Marc

So as some of you might remember I've been trying to get together a saltwater tank for quite some time. Well, it's finally happening!

I'm setting up a 125 gallon which will at some point be a reef tank. Initially, though, it will only be live rock and fish. Now, I'm ordering 105lbs of live rock from LiveAquaria - it seems well priced compared to the low quality rock available near me (which is also twice as expensive even if shipping is taken into account), so it seems worth it. I figure I'll leave it more "open" for swimming room so I can fill in with "dead" rock available from the LFS if it doesn't look full enough. I'm also getting a bag of live sand and two bags of arag-alive, in an effort to shorten the cycle of the tank. I'll be building the sump from a 33 gallon tank, sectioning it off to allow for 2 small refugiums and plenty of space for water changes and equipment. I'm probably going with a pre-drilled if I can find a nice tank with the overflow in the corner, rather than situated in the middle (the tank is likely to be two sided). However, the biggest snag is lighting - most of the hoods I look at that have 600+ watts (which I'd need for 5wpg) are nearly $1,000. That is.... RIDICULOUS. I would sooner build it for $250 than spend that much, regardless.

I've picked out all of the equipment from Drs. Foster and Smith's website, and I've tried to save money but not buy poor quality, so I'm fairly confident in that area. If anyone has any ideas for the lighting, or suggestions - please let me know

On that note, I'll be sure to post some pictures of the process.. (if my camera comes back from the repair shop by then!)

agsansoo

What are the dimensions of your tank ?

Marc

It's something around 6x1.5' footprint, 2' high. Though I'm probably off a few inches somewhere. Should be a standard 125.

One side will be the "show" side, with the back really only for maintenance.

agsansoo

That's a long tank. Do you want to go with PC, T5 or MH lighting ?

Marc

I'd like to go with whatever ends up cheapest, I don't really have a preference. An extra $1000 for lights when I can get all of the equipment and live rock for that is just too much.

atmmachine816

I'm just thinking here, but for lights wouldn't it really depend on what type of corals you want down the road? If your wanting hard then MH or led's but if you want soft corals pc's should do or if you want something in between t5's? And it would be cheaper to built your own hood with fans inside to cool it down and but ballasts and bulbs wouldn't?

Jmarcus

What I use in my tank is T5s, all the people I know that use T5s are happy with them and say that do well with most corals, put out less heat, and the bulbs last longer. My tank is only a few mounths old and so far I have no complaints. GOOD LUCK!

Marc

Yeah... looking at the corals, and their light requirements, I've really gotta lean towards the metal halides. I'm a BIG fan of the stony corals, and I'd rather not have to place them all near the top or limit their light. I've looked into building a hood with them, too. The raw materials would cost nearly 2/3 the price of a pre-built hood, and that's excluding anything I forgot, all of the extra work, and the fact that none of it is going to be under as good of a warrantee, if any. So I'm going to go with a pre-built MH hood. It'll be worth the investment.

I did look at the T5's, though, and while they did get good reviews, I'm going to go with the halides - they won't limit me at what kinds of corals I might keep down the road.

Thanks for the help guys! I really appreciate it.

I've looked into the different macro algaes. Would getting them early "stunt" the cycle process? I'd like to get them in the refugium first thing to help prevent some die-off on the live rock, so I can get as much diversity as possible. LiveAquaria has Ulva Lettuce and Chaeto (and some admittedly cool Shaving Brush Plant, which would be in the display) for a good price. How many watts of light do they need?

atmmachine816

On the MH, I would just get the lights pre-built like you said and hang them from the ceiling like most come as or build a wood hood yourself, is that what you were planning on doing?

For the fuge, look in agansoo's thread on his refugium, I believe he uses a cp flourescent from home depot, nothing fancy.

Marc

Yes. I was going to mount them from the ceiling and build a small frame around it, which would match the wall and stand and prevent any jumpers. I'll probably stick a computer fan in the back side of the "frame".

Sounds like my little PC bulbs would do well. I'm probably going to put the algaes in a mesh bag and make something like a bio-wheel, so they spin and get good light all around. I'll just make it so the water has to cascade over the acrylic or glass paneling I section that part off with.

atmmachine816

To prevent jumpers from hitting the bulbs you can use egg crate. You may have to add more than one computer fan, maybe one pushing air in and one sucking are out all depending how much the MH heat up the water.

Not sure how well that would work, you could always try it with the algae.

agsansoo

Hey I like my metal halide fixture for the same reason you stated (SPS corals). Though I currently only have three LOL. My favorite is my two monte cap (Red Montipora Capricornus) frags . As for the macro algae, I use chaeto. Stuff grow like a weed. I throw away a small basketball size piece every three weeks. Yes I know I should donate it, but everyone around here seems to have a bigger tank then me .

armadillo

Good luck in your SW venture, Marc!

atmmachine816

What do you think of marcs idea on putting it on a bio-wheel type thing?

Marc

Yeah, I actually have some old SPS coral skeletons in my african cichlid tank. Love 'em! There is an aquarium society about an hour and a half drive away where I can definitely get some frags to start off with, once I'm confident in the stability of the tank. And there is a nice store where I'll buy most of my fish about 45 minutes away. I'm probably starting with some 3/4" yellowtail damsels from PetCO. They're $4, hardy, and VERY peaceful, by damselfish standards. And I'm getting the tank and equipment sometime within the next 2 weeks! Can't wait.

The chaeto will come in handy when I get my tang! Won't need to worry about getting seaweed with anything living on it or even spending the extra money on it.

Thanks everyone.

agsansoo

I really can't see any real benifit from such small refugiums, except in a small nano tanks. Though the bio-wheel would be a good idea for Red Gracilaria macro algae, due to it's need to tumble constantly. So long as the wheel spins slowly and there's room for growth in the bag.

armadillo

Actually, what is a refugium. I am guessing it's somethign to do with giving fish some kind of a refuge, and the one picture that I've seen was a tank within a tank, but the tank was not sealed off on the top. It had its own substrate. What's the point of them?

Marc

I'm not using a BIO-Wheel filter as a refugium, I'm going to bag the algae and set it up to spin LIKE a bio-wheel. I'd imagine it'd grow better and thereby filter better. I could just trim whatever is sticking out to give to my fish, too.
They'd be sectioned off in their own portion of the 33 gallon tank I'm using for the sump.

A refugium is basically an in-tank quarantine. Think of it like a VERY fancy net breeder. It can be useful for alot of things. I know people with Mandarins use them as a safe place for pods (little inverts that some Mandarins eat exclusively) to breed. Alot of people put them in their sumps since it's a very useful space - it's hidden from view (no big plastic box hanging off of the tank!) and easy to access.