Starting again: Slowly this time

W

woodymdt

Good evening everyone!

Thanks for the warm welcome in the other area of the forum…now down to the nitty gritty: a little past history first.

I started my SW adventure with a 40 gallon tank, had it looking pretty nice in our bedroom, then for some reason moved everything into a 55 gallon tank, and into the living room. Once
the 55 gallon tank was moved into the den, it just went to crap!
I gave a couple of reasons,

1. I think I became a little lazy in my husbandry, and
2. The tank just took on an unsightly look, which was affected by and led to #1.
3. I can't explain but something about moving it from the bedroom to the den just made things go haywire fast, and I couldn't combat it.

I tore the tank down, took the remnants to an aquariast store where the guys I've come to trust were happy to assist and take back the LR, fish, snails, etc. that were in the tank, and found good homes for them.

So here I am with a 55 gallon tank sitting empty in the shed. Powerheads, HOB filters, a Prism skimmer all sitting in boxes doing nothing.

My desire right now is to start over with the 55; again in the bedroom where it seemed we had the best success with the tank prior. I think this time I want to go a lot slower than I did before, and this time I want to build a sump/fuge area underneath the tank cabinet for a better chance at long term success with the tank.

So that’s where we are right now, and we hope to be able to glean some more knowledge and inspiration from you in the near future.

A goal right now is to start this probably the middle of January, as I want to get the Christmas season through before starting anything, which will give me a little more time to assemble anything else that I need, and to read up and find out things that I messed up on before.

So if anyone has any questions, advice, suggestions, etc. I will certainly read up on them and answer any questions that might assist, I'd be happy to entertain them in this thread.

Here is what I have in my possession as far as tanks, equipment, etc.

3 ten gallon glass aquariums
1 20 gallon long glass aquarium
1 29 gallon tall hex tank
1 40 gallon long glass tank - currently a freshwater tank
1 55 gallon glass stock tank

All tanks are non drilled

2 - Emporer 400 biowheel filters
1 - Auqatech 30/60 large filter
Penguin mini biowheel filter
Penguin 195 biowheel filter
One Aqua Tech filter that was DIY’ed into a mini fuge/sump HOB

2 175 gph powerheads
1 Maxi Jet 1200 - 350 gph? powerhead
1 titanium heater
1 Prizm 125 gallon skimmer


coralife 4x96w lighting system
Satellite 2x96w lighting system

I think I've remembered everything...going off memory.

As I mentioned earlier, the 55 we'll probably try to setup in 2006, probably March-May time frame. In the mean time, what I'd like to do is set up two ten gallon tanks. One at home so we can watch the cool stuff grow and live, and one at the office, so I can do the same while at work.

I know the ten gallon tanks would need better lighting. I have one hood that has 2-20w 6,500k PC screw in bulbs, which would give me 40 watts, thinking that might be enough for some low light stuff like mushrooms perhaps? But I'm looking at a 20" 2x48w system that will give off 96 total watts, with some actinic light in it as well.

So there you have it, in a nutshell....can anyone help???
 
Heres what I'd do. Find a local woodshop or carpenter and get him to build you a nice canopy for your 55 and persue dual 175 watt halides and some type of acentic supplement (I'd reccomend t-5s). Sump and fuge area great additions, and I'd highly reccomend them. I'd use the 20 long you have, and check out some of the sump plans on marc's site www.melevsreef.com and do something similar on the 20 long or 29 gallon. Next I'd kick up your flow another notch with either a Sieo and your current maxijet, or 4 maxijets on a wave maker. Lastly, you definatly need to improve your protien skimming, and with the addition of a sump your options are greatly expanded. I'd reccomend the ASM G1, Euroreefs, AquaC EVs, MyReefCreations MR-1, or the super expencive deltecs. They are definatly worth your cash. I hope I covered everything...
 
Thanks ragged. I'm not sure the budget will allow me to invest in MH lighting, but maybe I can rework some things and see.

As far as the canopy, I'll just build one myself. I've seen a number of nice ones and I'm confident I can make one that will fit over the 55 and look nice as well.
 
Well, I think we're going to speed up the 10 gallon setup just a tad.
We're going to go to an LFS locally who we've dealt with in the past. One of the guys called and said he got a new shipment of LR that is very pretty, with all kinds of formations and peaks...he wants us to take a look at.

So who knows., we just might have 10-15lbs of it in a 10 gallon Saturday evening...lol
 
If you can't afford the metal halide, I'd go the T-5 Route, I'm a little hesitant to suggest it since it usually brings an argument, but check out the 4 54 watt bulb fixture of www.reefgeek.com and this thread on reefcentral.com to see the benifits http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=584486
Its what I run on my 58, well i run the 4*39 watt system
 
@raggedfinfirefish wrote:
If you can't afford the metal halide said:
Ok, A gazed at reefgeek.com a bit. Are they running T-5's WITH PC bulbs as well?
Or do the T-5's run on their own? I saw the bulbs, do T-5's come in an enclosed hood? Or do you buy the bulbs and the reflectors and build casings for them?

I would definitely want to see them running on a tank in person before I went any further thinking about that expensive of an upgrade though.
Click to expand...
 
the TEK hoods are either put on the tank with legs, or hung from the celing while the retros can be mounted in a canopy. They have increidibly little heat and need to be replaced every year and a half, i've had mine going for a year and every one is still looking great!
 
they are soly t-5s by the way, and this is a pretty cheap alternitive after considering energy consumption, bulb replacement and cooling... heres the fixture i'd think you'd want....

http://www.reefgeek.com/products/categories/lighting/104192.html
 
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