210 in the future

[plyr58]

Well I have taken the leap and purchased a 210. Now I know this is not a big tank by RC standards, but it will be a significant upgrade from my 90, which is about 90% DIY. The tank is an All Glass 210 with dual overflows, and I will not be setting it up for at least six months. I am going to take this time to plan, plan, plan my system and to accumulate all the necessary equipment.

Like any good RC member, I have been browsing the sponsors to check out their goods/prices and have encountered some interesting products. My first question is about skimmers. Has anyone purchased from My Reef Creations? If so, are you happy with their service/ skimmer (or other product)?

I also am wondering about lighting. I already own 2 250W ICECAP MH ballasts that are currently running my 48" HQI fixture on my 90. Will 3 250W MH and some VHO supplementation be enough? I want to avoid 400W MHs if I can, plus it would be nice to use the two ballasts I already own.

I will have many more questions over the months ahead and will come back here with them going forward. Thanks in advance for all the insight/ advice.

 

[aquajunkie]

i dont know about the skimmer, however i have 3 250's on my tank and its fine.

dont go with 400's thats alot of excess heat and eletric bill. "_"

 

[plyr58]

thats what I was thinking exactly. I just wasn't sure about par values at depth with a 30" tall tank.

 

[EnderG60]

why avoid 400w's? Electrcity is not that much in the south east, and the differance in light is a big one.

I tried the 250w 10k route, its ugly, so i tried the 250w 14k route..not enough light.

now I run 400w 20k's. Lots of light , lots of color. and for that kind of tank, if you do the reflectors right you only need two 400's.

I actually did the math for on peak hours and 3x250's running 10 hours a day costs within $30 a year what 2x400w's cost. same thing for 4x250's and 3x400's.

and FYI i have a 400w and two 39w t5's on my 58g which is only 21" high. my next tank was going to be a 210 like yours lit by 2 400's and some t5's, but now im thinking a 300 wide with 3 400's and some t5's.

dont fear the 400w. fear the 1000w

 

[plyr58]

How could I use only 2 MH's? the tank has two horizontal support braces running across the top, leaving 3 open spaces? How could I use two 400's and not have shadows from the bracing/ melt the braces?

 

[plyr58]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13738402#post13738402 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aquajunkie
i have 3 250's on my tank and its fine.

dont go with 400's thats alot of excess heat and eletric bill. "_"

How far from the water are your bubls? I was thinking of going with a taller canopy to help with heat issue but I don't want to kill PAR.

 

[platax88]

I am actually in the process to upgrade to 210 also if all goes well. I am thinking of using my exsisting lighting: 3 X 250 HQI DE Pheonix 14K ... Hope it's enough. What do you guys think?

 

[plyr58]

I have Phoenix 14K with icecap ballasts right now and I am not quite happy with the color. It is almost the right amount of blue for me, but not quite enough. I think I will go with 20Ks in the new setup and sacrifice the coral growth for the SPS. I wish I could find 18ks. I think that would be perfect.

 

[plyr58]

Well I ordered a few items for the tank today, namely 3 Sunlight Supply Lumen Max Elite HQI reflectors. Couldn't pass them up! They will be paired with the 2 250W Icecap ballasts that I already own and one additional one I will buy in the future.

What do you guys think of these reflectors, especially paired with the Icecap ballasts.

 

[plyr58]

Any thought anyone?

 

[Phyxius]

I went the same route and upgraded from a 90 to a 210g and also tore down a 29g frag tank at the same time.
I took the 250 watt IC ballasts from them and one of my IC 660 ballasts and went with 3 Lumenarc Minis and my Reeflux 10k bulbs and 2 VHO actincs for supplementation. Mine are the SE versions and not HQI though... Its proved to be plenty of light in the tank with those reflectors. I was a little apprehensive at first with 29" depth and 250 watt but its more than enough.
If the reflectors are pushing most of the light down you should have no issues at all. My canopy is a DIY and it put the lights at 15" off the water.

Here is how it came out:

 

[plyr58]

Thanks for the input. What kind of coral do you keep? How is the heat issue? Have you ever measured the PAR values?

 

[Phyxius]

I have SPS, LPS, Softies, and pretty much anything I want in there. Heat issues with fans going are not an issue. With fans off they will get up to about 81-82 and stop in summer weather. Winter is just here so no real temps yet to go by.
I do not have a meter to measure par but can say that with the same bulbs and same corals in the other tanks using parabolic reflectors I had pretty good growth. This was in shallower 29g, 65g and 90g tanks. In the 210g tank with same bulbs and nothing new than the reflectors I have had much,much better growth and coloration in just the last 5 weeks the tank has been up. Corals that did so so in the 90 have actually taken off in the new one already.

 

[plyr58]

Phyxius, thanks for the feedback! Do you have a build thread? I would love to see (steal) some ideas from your setup.

 

[Phyxius]

plyr58
Unfortunately I don't have a build thread. From the day I bought the tank back in Jan or Feb till now its been a long road. Had lots of repainting and moving things as part of the deal with wife, tiling the floor where tank was going, built stand, canopy and get all the equipment together I needed that I didn't have. I was in no hurry so I took my time. It would have been a pretty sporadic build thread over the months. I do have some odds and ends pics of the stand going together on Photobucket if interested.

 

[plyr58]

I would love to see the pics Phyxius. I will be getting started on my stand after the first of the year and I am very interested in seeing stand design/ construction, particularly since you have the same tank.

On a totally different note, does anyone know if you can use a skimmer in a reef that has previously been used in a system that has had copper in it from time to time? I have no idea if acrylic and PVC can absorb copper and if it will in turn leech the copper back into the water.