New Reef

[sumpfinfishe]

Newguy,
That's my purpletip bottlebrush acro. It took awhile to branch as it formed a really heavy base, now it's branching out like crazy as you can see by all the new growth white tips.

[Ryan]

Well i was going to do an over flow box in the left corner and just use gravity to feed it to my sump. From the sump i will pump via the flow thing you showed me and put in 1 or 2 other smaller powerheads. I have also decided to go with the 3 foot 50 gallon tank. 36*18*18 or a 48 inch model not sure what sizes yet we will see.

[danny zubot]

Thats a pretty cool manifold, I should design a triangular one for my corner tank! Also, I'd like to second the notion about not getting a Seaclone, they suck!

[Ryan]

How did u rig it up wiht the SCWD so only half would fire. It is a close loop. You must have bloocked half odf it off them eh?

[mr_alberta]

I just replaced the PVC part where the pump outputs into the manifold with the SCWD. Then since all water passes through the SCWD, it will only fire 1/2 of the manifold at a time.

[Ryan]

Ya but the manifold is a loopd so did just one nozzle at a time fire as it reached it? I mean wouldnt the water eventually work its way all the way around?

[MCC]

yeah....2X55watts...is not enough light...hammars and frogspawns might require more light..and later on u will see something u like..but realized it requires more light...

i have a 33gallon reef tank also...which you are planning too...i put a metal hailde on it with two atinics....gives me 235 watts....i can grow anythig in there...

and in my opinon....dependin on ur rock structure....try to build wif smaller rocks...i made a mistake on pickin out the big pieces..and it got stuff up quickly..and i had to remove some of them to make room for more corals...i have stuff in 20 pieces of corals in there.with 5 fish....it si pretty filled up....so if u plan on more corals..maybe u should consider a 48/50 gallon 4ft long.....up to u...jsut an idea wat and how much things u can put in a 33 gallon from expereicne..

as for my skimmer..i just use a seaclone 100 and a fluval 204...water circulation is by a maxijet 500

good luck....have fun......33 gallon is a nice beginingn reef size...easy to maintain...and not too much to build up to make it look beautiful

[sumpfinfishe]

MCC:

yeah....2X55watts...is not enough light...hammars and frogspawns might require more light..and later on u will see something u like..

Well I hate to burst ones bubble here, there's a lot of belief out there that SPS and LPS will only live and grow under MH lighting.
For larger and deeper tanks this does hold truth, however for a 33gl reef I am 100% positive that you would be able to keep almost anything under HO T5's or PC's.
A tank of this length and depth would reguire no more than HO T5's in my opinion. My tank has a 33 footprint and all I have is normal output tubes-yes a whopping 90watts=3 per gallon. By the time you add sand and rockwork, one should have more than enough areas to keep softies, LPS, and yes even SPS

For the last three years I have fragged my Frogspawn and Hammer corals numerous times and have probably sold or traded around 70-80 frags just of these two corals. Below are to images, the first taken in July when I fragged the mother colony, the second in November. After only four months the mother colony had produced more crowns and full extension was back

As for the MH issue, I'm not saying that they are not brilliant lights, because if my tank was 6" deeper and 3ft longer then I would be running MH without a doubt. I'm simply stating that for a 33gl they might be a bit overkill. When you decide to upgade to a larger tank, chances are you wouldn't use a single MH fixture and the system may be outdated by then, where as if you used T5's or PC's now- you could use them again for your actinic spectrum later. JMO

[MitchM]

Originally Posted by sumpfinfishe

...
For larger and deeper tanks this does hold truth, however for a 33gl reef I am 100% positive that you would be able to keep almost anything under HO T5's or PC's.
A tank of this length and depth would reguire no more than HO T5's in my opinion. My tank has a 33 footprint and all I have is normal output tubes-yes a whopping 90watts=3 per gallon. By the time you add sand and rockwork, one should have more than enough areas to keep softies, LPS, and yes even SPS

I agree. MH should be used for punching through the water of deeper tanks, but T-5's are adequate to keep SPS in shallower ones.
Aqualine (makers of the Aquaspacelight) has now come out with an all T-5 light fixture. I think Wai's has them in stock now here in Calgary.

Mitch

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by sumpfinfishe

however for a 33gl reef I am 100% positive that you would be able to keep almost anything under HO T5's or PC's.
A tank of this length and depth would reguire no more than HO T5's in my opinion. My tank has a 33 footprint and all I have is normal output tubes-yes a whopping 90watts=3 per gallon. By the time you add sand and rockwork, one should have more than enough areas to keep softies, LPS, and yes even SPS

I'll agree that PC's will keep pretty much any LPS and softies in a 33, but you will not get coloration in SPS unless they are kept higher up. a 33 is 18" deep (which is what my 94 was when you included the sand bed originally and stuff at about the 8 to 12" dept grew very slowly and was unexciting for color. when I went to MH that all changed growth went through the roof and color changed dramatical. SO I can say you can keep SPS under less than ideal conditions and you can ever Use NO if you keep them about 2" below the water surface (I think that is what yours are?) but you are not providing them the best conditions in your power.

Ryan, Rich's tank is an exception to the rule and is deceiving because of the placement of his corals, for the most part if you can afford MH do it, if you can't go VHO or PC.. If you want to try T5's go ahead but they are still new and a few tests I have seen show them to be over hyped. In an 18" tank you should have enuf light to keep anything alive, the only difference will be growth rate and coloration, but slow growth isn't a bad thing in all situations.

Oh, by the way I am going to shoot the next person that useses the watts/gal thing.. it is useless and doesn't mean a darn thing. say I got a 90 watt light on a tank that is 10 gal but only 5" high and I have a tank that is 10 gal but is 36" tall. is this 90 watts of light having the same effect at the bottom of these two tanks? nope but they are both 9 watts per gal.

Steve