New 180l Reef

[chrislove01]

Hey, Just starting set-up of a 180l Reef system and would like you thoughts.

I have 2 x Jewel Corner Filters, and a Red Sea Skimmer. 2 x Flouresants, one blue one white.(30W) 3" sand bed, Is that suitable lighting, I'm wanna keep leathers, bubbles etc.

Just wondering a few things, I would like to Cycle the system with a few Damsels, how long would the tank take to cycle using this method? I don't think these would be permenent members, probabley trade them for a Percula Clown and a watchman Gobie once the Tank is Cycled and the Live rock is in. How many fish do you think the tank will handle, I will have as much live rock as I can afford and the Filters/Skimmers will be on 24hrs.

I was also wondering if anyone has had success keeping Dwarf Lions with Shrimps, crabs etc? I thought maybe if it was introduced when very small, and after all the Crustations are accustomed.

Any help will be apreciated.

Chris

[Flame*Angel]

You really should consider cycling the tank with a dead shrimp - much more humane than putting the damsels through it and just as effective. There's lots of info about it on this board.

[chrislove01]

Flame Angel

What about if i put a loada sand in from an allready established setup. My LFS are quite happy to give me some.

Any Thoughts

Chris

[Doug1]

Using Live Rock and sand will establish the nitrogen cycle in the tank with out subjecting damsels to the chemical hell involved. If I am reading this correctly its a 180 liter tank roughly 55gallon? The lighting you have is fine for a fish only tank but woefully inadequate for even "lowlight" coral. Better bet would be power compact or VHO. Since the 30 no output lights fit you could go with 4x95 PC or 4x95 vho powered by Icecap Ballast(my preference) If money is an issue check out http://www.ahsupply.com for reasonable pc kits.

[chrislove01]

Ideally I would like that lighting, but I have limited space, limited cash, and I'm still at home and the Electric bill would go sky high. I think I need to stick to floresants, how about 4 tubes, 2 blue 2 white, is this more on the right lines? Is there a design about for this sort of thing? My hood is about 36" x 15". If not can they be purchased?

Chris

[Bubafat]

Just wondering, where are you from chris?

I am assuming that your tank is a 58gallon as it is 36" long, if you have no rockwork and expect to keep corals you are gonna need a heck of a lot more light then that. If you have a good rock structure, you probably could get away with it IF you put the corals like 2 or 3 inches from the water surface.

Your gonna be paying a LOT more money in dead corals if you go cheap, then you would if you bought a decent lighting system.
Buba

[Tadashi]

I just cycled my tank with LR and LS (http://www.geocities.com/ktchinn/curing_live_rock.html) instead of fish or dead shrimp. It will cycle anyway when you add the rock so you might as well do it once.

I have two 250-watt MH and two 110-watt VHOs above my tank. Even though I have 12000K bulbs my corals just do not seem to look as nice as when they were under the VHO, but I love the shimmer of MH. If you stick with NO then at least get 4 bulbs. This would give you about 120-watts. Bubble corals should be OK, not sure about leathers. Mushrooms no problem.

The more fish the more live rock you may want for filtration and ensure you get a good skimmer (not familiar with the one you mentioned) since it seems you want to keep more fish than most reef keepers. I have about 120 lbs in my 55-gal (208 L). I am in the same boat even though I only have three small fish I plan to get another four slowly (to ensure my system can handle it).

If you have access to a wood shop (high school, college, arts & craft center) you can make your own hood. then you can get any lights you want. Just do not make the mistake I did and get NO, PC, VHO, and MH. Stick with the lights you have and save your money for VHOs at least if not MH. I am not sure about the cost of electricity around your area but it costs me about $12 a month to run my system (pumps, heater, and lights).

[Edited by Tadashi on 12-15-2000 at 10:47 PM]

[chrislove01]

I've been looking around, and think I will get 4 30Watt tubes, thats the best I can do I think.

I didn't think I was looking at keeping 2 many fish, I was thinking a Maroon Clown, Gobie and some thing else, is this too much?

I'm in the UK.

Chris