nubie ... sort of

[five.five-six]

ok i am seriously considering re-entering the hobby I have a 2 year old that just loves fish

one thing I learned years ago is that the most expensive way to keep a reef is to buy something cheep and continuously upgrade it until you have what you should have bought in the first place but "it was just too expensive"

so I basically have left myself with 2 choices


choice a)



red sea max with a nano chiller

advantages:

1) for $1k I can start adding animals and rock
2) it is self limiting, I can not go nutso expanding it


choice b)

85 gallon curved front glass tank (I am soo done with acrylic)

1/4 hp current chiller

Neptune AquaController Jr

48" Outer Orbit 2x150 w/ T5 Lamps

probably 2 of these Aqua Medic Turboflotor T1000 Protein Skimmer with Ocean Runner 2700 pump

Iwaki MD40RLT Water Pump (Japanese Motor)


KNOP Calcium Reactor Package 1

Aqua Medic SP 3000 â€"œ Dosing pump for night time kalkwasser dosing

that is the basic system, i would also need ideas for wave timer pumps, I hate cords and power heads in a tank so i am thinking about plumbing 2-3 external pumps with bulkheads



advantages:

well they are obvious

disadvantages:

1) lots o money probably $4k before I put the first piece of live rock in
2) time... time time

 

[aquaman67]

[welcome]

 

[five.five-six]

thanks for the warm welcome

 

[drummereef]

All depends on the livestock you want to keep. With the larger tank you'd be able to keep more species and a variety of corals. What are you planning on keeping?

 

[murfman]

Look for a used tank in the 125 range, you can find them pretty cheap. If you shop carefully, you can get set up for under $1500 and that includes rock, sand etc.

 

[five.five-six]

well I would like to keep sps, clams, xenia, all the tough stuff

I am now looking at a 72 gal bowfront

I think the turbofloater is out I am leaning more to :

ASM G-2 Protein Skimmer

 

[techigirl78]

Personally, I'd go with a modified version of choice B.

At this point, I'm confused. Your kind of comparing apples and oranges. Choice A won't allow you to keep what you want.

Also, to save money, drop the curved glass tank. Are you really set on it? They can add distortion if you haven't owned one. We have a surfline and a number of rectangle tanks. Looking back, the surfline wasn't worth the extra cost to me.

Where do you live, do you have central air conditioning? There are a number of things that can be done to prevent the need for a chiller. Must be somewhere warm as you didn't indicate a heater was needed.

You shouldn't need the calicium reactor and dosing pump for awhile.

I like tunze streams or nanostreams depending on the flow you are looking at.

Look at this page: http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_lighting_metal_halide_bulbs.asp?CartId= I wouldn't get a fixture with 150W MH as you are severely limited on bulb options.

 

[five.five-six]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9458971#post9458971 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by techigirl78
Personally, I'd go with a modified version of choice B.

At this point, I'm confused. Your kind of comparing apples and oranges. Choice A won't allow you to keep what you want.

Well it will let me keep money.... I want that

Also, to save money, drop the curved glass tank. Are you really set on it? They can add distortion if you haven't owned one. We have a surfline and a number of rectangle tanks. Looking back, the surfline wasn't worth the extra cost to me.

Not completely set on the bow front.. I am attracted to it as it is not so "box-ey" looking, and it allows a few more inches of aquiscaping in the center... that always seems to get congested. Ideally I would like to have a tank flushed in to the wall with rear access... I am in southern California.. Land of the 1/2milion dollar condos there is just not room. My other "ideal" design would be a 4'x4'x2' cube with pendants.. There again space is a concern and this will be a showpiece in my livening room

Where do you live, do you have central air conditioning? There are a number of things that can be done to prevent the need for a chiller. Must be somewhere warm as you didn't indicate a heater was needed.

well I was going to use this heater Jager 250 W Heater 17 inch UL Approved . I do have central air, and I have tried the fan cooling and tried real hard to go chiller-less.. It is a lot of work, and a lot of evaporation.. I found it is just best to bite the $$ bullet and get a chiller.. The animals will be happier on ballance

You shouldn't need the calcium reactor and dosing pump for awhile.

Yep those hit the chopping block right away... they can be added easily in the future. I am going to get a controller. I am already versed in Neptune’s programming language and have a copy of aquanotes, so I will probably stay with the aquacontroler Jr. I have been bitten by a crappy t-stat on a heater before and it was UGLY and I need lighting control anywise

I like tunze streams or nanostreams depending on the flow you are looking at.

The ASM g-2 is looking good, I saw one at work at a LFS on a 120 med stocked.. Stunning results.

Look at this page: http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_lighting_metal_halide_bulbs.asp?CartId= I wouldn't get a fixture with 150W MH as you are severely limited on bulb options.

You sold me.. mongul base it is

thanks for taking the time for such a detailed post!

 

[techigirl78]

If you can do the size and plan on going with MH, I'd also suggest looking at a 120. The MH lighting area is 2' x 2', so having the extra width doesn't require additional lighting.

And two heaters is good. Probably isn't much of a problem where you live, but in case one fails, the other one will still be in place.

Good luck?

 

[five.five-six]

it is just getting a little to big for the place.

I am looking for 175 mh fixtures, all I can find are 150's

i know I can save $$ buying balast, end caps, lamps, refflectors and puting it all together myself. I would just like a finished product, with nice cableing..

ok what brand balasts... I am thinking icecap

 

[techigirl78]

I understand, that is why I got a fully assembled unit for my 90. The couple hundred was definitely worth it as the canopy would have cost a couple hundred or be a pain to build. Sometimes the extra money is definitely worth the simplisity.

Looks like some other sites (reefgeek.com for example) do have some more offerings for those bulbs, so I wouldn't worry too much about it if that is the fixture you wanted.

 

[five.five-six]

no, I am not married to that perticular fixture, all I want is ~175 X 2 mh and actenic lighting

 

[five.five-six]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9462164#post9462164 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by five.five-six
no, I am not married to that perticular fixture, all I want is ~175 X 2 mh and actenic lighting

ok I just picked up an established 125 reef with halides ~150lbs nice rock.. lots of correls and fish, chiller, skimmer etc. the problem is that it is an acrylic tank.. I am looking at replacing the tank and installing real pumps.. see this thread help with geting the right pumps

 

[vegesrus]

tanks are truly addicting. one just can't get a tank that is too big.

(well maybe)

 

[Lotus99]

In earthquake country, acrylic can be a good thing.

Some also say that for safety reasons with kids acrylic is better, but I can't understand how anyone thinks a small child could pull over 1000 lbs of tank. At least there won't be broken glass, if anything goes wrong.

Just remember to get kid locks on the stand. I've read all kinds of stories of toddlers feeding the fish Cheerios or giving them a drink of Kool-Aid.

 

[jer77]

Icecaps are very good ballasts and can run almost any bulb because they're electronic. Another good ballast is called ARO ballasts and are a little cheaper too. You can find them at www.hellolights.com which is a very good site for lighting needs. ARO also has a ballast for VHO bulbs that is very cheap. www.hellolights.com./2laaroasbaki.html. Will you be able to wire the ballasts in a box? Can you hang the lights from the ceiling? What I did for my lighting over my sps frag tank was to use a PFO reflector www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=PF2635. Use two of them for a 48'' tank. They have a mogel socket for the MH and have room for 2 VHO bulbs too. I was able to have a nice reflector, 2 MH ballasts, a VHO ballast, 2 250W SE bulbs, and 2 VHO actinics for around $550. For 175W bulbs I'd get the Iwasaki 15000K bulbs because they emit as much PAR as most 250W bulbs.

 

[five.five-six]

the setup i picked up came with 2 24" Jebo 150 w mh / t5 combos.. I am not too sure about Jebo but I can upgrede to icecap / aqualine busch later i paid $1k for this setup and with 150-200lb of very nice looking rock and several nice LPS and soft correls.. & chiller, i think I am off to a good start.. btw anyone interested in some pusling xenia? it is growing in this tank like culerpa :O

 

[crumbletop]

.

 

[techigirl78]

Congratulations! Just be careful with the xenia.

 

[five.five-six]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9539044#post9539044 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by techigirl78
Just be careful with the xenia.

WHY?

how about those lights, are they total junk or are they ok? they are double ended 150w hqi