The poor college student 215 Oceanic Reef!

now that's a thought, it'd be rather interesting to do that I could even paint it black to match the back of my tank
 
THEMANTISMAN... Are you worried about the jawfish or other critters in the tank ever tunneling under the rock work and causing a big crash/avalanche? It does not look like the rock is on the bottom of the tank to me.
Yikes!
 
Heya man thought I would chime in I just got the 60" 80w IceCap lights from reefgeek I just got the 4 bulb one though and all I can say is omg LoL T5's overdriven are insane bright. If you got 8 of these I honestly think it would be overkill you really should look into getting 4 or 6 first then you can upgrade a couple more if need be down the road
 
sorry I have been out of it for a couple of days. I think that I would get the 8 bulb because if I dont want to use 2 I dont have to but if I want it---ive got it, I am not worried about the jawfish, worrying about it will only keep me up at night
 
Since the rock is only base rock you do not have to worry about it being out of water too long. You could get a hold of some acrylic rod, drill some holes in the rock and make "legs" for the rock that extend to the bottom of the tank. This will allow the animals in the tank to dig/burrow under it and nothing shift and smash them. Most people use marine safe 2 part epoxy putty to "glue" the legs into the predrilled holes.
Lots of threads on this in the DIY section. Just a thought to prevent avalanches in the future. :)
 
I have had jawfish in a tank before with a similar setup and didnt have a problem, the rocks are seated real well and most of it is epoxied already so I am not worried
 
You might consider upping your lighting wattage for SPS. The rule of thumb that I use for being able to keep anything SPS is 100watts lighting for each square foot of water surface.

For example a 7 ft by 2 ft tank has 14 square feet of surface area so I would try for 1400 watts of lighting.

If you go VHO only you could get by with 8 six foot bulbs at 160 watts each for 1280 watts

If you go MH you have center brace issues and end up with two big 400 watt bulbs and 2 160 watt VHO actinics for 1120 watts. The brace really F things up in this tank.

T5's are an option but the cost of the reflectors if done properly is expensive. If done wrong they wont be bright.

My cheap way (and best way)of doing the lighting is to get 4 URI A4 ballasts(the same as Icecap 660's but without the dimmer capability) running 6 ft VHO bulbs. Don't think VHO's will be a problem with this kind of wattage. Another nice thing about this layout is you can control the lighting better based on temperature or a slow sunset.
 
what do you think about the PAR output? I know that that much VHO would be fine for growing SPS but do you think that I would show better growth with T5's? that was my question. Plus T-5's last longer too that was another issue. Would you run only VHO's? and if so what bulb combo to get about a 12 to 14K look?
 
I would think T5 and VHO bulbs will last the same length if you use a good bulb and electronic ballasts. They are both essentially the same flourescent bulb but with differant diamiters

I think the cheapest setup would be VHO since no reflectors are needed and the end caps cost the same for both.

I would run only VHO or T5 since you can phase in new bulbs as the older ones get dim. This avoids light shock. Another reason is that your light system ends up being more failproof since one bad ballast wont be a big hit to the total light over the tank.

If you factor in the price of bulbs, electricity VHO comes out very good. T5's might be a little brighter but they cost more last time I checked
 
On failproof I ment that haveing one type of ballast is easyier to fix if you have an extra one around just swap it out. The same goes for the bulbs.
 
I would just mix and match the bulbs if you go VHO only With 8 bulbs you can tune in the color to you preferance quiet easily.

With 8 vho's I would go with URI bulbs
3 actinic
3 50/50
2 aquasun

I think you will have great growth with this setup. You would have more light than most MH setups without the bight/dim spots. Since the distribution of light is so good you might end up with better overall growth than a simmilar wattage MH setup. This is why they make light movers for MH.

As a footnote I am a cheap reefer also. I once got a pallet of Southdown sand and sold half to break even. The rest is waiting my basement remodel.
 
You may get more actual wattage with the VHO then T5s but 8 T5's vs. 8 vho is no comparison the PAR rating of the T5's would kill the VHO's
 
thanks for the input....anyone have any pics of a tank that is similar to mine using either vhos or t-5s? I would really like to see a VHO pic because I havent seen an all SPS w/ VHO
 
Go to the GARF website. They do all there stuff under VHO. I don't want to start another T5 rant. Lets just say that if you are in a race to grow the fastest SPS go with MH. If you want a good healthy tank for SPS all light systems will work.
 
looking at GARF's site I am not impressed with their system. I realize that it works but looking at the way some of their "success story" tanks are set up I am not impressed. The growth sequence that I saw on one of the SPS a S. hystrix was horrible. I dont think that long term I will have a nice looking tank if I went with their route. Heck, I took from the website that I could have a full reef with NO bulbs on an Icecap. I realize that it may (may being arguable) work but it is not what I am looking for.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8134509#post8134509 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by THEMANTISMAN
looking at GARF's site I am not impressed with their system. I realize that it works but looking at the way some of their "success story" tanks are set up I am not impressed. The growth sequence that I saw on one of the SPS a S. hystrix was horrible. I dont think that long term I will have a nice looking tank if I went with their route. Heck, I took from the website that I could have a full reef with NO bulbs on an Icecap. I realize that it may (may being arguable) work but it is not what I am looking for.
Click to expand...

Last pic of my GARF tank with NO lighting... (Tank was eventually upgraded to VHO)
scott300225.jpg
scott300225End.jpg


I personally would not call more than 1/2 inch of growth over a 30 day period "horrible"... :D

Thanks,

Scott
 
Last edited:
Scott, I am not saying that what GARF is doing is crap, I am just saying that it isnt for me. The growth sequence that I was talking about was over a year, not a month. I think the techniques that are used are antiquated. I dont mean that as an insult but I dont think that the plenum and over driving NO bulbs is the best thing we can do for the animals--only the best thing that we can do for our pocket books.
 
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