Help on my new small scall coral farm

[stephane]

Hi Antony great to have you here!


Im at the desing of my new coral farm It will be in my garage home and connect to my old 130 reef

I have thousand of question to ask but will try to reduce it as most as possible

My propagation tank will be in the garage conecting to my reef
in the house on step higher, the water will starf from the botom
tank in the garage climb up to to main tank and return down tank to tank this way I will reduce to one pump for all recirculation

the tank will be 3 to4 8 foot long by 2 foot wide glass tank all under each other. The garage is 8 foot tall. Wath height do you tink I should use for those tank I have tinking of 4x 12 inch tall
with all DSB or one tall 20 inch sump DSB full of macro and 4 bare botom 7 inch tall tank waht do you tink? I want to limit the height to a minimum to have more tank on that same space and to limit the wattage of light caus it is impossible for me to use sunlight (no green house in my back yard said the wife only garage )

Now for the lightning! this is the part that confuse me the most
I have tinking of fluoresent like T5 do you tink on equivalant wattage MH will give me beter resut? I am lightning distributor so I have very good price on lightning product I use radium 400 in my main tank but I tink for a growing farm it will be waste of energy wath do you tink waht kelvin color should I use wath will give the best for my $

skimmer will be a 8X48 inch Areofoamer DIY and calcium will be supply by a two stage 24 ich tall reactor same design as MTC pro cal but taller and some improve like a CO2 becket recirculation

I have more question but I will begin with those one

I have love your books !

Do you take the time to autograph all your book or Im the lucky
one to get and autograph one ?

Tanks for you help

see more picture of my tank here http://zapzap.zwf.net/gallery/Album-de-stephane?&page=1

 

[Anthony Calfo]

--Cheers, Stephane

--It is a pleasure to hear from you, my friend

My propagation tank will be in the garage conecting to my reef
in the house on step higher, the water will starf from the botom
tank in the garage climb up to to main tank and return down tank to tank this way I will reduce to one pump for all recirculation


-- this is very good for economy/efficiency of operation but is very risky with regard for the communicabilty of pests, predators and diseases. Please be 100% certain to quarantine every single new thing you bring home to this central system for 4 weeks in isolation. No exceptions: live rock, frags, snails, live sand... anything! Proper quarantine (QT) protocol is critical to be sure.



the tank will be 3 to4 8 foot long by 2 foot wide glass tank all under each other. The garage is 8 foot tall. Wath height do you tink I should use for those tank I have tinking of 4x 12 inch tall
with all DSB or one tall 20 inch sump DSB full of macro and 4 bare botom 7 inch tall tank waht do you tink?


--I personally like a deep sand bed in the main display very much. An aesthetic preference. The depth of the tanks depends entirely on the needs of the coral kept and the light used to deliver it. Fluorescent lights will demand that you use shallower vessels as a rule.


Now for the lightning! this is the part that confuse me the most
I have tinking of fluoresent like T5 do you tink on equivalant wattage MH will give me beter resut?


--Metal halide gives the best value by most any measure in my opinion. My only complaint is the oscene abuse of high watt MH lamps over shallow water (less than 30"/75 cm). Unless the tank is sps and clams only, 400 watt and 1000 watt lamps are inappropriate for most IMO. For aquaria 24" or less... 175 watt lamps are just fine. I also really like the double-ended HQI 10Ks.. they are one of the very best.



I am lightning distributor so I have very good price on lightning product I use radium 400 in my main tank but I tink for a growing farm it will be waste of energy wath do you tink waht kelvin color should I use wath will give the best for my $


--MH is more efficient than fluorescents for growing corals, but I agree that 400 watt is too much in this application.



skimmer will be a 8X48 inch Areofoamer DIY and calcium will be supply by a two stage 24 ich tall reactor same design as MTC pro cal but taller and some improve like a CO2 becket recirculation


-- I agree that the Aerofoamer is an excellent skimmer... but I truly feel that it is overengineered, overpriced and inefficient (cost to operate). I am quite certain that you can get any of several alternate skimmers to perform admirably for a fraction of the price


I have love your books ! Do you take the time to autograph all your book or Im the lucky one to get and autograph one ?

-- Thanks kindly my friend! I sign the International orders, the direct sales (readingtrees.com) and the big domestic distributors if they want (Amazon and the like).

Please do check out my new book coming out this April:

http://wetwebfotos.com/store/nma-ri.html

With kind regards,

Anthony

 

[stephane]

--Cheers, Stephane

-- this is very good for economy/efficiency of operation but is very risky with regard for the communicabilty of pests, predators and diseases. Please be 100% certain to quarantine every single new thing you bring home to this central system for 4 weeks in isolation. No exceptions: live rock, frags, snails, live sand... anything! Proper quarantine (QT) protocol is critical to be sure.

Yes it was on my plan to quarantine everiting I get for shure

--I personally like a deep sand bed in the main display very much. An aesthetic preference. The depth of the tanks depends entirely on the needs of the coral kept and the light used to deliver it. Fluorescent lights will demand that you use shallower vessels as a rule.

My main display already have DSB but I want to know if Im beter add DSB in all propagation tank and no macro sump or bare botom propagation tank, sump full of macro DSB and live rock

--MH is more efficient than fluorescents for growing corals, but I agree that 400 watt is too much in this application.

Wath kelvin color? 6500 ok

-- I agree that the Aerofoamer is an excellent skimmer... but I truly feel that it is overengineered, overpriced and inefficient (cost to operate). I am quite certain that you can get any of several alternate skimmers to perform admirably for a fraction of the price

For the price you are right they are to expensive but I built them so they cost me a lot less,for the power to operate it greatly depend on witch pump one choose I use Mak4 pump and they draw only 110watt and they are realy powerfull I have test several design of skimmer and IMO notting realy compare to a Areofoamer for pure power skimming they use severale detail that no other becket use 8 inch chamber swirl design easy to clean.......

Please do check out my new book coming out this April:

The book is already on my list and will be here as soon as it will be out

With kind regards,

Anthony

Tank for the fast reply I will send you a PM I have someting to ask that could realy help me if you agree

Tank

 

[cmoresps]

MH Color

MH Color

Stephane, go with 10k or 20k for sps, it totally maximizes color, I have taken many crapy looking corals and put them under these spectrums, they turn brilliant colors. Note that 20k has a tendency to look real blue, if you go with 400k's make sure you get Radium bulbs, they burn less blue and everyone has been raving about them.

 

[cmoresps]

One last note, look on ebay!

One last note, look on ebay!

look on ebay for halide systems, in particular, I bought 2x175w MH balasts made by PFO (they are canadian), with the spider reflector for $210 drop shipped direct from the manufacturer!! Brand new! If interested, look for Light the World