Nc 12 Dx Start date 17/ 08/06 - First SW :D

[reefermike]

ok well cant do any setting up of tanks without an RO unit ... or even pumps.. Pumps come in on saturday. . i will probally go to big als tongiht and get 80 lbs of reef sand ... figure it should be enough. RO Unit will probally come off ebay and if i order tonight maybe it will be here by friday..most likely not. Just a little FYI ... im setting up 3 tanks at once... 270 gal 72 gal and my nano. By the way i created a way to use the stock pump and a mini powerhead together to get my 16X turnover... so 200 gph. Im trying to get picks of everything as i go but i cant seem to find my camera.. Cant go to far with out that. well i will keep everyone posted as this will proablyl turn into a progress log after a few weeks. :lol3: thats ok tho hahaha

 

[TimSchmidt]

Good luck! I'll tag along while all three come to life, sounds interesting. I'd love to see the logistics of this.

 

[reefman23]

WOW! Sounds like you have alot of work on your hands! I, too, look forward to seeing the three tanks come to be.

Keep us updated!

Jesse

 

[reefermike]

ok just a quick question. I looked at the bad of substrat i have and it is the 40 lb bag of carrib sea sea floor sand.. doesnt look like sand it liek 1 - 2 mil peices of crushed coral or argonite or something but is this what everyone uses or do they use liek sand sand the tiny litte fine grain stuff. Because i have seen regular crused coral and some of thos peices can be pretty big. So just checking before i use it up on my 270 gallon

 

[reefermike]

heres a pic instead

and a very close macro shot

and a pic of my 270

more pics to come sooooonnnnnn :maitre

 

[reefman23]

That's it! Special grade reef sand. Man, that 270 is tall!! It is going to be difficult to get light down to the bottom. If you wanted that tank to be a full reef, you would almost have to go with 400 watt MH's. Otherwise, 250 watters would allow to keep a variety of medium-light corals about 24" from the top. If im not mistaken, that tank looks like it is around 36" tall, right?

Jesse

 

[reefermike]

ok awesome i thought it wasnt.. i really like this type of substrate in all my tanks. yes the tank is 36 " tall and no it is not becoming a reef tank. i couldnt afford the equipment alone for a tank this size. No No this tank is going for my african cichlids for now.. but it will always be there incase i stike gold. It was a reef tank before i picked it up. Roughly how much of a sand bed should i be looking for? 2 - 3 inches? This is for my 72 gallon bow front which will be my reef and also my nano

By the way... the lighting for my 72 gallon. i have a choice between 2 hoods. One has 2 175 watt metal halide bulbs and 2 vho. the other is i think 2 175 hqi and duel power compacts. the first one is a big hood and th esecond a low profile one .. i havent seen the second one yet. but their both metal halide.. the only other thing whats the differance between 10 000k 15 000 k and 20 000k.. do they need different ballasts? becuase all the guy can get is 10 000k . he told me that you need a special ballast for the 20 000K bulbs. Plus i have a choice on my vhos. EIther 1 actinic 1 10 000k .. or 2 of each

 

[TimSchmidt]

I'm not a light expert but I would hazard a guess at the 15,000k MH and 2 VHO actinics. Might be bit blue though. Hopefully Jesse will correct me.

 

[reefermike]

well their going to be 10 000 k bulbs i woud really love the 20 000 k but not an option right now.. im looking at 500 + watts of light on a 72 gallon. so thats roughly 7 watts per gallon .. which im guessing that isnt too bad. Can someone post a pic with their tank and 10 000K metal halides... if you have any.. thanks

 

[reefermike]

By the way does anyone have any links to good reading on coral placement and what to get and what not to get. Looking to get smarter about SW set ups.

And Finally.. PICTURESSSS....

Bowfront stand.. after i finished regluing and nailing the joints back togerther.. and a final restain.

the tank is sitting on my kitchen sink right now.. need to bring the stand home. dont mind the mess and water spots on the tank

and now the NANOOO

Before sand

after sand

Now the nano just has regular water in right now to clean it out.. Tommorow im going to drain it and on saturday im going to get 15 gallons of water from the guy that im getting all my stuff from.. so 15 gallons of water and some live rock

 

[reefman23]

Sweet tanks.

As far as the lighting goes, the different color temps do not need different type ballasts. What he may be referring to is the difference between double-ended and single-ended bulbs. they can both be ran off of an electronic ballast, but you get better output on a DE bulb when it is ran on what is called an HQI ballast. SE should not be run on HQI ballasts because they overdrive the lamp. You will be fine with two 10,000k MH's and 2 actinic VHO's... that'll actually be a great setup because you are getting the best of both worlds. One being that you get great growth with the 10,000k spectrum which closely mimics the yellowish high-noon sun and the second being the actinic supplementation that VHO's do oh-so-well.

As far as the sand bed, i think 3"-5" would be good. You may want to check out mikeguerrero's 72 bow. The Oceanic brand tanks are great BTW.

I hope that helps,

Jesse

 

[reefermike]

this helps a great deal. i actully have been and am going to try and minic that set up... its beautiful. What should be my lighting schedual from inital set up . to a full running tank? and hope fully each metal halide has its own cord so i can do an even better rep of real daylight. OK so heres what i got so far.

72 gallon bowfront
Choice between 2 light fixtures - both with metal halide
20 gallon sump with 2 baffles
2 mag 5's for return
Getting a Rio 2500 for my protien skimmer
berlin classic skimmer
40 lbs of reef sand - need another 40 lb bag
getting a refractometer
sea salt
Ordered a 6 stage 110 gpd ro/di unit
HOB overflow.. Tank is not drilled
300 watt heater

im sure thats all i need for set up besides live rock... PLease if im missing something tell me !!! lol

 

[Jennie]

Don't forget to pick up your test kits Mike. Its a wealth of information when you can test yourself and understand the readings!

 

[reefermike]

YESS thats right thank you jennie. By the way what are all these kent products i see under everyones fish tank stands?

 

[TimSchmidt]

This may be a bit of over kill but wouldn't two 200 watt heaters work a little better and be a fail safe?

 

[reefman23]

This may be a bit of over kill but wouldn't two 200 watt heaters work a little better and be a fail safe?

Yes, you're right.

Jesse

 

[reefermike]

Yes this is very true , but im just trying to use what i got first .. i can always add on an extra heater later on

What kent products will i need how do i administer them? Which test kit is recommended? Big question right here!!!!!!!

Ok well tommorows a big day.. Pick up the rest of my stuff. Plus some tank water and some live rock for my nano so at least i ll have something to do.

By the way How long after before i add in my clean up crew and what should it consist of? also a Big question

 

[reefermike]

geeze no ones replying to my questions.. guess im going to have to give some incentive... Well no pumps or light yet. But i did get to see the other option fixture and let my tell you.. it has duel 250 watt hqi and duel pc's So about 600 watts i think and its a nice sleek design. Also i happneed to get some water and some live rock for my nano so here are the pics

 

[TimSchmidt]

When ammonia and nitrites are reading zero after your spike you can add your cleaning crew. Then just take your time and let your tank adjust to the bio load you add. For wating inbetween your additions a couple days should work, but a week would be great.
I like the cave in the center of your rock formation!

Cleaning crews could contain some of the following:

Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crabs
Dwarf Zebra Hermit Crabs
Cerith Snails
Astraea Conehead Snails
Nassarius Snails
Turbo Snails (kinda big and act live bulldozers, not a good one for small reef tanks)

HTH

 

[reefman23]

Sorry, hopefully I can help you out.

What kent products will i need how do i administer them? Which test kit is recommended?

This really depends on how often/much you change your water. If you practice large, frequent water changes, many trace minerals etc will be replenished without dosing anything. I personally use many Kent products... Coral-Vite, Iodine, Strontium and Molybdenum, Essential Elements, Phytoplex and Chromaplex. I also use some Seachem products... Carbonate, Complete (this raises Calcium as well as maintain the magnesium and strontium), Buffer, and Plus (this is a concentrated vitamin and amino acid supplement).

You DO NOT need to buy ALL of these! The ones I would recommend would be the Seachem Plus, Seachem Buffer for pH, Seachem Carbonate for the Alkalinity, and possibly the Seachem Complete if you are going to keep any stony corals. The others can generally be maintained in nano tanks by the large (40%-50%) weekly water changes.

As far as test kits, you will want the typical nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, pH, Alkalinity. there are others too, but these are the most common. In fact you can even Get a 5-in-1 test stip that test for all five of the above... that is what I use. They are made by Jungle.

By the way, how long after before i add in my clean up crew and what should it consist of?

You will want to add some sort of cleanup crew right about the time that your cycle is finishing up... this depends on how cured the live rock is and how much die-off was experienced in transport.


Anyways, hope that helps,

Jesse