sombreroisland Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Hi guys, After spending days of reading and researching, I guess I am finally going for an SPS tank. Been diving for about 6 years now and the reefs that I've seen here in the Philippines are simply amazing. I thought I'd bring some of the ocean into my house this time. I was also inspired by a friend of mine that built a 1000gallon cube tank keeping LPS and fish. I am planning on using a custom 50 gallon tank (30 x 20 x 15) but I intend to use 30gallons of that only for the main area and the 20gallons will be further segrated with an in tank fuge and a skimmer section. 1. Is 15in a good height to optimize coral growth? If I adjusted my tank height to 18, would it still be ok? 2. I have been reading a lot on regarding lighting...I've currently a couple of options, which do you think would be the best option: A. 250w MH 10k B. 250w MH 6,500k C. 150w MH 6.5k + 70w MH 10k (is C. a good option or it doesn't really matter?) Since blue light isn't really a necessary part of coral growth, I was planning of just using a couple of blue 15w PCs to give the tank some blue color... Was planning also of bringing them about 9in from the top of the tank. I've seen in several articles that 6,500 may offer the best amount of UV-A and intensity but I am not sure if 10k or 6.5k is the way to go. Planning of going Bare Bottom as well. Not planning of using starboard as I don't think it is readily available here and just intend to cover the bottom with an acrylic sheet to prevent the glass from breaking in case some rocks fall. I'll just look for a white reflective material to be placed on the table top to keep the reflective surface till coraline over takes the bottom. Further, I was thinking of putting about 4 powerheads (200gph capacity each) --placing 2 phs on each opposite end of the tank. I plan to keep only 2 running at any given point in time alternating each running pair with the other every 6 hours to keep the current variable. I am also in the middle of planning a DIY single pass Calcium Reactor for the setup. 3. Aside from the fuge and skimmer, would I need any other form of filtration? 4. I don't intend to keep a lot of wild life but maybe just a couple of anthias and a clean up crew of snails (any other ideas on other good clean up crew members?) What do you guys think? thanks, sombreroisland Link to comment
DarkXerox Posted December 14, 2004 Share Posted December 14, 2004 I would go with the 10k bulb, 6,500k is a little too yellow for my tastes. If you are going to run 4 powerheads, I would seriously consider getting a wavemaker to control them. Since it is going to be 30 gallons of viable space, I think 3 powerheads are plenty. The tank might be a little small for anthias since they like a lot of swimming area. I would say 50-75gal minimum for them since you need a group of at least 2. Astreas would work well for algae control as well. As for extra filtration, activated carbon never hurts, and polyfilter may help keep the water clearer. If you have the money, I say go for a PC/MH/moonlight combo so you can get a nice dusk/dawn cycle going. Good luck! Link to comment
sombreroisland Posted December 14, 2004 Author Share Posted December 14, 2004 Thanks for the reply DarkXerox, I wanted to ask though...Do you think the in-tank fuge is an ok idea? I haven't seen anyone turn a 50 with it... The only reason I really considered doing 6,500 MH was bec I read it was the best that offered growth for the corals. I suppose 10k should be fine then...I'll try to do some more research regarding moonlights and actinics... I choose to do 4 200gph ph's was because I intended to keep only two running at any given point in time. maybe I should see the plans of a DIY wavemaker... I've seen some tanks offering about 50x circulation. Given that I have a 30g with 2 ph's running = 400gph per hour...that's about just 13x circulation...do you think that's still too much? Again...main interests are acros...just in case you missed it...Do you think my 4 ph would still be too much? thanks, sombrero Link to comment
reef hugger Posted December 14, 2004 Share Posted December 14, 2004 Your powerhead arrangement should be ok. 2 on / 2 off at a time. A wavemaker would be better but, just having an alternating current is better than not having one. I would consider a more frequent alternating with the powerheads though. About the lighting, I would go with the 10K and suppliment it with actinics. The 6500K would need to have some actinics also. The bulb is a very green/yellow light that most people don't like the looks of. It will grow corals better than the 10K but, its just not as aesthetically pleasing as the 10K. Corals DO require blue light, the chlorophyll that resides in the zooxanthella(sp?) use light in the blue spectrum(~420nm) and the red spectrum(~650-680nm). The 6500K produces a large amount of blue light but it is washed out by the other colors(green,yellow,orange,red) of light. The 10K produces a large amount of blue light also but, the other colors outputs are reduced compared to the 6500K. So the bulb has a bluer look to it. Link to comment
sombreroisland Posted December 14, 2004 Author Share Posted December 14, 2004 Hi JoshnEmily, How frequent is frequent? That I am curious about...Sorry, am not too familiar with a wavemaker, actually am trying to learn the schematics of making one though... Regarding the light, I came across this article and had the feeling that the blue wasn't as important but I reread it and it did recommend some actinics which I guess I just dismissed and had misread... I think the link below is good reading though: http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/l_ho_051197.html this article led me to think that I could opt for running a 6500 along... I guess I shall get a 250w 10k MH + some actinics for my lighting then...how much actinic watts would you recommend for my tank size? thanks, sombrero Link to comment
DarkXerox Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Ah I didn't read the whole in tank fuge thing. I cant say that I have seen this done before, however you could make it pretty cool if you get some more delicate fish like seahorses or pipefish in there. Then having the whole "splitscreen" effect would be extremely unique. If you can manage to get this to work (I would say use a black baffle so the fish dont go nuts when they see food on the other side), then I say go for it. Plumbing this will be really interesting though and I think that you really should plan that part out before you start. Wavemakers are an awesome investment IMO since you can set wave cycles that affect each powerhead by time and strength. Plus at night, most have light sensors which turn down the flow, to create more gentle currents. For lighting, I think that if you can get a hood with built in actinics, that would be best. Something around 2x55W is more than enough. People get away with just the 10k MH pendant on tanks, so the actinics just help. Link to comment
sombreroisland Posted December 25, 2004 Author Share Posted December 25, 2004 Hey Darkxerox, Thanks for the reply...Am trying to learn more about my setup initially before I get into it. Am planning on doing 36x24x20 (lxwxh) tank where the fuge will take up 12 of the 36 inches of length. I guess the split screen will depend on the positioning of the tank. Honestly was planning of keeping the fuge part at the back of the tank and not facing the front. Will keep you guys posted on any developments! Thanks, sombreroisland Link to comment
Smokin-Reefer Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 get some VHO actinics, anything else will be drowned out by that mini-sun under the hood! Link to comment
speakerguy Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 24" Maristar - 250w HQI w/ 2xT5 bulbs. About $500. Link to comment
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