TBS Experience - questions before I buy

[Glasslaer]

I am preparing to order from TBS and feel like a little kid in a candy shop. I am trying to learn as much as I can and set the tank up correctly, so that the TBS package does as well as it can. The TBS website has great information, which I am following, but I have a few other questions. Please forgive my ignorance on some of these issues, there is so much information on these forums its hard to know what is best for my tank. I am looking at a 75 gallon tank:

Lights: The TBS website says that Metal Halide are not necessary. Does it mean they are not necessary for growing the TBS package...but may be necessary if I want to grow hard corals? Is it ok to start with 150MH with actinic and moon lights?

Sump: The TBS website says no sump necessary. MY LFS guy who has mulitple coral tanks say not necessary and the equipment he uses and would sell me can hang nicely off the back. I went with this size tank to ensure it was a large enough tank to maintain a stable environment. I can see why a small tank would need a sump. Yet it seems that everyone here says gotta have it. Thoughts? Is it just a matter of aesthetics and maybe a need to be a little more careful of water level?

Ro/Di water: Nothing mentioned on the website. Our water is well water here, tastes good...my freshwater tanks do really well. Is there a way to know if one really needs this?

Any help is appreciated! The TBS looks like a great product that has made a lot of people happy!

Thanks to Richard for answering my email about shipping to Minnesota too - glad to know you can ship here in winter!

 

[Iphis]

Strong Lights are not mandatory. What is the height of your tank? However, they will certaintly aid in the growth of most hard corals. You can keep them, if they accept other forms of nutrition as well, IE feeding. But you would have to feed them a lot to make up for the lighting defecit. Of course, this depends, coral by coral.

Some corals even do well without strong lighting.

Sump helps out for a variety of reasons. Its not mandatory either. You can put all your equipment down there, you can easily have a large filtration system that you would normally not want hanging in, or off of your tank. You can also place things like macro algae in there to keep it from growing in your tank. You could easily put a heater, skimmer, filtration, ect in a sump hidden. This would keep your display much less cluttered with equipment and wires.

Get a TDS meter and measure your well water. Also measure the basic stats of the water. RO/DI is a good bet to keep the water pristine, as a small amount of nutrients /CAN/ cause algae outbreaks, as well as metals getting into your tank that are generally removed by a well maintenanced RO/DI system.

TBS has just an awesome amount of life. Make sure you have some good ID books handy, you will need them for your first several months sitting in front of your tank and spotting little things crawling out

Iphis

 

[Glasslaer]

Thank you, Iphis. I think the tank is 24" deep. I did spend some time reading about T5 lighting last night too, and it might be a good option as well - particularly if the MH lights get hot and require cooling.

I am going to take a sample of water and see if can get a TDS reading on it. Thanks for that advice. I don't like the amount of water wasted with the RO systems, but maybe there are other options.

I found out there is a big tropical/marine store about 30 minutes from me, so I'm going to head over and see what they recommend too.

 

[Iphis]

I read about some kind of material you can buy at most hardware stores that will clean your water as good as an RO/DI system. I also heard about it when Calfo came to talk to us in phoenix. You might want to look at that, if you water needs some conditioning before placing it in your tank.

Dealing with algae outbreaks can be a pain, but its not as bad as copper, or other heavy metals getting into your water which can easily kill your invertebrates.

MH's you can generally hang several inches above the water to prevent overheating, you can also set up fans to blow across the surface of the water to reduce heat.

Of course, if you have the money, you can also look into a chiller if it becomes a problem.

Something else you want to make sure you have is some kind of digital camera so you can get pictures up here

 

[H2OLUVSME]

lights: mh is not neccessary for TBS. however, it is a huge plus with a lot of hard corals and clams. however, T-5 is getting rave reviews, and you can keep tons of softies and LPS with just VHO or PC lighting. go with the best your budget will allow. also a custom canopy with retro-fit lighting can open a lot of oppertunities. you can easily upgrade or change lighting later and it cost a lot less to set up, IME. i have a used canopy that i modified, used VHO lights, and used mh lighting. with mods to the hood to accept the mhs it all cost me about $350. thats for 440w of VHO, and 500w of mh.

sump: it is not neccessary, but personally i wont have another tank without one. it opens up so much possibilities for maintenance and equipment. you can fit better and more equipment in a sump, than you can hang on the the tank. it also maximizes space in the display for rock, coral, and fish. with a sump, your water level will be constant in the display, and water changes will be easier.

water: i have friends that run tanks with untreated tap water all the time, with no ill effects. ive also seen people use tap water once and kill all their corals and inverts, because of copper being in their tap. i had algae problems until i switched to RO. i reccomend using what works for you. just remember, even the smallest amount of copper can reek havoc in a tank for a long time. it will absorb into rock and silicone, and can leach out for many years to come.

definatly get a digi cam. the documentation and the joy from sharing your tank are priceless.

 

[Glasslaer]

Thanks, Landon! I have read through much of your thread - it is so much fun to watch these tanks going together and reading about individual experiences!

I spoke to our city water department and the local water softener company - our water is untreated ground, and it seems we don't get much in the way of contaminants or heavy metals. It is really hard, which is why we all have water softeners - doubles or triples the life of our water heaters! The water softener guy does salt and fresh water aquariums and has an RO system added to his softener. I may go that route....that way I have great drinking water, good ice cubes and they would put a special tank and faucet in for me for the fishtanks. I admit, the expense is important, but the ease of maintenance is more so!

I appreciate the lighting information. I am also rethinking the sump too - the LFS showed me ready made setups and how they work - they had alot of them running. I think I want to do this right and not be complaining six months from now that 'I wish I had.....'

Continue posting your experiences and pictures - they are really helpful to those who follow!

 

[Glasslaer]

MH's you can generally hang several inches above the water to prevent overheating, you can also set up fans to blow across the surface of the water to reduce heat.

I checked on this, and the light fixture I looked at is raised about 4 inches or so over an open tank and they showed me how the fan would work. Thanks for the advice, Iphis! Its expensive, but the LFS said they are great fixtures, nothing really goes wrong with them.