Slight change of plans on getting the 75g

J

JumboAg99

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[OK... I lied. :D

When it came time to write the check today, I changed my mind on getting the 75 gallon Oceanic RR.

After looking at the total cost of everything, I went ahead and jumped up to the 90g. :eyebrows: (Same LxW footprint, so the stand was the same.) Went from 21" to 25" on the height.

So... time to start thinking about exactly how to set it up. If you think I was asking alot of questions before, You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet!!!!

Let's start off with one that will surely start a holy war amongst those that have been doing this for years:

Substrate - What do you recommend?

I want to go with sand. Maybe 2"-3" or so, but wanted to hear my options.]
 
[Im not a big fan of DSB's, so I went with a 1" deco bed for looks in my new tank.

There are good arguments on both sides of the DSB fence, ultimately its just a choice you have to make.]
 
[There's obviously large variations in what people think about this subject, and mostly they all have some merit. Having had tanks with no sand, 1" of sand, and tanks with dsb's, here's my input.

If you are planning on using a large sump/refugium, personally, I'd run a dsb in them. Now it really should be as large as you can make it, but the advantage I think is that you can derive the benefits of a DSB, but every couple of years, it'll be easy to take offline and recharge with new sand, hopefully preventing the old tank syndrome prevalent in more established systems. Meanwhile, your tank keeps chuggin along.

Doing it this way, if you want to use 1"-2" for appearance sake, great. If you like barebottom, great. You can do that part how you want, and still derive the benefit of using a dsb on your system. I've not actually done it this way, but having given it some thought, when I set up my next tank, it's how I plan to do it. :)]
 
[I'm not leaning towards a DSB. Read of too many people complaining about them.

I'm probably going with 2 inches or so for asthetics. Want the sand high enough to slightly clear the molding on the tank.]
 
[Hmmm for what it is worth, I had a 4-5 inch sandbed on my 90 gallon for 3.5 years. I had to tear the tank down 3 weeks ago but I am resetting it up here at the store soon. I think people can testify I had great coral growth and fish growth. How much I can thank the DSB for that I dont know.

BUT I only ran a crappy prizm skimmer, had plenty of circulation so I think the DSB and rock made a big difference. Acroporas and other SPS did great. I do think the most important thing with a DSB is plenty of live organisms in it. I had Nassarius snails, ceriths, conches, cucumbers lots of copo and amphipods, and lots of worms. I also made sure to keep the sandbed fed to some degree. Oh yeah, I NEVER mixed the sandbed up, some people say do that but I think it does more harm then good.

Anywho, I think Im going to try for a 5-6 inch sandbed this time around.]
 
[If your going to do LPS and softies mixed 4 110 watt VHO's would be great. You can even do a Few Montipora Species, These are the easier of the SPS grouping of corals. Acroporas can survive under VHO's but more than likey will brown out and loose coloration over time.....If you are planning on trying Acroporas down the road Id suggest a dual 175 MH with 2 VHO's ... If not.. stick with 4 VHO's and use URI Bulbs.....

I personally have only a 1-2 inch deep sand/miricle mud substrate in my refugium . Skimmerless tank with all SPS, Semi Heavy fish load as well.....

Running nicely

Nathan]
 
[Nathan,
For what it's worth, my "plan" (carved in stone, just like buying the 75g was :D ) is to use 2 175W MH's and a couple of T5's or VHO's, but that's still up in the air.

It's gonna be a long and expensiv e fall.

Can I sue all of you for getting me addicted to this hobby?]
 
[My 55 gal had the 4" Dsb and it just looks horrible when the green/red algae get down deep in the sand on the front pane. On my 100 went with the 2" deco sand bed because I just didnt want to lose the 2" of growth space. I have 4" in my 10 gal fuge are in my sump and hopefully this will harbor enough pods/bacteria to support my tank. So far so good.
Youll not be sorry you went with the 90 gal! More is always better. LOL my 100 is already looking smaller and smaller every day!!


EDIT: I saw a pair of 175's on RC yesterday for $175 shipped.Theres great deals to be had thats for sure.If you do get 175's I have 2 each brand new XM20k's that you can use to see what color youd like.Im diggin the Hamilton 14's , after a week they went from xm20K Blue to between 10K and 20 , a very nice color.]



Edited By Maldivan on 1096493240
 
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