New to Aquariums

[Joshjohnson]

Hello All
To start i am new to aquariums and having allot of fun with it. I live in Tampa and ran across your website and thought i would get in touch with all you and see if i can obtain some info.

My Tank is 20" wide by 24" deep and a depth of 31" (47 gal). The fish store that i go to said for this tall of a tank i would need the Orbit Sunpod light (very expensive). Now my concern is that i read a thread here about a person who has 60 gal tall hex tank and the lighting required for corals would cause a heat issue. Does anybody here think that i would have the same issue. I hope not it we bum me out because i think this would make very nice smal reef tank with corals and such.

One more thing can anybody recommend maybe a difffrent light that not as expensive or does anyboby have a used one they would like to sell

 

[pmike25]

If you do end up with heat issues, than try using fans across the top of the water and or sump thatll most likely solve the heating issue. Keeping the lights a certain height above the water will also help ( depending on the watts also ). But fans will help tremendously.

I would personally reccomend T5's for lighting

 

[Joshjohnson]

i supose i should have posted a little more about my tank. Nothing fancy yet just can't afford all the equipment. I have 20 lbs of LR and 20 lbs of dead rock, 3 inch carbi sand bed, 1 scooter blenny, two green chromis, one pepermint shrimp, 5 fla turbo snails. The tank has been up and running about 4 months with no problems lots of coraline algae growing (very nice looking all kinds of colors). Never had a alage problem, but i do have some macro in there that i like the looks and doing very nice. Water is 0,0,0 with a ph of 8.3 and sg 1.025. i do water changes every week. My LSF sold me two very small peices of soft corals that they said don't require great light one red mushroom and some kind of polyp ( probaly the most common and cheapest). i got both for 12 dollars. The mushroom was about 1/4" wide fully extended and now is about 1/2" or bigger the polyps seem to be spreading. also i have a orange colored sponge in ther and it is doing great ( my Baby). So with that said i think iam on the right track but i just go very slow.

 

[Gimplar]

Well, what type of corals do you plan on having?

 

[Joshjohnson]

I don'y know yet' it really depends on my budget. Would i love to a have a set up like the mostof you, YES, but my budget limits me. So i figure to get some good lights then maybe some Hard Corals if the is the proper name' that are more torwads the easy side of care. then progress to the better. Like i said early i am very new to this and plan on going very very slow and just try to get as much info that i can before i make a move.

Is this club open to anybody, i would be very intrested to join if possible

 

[Joshjohnson]

Sorry for so many post ( trying to deal with my dogs and work at the same time, yes i am working from home st 9:00pm at night). What i would to add is that i was born here and i am a diver that loves under water life. I have allways wanted a salt water tank since i became a diver but just could not afford it untill now ( i think). My wife is a diver as well and just loves our tank and she wants a full blown reef tank. I keep telling her to just take it easy and we will get there. So any suugestion, advise would be a great help to me and my family.

Thank you all for the help, and maybe soon i can join up with you all.

sorry for the miss spelling's and typos iam not very good at typing

 

[pmike25]

Check your PM

 

[Joshjohnson]

how do you do that?

 

[pmike25]

Click the "My RC" button on the top of page then youll see your PMs . Just click on that

 

[Joshjohnson]

never mind i found it and thanks alot i will try and go thur it very soon.

 

[pmike25]

Cool, Hope it'll help !!

 

[Joshjohnson]

so pmike 25, who would i need to contact about membership if it is still open to the public?

 

[pmike25]

I dont really know about this club, Im sure someone will chime in on that. I know its open to the public, and not sure about dues, dought it.

 

[guntercb]

Josh,

First welcome. This club will post its meetings on this forum. I believe we meet the second saturday of each month.

What type of lighting do you currently have over your tank?

With your tank you have lots of different options for lighting. I would recommend figuring out what you want to keep than selecting the lights and any other equipment you may need.

Good luck,
Chris

 

[robthorn]

t5's are great and create less heat. they are less expensive than some other types of lighting. plus it's all I use.

 

[Gimplar]

Ok, well if you're working on a budget i would do a reef tank and just save up for the lighting system later, the cheapest lighting setup you're gonna get (thats also meets the requirements for corals) is going to be either VHO's or T5's both will be about the same price (T5's might be a little bit more expensive, not sure though) You wont be able to do any SPS corals (small/short polyp stonys) which are the corals that grow very slowly and kinda look like rocks. If your looking for stuff that is wavy and moves with the current you want something like LPS's (long/large polyp stonys) or soft corals (such as leather corals).

If you dont plan on upgrading to a bigger tank, then i would actually suggest PCs (power compacts) because 20" bulbs for VHO's/T5's arnt really worth it. Powercompacts are more user friendly and you just plug in and play. Mushrooms are more related to anenome's then corals (not to be a smart ***) but if you are planning on have an anenome, PC's are probably your best bet. Normal Florecents wont do the trick unless you have multiple bulbs and even then, the spectrum could be an issue.

And to make my self flame proof, this is just my own personal knowledge and everything is my personal experience/advice. and i you would like you are always welcome to come to my apt and look at my setup/tank.

Nelson

 

[glyle41]

you can keep SPS unde T5s they do very well with them

 

[pmike25]

I also agree with gyle, I know many people who have ONLY T-5's and there tanks are packed with SPS and doing GREAT!! I will be one of em once I sell my MH fixture!! anyone anyone??? LOL

 

[robthorn]

click my little red house and see the corals I have growing under t5's only. 432watts on a 265 gallon aquarium. I have all the corals listed by gimplar. I would definately take gimplar up on his offer to see his setup and by all means if you really like it go ahead and copy it. the fact is there are so many different ways to do lighting . none of them are really wrong but i would recommend checking out some tanks that have many different lighting setups. metal halides,t5,power compacts,vho's. you also may want to consider what brand people are using because the colors and life of the bulbs will be very different. when you figure out bulbs the next thing is to figure out what ballast best runs the bulbs you intend to use.
I am in largo and you are welcome to also check out my tank and lighting. it is not the best but it works for me.
robert

 

[Gimplar]

Oh okay, my mistake, you can keep SPS's with T5's then. Sorry i dont have any experience with T5's. Thanks for the correction. But of course, you'll need to have the right amount of T5's.