Sarah, I like both the Liveaquaria Lalo LR and the Pacific East Tonga and Fiji LR. I may get some of each. Thinking bout 90lbs with a some in the Fuge. I'd like to have a variety of colors and shapes in the rock and they all seem to have that.
Alright so far that is what I have come up with and I think it will probably be a while before I get it all together. Please hit me with your comments or suggestions on the stuff I listed as well as the stuff I still need to get. I need all the help you can give =)
Before I went LED I had the Coralife Pro fixture and I really think it a sleek, modern design. In fact I liked its styling better than the Solaris!
Are you considering the model with 2-150W MH's? If so that should be plenty for a 75.
I have heard good and bad things about the Octopus line of skimmers. Have you considered the ASM or Euro-Reef lines? It might be a good idea to compare and contrast.
No better place for DIY than Melev's site. I've often got a lot of information from it!
I haven't seen a model with 2-150's. They do make a single 150 and a single 250. This is the 150. They both claim to be good for a 24" deep tank with SPS, LPS and softies.....
or the Euro Reef 135 but that seems a bit pricey unless it is really worth the extra money I would rather spend it somewhere else. If it is a world of difference maybe then.
I like my euro-reef RS250, but you're right on the price. Again, the Octo NW200 is a very popular and inexpensive needlewheel design, but I'd be the 150 would do well on that size tank. I've never been super impressed with the ASM stuff, but maybe it's a good solution in this case. I'd still probably lean towards the Octo over the ASM. The reason to go with EuroReef is that they spend a lot of effort into matching their pumps to skimmers, as well as in the design of the impellers. With the Octo or ASM skimmer, you're getting something that's got a lot less engineering behind it, probably near identical, and not worth the extra cost for the ASM. But that's just my impression of the companies.
For that depth, I'd probably lean towards 250W lighting. Is there a strong reason to stick with 150? Obviously heating and energy consumption come to mind, but for hardware there's no real savings for going to the lower powered system.
I think your right about the skimmer, the 150 should be more than enough and is reasonably priced. If I don't like it I can always DIY one or upgrade to the Euro later.
As far as the lights go I would think 250 would be better for light penetration. I have read of people that have to keep certain corals near the surface because the lights don't penetrate deep enough. I would like to avoid that problem if possible and the 250 seems like it would accomplish that.
My bad, I was thinking of the 48" model. If you're going to keep SPS, you will want to keep them near the upper part of the reef and the softies nearer the bottom because that is more in keeping with their natural locations. With 250 watts you will most likely need a chiller or the use of evaporative chilling, in which case top off is going to be imperative.
You may want to consider that over equiping your tank can be counter productive and will present greater challenges and require more costly equipment to maintain stability, the pinnacle of our hobby!
Thanks for the advice, maybe I will stick with the 150. I am planning to start with some softies, shrooms, leathers and LPS etc and as I get the hang of things start adding SPS.
So I picked up the tank today. Arrived right when the guy at my LFS said it would. Looks great and is very heavy haha. Needed help getting it into the house. Other than that here are some pics. The RO/DI should be here tomorrow and it's time to start buying parts and making the sump!!!!!
Lots of pics of an empty tank I know but I'm excited =)
And we just bought the house if your wondering why pictures are leaning against the wall and boxes are in the background haha. Still putting the place together.
Looks like a nice start and sounds like it is going to be a great build.
If you want to see how the Coralife Aqualight Pro fixture lights up a tank, you can check out either of the threads in my signature line. I have the 48" Dual 150 sitting over my 75 gallon.
I'll be tagging along to see how things progress for you. Good luck!
I love the enthusiasm! Just imagine how exciting it will be once you get water in it!
You're definitely going about this hobby the right way though. Ask lots of questions, do your research now, all before buying anything. I agree with Scott (Dentoid) about the 150 vs the 250 lights. I had a 250 over my 120g tank and it just about cooked things. For a 24" deep tank, I really believe that a 150 is more than enough and it gives you good options for coral placements. With the 250 light, even the bottom was almost too bright for soft corals. It took a long time to acclimate them to that light.
And the HEAT! Oh man, the whole floor in the house would warm up 5 degrees after the light had been on for 8 hours.
Haha I definitely think the 150 will be the right lights for the tank. I'm going to be working on the sump this next week or so and working on a final decision for the lights, return pump and skimmer. Thanks for all the encouragement as well everyone!! I am trying to make sure I do things right. I don't want to waste money or accidentally kill anything in my tank when I get it up. I'd like to do things right the first time even if it means waiting a bit to get it rolling.
Oh the RO/DI unit came in today from the filter guys so I'll snap some pics and throw em up tomorrow if anyone is interested!
:funny:That's a real hard core hobbyist! Getting started on the tank before you are all moved-in! I love it! Great looking tank and I'm looking forward to it's development!
So here are some quick pics of the RO/DI unit, I am in the process of mounting it in the wash closet so I will post some more tomorrow when I get that done. Also I convinced the girly that we absolutely NEEDED a nano for quarantine purposes =) And that it would be a great birthday present for her =) She actually surprised me when we went to Jeff's Exotic fish over in Orange today. We went because I had never been and wanted to look around and she asked me which of the nano's I was gonna take home. So here's some pics of our new Oceanic 14 Gal as well.=P
Haha ya, she's very cool about stuff like that. Tomorrow I'm gonna throw some water in the nano and get some LR and sand from my LFS. Anybody have any advice on test kits? Ones you hate or love? I'll start a build thread for the nano tomorrow and keep everyone updated.
~Danny
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