Hello everyone. My name is Dave and I'm somewhat new to the Salt water world. I've had a tank before(years ago)but it was cared for by a friend who knew everything.
I am limited on space in my current house and my other one I will settle in when the Air Force lets me move back, so I had to settle with a 65g reef ready tank. It's 36" long, 18" wide and 24" tall. I was limited to these on the width and length and didn't see a need for more than 24 inches in height. It has a 1" drain and 3/4" return in the bottom with a standoff. I didn't get a lid or stand because I'll be building my own to match my home. It's going in my living room here and in my bar/gameroom in my other house when I get back there.
The tank is going to have a fullreef setup with fish, LR and LS with corals and plants in it.
I've read through a ton of these posts and been through many different sites for info and parts. My plan is to build the stand and lid to accomodate as big of a refugium I can build as well as give room for the lighting needs. This leads me into a question....
I see alot of people use MH and T5 lighting with day/dawn/dusk/night simulation incorporated in their system. I haven't seen many posts on how you go about building a setup like this. Are there any DIY sites out there or complete built setups already to purchase this setup style? What wattage and type of lighting should I get for my setup? Ultimately I'd like to get one of those "The package" deals rom TBS but I'm going to wait until I'm settled in the new house for that. I'd like to set up my hardware for that type of setup though. I'm going to still use a refugium setup regardless if they're needed or not so I can have the heater and skimmer,etc.. in there and out of sight.
What would be some of the good quality skimmers, heaters, pumps and powerheads to use.
I'm looking at building a standalone wave maker setup for the top but will probably have to have 2 powerheads down lower to have good flow on the bottom of the tank.
I'll end it there, I could go on and on with questions but will take it slow. I'm anxious to get back into the fish hobby. I've seen and studied many setups throught he years saying "I'm going to start one up someday". Now after I have to slow down and get less physical hobbies, I want to pick this up as one of them. Plus my 2 and 3 year old boys just can't get enough of Nemo.
Thanks and I hope to talk to many of you in time to come.
Dave
I am limited on space in my current house and my other one I will settle in when the Air Force lets me move back, so I had to settle with a 65g reef ready tank. It's 36" long, 18" wide and 24" tall. I was limited to these on the width and length and didn't see a need for more than 24 inches in height. It has a 1" drain and 3/4" return in the bottom with a standoff. I didn't get a lid or stand because I'll be building my own to match my home. It's going in my living room here and in my bar/gameroom in my other house when I get back there.
The tank is going to have a fullreef setup with fish, LR and LS with corals and plants in it.
I've read through a ton of these posts and been through many different sites for info and parts. My plan is to build the stand and lid to accomodate as big of a refugium I can build as well as give room for the lighting needs. This leads me into a question....
I see alot of people use MH and T5 lighting with day/dawn/dusk/night simulation incorporated in their system. I haven't seen many posts on how you go about building a setup like this. Are there any DIY sites out there or complete built setups already to purchase this setup style? What wattage and type of lighting should I get for my setup? Ultimately I'd like to get one of those "The package" deals rom TBS but I'm going to wait until I'm settled in the new house for that. I'd like to set up my hardware for that type of setup though. I'm going to still use a refugium setup regardless if they're needed or not so I can have the heater and skimmer,etc.. in there and out of sight.
What would be some of the good quality skimmers, heaters, pumps and powerheads to use.
I'm looking at building a standalone wave maker setup for the top but will probably have to have 2 powerheads down lower to have good flow on the bottom of the tank.
I'll end it there, I could go on and on with questions but will take it slow. I'm anxious to get back into the fish hobby. I've seen and studied many setups throught he years saying "I'm going to start one up someday". Now after I have to slow down and get less physical hobbies, I want to pick this up as one of them. Plus my 2 and 3 year old boys just can't get enough of Nemo.
Thanks and I hope to talk to many of you in time to come.
Dave
