Could use some suggestions on filtration for a 75g tank

[airbats801]

I've been out of the hobby for a few years now. I was on the road too much and couldnt take care of the tank by myself. Now that I've been in a relationship for a bit, we decided to get into another tank. I luckily stumbled across exactly what I was looking for on craigslist the other day. A 75g glass tank with built in overflow with stand and a 30g "refugium" clear vu tank, along with a hanna comboo ph meter, and about 300 dollars worth of supplements and test kits. Managed to get it all for 140 :spin1:.


Anyhow, My last tank as a 80g with a hang on overflow and a rubbermaid sump. my filtration in the sump was a micron bag with some carbon if I remember correctly. I had a hang on excalibur skimmer on the tank that I rarely used since it seemed to be a pile of junk. I used a large power head about sump return size pushing water around the tank during the winter, and 2 smaller ones in the summer. For rock, I probably had about 35lbs of low density stuff, and 2 to 3 inches of sand bed. The tank seemed very stable, and frankly the only issue other than putting some sea plant I bought from a lfs into it was my own fault. I bumped the controller on my sumbersable heater and cooked my fish stock. My lighting was 2 400w metal halides. Yes a lot, but hell, I was super diy, and the ballasts were cheap. I ran a radium and a 10,000k



So back to present.

This tank will be similar to my last where I'm more interested in the fish in it than the corals, but i will defiantely have some soft, mushrooms, green star polyps, and maybe a few cheap hard coral frags. I'm going to try and make a larger order of large base rock, and then purchase a few nice pieces of live rock to seed the rest.

Now i am undecided on my sand bed depth. I've been reading on the dsb with a plenum, but information is all over the place.

Also, since I have this 30g tank for sump basically, I want to run a refugium, but I've never dabbled in this. I'd looked into it a few years ago, but never got around to doing anything about it.I know I should just read, but since im asking some other questions, Im throwing this in.

Are there any newer mh brands that have come out in the last few years that I should take note of when considering new lamps?

I was also contemplating running some either vho or t5ho actinics on the tank and use the mh a bit less this time around. I have 2 workhorse 5 electronic ballasts, so running either shouldnt be a issue. Whats the verdict on a t5 vs a vho for actinic lighting?

For circulation on this tank, I have 2 power heads alogn with the return. I think it should be more than enough for the tank.

I'm sure there are things I am forgetting, but I'll start with this. Thanks in advance.

Here is a pic of my old tank in it's mid life stage. I was running a old emperor hang long for charcoal filtration before I bought a bag for the sump. The green star polyps had grown like mad, that second batch sitting at the top spawned off the bunch to the left. I had a nice large midas, 2 bi color blens, a potters wrasse, a yellow corris wrasse. They were always curious about my old webcam lol
Right click and save.
http://www.nwstarquest.com/fishtank.avi
http://www.nwstarquest.com/fishtan2.avi
http://www.nwstarquest.com/fishtan3.avi
http://www.nwstarquest.com/fishtan4.avi

 

[Chiefsurfer]

Well honestly, if you are not going with any VERY light intensive corals, I would sell your MH stuff and go ALL t5HO. All of what you plan to have will not need the lighting, and by having MH without the need, you will really just be adding possible heat issues, with no real benefit over T5HO. If you have a hood, you can buy retro kits for them as well, but I am sure you know this already.

Don't know where things have gone since you got out of the hobby, but propeller style powerheads are VERY popular now, as the flow is much more randomized and sidespread over the impeller style. Hydor Koralia's are a great example of this style, and offer decent reliability(I know some may say not) at a good price.

If you are DEAD-set on MH, with actinic supplimentation, VHO is the way to go, I really like their colors and penetration over the t5HO.

Rufugiums can be VERY easy, or can be VERY intricate depending on how you want to set it up. One thing I definitely reccomend is getting good heaters with good controllers. Also suggest getting a very good skimmer for in your sump. Don't skimp here, as most people consider it a pretty necessary piece of equipment, Usually #2 right behind lighting. For a decent price, in-tech, vertex, and reefoctopus are good brands.

Also, I see how much rock you USED to use, but not what you intend tobuy this time around. I would suggest somewhere between 75 and 100lbs of total rock. Most of this should be in the tank, but some very small rubble can easily go in the "fuge" under the macroalgae you will be growing. A very common set-up for the fuge is a small compact flourescten(6700K spectrum lighting) bulb in a "clip-on" fixture from HD.

 

[IslandCrow]

Hmm, I think Chiefsurfer hit just about everything. The only thing I have to add is that if you want the MH for their shimmer effect, I know there are some people who have replicated that quite well with VHOs or T5s and then added some LED spotlights to achieve the shimmer. Of course, a couple smaller halides wouldn't be so bad (man, 2x400W 10Ks? Really? That's awesome!). You can't beat T5s for energy efficiency, though. Well, maybe with LEDs, but those are pretty expensive to use as your primary lighting.