Newbie curious about your inputs...

[afgoody]

Hello all,

I am very excited to have found this website - such a source of knowledge and discussion. Thank you in advance for your inputs.

About a year ago, I bought and read "The New Marine Aquarium" book and decided to keep some fresh tanks first to get the hang of something simpler and cheaper. Now I think I'm ready to take the plunge into saltwater... :lol:

My goals are mainly oriented toward a modest reef tank with some anemones, soft coral, and of course fish. I am military and reluctant to set up TOO much of an elaborate setup because of moving about every 3 years.

I am considering both a 55 and 75 gallon tank (price dependent) with the following potential equipment:

Aquarium: 55/75 All Glass Aquarium
Top: All Glass Top
Lighting: ? (Still extremely confused on what coral I can have with certain types of light vs. others...price is of course the limiting factor)...recommendations?
Salt: Crystal Sea
Sand: Mix of Estes Ultra Reef and Live Sand from an online dealer (ratio TBD)
Rock: ~44 lbs Fiji Pre-Cured Live Rock (most likely from Marine Depot)
Mechanical Filtration: 2 Biowheel 400's (is this overkill or necessary to supplement the biological filtration of the live sand?)
Protein Skimmer: Recommendations?
Test Kit: Recommendations?

Please let me know what you think and thank you again,
Adam

 

[bc-matty]

I am too curious about the lighting needs for corals. Curious should actually be more confused. There is Metal Halide lighting.. Very High Output and then more still. Is there a rule of thumb.. such as 175watts for soft corals ect at a depth of 18inch... and then it goes on then from there?

I myself have a 33gal.. 18 inch deep tank. Any ideas on how many watts for easy to care corals such as polyps and zoos.. the beginner stuff. And is it possible to have canopy lighting. Oh I should apologize as this isn't my thread to start to ask questions.. but what is the type of bulb used that makes the corals "glow" at night... is it just actinic bulbs? They sure do look cool in the dark glowing.

 

[bc-matty]

There is also Power Compact lighting... I am also very worried about heat. I don't have the space for a chiller... which heat system puts out the less heat? Also should the glass divider between the canopy and the tank be removed when using VHO, PC or MH lighting?

 

[hdtran]

For original poster: All my reading indicates that bio-wheels eventually wind up becoming nitrate sources.

I'd be concerned about moving every three years, as it can take a tank several months to "mature."

Re: lighting questions: Hottest to coolest (to the touch):

MH hotter than PC hotter than VHO. You can touch a VHO bulb. You can just touch a PC bulb. Don't even think about touching a MH bulb.

The 6000K, 10000K, etc. indicate the color of the light from the bulb. A 10000K (or actinic) will not look as bright to our eyes, but will throw out as many photons as the 6000K bulb (mainly because our eyes are not as sensitive to the blue spectrum of the 10000K bulb).

I won't touch W/gal (older books recommended 3-5 W/gallon, but what you want is W/gallon at depth).

 

[tenshi]

Dear AFGoody:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news to your plan, because you know your be moving every three years, I wouldn't suggest you getting any anemones. Anemones require a well estabilished tank, one thats been running nine months to a year. They are very fragil creatures that need a very stable enviroment. They are most diffenently not for begginers, although thats why alot of marine tanks get started. I know mine got started for that reason. I'm yet to get an anemone and I will probaly won't for a while longer, since I'll be moving in 9 months and will have to take down my tank. Also anemones require very high light source, softies don't. So if in the long run you want to keep anemones I would invest on a MH lighting system from the get go. For a 75 gallon, 2 175w MH with Florecent Actinic supplementation. I would suggest you do a little more research and readding on anemones so you save yourself some grief.

On live rock you have that you would only get 44 pounds. For a 75 gallon aquarium your going to need 75 - 110 pounds.

You'll need total 140 lbs. of reef substrate to make 4" DSB in typical 75 gallon tank. I would probably do 120 lbs of seafloor argonite and 20 lbs of live sand.

The Bioeheels are overkill.

For a 75 gallon tank I would use either a
EuroReef ES5-2 Protein Skimmer for $228.00 or a Remora Pro Hang-On for $226.95. There's cheaper skimmers out there, but you'll find that most everyone swears by these two brands.

On your salt, I personnally use Instant Ocean to keep my reef and you'll find that the majority of people do. Anyways, I believe its cheaper too.

I personaly use mostly Salifert Test Kits. I use to use Aquarium Systems, but I like Salifert's because you get more tests per dollar. You'll need an Ammonia, Calcium, KH/Alkalinity, Nitrite, Nitrate, Phosphate, and pH to start.

On my 75 gallon tank right now I have 260watts of PC. It works fine for softies. I wish I had 440 watts of VHO.

Well, I hope this is some help to you and by the way welcome to Reefs.org!!!

Tenshi

 

[Anonymous]

I'll agree with most of what's been said already. In reality, there's almost no difference in price between a 55 and a 75, so I'd definitely go with the 75. Before long you'd want that extra space anyway.

I'll also second the recommendation to stay away from anemones for now. Coming from 10+ years experience keeping anemones, they can be finicky at best. Some will be tough as nails, some will wither no matter what you do. It's only experience with the whole tank system that can mean the difference sometimes (sorry, that sounds very zen-like).

Also, if you're wanting to keep costs down, especially on lighting, that will push you away from anemones. Stores sell them in regular tanks usually, but oftentimes those anemones are bleached out and unhealthy. Nearly all species of anemones need extraordinarily intense lighting. In my current system, I'm running VHOs, and I have to keep my anemone within a couple inches of the water's surface. In my old tank, with MH, he could be a foot down and still get the light intensity he needed.