new to sps set up questions

[hig789]

i am setting up a 90 gal and want to try my hand at sps, mainly acros and monti. will be lite by 2 aro pro series retro fit 175 se with 20k xm bulbs and 2 110w vho 50/50's or 10k's on an ice cap 660 ballest. will have a home made sump out of a 30 gal all glass tank with refugium: live rock, live sand and calurapa and jebo 520 skimmer with 500 gph gen-x pump. return is a gen-x 1000 gph submersible pump. other pump is a seio 820 tunze style and either another 820 or a 620. will have a crushed coral for substrate so won't get blown around too much.

any advice will help guru's.

thanks.

 

[hig789]

also how far off the water should the lights be so i don't get too much temp changes. will be running 2 4" coralife fans in hood.

 

[hig789]

bump

 

[Zaphod]

how deep is the tank? if it is 24" you should get 250Watt MH. NIx the calurapa go for cheato the calurapa can go sexual. Also rethink the crushed coral it can trap stuff and personly I don't like the look of it. I started with crushed coral and pulled it out and it was a PITA. Rethink the skimmer if you havn't bought it I like MRC personaly.

 

[kabal2]

I second nicholasvilppu, you don't want cc for substrate, and get a bigger skimmer, you can get a mrc type skimmer or a euro-reef tipe, and I think you may need a bit of more water movement

 

[nemofish2217]

ligthing might be a bit sketchy for a 24" deep tank... i have 1 150 watt HQI DE pendant over my 2' tank that is also 24 well 25" inches deep...i did not do enough research at first so i will soon be upgrading to either a 250 or 400 watt... cant quite decide....

 

[twon8]

yeah i would go with at least 1100s, probably 1500 seios if you plan on keeping acros. those 820s won't cut it.

 

[hig789]

i am have an acro frag that a friend gave me to try when i didn't do my research oon stuff before i got some thing that is growing like crazy in my 55 right now with 2 maxi jet 1200's. are acros like other corals in that depending on where they are collected from some can live under different conditions than the normal for the coral?

 

[hig789]

what is cheato? i have seen it mentioned on here but i never can get an awnser.

 

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

all of the above is very good advice, up the flow, bigger skimmer, up the lighting to 250's or 400's watts that is...hth.

 

[wakefreak33]

cheatomorph is another macro algea. If you google it you should find lots of info. It kinda looks like angel hair pasta, only green and curly.