In the beginning.....

[Zoregon]

Well, I posted here last week about buying an established 125 gal. Which after some sound advice I decided against.
So I've purchase my tank and its coming this weekend. I wanted bigger than the 90 I had years ago and have ended up with a (cough) 220 gallon. Oh dear.
Anybody else get to this stage where they have the tank and all the goodies but then get nervous? Spending hours reading everything I can on this forum and it just seems like there is so much more potential to make a wrong choice as opposed to right.
Todays challenge - deciding on lights.... At the time metal hallides were the rage, now its t5 or led, or both......
Also once about 150lbs of live rock is in, anyone have any idea how long this monster will take to cycle?

 

[GimpyFin]

Congrats on the new tank. 220 is a nice size (Wish I had the room for something that big.) Anyway, cycle time could vary depending on how you choose to do it. I'll usually use biospira on a new tank and its cycled almost instantly. As for lights, I have good success with just led lights (Currently Hydra HD), but everyone will have varying opinions and preferences here.

 

[lifeoffaith]

Can't help you with the length of time to cycle, you'll need to test for that.

Don't worry about anything, just take it slow. I wish I had the money to jump right to a 220! I do plan on getting something bigger than a 200 before too long, but for now I have to get my 90 gallon and my 75 gallon hex for seahorses up and running so I can actually enjoy my fish and corals (currently they are in my 24 gallon which will end up being my qt tank after I move everything over to the larger tanks.

Good luck with the new tank. I'd personally go with T5 and LED. That's what I plan on doing in my 90. I saw a friends tank that used both, and he had a beautiful tank. Vibrant color (which the LEDs do a nice job of accentuating) and very nice growth too (the T5s seem to supplement what the LEDs don't offer to the corals). I know plenty of people who have had good luck with T5 only and LED only too, but I don't want to have a huge T5 fixture over my system where I have to constantly be replacing 6-8 bulbs and using lots of electricity at the same time.

 

[CarrieB]

Go slow is always great advice. Focus on one thing at a time. You don't really need good lights until you are ready to add coral, so you can push that decision off, if it helps.


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[Zoregon]

Well. The beast is in its way a day early. So I'm committed now. Will just have to figure out how to get it in the house and down the stairs.....