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October 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Reef or FOWLR?
Hey everyone, I went down to my LFS and talked to the owner about reef tanks. They have a 24 gallon bio-cube full reef and it is SUPER awesome with neon corals and things. BUT, (And I agree with this) the owner was telling me that with coral tanks it is more about the coral; the fish are kind of just there, and that a common misconseption is that the reef tank will have schools of fish swimming through it like it does in the wild. I could go with the 24 gal. bio-cube (it comes with a metal halide light, $500 dollars for the kit). I love coral and wouldn't mind having just a coral tank with a dartfish and mabye a clown and an anenome pair. But I can also get a 43 gal. (MABYE a 55) with T-5's so I could get some softies as well as more active fishes.
Of course, I don't know what fish I could really get for a 55 but I know I could get a dwarf angel, some cardinals, a pair of clowns, and some gobies. I know I couldn't get an anenome because of the lighting issue, but that would be ok. I need your help guys, I like both fish and coral so I need to choose!
This is my first time with salt water tanks, but with help it should work out!
Thanks! | 
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October 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Depending on the fixture, T-5s can grow anything, even SPS corals (The stoney ones). I'm personally a reef guy myself, care more about the corals. I just find them more interesting. Its like a plant and animal combined, a fish is a fish is a fish. I find FOWLR tanks to be quite boring and will quickly pass them by when viewing them. A reef gives you that Alive feeling. The colors, the different textures, a couple fish darting around.
I'm not going to sit here and tell you a reef tank is easier, but if you do the right research you shouldn't have a problem. Some people migrate from FOWLR to Reefs, i jumped straight into reefs and love it. Its really up to you. Reefs tend to be more expensive, but you could easily do a budget reef and have the same end effect. Start with coral frags for $5-15 each and grow them up.
The cool thing about coral is i can basically farm it. Break or cut a piece off and it grows back, and i have that piece i broke off to sell or trade for other new corals. You won't make profit usually, but it can help add diversity to the tank as you acquire new corals through trades.
Heres my 10gal nano tank if you wanna scan through it.  My 10 gal Nano (lots of pics) | |
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October 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
|  WOW Slug!! That's awesome!!! Man I really want to go for corals now! So T-5 Can grow SPS? I always thought they had to be grown under a metal halide system. Could I grow LPS under a T-5? Would I just have to put the SPS and LPS at the top, with softies and mushrooms down in the mid sections? Could I get an anenome (not my main consern but hey, they are pretty cool)? So many questions! | |
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October 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| It really depends on how many bulbs are in the T5 fixture and the spectrum. Some T-5 fixtures can, some can't.
And yep you got it, the less light you have the more you want to adjust where in the tank each piece is placed. Gotta take into account some sting others too and the flow rates, but generally yes without good MH light you'd want to put the high light corals up top and work your way down.
I'm not to big on anemones. Most are very had to keep alive. The ones that are good for home aquariums move around a lot, you may not even see them because they get up in the rocks where they want. This could mean destroying or knocking over coral too. Some anemones like the carpet species get huge. Also, i've seen clownfish just as easily host a Hammer, Torch, or Frogspawn coral as they would an anemone. I've seen clowns host a fuzzy mushroom before. I think you should look into Torch Corals. Gives you the effect of an anemone...just no anemone and the clowns can still host it. | |
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October 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Wow Torch Coral looks shockingly like an anenome! I'll have to look into those.
I'm pretty sure the LFS here builds the T5 fixtures custom for the tank. I think he said it would have four bulbs, I forgot what spectrums though. I know for sure he said it'd have two anatic (spelling?) bulbs. What spectrum would I need for SPS, or could I even keep them with four bulbs? | |
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October 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| I would get the 55. You could keep a Kole tang in there. A pair of clowns, and whet ever schooling fish you want.
For the lights, you could start with softies. SOME SPS could live under there, but not all, but most will be better of with halides. You could always upgrade the lights later. | |
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October 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| This is my first SW. Actually I sort of started out with both fish and corals. Lost the fish to ICH, corals are doing great and now I'm waiting on an order for a Randalls Goby/Pistol Shrimp combo. | |
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October 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by ATP  I would get the 55. You could keep a Kole tang in there. A pair of clowns, and whet ever schooling fish you want.
For the lights, you could start with softies. SOME SPS could live under there, but not all, but most will be better of with halides. You could always upgrade the lights later. | That is a myth. These days SPS and clams that were usually only for MH tanks can be kept with T-5s assuming you have enough bulbs and a good spectrum. If i ever do a bigger reef, i'm going T-5. There are so many reports of better growth and better color with T-5 HO lamps. And they are cheaper to run then MH. Current T-5 users swear by it. T-5s are on par if not better then MH.
Just read for yourself, i think you will be surprised. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1657091
Some tank pics found throughout that thread that are running T-5s. These are not my pics, only pics found in the thread above to give some examples for those that do not want to click through pages and pages.   
This all T-5 tank won TOTM on Reef Central last July months ago. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-07/totm/index.php  | |
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October 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Slug That is a myth. These days SPS and clams that were usually only for MH tanks can be kept with T-5s assuming you have enough bulbs and a good spectrum. If i ever do a bigger reef, i'm going T-5. There are so many reports of better growth and better color with T-5 HO lamps. And they are cheaper to run then MH. Current T-5 users swear by it. T-5s are on par if not better then MH.
Just read for yourself, i think you will be surprised. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1657091
Some tank pics found throughout that thread that are running T-5s. These are not my pics, only pics found in the thread above to give some examples for those that do not want to click through pages and pages.
This all T-5 tank won TOTM on Reef Central last July months ago. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-07/totm/index.php | I believe that's true for some SPS. It all depends on the species. I've had SPS died under PC's and some died under halides. Some times if you have perfect water quality and perfect lights it's still won't be happy, but when you move it it'll be happy. It all depends on the coral. I have an ORA blue Mili that I have to place it directly under my halides for it to turn blue and I've had a valida died under halides at mid section of the tank. | |
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October 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Wow I didn't even realise how many people prefered T5s to MH!! I am convinced of the 43 (55 mabye?) gallon tank now. But just one last question, how many bulbs would I need to grow SPS in a 43/55 gallon tank? | |
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October 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Depends on the wattage. Also, look up on what species of SPS you want. Some requires different lights than others.Also metal Halides penetrate through the water better. Do not put SPS on the lower part of the tank if you don't have halides. (for most species). For most big SPS only tanks, halides are the way to go. Metal halides is like the closest thing to replicate the sun for an aquarium
Last edited by ATP; October 6th, 2009 at 09:00 PM.
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October 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by MizRamzi This is my first SW. Actually I sort of started out with both fish and corals. Lost the fish to ICH, corals are doing great and now I'm waiting on an order for a Randalls Goby/Pistol Shrimp combo. | nice tank | |
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October 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thesse are my tank under 2x 250 watts halides with 4 actinic VHO's http://www.barrierreefaquariums.com/....asp?idpage=23
The link
Scroll down until you see Reef of the month - OCT 2009
He uses halides. I've bought a lot of corals from him and he's corals are the best I've seen | |
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October 7th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Thanks everyone. I've made the desicion to go with T5 lighting (when I can afford it, lol). I am planning for a 55 gallon and I found the Nova Extreme T5 48". The review on Fish Lore says it is realy good and highly recomended. I did the math and if I calculated right the 432 watt lights work out to almost 8 watts per gallon! It's $450, but I'm sure I can save up for it. This would be fine for pretty much any coral right? 8 watts per gallon is great from what I understand. | |
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