of the water. This works very very well to cool a tank. You have to add more top off water but I think the cooling effects totally outway that!

Good luck! Have fun!

Dennis

[codetrick]

Great! I will go ahead and plan out my lighting purchase for 2 MHs 250w 10k bulbs and 2x110w Atinic VHOs.

Thanks everyone!

[FishDaddy]

Hi CodeTrick,

Good to have you! Alice and Dennis have covered most of your questions and it seems you're off to a good start!
As for the UV; some reefers use them, it seems most don't. In trying to achieve a balanced natural system, there will be lots of planktonic life and beneficial bacteria that can be affected by the UV. Could be useful in the event of disease or infections of fish. Your call.
As for additives, all I add is Kalkwasser and do regular water changes. There is debate about additives and whether good salt mix contains all the trace elements you need but many successful reefers do as I do. Of course, you would feed corals and fish and 2-part Calcium supplements are good for getting Alk and Ca to desired levels but, IMHO, nothing else is required.
Again, welcome to TRT,
Dick