Starting again after 10yrs

[Redhawk44]

I am getting ready to start a reef tank again after a 10 year break from the hobby. It seems some things have changed over the years, and had some questions, i thought you guys might be able to help me out with.

I used to work at a LFS while i was going to school. And it seems LFS have their own way of doing things. I had a 100g reef set up using PCs and a Trickle sump system.

Im looking into getting a 110g Tall and was wondering if these new T5 light will hit the bottom enough to have clams, or will i have to go with MHs.

Also i was thinking about using a refugium this go around instead of a trickle/bioball sump set up. Are refugiums harder to manage or do the benifets out way the cost.

I have also only used crushed coral substrate and thinking about doing a sand bed. The only problem is i have always liked my substrate to be fresh and clean, which you can keep that way with crushed coral by vaccuming it. Can sand beds be kept very clean with out being to vaccume them.

Would love to hear any ideas yall have, and cant wait to get back into my hobby again.

 

[xenon]

I would go with MH for a 110 tall, especially if you plan to keep clams at the bottom..

Cost of refuge is not much to talk about, (sand,LR rubble,light) and its worth it for sure. Bioballs are not used anymore. They are nitrate traps.

Crushed coral is also not recommended and neither is siphoning the substrate. Go with aragonite sand.

Goodluck and welcome back to the hobby! :thumbsup:

 

[Joshua1023]

I mostly agree w/ xenon. A few things. Metal halide lights are great for intensity, but they don't reach into the depths of your tank the way you'd think. I like to supplement my mh w/ flourescents of some sort as they reach a little further into your tank. The best way to figure the amount of light you want is by the par values, but for someone like me without all that info at my disposal, You will want to go for 5 or 6 watts per gallon in your display. If I were you I'd go 2 250 watt mh and suplement w/ a few 54 watt t5. I'm not sure if your tank is 6' or 4' though. If you have a six foot tank I'd go w/ 3 mh becuse you'd really have to lift the fixture off your tank to get good coverage w/ just 2.

Take a look at this thread. Its all about the cash you have to spend.


http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1037172


As far as the substrate goes you can honestly use whatever you like. Aragonite is best according to most people, but the buffering quality of it is actually under scrutiny by a large group right now. I have talked to alot of guys who are using hardware store type silica sand w/ great success. At a fraction of the cost of aragonite. You can't siphon it clean, but the way we clean our sand beds is w/ sand sifting critters. Gobies, starfish, crabs, and snails. My sand bed is always spotless.

Oh yeah, Welcome To RC.