New Member - Excited to be a part of Atlanta Reef!

[jeffmuse]

Hey everyone, I just joined Atlanta Reef Club, and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Jeff and I live in Suwanee.

I have always wanted to build a reef tank, and finally decided to "pull the trigger" on this exciting hobby. I am currently in the research phase of designing my tank (I am on my third book and doing tons of research online). I'll probably be ready to set things up in the next month or so.

I certainly welcome any advice that you guys have to offer!

 

[bobz]

Welcome to the club!
Bob

 

[jesspete]

Good job! Nice and slow and plenty of research... off to a GREAT start! Are you thinking Fish only, full blown reef?

 

[jesspete]

Good Job, Barb!

 

[william1]

Welcome neighbor! We are always here to ask questions.

 

[drnecropolis]

Welcome!!!!!!

 

[mockery]

Welcome to the addiction, I mean hobby!

 

[jeffmuse]

I appreciate the response! I am looking to do a full blow reef setup. I am currently researching the various corals and would like to buy equipment that will allow me to have a diverse reef. Here is what I am planning so far:

Aquarium: 65 Gallon 36x18x24
Sump: 20 Gallon sump tank
Skimmer: Octopus 110
Filtration: 65-90 lbs live rock, 4 inch live sand bed
Lighting: Nova Extreme T-5 39 watt X6 bulbs OR Ultralight Metal Halide 400 watt and T-5 39 watt x4
Pump: Not sure, appreciate feedback
RO/DI: Not sure, but will certain use and would appreciate feedback
Activated Carbon: Hagen Flucal Carbon
Calcium Reactor: Not sure if necessary, appreciate feedback
Heater/Chiller: Not sure
Top off: Not sure

Let me know what you think... again, I certainly appreciate any feedback!



Jeff

 

[mockery]

If your going t5 make sure that each bulb has individual reflectors or else you'll loose alot of PAR.

 

[ralph atl]

Welcome! nice plans so far, too!

 

[jeffmuse]

I appreciate the feedback... the lighting has been one of the most tricky things for me to figure out. The T-5's seem to have the advantages of lower heat, longer life, and less power, but I do not have a lot of feedback on how well they work. I am planning on going with a deeper tank (24" deep) so I want to make sure that the light is going to be adequate. When looking at the T-5's with individual reflectors, it appears to raise the price significantly.

The fixture that I am leaning towards has a single 400 watt metal halide and 4 of the 39 watt T-5'S. Given the 24" depth of the tank, do you guys feel that this lighting setup would allow me to grow most corals?

 

[derek_s]

Barbara;338449 wrote: For a 24" deep tank you're really going to need the punch of metal halides to reach the bottom.

I will have to respectfully disagree with this! T5's can reach the bottom of a 24" tank easily, but there are certain considerations.

Mine produce good results at the bottom of a 27" tank, but they are being overdriven with an aftermarket ballast and have high quality cooling and reflectors.

The type of livestock you will be keeping at the bottom will be the biggest consideration in deciding what type of lights are necessary. If you are wanting a mixed reef, t5's would be fine, I think. If you want a primarily hard coral tank, maybe overdriven t5s or halides would be best. Also the look is different between the 2, so maybe a visit to Creation Reef in Woodstock would be good to compare them, since they run different lights on different systems for comparison purposes.

All that being said, yes, lights can be tricky...

 

[jaustin]

Welcome!

 

[jaustin]

Yep, very true. I am perhaps partial to the MH set-up.

lol, and you even have both!

 

[jaustin]

Yep. I'll never give up my MH. Nothing beats the feeling of blistering hot metal halides taking off the top few layers of skin when you're in the tank and something startles you!

like a pissed off female maroon clown that thinks your a few inches too close to her home!

I had no idea they could hit that hard!

 

[spike]

WELCOME!!!! Another reefer in my area.

 

[jeffmuse]

All of the suggestions have been awesome!

The lighting has been tricky, but you guys have helped steer me in the right direction. I love the look of the t-5 lights and they appear to have many advantages over the other avaliable lighting systems. If given an unlimited budget, I would probably go with an all t-5 setup; however, I have noticed that the really nice systems (indivual reflectors on each light) have an exponentially higher price. The halides are very bright and seem to get the most bang for the buck, so I am probably going to go with a combination approach (400 watt halide, 39 watt t-5 x 4).

I appreciate the feedback on the other equipment, especially on the pumps, heaters, and sump tanks. It seems that the pump is kind of like the "heart" of the system, so I certainly don't want to skimp on this component.

Thanks again and please keep the feedback coming!

 

[steve]

Do 2 LumenBright Mini Reflectors, with a 175 watt Iwasaki 15k bulb with an ARO electronic ballasts.. That will give you the best bang for the buck with what you are planning. Especially since you will run actinic bulbs for help with a more blue color. The Iwasaki's are really white, and the actinics will help to give it a more blue. And you will get a substantially more amount of PAR at the sand bed than a 250 watt and even some 400 watt set-ups.

 

[lawsonr81]

My advice is to take your time on every thing. If you try to start out to quickly with a new tank, lots of bad things are possible.

 

[mufret]

Welcome!!

There are a number of areas in this hobby that can get rather convoluted and this is certainly one of them. Besides the technological differences, lighting is very much a personal preference. Both of the lighting technologies you are researching will work well on your tank regardless of the biotope you'll be attempting to recreate. Before making a decision, my suggestion would be to go look at a number of tanks that are using the types of lighting you're considering and see if YOU have a preference, as they do give a tank a different "look".

Besides your budget, the other things to consider are the dimension and structure of the tank you're setting up. Does you 65 have a center brace? Do you have a canopy or are you looking for a fixture?