lgtentacle
New member
After a 15 hiatus in reef keeping (used to have 75, 125, 180, 240, and 300 gallon reef tanks back in the day), it appears that a few things have changed in the hobby. To get back into the swing of things (albeit very slowly), I want to use an old SeaClear 125 gallon freshwater tank (60L x 24h x 18w) and convert it into a reef tank. This isn't an ideal tank by any means, so I don't want to break the bank for the equipment. The tank doesn't have any overflows on it, so no sump options. It will be a softy/LPS tank mainly since I don't know if I can keep the water happy enough for SPS without a billion water changes on it a year (and I'm lazy and those kinds of tanks were always easier for me). Should I not bother with this and get a real saltwater setup?
I have a few questions regarding equipment and maintenance:
I have a bunch of old icecap 660 lighting ballasts from my old tanks, is it worthwhile to set up the lighting for T5's with these since VHO lights apparently don't exist anymore? Should I just switch over to cheap LED fixtures instead?
For water flow, I used (and still have) two ancient Eheim canister filters (they have a water surging spray bar output which is like a wave generator). They used to work great for my old 75 gallon reef tank that I used to have, but I'm not sure if there are better options now for the wave generating effect. VorTech MP40's look cool, but are a bit pricey for this tank size and I'm not sure if they would cause structural issues with the tank since the acrylic walls are pretty thin (and old). Should I use something else instead?
What is the current salt mix that is all the rage now. Back in the day, everyone used Reef Crystals for reef tanks and Instant Ocean for fish only tanks. Any reason to not still use Reef Crystal's?
I used to have feather caulerpa in the tank to feed the tangs and rip out the excess growth to remove waste products, but it appears that everyone is using refugium's for similar results. You can see pictures of my old 75 gallon tank that was like this in my profile. I liked the look since it seemed less sterile than the tanks out there today. Since I won't have a sump, and it doesn't look like anyone sells caulerpa anymore, are there any options for waste removal besides just frequent water changes and the hang on the back skimmer?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
I have a few questions regarding equipment and maintenance:
I have a bunch of old icecap 660 lighting ballasts from my old tanks, is it worthwhile to set up the lighting for T5's with these since VHO lights apparently don't exist anymore? Should I just switch over to cheap LED fixtures instead?
For water flow, I used (and still have) two ancient Eheim canister filters (they have a water surging spray bar output which is like a wave generator). They used to work great for my old 75 gallon reef tank that I used to have, but I'm not sure if there are better options now for the wave generating effect. VorTech MP40's look cool, but are a bit pricey for this tank size and I'm not sure if they would cause structural issues with the tank since the acrylic walls are pretty thin (and old). Should I use something else instead?
What is the current salt mix that is all the rage now. Back in the day, everyone used Reef Crystals for reef tanks and Instant Ocean for fish only tanks. Any reason to not still use Reef Crystal's?
I used to have feather caulerpa in the tank to feed the tangs and rip out the excess growth to remove waste products, but it appears that everyone is using refugium's for similar results. You can see pictures of my old 75 gallon tank that was like this in my profile. I liked the look since it seemed less sterile than the tanks out there today. Since I won't have a sump, and it doesn't look like anyone sells caulerpa anymore, are there any options for waste removal besides just frequent water changes and the hang on the back skimmer?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
