MegaBite's 180 & Shallow Reef
- Thread starter Megabite
- Start date
Megabite
Member
Reeftanks6
Active member
Wow this is one beautiful tank. Great fish and corals you have. How do you keep the corals growing and have good water quality? What is you parameters? I am trying to get my tank to change over to a reef and really wanted to research before I did some major spending? Do you think T5's will do good with corals in a 90g?
Thanks,Tyler
Thanks,Tyler
Megabite
Member
Thanks for the comments on my tanks. RC is a great place to find all the info you're looking for. There are a bunch of experts on these forums that have a wealth of knowledge on best practices. Most of what I know I got directly from here and my local reef club. Most what I do is below. As for lighting, I'm partial to MH but there are a ton of great and very successful T-5 tanks. Go to the lighting section of these forums for expert advice on T-5's.
Here is a copy and paste from a previous post about my equipment and what kind of maintenance I do.
Main Display - 180 AGA
Lighting: 3-250 HQI 14K Phoenix Bulbs, 3-48" T-5 actinics, and 9-PowerBrite LEDs
Filtration: BK SM250, I run activated carbon, Ozone, a sock, and dose Vodka (3ml per day)
Circulation: 2-6105 Tunze's and 2-6055 Tunze's on a 7095 controller
Return Pump: Iwaki
Controller: ACIII
Cooling: Fans on the Shallow tank (shallow tank shares the same sump/ water)
Top off: JBJ auto top off on a 40 gallon tank with Kalk mix. 2tbs per gallon of kalk (3.5 gallon evaporation per day)
Supplementation: I check parameters (Nitrates, Cal, Alk, Mag) every 2-3 weeks and add whatever is lacking with BRS stuff. Kalk keeps my calcium and alkalinity pretty good.
Lighting schedule:
LED: 10:00AM to 9:30PM
MH: 10:30AM - 2:30PM
T5: 1:30PM - 5:00PM
MH: 4:30PM - 8:30PM
T5: 8:00PM - 9:00PM
Parameters:
Nitrates 0
Phos 0
Calcium 420 - 450
Alk 8.0 - 9.5
Mag 1300 - 1350
PH 8.0 - 8.3
Temp 78.5 - 80.5
Maintenance:
Clean glass daily (Magnet cleaner) and scrape as needed
20 gallon water change every 3-4 weeks (Tropic Marin Salt)
Move top layer of sand as needed every few weeks and or vac crud as needed every few months.
Clean skimmer cup/ neck every 3 - 5 days.
Change out sock every 3 - 5 days
Change out activated carbon monthly
Feeding:
Fish: once a day, 4 frozen cubes of different foods. Sometimes I add garlic, flakes, and/or pellets.
Corals: Spot or broadcast feed Microvore, Phyto, etc. every 3 -5 days
Here is a copy and paste from a previous post about my equipment and what kind of maintenance I do.
Main Display - 180 AGA
Lighting: 3-250 HQI 14K Phoenix Bulbs, 3-48" T-5 actinics, and 9-PowerBrite LEDs
Filtration: BK SM250, I run activated carbon, Ozone, a sock, and dose Vodka (3ml per day)
Circulation: 2-6105 Tunze's and 2-6055 Tunze's on a 7095 controller
Return Pump: Iwaki
Controller: ACIII
Cooling: Fans on the Shallow tank (shallow tank shares the same sump/ water)
Top off: JBJ auto top off on a 40 gallon tank with Kalk mix. 2tbs per gallon of kalk (3.5 gallon evaporation per day)
Supplementation: I check parameters (Nitrates, Cal, Alk, Mag) every 2-3 weeks and add whatever is lacking with BRS stuff. Kalk keeps my calcium and alkalinity pretty good.
Lighting schedule:
LED: 10:00AM to 9:30PM
MH: 10:30AM - 2:30PM
T5: 1:30PM - 5:00PM
MH: 4:30PM - 8:30PM
T5: 8:00PM - 9:00PM
Parameters:
Nitrates 0
Phos 0
Calcium 420 - 450
Alk 8.0 - 9.5
Mag 1300 - 1350
PH 8.0 - 8.3
Temp 78.5 - 80.5
Maintenance:
Clean glass daily (Magnet cleaner) and scrape as needed
20 gallon water change every 3-4 weeks (Tropic Marin Salt)
Move top layer of sand as needed every few weeks and or vac crud as needed every few months.
Clean skimmer cup/ neck every 3 - 5 days.
Change out sock every 3 - 5 days
Change out activated carbon monthly
Feeding:
Fish: once a day, 4 frozen cubes of different foods. Sometimes I add garlic, flakes, and/or pellets.
Corals: Spot or broadcast feed Microvore, Phyto, etc. every 3 -5 days
Powdermonkey
Member
Does that acro in #278 truely look like that and no name? That sucks for the rest of us! What an amazing tank!
Megabite
Member
I answered that in #280. It's a great looking acro. The color in the picture was under actinics and it's really more of a bright yellow. I need to take a picture of it with all the lights on to show a better color representation.
Reeftanks6
Active member
Thanks megabite a whole lot. I will have to take a lot of this advice in. Will be tagging along with the thread thanks again!
Megabite
Member
Thanks Reeftanks. You're entering what i consider the funnest part of the hobby. "Set up"!
Reeftanks6
Active member
Yes I have heard many times that this is one of the best things about a reef tank. For me its just the money. Corals are very expensive and it is somewhat of a risk as long with fish to though. Got to love the beauty of a coral reef and thats what I want to do!
Reeftanks6
Active member
Very nice shot!
Megabite
Member
Yes, it's a top down shot. I like the contrast in the picture with the zoas under the blue. Thanks. Great find on the house Taq!
Thanks for the compliments. Look at post #285 for lighting.
Thanks
I have 2 nice size peices that are healing now. Should be ready in a couple of weeks or so. Actually, I have a lot of stuff I'm getting ready to sell soon.
tigerarmy100
New member
that last pic is amazing!
Megabite
Member
Thanks. :beer:
Megabite
Member
Well, it hurt me to do it but I removed the very large scrolling red cap from my main display yesterday to make room for different stuff. It is roughly 16" by 9" by about 9" tall. The back is completely flat do to it resting on my back wall of the 180. I was surprised that I was able to take it out in one piece. Here's a couple of pics.
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