Basement lighting for 225

[CollierRealtor]

Hey All,

I just joined but have been reading for years. Thanks for all of your time!!

Just ordered a 225 gallon to replace my 150. Current location is the basement with a small window above the tank. Very little morning light comes in. The new location is most likely going to be in the basement but on a wall where it will see no natural daylight. I am looking to go with LED's but the tank is coming with fluorescent bulbs. Currently I have 3, 250 watt 12000k halides and 4 t5's. This lights things up nicely but I have seemed to have a hard time keeping softies and acro's alive after a year or two. They always seem to die off but very slowly???? Temp usually hovers around 80 degress and the water parameters are in line. I think my timing and lighting are the issue being that they die off over time. Would it be better to relocate to a first floor room? The only room available is my office and I think there would be too much direct sunlight and cause large swings in temp. I would also prefer to keep it in the basement....aka man cave where the big screen and pool table live along with homebrew on tap:beer: I also am running a calcium reactor, uv sterilizer, protein skimmer, a small voltzwagon worth of live rock, and about an average of 2" sandbed. Lots of maint. crews and a meduim load of fish. Tank looks great but softies and acro's melt away. Have a ton of mushroom corals doing great as well as a nice colony of polyps the basic brown variety that comes with live rock. Sorry for the convergence of numerous issues as of now the new location would be best answered and the lighting selection would be a great start. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

 

[CollierRealtor]

Ok, no replies. Well I have decided to go in the basement with the 225 and move my 40 gallon sump to my office and run that off of the new sump that I'm getting with the 225. Maybe some input on LED's for both tanks?? The 40 I'm thinking could a dedicated acro tank with one or two fish just for some movement along with some shrimp of some sort and a general cleaning crew. How deep of a sand bed if I go that route?? May be better to keep one of my 150 halides for the 40? Happy New Year!!!!:celeb3:

 

[pjmiller33]

Could the bulbs be past their prime use and that be the issue? Also what is the flow like in the tank? Ofcourse we always love pics too! Also, you are going to have to have that home brew for all the people who help move it.

 

[CollierRealtor]

I change the bulbs as I should maybe strectching them a month or two past prime but I have always wondered if when I get bulbs on eBay if they may have been used prior. No way to really tell I guess without having them checked. The flow could be better which I am addressing in the new tank. Thinking of a closed loop but not really sure how I am going to do it yet. I have been reading about mechanical ball valves and this seems like a good route as the plastic ones or SCWD's that I have used malfunction after a year or so. Cheap enough I guess for a once a year purchase but the mechanical's I'm sure last much longer and are more reliable. I'll attach some pics as I move forward from Wednesday when the tank arrives. Anybody with suggestions on a closed loop feel free to add your input. I have read a good bit but still have some confusion on a direct route to go. I think the 225 will be softies and zoo's and mushroom's so that helps me a bit with flow but a chicken or egg situation plagues me...dry fit rock and then work water direction or situate flow and then do the rock accordingly. I think the last makes more sense as most of the rock is coming from the 150. I have 75 to 100 of dry rock that I have left over from a small reef tank that I had made out of an old console tv. That was tied in to a 90 gallon that started the salt water addiction. That was sweet! My kids loved sitting on the ground watching that like it was a real tv. Of course they were 1 and 2 years old at the time and being older I don't think they would be as amazed as they were then but I'm sure the seed was planted so we'll see. Sorry I tend to ramble about things. I think I'll place the dry rock in the bottom add my substrate then build from the with the live rock in the 150 to spread out the coral that is in there. Oh well I'll leave it there for now. Final Sunday of regular season.......Go Stillers!!!

 

[CollierRealtor]

Here is a pic of my 150 in it's prime. I have more attached to my profile but I think this was the best pic.

By the way 'Old Fuzzy Head' is on tap a ready for any who help...lol. It has to be poured after though as I'm sure there would be little to no work done if consumed prior.