New Setup Idea's

[Jackza]

Hi All

I'm rather new here but hope you can all help me iron out some ideas I have. Let me start by saying I have only been in the hobby for around 3 years.

I have an 850l display with 2 sumps ~500l and the system has been running for around 18 months. All is going well. I have decided to try my hand at propagation. I have 2x1000l cubes that I have added to my system and am thinking about adding a 3500l pool. The idea is to run everything as one system while I fool around with a few corals. If/When I decide I am able to do things right I will setup a proper green house with dedicated systems. So I have a few questions...

1. My 2 cubes and pool will be outside. I have been keeping tabs on the sun the last few days. Its winter now so readings are probably a bit low... at 8:30am I'm getting around 250par in the sun and 120 in the shade. At 3pm today I got 1000par. I need to know what is a safe par to aim for?

2. I have been thinking and thinking what the best is for a covering. I live in a very hot climate that has mild winter's 15-25degrees and summers get up to 40 degrees with a few very hot days of 45 degrees with a 70-80% humidity. I left a 1000l of water out in the cold for a few days and min temp was around 14 degrees. I think a green house will be almost impossible to keep cool in summer - anyone got advice. For now I have sort of settled on shade cloth. I do not get much rain but if there is a heavy downpoor I'll have canvas covers to keep it out. I tested today 2xlayers of 40% shade cloth cut out 60% par... anyone have any comments on this?

 

[pisces4u]

Wow, those are some large prospects for propagating.

I've not heard much about people setting up prop systems outdoors, but I suppose it could work.

The temperatures would be the largest concern with what you have mentioned so far. Reef tanks need a stable 26-28 celcius temperature. Usually, setting them up inside your house with appropriate heaters and chillers and using your room temperature as a base is what helps maintain stability.

Swings in temperature from 14 to 40 degrees celcius in a system as large as you are describing would need massive heating and chilling capabilities to maintain their temperature.

Par is another matter...

The average reef tank with t5ho or MH has par's somewhere between 200 and 450. Coral reefs in the wild may be subjected to 1000 parlike your sun reading, but have more water overhead to buffer it. Wild corals are also naturally adjusted to sunlight. If you were to buy aquacultured corals to set up your prop system and put them out in natural sun, they would probably die off quickly unless a long and strenuous acclimation happened.