and the setup begins!!
- Thread starter TANK0789
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Rustylugnuts
Powdered Toast Man
Here's a DIY option that's a little easier on the wallet and scalable. You'll need to buy or build a canopy to install them in to make this work. 2 pair ought to be able to support softies and down the road when you have the spare cash it would be easy to expand to as much as you feel like cramming in the canopy.
timschmidt
Premium Member
Ok. 
Good luck. I have a hellolights T5 lighting setup and am very pleased with them. They are not as powerful as an Icecap setup but then again I bought cheaper and will eventually upgrade my ballasts and reflectors as time goes on. Not the most cost effective, but se la vie!
Good luck. I have a hellolights T5 lighting setup and am very pleased with them. They are not as powerful as an Icecap setup but then again I bought cheaper and will eventually upgrade my ballasts and reflectors as time goes on. Not the most cost effective, but se la vie!
Everyones Hero
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13189526#post13189526 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by timschmidt
Ok.
Did those come with AccuStart ballasts? I picked up an almost identical setup from another RC member. I'm definitely happy with them, and by buying them used & building my own canopy I saved a lot of money. After buying the lights & lumber I paid under $300 for my light setup for my 55g.
I've made the mistake of not doing my research first & ended up buying stuff a 2nd time. So far it's been my SeaClone skimmer (been replaced with a AquaC Urchin from another RC member) & my C-160 canister filter (which is going to a co-worker in exchange for a couple of power heads.)
For my overflow I bought the Eshopps overflow. All you have to do is stick it onto the back of the tank & run a 1" line from the box to the sump. Then run a pump from your sump to your tank.
Once you research the purpose & how an overflow (or Weir box) work it'll start to make sense.
I'd post pictures of mine but Photobucket is down ATM.
I think the best advice I can give you is to do research. Go out to Border's or another book store & pick up a book or two on Marine tanks. I picked up "The Beginners Guide to a Marine Aquarium" or something along those lines. It lacked information about sumps & a lot of the newer technology that's being used, but it has a lot of Dos & Don'ts along with a lot of terminology you need to understand to keep a marine tank.
If you don't know what SG is, or what SG your tank should be at how do you expect to know how much salt to add to your water? How do you plan to measure it? You can't just stick your finger in the tank, lick your finger, & say "Hey, that seems about right."
We're just trying to keep you from making some of the same mistakes we've made & trying to share the lessons we've learned. There's a good chance you're going to spend all of this money, end up killing your first few fish, & then saying screw this hobby because you didn't have the patience to do your research first & make informed purchases.
I researched from Jan to probably May before I started piecing together my tank. And even then I made a few bad purchases (skimmer/canister filter).
kar93
Active member
You could get around 100lbs of live rock and then another 100-150 of Marco.
http://marcorocks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=14
http://marcorocks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=14
kar93
Active member
Thats around 140w on a 125 tank. It's 125, right? And I wouldn't even put soft corals under that. They'd probably survive but not thrive. If you look at some of the build threads then you will see alot of DIY lights inside DIY canopies. You could do something similar. Take a look at TJ's build.
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