new here!

[chicki]

Hi everyone, I'm new here. This looks like a really great board! I'm going to tell you all what I'm thinking of getting and maybe you can tell me what you think, or what you'd change??
180-220 gal FOWLR -pretty much, but with a few sps, mushrooms etc. (I'm going to put my 20 gal reef into it and keep my 20 gal for a quant.tk.)
I going to have 3" of DSB (argonite)
100 lbs or so of LR
Big protein skimmer
sump and refugium
25 w UV unit
and now I need help with the lights. What do you all suggest. The thing to keep in mind is that I'm not going to have stony corals or clams etc. (we're a older couple and travel a bit and don't want to have to deal with that type of care)
thank you so much and have a great day!

[Breef]

I think that VHO's with icecap ballasts would probably give you all the light you would want.

[simonh]

Moved to General Forum for more replies...

[Fasciatus]

A few things occurred to me... one is that SPS isn't the best starter coral, and if you're not keeping clams or anything fancy like that, you might consider the easier lighting requirements of other corals. I work and travel a lot, so I understand that certain animals are easier and certain animals consume a lot of time. I try to avoid the latter!

Here's a GREAT book to read on this subject, while still in the planning stages:

Aquarium Corals : Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History -- by Eric H. Borneman, et al; Hardcover
Amazon Price: $27.96

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1890087475/qid=1012916042/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_27_1/103-8056892-1028643

The sand bed could stand to be a bit deeper, maybe 5 or 6 inches... the rock not so important except for aesthetics. Arrange for good circulation of course, try to eliminate dead spots. Here's the best article so far that I've found:

http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm

What are you using for sand? Can you get South Down (pictured below) in your area? Tha has a very good range of particle sizes for reef aquaria.

Finally, the refugium is a great idea. Growing algae to export nutrients is a great way to avoid other semi-closed-system problems later.

Hope this helps...

[chicki]

thanks you guys! First of all I have Bornemans book and many others. I have now a 20 gal (with sps,sun coral etc.) which I'm going to move to the big tank and use this one as a quarant.tk. When you say ice caps with VHO - I understand that the ballasts are the ice cap make..right? what watt of VHO do I use?
I've never heard of southdown, I live in Alberta. I can do a 5-6 " bed of aragonite. Not sure of the brand that they sell here.
Thanks so much for your help.

[mrbast74]

On the sand bed thing, I think the main thing to consider is that the sand be mostly made up of sugar sized grain, whether it is aragonite or silica based sand is always up for debate but I think the key is the grain sizes.

By the sound of it Southdown is pretty hard to find in Canada.

[Bocaswim]

I'll try to help with the wattage question, although I am fairly new myself. I have a 220 7 ft tank with Icecap VHO. The wattage will vary based on bulb length and total # of bulbs. For example:
6' bulbs are 160 watts.
4' bulbs are 110 watts.

Icecap 660 can support up to 16' of total length(or about that)
So for a 6' tank you will have 320 watts with one 660 ballast if you use 6'bulbs. Or 440 watts if you use 4' bulbs. I am not sure if there is also a 5'bulb or what the wattage is but you could have three of those per 660 ballast.

It sounded much clearer in my head. Hope this helps.

[Circa]

Chicki what part of Alberta are you in? I am from just outside of Edmonton...

[SeaMac]

If you plan on keeping your current SPS for the long-term and think that there might be a possibility that you will want more in the future, you should probably consider getting metal halide (MH) lights now. Then your options will be totally (mostly) open and you won't have shut yourself out of anything. ;)

I personally have 440 watts of VHO on my tank but I don't keep any SPS...only LPS and softies. The VHOs are bright but still don't come close to approximating the sun. Plus with the MH lighting you'll get the beautiful "glitter line" look! :D

Chris

[chicki]

I'm just outside the city of Ed. too! right by ellerslie. Which side are you on and what do you have for a tank??

[cal3v]

Chicki,also as another suggestion you may want a dsb about 5"-6" as it will be much more effective. I would also recommend Mh for sps, heck, I would go for MH in a tank that size no matter what. You will have way more options, just as seamac said.

[Breef]

Chicki,let me clarify,or else get clear something before we proceed. You said that you were not going to have any stonies,but then you said that you already have some sps. Actually sps or in other words Small Polyp Scerelearial<[spelling],they are stony coral and build their hard skeletons up with calcium,they also need fairly high light,at least the biggest percentage of them need Metal Haliades. If it were me I wouldn't set up mine with metal haliades if I were going to be away for any extended ammounts of time,mainly because of the possibility of more problems developing from the heat. In addition to this I must add that there are some that don't swear to having to have M.H. for sps,but that is another story. :D

[chicki]

thanhks for the info!! what is the abbreviation for soft corals then? this is what I have now and thought they were soft. mushrooms, devils finger, xenia, finger leather and one stony a orange cup coral ( that gets fed everynight and doesn't need light) thanks again

[delock]

ICE CAP 5 foot bulbs are rated at 140 watts per bulb.


delock