80W NO T12 reef?...I must be crazy.

[Stab_Master_Arson]

Fakename, WIll do.

After talking to a few people I am going to take their suggestions and put in a sump and buy a better protein skimmer first. I know, I know...I am taking away from the budget..ness of the reef tank but the point is to test the lighting and not the other equipment.

I don't know if putting the corals high in the tank is cheating but that is what I plan.

I will probably have the whole set up created in the next couple months since I am now going to blow about 400 bucks...Hell, there is no such thing as "blown Money" when in comes to an aquarium...except on lighting IMHO....and on over priced live stock..(can I through in my props to J&L aquatics, the best Aquarium store I have ever been to with the most reasonable prices.)

I already had a psuedo-reef before but since then have been only really Fish, LR and inverts. I want to get the corals going again. Softy corals that is.

Thanks

[Stab_Master_Arson]

DanG.

Indeed, a ghetto tank. the perculas will have "dice games" every thursday and saturday.

[Stab_Master_Arson]

Invigor, T8's?

I heard of this over driving through ice caps etc but can these items you speak of be purchased from Canadian tire or from another budget store not meant for aquarists?

[Invigor]

hmm workhorse ballasts shouldn't be hard to find, but they're about $50 manufactured by "fulham". I've had best luck with philips daylight deluxe bulbs from home depot, they're about $5/bulb and 6500k they must shift colors when you crank em up cuz they get whiter. (I do however now run t5s and halides, but done on a ghetto budget and all DIY)

[AndyL]

Overdriving - pretty easy on T8/T12s... Take a 2x40 ballast, hook up so that both leads are powering one bulb. Its just that easy. (yes people do take a 4x40 ballast and drive one bulb with it...)

Do your reading on ODNO before you do it though. If you don't do it right, you could easily burn your house down.

Andy

[Saltysteve]

Ahhh, you're just mimicking the commercial pet stores

[AndyL]

LOL - no I used to run 4x20w t8 ballasts on a single bulb on a couple planted tanks... Works gooderly.

Andy