newbie in the planning stage...lots of questions

I agree with jpitch. I think you will visually enjoy the bluer spectrum you would get with the 10,000-20,000 K range.

And since I run mag 5s and 7s and the Aqua C EV120 skimmer and have never had a single problem with them, I think you have made a marvelous choice. My skimmer ran great right out if the box and with very little adjustment. I can't speak for everyone, but my experience couldn't have been more positive, unless the cup dumped and cleaned itself. :)
 
jpitch, chalk it up to newbie status i guess. somewhere in the tornado that was my searching fo r info last night i saw 6000k bulbs offered with the tek fixture and listed as "midday" bulbs, which sounded like daytime full spectrums to me, thus what i would want. it sounds like you are telling me different, which is great to know before buying (nevermind that sound, its just me patting myself on the back for researching before buying anything....:D). its entirely possible i wrote down the wrong thing too. what would you recommend for bulb selection?

THB, that is awesome to hear that you run the equipment i am thinking of.. sounds like you have had posotive experiences thus far. have you ever had any heat issues with the mag pumps? and have you experienced the skimmer shutting off after feeding thing i keep reading about? i dont understand that at all.
do you have a ball valve on your return?

i want to stop for a second and give a thank you to everyone who has responded to this thread this far, and to reefcentral in general. i would have a hard time figuring this all out without you.
THANK YOU.
 
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Bulbs will vary but to put it EXTREMELY simple:

10k - Probably the most "white" and natural you see

13k-15k - If you like certain colors like blue to "pop" ( common term used by many reefers here)

20k - If you like the deep blue ocean look

Once again, this is very generalized and you'll have to experiment with your own personal tastes. HTH
 
this is the 6000k bulb i was referring to. i chose it based on the recommended bulbs for the 4x39 tek light featured on that site.
does anyone know another source for 3ft 39w t5 bulbs so i could see what else i have to choose from?
 
thanks jpitch. i went back to the place i found the bulbs the first time and i did find the bulb that you linked me to. i guess i would then replace the 6000 bulbs with the 11000 bulbs and continue on as planned, thus making my bulb selection as follows:
two of these , one of these , and one of the pure actinics.
btw, if you click on post reply instead of quick reply, you are given a host of options, one of which , insert a hyperlink, can be found by locating the little oval button that says (http://)
click on that, and it will ask you for the text to be displayed, which in the case of this post was "these" and click ok. then it will ask you for the complete url for the page you are linking to. be sure to use the complete url. then its another ok click, and continue your post from the [/URL] at the end as if all you see there is the text you assigned. thanks for your help, and happy linking!
 
The mag pumps produce a little heat, but I have not found it enough to be problematic.

Yes I have a ball valve on the return. My skimmer always resumes skimming within the hour after feeding. All skimmers will stop skimming for a little while after the oils and proteins from feeding enter the tank or even sometimes from putting your hand in the tank.
 
All skimmers will stop for a while, but it is a problem if they stop skimming for hours after feeding. It has not been my experience with the aqua Cs. I have had that happen with the ETSS Reef Devil. It is not cool when it happens.
 
i didnt mean cool in the sense that i think its good to have a skimmer stop skimming, just that what you describe as happening with any skimmer sounds less dramatic than what i had built this up to in my mind.

so i think i am just about done with the plan for lighting.
i have settled on the 3ft tek 4x39.
geismann bulbs are what they come with from the supplier i found. comments on these welcome.
based on furthur review inspired by you guys, i have chosen the following bulbs. tell me what you think of the arrangement. the tek has two plugs, one for the inside pair and one for the outside pair. so i was figuring that i would arrange them like this:
actinic plus
11000k
11000k
actinic plus
http://www.specialty-lights.com is where i have selected these from. i list the website as a reference to help identify the products i am considering.

the next, and dare i say last:eek1:, things to consider with this phase is attatching the lights above the aquarium, which i plan to accomplish with the mounting legs available, and photoperiod.
with the arrangement of bulbs listed above, my first thought is to have two timers on the fixture, one for the whites, one for the blues. the actinic plus i will start at 6am, the 11000k's at 7am. the 11000k's off at 7pm, and the actinic plus off at 8.
does this sound like a good photoperiod, or could you recommend changes? thanks
 
Unless you're an early upper, you may wanna consider starting your cycle just a tad bit later. If this setup is going to be possibly an entertainment piece in your living room or rec room or whatever, it's nice to have the lights on early night if you have company. I know I'm not up at 7am except to get ready for work, in which lookin at my tank is not on my mind. Consider 9ish to 9ish photo period. My tank doesn't come on till 11am and shuts off at midnight.
 
not a bad idea, jpitch. i guess it will ultimately depend on my class/work schedule when i get situated in florida. i would certainly like to be able to view the tank at full lighting for an hour or two a day, but then again, i just dont know what my schedule is going to look like.
does that look reasonable otherwise? i figured that 12 hrs of full lighting a day was the thing to go for, with a 1hr "dawn" and 1hr "dusk" accomplished with the actinics on either end of that 12 hour period. the exact start and stop times are TBD i guess.
 
In general, people normally don't go that long for there cycles. Some claim there's an increase in algae buildup, some claim there coralline algae disappears, and some have tank temperature issues. It'll all depend on what you keep in your tank, how high your fixture will be from the surface of the water, what your air temperature is in your room, and tons of other factors that you'll have to play with. But from what I see you shouldn't have a problem. Hope all goes well. Just remember to keep patient.
 
patience is something i have. i guess i am looking too hard for "standards" in an area that contains many variables. i feel comfortable that i have made good choices for equipment, so i will just have to dial it all in when the time comes.
now for water motion.

i have figured that with a 3/4 inch drain and 6 inch linear length for overflow box, i will be able to accomodate 300gph through my overflow. that will drain into the first compartment of my 20g diy sump, housing an AquaC EV120 powered my a mag 5. from this compartment water will flow over under over through a set of baffles into the middle chamber which will be filled with lr rubble in various sizes. through another set of baffles identical to the first, water will end up in a return chamber where it will be sent back to the tank by a mag 7. i will use a ball valve on the return to dial in the flow to where i need it to be.
my question in this stage is how to accomplish the return plumbing. do i drill a second hole in my overflow chamber and send it back up the way it came? if so, the mag 7 has a 1/2" outlet fitting size, so i would need a hole for the 3/4" and another for the 1/2, right?

sorry so many of my questions are making me sound like i dont have a brain of my own, but i havent ever done this before, and its great to hear someone else tell me if i am thinking the right way, or missing things. thanks
 
dwd5813, I didn't mean the cool comment sarcastically, sorry if it came off that way. What I meant to express is that some skimmers do have a problem with going off for many hours after feeding. I guess if I fed once a day the reef devil would have still been fairly efficient, but I keep some fish that need two feedings a day, which didn't leave a lot of functioning time.

Your lighting sounds very good for the corals you have selected, just be sure to place the ricordeas in a lower and/or shadier area of the tank.
 
no worries, THB, i took no offense. my initial thought with regard to placement was to have the rics around the bottom, the zoos around the middle, and the euphyllias near the top. i will have to review this more when the time comes, but thats what i am thinking at the moment
edit: THB, i wanted to ask you about your sump design. the layout i am planning is drain into skimmer compartment, baffle, fuge, baffle, return compartment. is this similar to what you use, and how big are the compartments? i know you are supposed to have the skimmer compartmet basically just big enough for the skimmer, right? and the return compartment i read you should have a good size, to allow for evaporation without the risk of the pump running dry. if you could give details of your setup, it would help with the visualization. thanks very much
 
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