Advice/Idea's

[Reefer_Addickt]

Hello,
Im setting up my 55 gallon acrylic tank, I used to have a glass 75 gallon. I'm trying to do everything right this time and have a kick *** tank. I would also like to try to get non-ocean caught wild life/coral.

Items I need to buy:
RO/DI unit - have to have the cleanest water
Skimmer - Would the remora pro hot be powerful enough for a 55g with the mag 3 pump?

Lights- I have an old pulse start 2x175watt MH ballast from hamilton. Problem lies in I bought 2x10k Ushio, and the pulse start will only fire one of the bulbs and the other does not fire. After doing some research I see that the bulbs will not run with a pulse start ballast.

Should I
a) buy a new ballast setup (bought mine used, so dont really know how old it is)
b) try to trade/sell the bulbs for some bulbs that will work on a pulse start ballast?

Im going to take some pictures of the back of the tank, there is a section that looks like it can be setup as a pump/fuge and I dont know how to set it up.

Also, anyone know if you can buy a buffer pad for a dremmel to polish out scratches on acyrlic. 1600-3600grit.

 

[Apon]

it would be cheaper to buy new magnetic ballast I think. I use the Ushio 10K and I like them alot.

 

[Reefer_Addickt]

Apon:

Do you know which magnetic ballast will run 2x175MH or do I need to buy a ballast for each?

thanks for replying

 

[Apon]

I have seperate ballast - since they are on seperate pendants..... so I don't know about that. Try calling Marine depot and asking them, I am sure they will know. Who is the manufacturing of the lights you use?

 

[sfsuphysics]

Well do you have any plan for what types of corals you'll want? SPS mostly? Softies? That will impact what "must have" items you "must have".

Not familar with the remora skimmer, but if I wanted a seriously clean tank it would not be one that comes to mind.

Your lighting will depend upon what corals you want, if just softies you're good or could even down grade to T5s, if you want a nice sps coral garden I would opt for 250watt bulbs.. but that's just me. If you want to stay with the particular wattage I'd keep the ballast and try to find someone willing/wanting to buy/trade those ushios

 

[Reefer_Addickt]

I think I have opted to trade/sell the bulbs for some "probe start bulbs" if you guys know any of that type that would be sweet.

I plan on having a softy tank, with some firefish, cardinals, jawfish.. I like the movement and pulsing of some of the softie corals.

SFSU: might you recommend a hang on tank skimmer. The tank has a section that use to be a wet/dry it looks like running the whole back of the tank, but not visible from the front, like to seperate tanks. pretty standard. I dont have a sump to use a sump skimmer.

 

[Reefer_Addickt]

I have a hamilton 175x2 MH ballast/ probe start ballast...is probe the same as pulse?

 

[Horizon Canopy]

I would not go with the remora pro. I've had it and its too loud. I would much rather get a Deltec MCE600. I have one on my 35G nano, and love it. Keeps the tanks so clean that I hardly even get any algae on my glass... (i have 6 small fish in there).

 

[Reefer_Addickt]

That Deltec looks nice, a little to expensive for me though =C

 

[lego]

A regular Remora with MJ1200 is plenty for a 55. I run one with a skimmer box.

 

[Reefer_Addickt]

My tank is sectioned into 2 parts larger half is the tank. Behind this is a hidden area that used to be wet/dry I assume. I wanted to setup this area as a refugium. How would I go about doing this? (cheaply)

Here is a picture of the area I'm referring to.
http://img442.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf0021largefd9.jpg

I think I connect a pump on the left where the cork is, but I'm not positive.

I'm going to be running 175x2 MH 10k, will this be enough to supply macro algae grown in the fuge? Or does a 24 hour light cycle work best for the macro algae?(remember cost is an issue)

 

[snabss]

depends on what kind of macro you have. if you are going with cheato (which in my opinion is the best way to go) youw ould be better off with 16 hrs light and 8 hrs dark period (or any other way but with some dark period). the light for the cheato need not be very powerfull. 18-32 watts work best depending on how bis the area is. i had a 2x 18 watts on my refuge (25 gallon) but now i only switch one of them on , and have noticed better growth.