New to the list

[BCOrchidGuy]

Hi folks, I have just joined the list and have been reading through some of the posts. Seems like you folks know what you are talking about. I used to keep a reef tank but a problem with my landlord and some pesticides put a quick end to my coral, the fish followed quickly.

I have some spare tanks and was thinking of a larger set up but after seeing some of the pics here I am re thinking my options and am open to opinions and comments.

I have.... a 77 gallon, a 72 gallon, a 45, two 33s and a 27 long and a 20 gallon tank that I am not using. I am thinking the 45 or 33 would be good because I have light fixtures already, but I also have fixtures for the 4ft tanks.

For filters I have two Aquaclear 500s, two fluvels but I am not impressed with them to hard to get running and cleaned. I have a few power heads and heaters etc.....

I want a reef set up, and I intend to light with standard flourescents but include some actinic. Fish and shrimp would be also be kept in the tank.

Comments?.....

Thanks, Doug.

[MrConclusion]

If you follow general discussion on this board for a while, you'll get a good idea of what to do. I would suggest setting up a tank that is sized properly for you to afford to equip it with hardware and fill it with livestock. You can realistically figure in spending $100 per gallon by the time the tank is mature.

 

If using an old tank, make sure the seals are perfect and that the glass is in good cosmetic condition. For instance, why put $500-$800 into a 10-gallon nano project thats housed in an old nasty tank, when a brand new glass 10 gallon tank costs $8.99? The cost of the aquarium itself is insignificant, even with larger projects.

 

Sorry to sound discouraging, but you're going to be disappointed if you go with normal fluorescent lights; make no bones about it. You can do PC lights for a little extra money... and far better results. There are hundreds of lighting discussions on this board, and you won't find one that says "look at pictures of my beautiful tank which uses normal flourescent lighting!" It just isn't done. Yes, you can keep some mushrooms alive, but you WILL get bored with that.

 

Look at the photos of members reefs, and see what the beautiful tanks are built with.

 

The cost of good lights is nothing compared to the cost of the livestock you're going to eventually lose without it.

[BCOrchidGuy]

The tanks are all custom with heavy glass, I used to raise show Guppies and African Cichlids so I had the larger ones built extra sturdy. The Normal flourescents I use are 6500k with a cri of 88 they are a tri phosphour and put out 2200 lumens and get changed every 6 months, I had no trouble in the 45 gallon with leather coral, mushrooms and some other lovely corals, yes they were high in the water column but they grew fast. I used three daylight tubes and one actinic and had good coraline aglae growth and had to divide some of the corals every two months or so. The furthest away from the surface they were was probably 8 to 10 inches. I will be putting the tank(s) in my orchid room where I have a 400watt MH already but keeping the tank close enough to the MH would mean re organizing the whole area and that is alot of plants to move. I could always go with another MH but with either my 45 or 72 the tanks are only 18 inches deep, considering 2 inches of aragonite, 16 inches isn't alot of depth for the light to get to the bottom and I wouldn't want to burn anything, even a 175 MH would put out a ton of light.

I am not to worried about cost, Not that I have a ton of dispossible income but I am figuring on doing this slowly. The plan I have is to set up the tank with aragonite 2 inches at back sloped to 1 inch at the front, add the live rock and let the tank run for a while, 4 weeks or more. Then once I am happy with the paramaters I plan on adding a few fish and start with the soft coral. I don't have any need to completely decorate the tank with coral etc right away, so I figure it will take me 3 to 4 months before I am at the point where I'm happy with the tank as is.

 

Thanks for the comment though, it was very helpful.