Thread: First tank
View Single Post
  #3  
Old 01-11-2008, 05:23 PM
Delphinus's Avatar
Delphinus Delphinus is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Calgary
Posts: 12,896
Delphinus has a spectacular aura aboutDelphinus has a spectacular aura aboutDelphinus has a spectacular aura about
Send a message via MSN to Delphinus
Default

Welcome to Canreef and welcome to the dark side (err.. the bright side??). Although I have 1 FW tank and wish I could do more, I keep finding ways to justify turning any new tank I get into a reef.

The lighting sounds not bad at all for a tank that size. It's a very good starting point anyhow - time will tell if you want more light down the road. But I did fine with 175's over many tanks. Because the tank is the same footprint as a 90g, but shallower, you may find that 175's will colour up corals just fine. It should be more than adequate to keep anything photosynthetic - the real question is whether things colour up for you or stay brownish - but the only way to tell is to try and see how it goes.

With 175's, your power bill and heat issues will be lower than with higher wattages.

You may want to explore replacing the NO fluorescents with T5 retrofits. It's something I would look into anyhow. Maybe not necessary for now if you're chomping at the bit to get started, but T5's have a better selection of lamps, and with the reflectors you'll be getting a HUGE improvement of light over the NO's (and will take up roughly the same amount of space as a T12 - well, I guess a little more - the reflectors are about 3"). But you may even find that you need only 1 pair of 48" T5 HO's to get the look you're looking for. So yeah not a "necessity" per se, but look into it at some point - I think you'll be happier with T5's.

As for the cycle after a move - well .. every tank move is different. Sometimes there's no noticeable cycle at all, sometimes the effects linger for weeks. There's really no hard and fast rules other than observe and test. It's possible that you may be able to start adding livestock within a week, but no guarantees.

Also, I'd ditch the Aquaclears and 404 and look into a skimmer. I guess there's no sump here - so either look at a hang-on version or maybe look into one day installing an overflow box and then you can use a sump (which will open up the possibilities for different skimmer models). The rock, skimmer, and adequate water movement are all the biofiltration you need (better, in fact, because aquaclears and fluvals can't reduce nitrate - in fact, they produce nitrate - but the algae and bacteria in the rock will consume nitrate an addition to the primary nitrogen cycling that they do).

Water movement is key, in fact, for a tank that size you may just be perfectly off with two Maxijet upgrades - these are the best $20 you'll ever spend: http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...ID=wp-mpsf1600

(Well, I guess it's more like $50 if you have to buy the magnet - I already had the magnets for my Maxijets - but still - buying the magnet and this upgrade kit together - you won't regret it.)

Anyhow hope I'm not overwhelming you with suggestions, but yeah, welcome to SW.
__________________
-- Tony
My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee!

Last edited by Delphinus; 01-11-2008 at 05:34 PM.
Reply With Quote