75 Gallon SPS Dominate tank.

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bluespotocto

New member
So i am converting my 75 gallon cephalopod tank into a 75 gallon SPS Dominate tank. I have a small 40 that i have a few SPS, LPS and softies in. I could never get the 40 to look amazing for some reason(the tank has always had trouble). So for lighting for this tank i will have a 250 watt MH and 2 65 watt pcs. Is that good Lighting for the tank? For Calcium and Alkalinity i will dose B-ionic 2 part. I will put all the LR i have in the 40 in the sump of the 75 and start off with dead rock in the main display. How does that sound? For flow i dont want to really have to go buy more power heads but if i have to i will. I have a koralia 4 in the tank right now and thinking about throwing a koralia 3 on the other side. Does that sound like enough flow. Oya the dimensions are 26.5 in high X 49 in long X 15.5 wide. Is the lighting still good? I have about an 4 in LS bed in the tank. So tell me how that all sounds and let me know if i am missing any thing!?:spin3:
 
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Just one 250 MH? I have a 80g DT which is basically the same length and width of a 75 and I am running 2x250w radiums with no supplementals. So far it seems to be a great setup.

As for the flow you might want to consider a vortech mp40 or tunze controllable pumps for the random flows that SPS love.
 
James404 said:
Just one 250 MH? I have a 80g DT which is basically the same length and width of a 75 and I am running 2x250w radiums with no supplementals. So far it seems to be a great setup.

As for the flow you might want to consider a vortech mp40 or tunze controllable pumps for the random flows that SPS love.
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Agreed, I have a 75 with 2X250w Reeflux's. If i'm not mistaken MH bulbs cover a 2'X2' area? If so you'll definately need 2 bulbs to cover the tank area. Plus the center brace wouild mess you up a little bit as well with just one. But hey, it's your experiment. Try it and let us know what happens
 
I ran my 75 with those same korilias for a while but shortly switched to two modded maxi jets. After that I saw the acros in my tank take off in growth. you might be a little better off with two 150 watt mh since its a four foot long tank. Take a look the pics of the 75 i'm running on my bio. It has a Current USA Outer Orbit w/ two 150's and four 48" t5's and I can put sps almost anywhere.
 
Ya i dont really want to go get another 250 watt MH because i was told to get that for my 40 gallon and i did and it was a bummer because i could only leave the light on not that long or it would burn the corals. So i was thinking of instead of have a lot of lights for a short period of time have an small amount of lights but leave them on longer. If that would work and would my lighting choice i have right now work?

As for flow would it be good i got he mp 10 and kept the korali 4 in there also?
 
As you can kinda see i am not on the best budget but i do have some wiggle room so what would be the most important things to get?
 
I found that 2-250W SE MH's w/VHO atinics and two MP-40W Vortechs were the best in both cases for my 75g
 
i have my 70 gal cube with a lumenbright 250w reflector and 4 x 24w t5´s for water movement i have a vortech mp40, im very happy with this setup. good results
 
Ok thanks for all the help with the water flow and lighting problem. Now i am still pretty confused about the whole chemistry portion of this. I know that some people dose vodka and some use calcium reactors, so what would be best for me?
 
Dont worry about the vodka, keep your alk around 8-9 and your cal around 380-420 and youll be good for awhile. You can use a two part or two seperate doses if you like. Chances are, until you get quite a few sps/lps in there the parameters wont change a whole lot. Test a LOT and change a LITTLE, youll do good.
 
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K thanks for the help with the chemistry.

For the flow about how many GPH should i aiming for?

Also will my lighting work if i have the one 250 watt MH and 2 65 watt pcs?
 
bluespotocto said:
K thanks for the help with the chemistry.

For the flow about how many GPH should i aiming for?

Also will my lighting work if i have the one 250 watt MH and 2 65 watt pcs?
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Depends. Do you have a center brace? If so 1 250w in the center is not going to do you much good. For a standard 75gal 2 250w is probably the way to go if you are going to use MH. If you dont have a center brace you could keep sps in the center 2ft and lps maybe a pinch outside that.
For flow a standard gph isnt really a good correlation. Imagine if you had 100, 100gph power heads, its not the same as 1 10,000 gph power head. That being said, assuming you want to keep sps (because you are in this forum) you should aim between 30-60 gph with 2 -4 power heads, that'll keep you in the ballpark.
 
Ok so it looks like i will be needing to get another MH but if i didnt would my set up still work and i do have a center brace. If i did get this other MH how long would my photo period be then, because i dont really want to only have the MHs on for a short period of time. Thats why i am wondering if i could just have one MH i could leave on longer instead of 2 for a short period of time.

For my flow i think i am going to get 2 http://www.marinedepot.com/Maxi_Jet...ineland_Instant_Ocean-AS1147-FIPHFFUK-vi.html. If thats still not enough i will throw the koralia 4 in there.
 
Think more in the vein light concentration over areas of the tank rather than wattages and over all amount of light. if you were to use that one 250 in the center of the tank the brace would block 2/3 of the light and you would only get good lighting just to the right and left of the brace maybe a couple of inches on either side, but if you were to place it on one side or the other you would get great lighting of over half of the tank.you should just plan on hanging two 250's and take the time while the tank is cycling to save the money for the second fixture. You really don't want to run your lights while the tank is cycling anyway
 
Ok so i will get the another 250 watt MH and should i still have the 2 65 watt pc up the hood also? Also if i have the 2 250 watt MH and i have the 2 65 watt pc what would be a good photo period with them?

I am also still wondering if my flow will be good with these http://www.marinedepot.com/Maxi_Jet...neland_Instant_Ocean-AS1147-FIPHFFUK-vi.html?

Also for test kits i have all the basic i have nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, ph, calcium, and alkalinity. Do i need any other test kits. I will be running a phosphate reactor and have a bag of carbon in the sump.
 
bluespotocto said:
Ok so i will get the another 250 watt MH and should i still have the 2 65 watt pc up the hood also? Also if i have the 2 250 watt MH and i have the 2 65 watt pc what would be a good photo period with them?

I am also still wondering if my flow will be good with these http://www.marinedepot.com/Maxi_Jet...neland_Instant_Ocean-AS1147-FIPHFFUK-vi.html?

Also for test kits i have all the basic i have nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, ph, calcium, and alkalinity. Do i need any other test kits. I will be running a phosphate reactor and have a bag of carbon in the sump.
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The two 55 watt PC's will give you actinic supplementation and allow you to have a dawn and dusk, 12 hrs for the pc's and 4 to 8 for the MH.
You will be surprised at the quality of flow you will get with that maxi jet package it will make that Korallia 4 look weak.(it will also last much longer)
the only other test kits you will need are phosphate and magnesium which is more important in the long run than calcium because you will not be able to balance alk and cal without proper magnesium #'s
 
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