equipment used on reefer's 125s
- Thread starter SuperLeet
- Start date
for a reef tank, i believe in:
1. good lighting..i'd go with dual 400W MH supplemented with 2-4 6' actinic vhos($500-700)
2. Live rock of your choice..200lbs or so($600)
3. deep sand bed...southdown (if that's avail for you) + small amount of live sand($100)
4. good water movement..pump(s) of your choice with 2 3/4" seaswirls at each end($400-500)
5. refugium..the largest that will fit under your stand w/shop lites as lighting($100-200)
6. Ca reactor of your choice..Geo is most economical($300-400 w/CO2 equip)
less than $2500 for everything and a lot of that i'm guessing you already have
that's just me though
i don't use a skimmer or any other gadgets
1. good lighting..i'd go with dual 400W MH supplemented with 2-4 6' actinic vhos($500-700)
2. Live rock of your choice..200lbs or so($600)
3. deep sand bed...southdown (if that's avail for you) + small amount of live sand($100)
4. good water movement..pump(s) of your choice with 2 3/4" seaswirls at each end($400-500)
5. refugium..the largest that will fit under your stand w/shop lites as lighting($100-200)
6. Ca reactor of your choice..Geo is most economical($300-400 w/CO2 equip)
less than $2500 for everything and a lot of that i'm guessing you already have
that's just me though
i don't use a skimmer or any other gadgets
Here's what I have:
1. 160lbs. of LR, actually going to move about 40lbs. of that to the refugium. I don't like the look of too much LR in the tank.
2. DSB ~5" consisting of 250lbs. of Southdown and 20lbs. of live sand.
3. Basement sump. 125g tank split in half. One side is a refugium with 8" of SD sand and the other side is the sump. Just setting this up now. I will add two LOA 65 watt power compacts and add macro algae to the refugium soon.
4. Two Iwaki MD-55 return pumps. Each supplying a 3/4" Sea Swirl.
5. Red Sea Berlin HO skimmer powered by a Sen 900 pump. I may upgrade this later, I'm still undecided about it.
6. Lighting is the only thing that I haven't bought yet. I am planning on 3 x 400 watt MH with Iwaski 6500k bulbs, supplemented by 2 x 160 watt actnic.
The tank has been set up for 13 months so far. I am actually moving it this weekend
. I don't have much in it yet because I want to take it slow, just some softies, a pair of False Perc's, and clean up crew. Once the move is complete, I will buy my lighting and start adding more to it.
HTH,
Frank
1. 160lbs. of LR, actually going to move about 40lbs. of that to the refugium. I don't like the look of too much LR in the tank.
2. DSB ~5" consisting of 250lbs. of Southdown and 20lbs. of live sand.
3. Basement sump. 125g tank split in half. One side is a refugium with 8" of SD sand and the other side is the sump. Just setting this up now. I will add two LOA 65 watt power compacts and add macro algae to the refugium soon.
4. Two Iwaki MD-55 return pumps. Each supplying a 3/4" Sea Swirl.
5. Red Sea Berlin HO skimmer powered by a Sen 900 pump. I may upgrade this later, I'm still undecided about it.
6. Lighting is the only thing that I haven't bought yet. I am planning on 3 x 400 watt MH with Iwaski 6500k bulbs, supplemented by 2 x 160 watt actnic.
The tank has been set up for 13 months so far. I am actually moving it this weekend
HTH,
Frank
i would defiinitely go with dual 400s over trip 250s..more wattage, less equip, less expense, less room taken up under tank
what else? oh yeah, less expense = more animals
place them 10-12" in from each side..trust me, it works great
i've never believed the one bulb for every 2' unless you only have a 4' tank then you probably do need 2
what else? oh yeah, less expense = more animals
place them 10-12" in from each side..trust me, it works great
i've never believed the one bulb for every 2' unless you only have a 4' tank then you probably do need 2
- Location
- Virginia
I used to have 3 175 Watt MH w/ 2 40 Watt Actinic Flourescent, now I have 6 96 Watt PC's (4 actinic).
I use an old oceanic trickle filter with no bioballs in it, a top fathom skimmer (probably underpowered, I just have it tapped onto my return), borrowed a chiller from a friend that turns on about once a week for 15 minutes or so, a wavemaker with two powerheads attached, and 2 returns from the sump (one is on an inverted spray bar that is under the rock and on the bottom). I have around an inch of large crushed coral mixed with aragonite and large chunks (probably around 150-200 lbs) of coral rock that I picked up in Hawaii about 10 years ago. I also run one of the returns through a uv sterilizer, but it hasn't had the bulb changed in about 2 years (I'm pretty lazy about that stuff). I use 2 kent dosers (gravity IV drip) for kalk and supplement with coral vite, iodine, strontium/molybdenum. I may retrofit my old MH's and add them on, but that's a project for another day. The overflow is a hang on siphon box.
The tank is about 7 or 8 years old, it's glass (don't remember which brand). Haven't had any problems with it in the past, hope not to have any problems with it in the future (except for making the mistake of scrubbing coralline algae off and other stuff on the glass - it's made tons of scratches, but you can only see them when it's empty or when it's overgrown with algae which will grow in the scratches.
The main problem I have is with the stand. It's a regular pine stand, but it's very difficult to work with because of the bracing/supports. It's not tall enough for my skimmer either, which is why it's underpowered. If I could drill another hole in my sump (which I can't get to unless I take the tank down) I would attach an independent pump to the skimmer, but I can't adjust flow to it with the height of the stand, so it remains on a lower flow stemmed off of my return.
[ August 22, 2001: Message edited by: davelin315 ]
I use an old oceanic trickle filter with no bioballs in it, a top fathom skimmer (probably underpowered, I just have it tapped onto my return), borrowed a chiller from a friend that turns on about once a week for 15 minutes or so, a wavemaker with two powerheads attached, and 2 returns from the sump (one is on an inverted spray bar that is under the rock and on the bottom). I have around an inch of large crushed coral mixed with aragonite and large chunks (probably around 150-200 lbs) of coral rock that I picked up in Hawaii about 10 years ago. I also run one of the returns through a uv sterilizer, but it hasn't had the bulb changed in about 2 years (I'm pretty lazy about that stuff). I use 2 kent dosers (gravity IV drip) for kalk and supplement with coral vite, iodine, strontium/molybdenum. I may retrofit my old MH's and add them on, but that's a project for another day. The overflow is a hang on siphon box.
The tank is about 7 or 8 years old, it's glass (don't remember which brand). Haven't had any problems with it in the past, hope not to have any problems with it in the future (except for making the mistake of scrubbing coralline algae off and other stuff on the glass - it's made tons of scratches, but you can only see them when it's empty or when it's overgrown with algae which will grow in the scratches.
The main problem I have is with the stand. It's a regular pine stand, but it's very difficult to work with because of the bracing/supports. It's not tall enough for my skimmer either, which is why it's underpowered. If I could drill another hole in my sump (which I can't get to unless I take the tank down) I would attach an independent pump to the skimmer, but I can't adjust flow to it with the height of the stand, so it remains on a lower flow stemmed off of my return.
[ August 22, 2001: Message edited by: davelin315 ]
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