starting a sps tank in a few monthes

[natep206]

ok so i am starting a sps dominated 20 gal or a 7 gal hex in a few monthes.

ok so i have never kept sps. but i know there are alot of factors o have to deal with

1st lighting. would 150watts of mh be good for both? i would polish the reflector before i put it on if that would help.

2nd circulation. how many gph should i have in a seven gal or 20 gal? and should i have 1 or 2 powerheads? i could get up to more then 1000gph but idk if that would be required.

3rd id be using water out of (by the time i start my tank it will be 10 month old) 55 gal. is there anything specific with the water i need to know.

please any other info is appreciated

thanks
nate :beer:

 

[Cody Ray]

I would go with the 20 gallon as you will have more space for corals and the larger water volume is better. 150W will be plenty for a 20 gallon. In my 20 I use a seio 620 and a maxijet 1200 if that helps. I don't understand your 3rd question however if you are talking about using water from your 55 gallon to do water changes than I don't think that would work.

 

[natep206]

thanks man!

no im evoiding a cycle by using water from my 55galto start with. and i will use newly mixed water. i

so lights will be cool for like all sps? i want cauliflower, branching monti, lobe (anyone got a better name? its a encrusting coral),Stylophora Coral , and finger coral (better name?) would lights be fine for those?

and how manygph should i run?

 

[Cody Ray]

150w is what I am using on my 20L (no corals yet however many have told me that they will do just fine).

I would shoot for at least 400GPH, using 2 pumps pointed at one another (or at the front glass). Flow has never been an easy thing to recreate as you want good flow without hurting the corals. This is why I like the seio pumps, the put out a lot of flow but without the head pressure that can rip flesh off of the coral.

 

[Shooter7]

Depending on where your LR comes from, water from your other tank will not cause you to "avoid" a cycle. If you get LR shipped to you, it will most likely have die off on the rock and whether you use water from an established tank or not, you will still get an ammonia spike. Most of the beneficial bacteria that processes ammonia in the tank is on the hard surfaces...the rock, sand, glass, etc., not in the water column so much. There would be some bacteria present and it might help seed the new tank, but it won't be enough to avoid a cycle given shipped rock. If you get rock locally that is very well established like I did in my 120, then you could avoid the ammonia spikes so long as the rock was transported home in water. However, I found that I still went through some algae and cyano stages as the tank matured.

 

[natep206]

i will be getting it localy so it wont have die off.

 

[natep206]

bumpidy bump bump