New to ARC. Tank suggestions

P

patrick214

Member
Market
Messages
249
Reaction score
0
Hello all, this is my first post here on ARC. Im looking for some ideas for my 215g reef tank. Here's the skinny, the tank is now two months old. When it was put together everything from a 75g FOWLR system was put into it. The 75 was running for a little over a year and had four fish a Maroon Clown, a Flame Angel, Regal Tang and Blue Damsel. The 215 is an Oceanic Starphire front tank that came equipped with 4 way Ocean Motions a 35g sump a 220g Coralife Super Skimmer, Coralife 1250gph return pump, and a Coralife Aqualight Pro Retrofit mounted in Canopy. I added 4 Maxijet 1200's for flow. Considering my mediocre skimmer, Average Flow (2450gph of flow), and Average lighting (3xDE150wHQI and 4X96w ActinicPC's) 834watts total. I have various LPS now and intend on keeping more needy SPS in the future.I am looking for some ideas on additional lighting better skimming and improved flow. I am considering an additional T5 HO for lighting (limited room in canopy). Tunze's for water flow, and a higher quality skimmer Deltec or Euro Reef perhaps. I have 200lbs of LR and 50lbs rubble rock in sump (from 75g) Calc and Alk is maintained withReefAdv. Reef Calc. and Reef Builder in topoff R/O water. SG 1.024. Overall im looking for ANY suggestions as this is my first real attempt at keeping a Reef tank other than your simple softie system. Any ideas, advice, or experience will be greatly appreciated and sorry for the lengthy post! Thanks, Patrick.
 
You're asking a lot of questions there! Here's the order I'd attack the upgrades on this tank-
1. Become an ARC member :)

2. Auto topoff system to maintain constant salinity. Be sure to use one that goes through a solenoid to avoid ending up with a freshwater tank.

3. Calcium reactor. The only samples I've ever tested that had perfect Mg-Ca-KH balances were running calcium reactors. The daily dosing will get you pretty close, but takes significantly more testing and time. I have a saying with reefkeeping - If it's a hassle, you'll probably stop doing it. It is possible to run a Ca reactor without a pH controller, but again, it takes more effort with less accuracy.

4. As far as skimmers go, I used to love Aquamedic until I saw some MRC skimmers in action. They take a little more time to clean, but they are outstanding units. And, they're a ARC sponser. http://www.myreefcreations.com">www.myreefcreations.com</a>

5. Lighting... I'm always scared to start a new debate on this one. Everyone has their own opinion and budget on it, expecially after that last meeting with Dana Riddle....

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask away. And like I said, we'll tackle light later. That one needs its own thread.
 
I'll try to get some pics up today. I am planning on joining the club this week, I have really been interested in getting some good ideas from experienced aquarists. As far as CA-ALK-MG I am fairly diligent, they are dosed and tested 3-4 times a week and read at 420-380, 12-13DKH, and 1350 for MG. I think a Calcium Reactor is a great idea but was leaning towards other purchases (Skimmer, Flow, Chiller, Lighting) first until I had a healthy SPS stocking(really concerned lighting is insufficient) at which point the Reactor would be a necessity. I have never heard anything about the Aquamedic or MRC units but I will look into them. As of right now i add daily top-off water to sump (very small 35g too small in my opinion) and it keeps it fairly constant. The way the sump is put together it is hard to have large salinity shifts though i understand a constant level would be great. Eats 5g evap a day. My 834 watts with 384 watts of 420nnm actinic cant be enought lighting long term for SPS can it? Thinking of switching to 250 here but light is too new. Maybe replacing actinics with T-5's or adding T-5s. Also the 14k coralife bulbs are really WAY to white for me but i cant switch to 20k's unless i uprgrade to 250's. Any thoughts?
 
As long as you stay constant about maintaining those levels, you'll be fine. As far as lighting, a PAR reading would let us know if those lights are producing enough useful light. Read my notes from the last meeting here.
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7958&page=4">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7958&page=4</a>
The club will rent out a quantum meter to members for $10 so you can get that reading. Some of Dana's findings were that people were really over lighting their coral past the point of saturation. So I'm not going to make any calls regarding enough light unless I have either a PAR reading, a lumens reading, or it's blatently obvious.

One aside... Did you get that tank from Petland - Dunwoody? Someone upgrading from a fish only 75 to a 215 with retrofit halides got one there about 2 months ago. If so, I'm the one that did all the work putting that tank together.
 
Yea I did buy the tank from the Petland in Dunwoody. That is pretty funny and random! LOL. I'm getting ready to load some of these pics if you are interested.
 
haha, I thought is sounded familiar. I hadn't planned that one out for heavy SPS, but we'll see how it goes. Plus, you can always try to sell that retrofit through the ARC to fund a new light. And yeah, get some pics up, I'd like to see how it turned out.
 
I really feel like all it needs is a Skimmer Upgrade some Tunzes and 250's instead of the 150's but i really dont know I am kind of baffled where to go from here. That Coralife skimmer is really giving me fits, i really almost prefered my AquaC Remmora Pro I had on the 75 it pulled much nicer skimmate and was a HOB.
 
>
 
The trick to the ESU skimmers is a constant level in the sump. If you can keep the return basket abve the water level at all times, you'll get more consistant skimming. It's the change in back pressure that causes the change in skimming level. When the level of the sump drops, it will skim less. When it raises, it will skim more. That's where an auto top off unit comes in. I've seen them pull out tons of crap if they don't have too many fluxuations.

And my pics never show up here. They upload and then nothing! If someone can step in and make me feel stupid, please do.
 
.tnail { height: 240px; width: 320px; position: relative; } .tnail img { height:240px; width: 960px; position: absolute; } http://by133w.bay133.mail.live.com/mail/ReadMessageLight.aspx?Action=ScanAttachment&AllowUnsafe=True&AllowUnsafeContentOverride=True&AttachmentIndex=0&AttachmentDepth=0&FolderID=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&InboxSortAscending=False&InboxSortBy=Date&IsMessageSafe=False&MessageCodePage=20127&ReadMessageId=7eb0c36f-9b05-46db-853a-596cc8a69449&n=117222343">[IMG]http://by133w.bay133.mail.live.com/att/GetAttachment.aspx?tnail=0&messageId=7eb0c36f-9b05-46db-853a-596cc8a69449&Aux=0|0|8C9CC7AACD54600|" alt="" /></a>
[IMG]http://by133w.bay133.mail.live.com/mail/ReadMessageLight.aspx?Action=ScanAttachment&AllowUnsafe=True&AllowUnsafeContentOverride=True&AttachmentIndex=0&AttachmentDepth=0&FolderID=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&InboxSortAscending=False&InboxSortBy=Date&IsMessageSafe=False&MessageCodePage=20127&ReadMessageId=7eb0c36f-9b05-46db-853a-596cc8a69449&n=455358307">[IMG]http://gfx2.hotmail.com/mail/w2/pr02/ltr/magnify.gif" alt="" /><span style="color: #0068cf;">012.JPG</span></a>
[IMG]http://by133w.bay133.mail.live.com/mail/ReadMessageLight.aspx?Action=ScanAttachment&AllowUnsafe=True&AllowUnsafeContentOverride=True&AttachmentIndex=1&AttachmentDepth=1&FolderID=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&InboxSortAscending=False&InboxSortBy=Date&IsMessageSafe=False&MessageCodePage=20127&ReadMessageId=7eb0c36f-9b05-46db-853a-596cc8a69449&n=695924753">[IMG]http://by133w.bay133.mail.live.com/att/GetAttachment.aspx?tnail=1&messageId=7eb0c36f-9b05-46db-853a-596cc8a69449&Aux=0|0|8C9CC7AACD54600|" alt="" /></a>
[IMG]http://by133w.bay133.mail.live.com/mail/ReadMessageLight.aspx?Action=ScanAttachment&AllowUnsafe=True&AllowUnsafeContentOverride=True&AttachmentIndex=1&AttachmentDepth=1&FolderID=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&InboxSortAscending=False&InboxSortBy=Date&IsMessageSafe=False&MessageCodePage=20127&ReadMessageId=7eb0c36f-9b05-46db-853a-596cc8a69449&n=1574135756">[IMG]http://gfx2.hotmail.com/mail/w2/pr02/ltr/magnify.gif" alt="" /><span style="color: #0068cf;">015.JPG</span></a> [IMG]http://by133w.bay133.mail.live.com/mail/ReadMessageLight.aspx?Action=ScanAttachment&AllowUnsafe=True&AllowUnsafeContentOverride=True&AttachmentIndex=2&AttachmentDepth=2&FolderID=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&InboxSortAscending=False&InboxSortBy=Date&IsMessageSafe=False&MessageCodePage=20127&ReadMessageId=7eb0c36f-9b05-46db-853a-596cc8a69449&n=50642467">[IMG]http://by133w.bay133.mail.live.com/att/GetAttachment.aspx?tnail=2&messageId=7eb0c36f-9b05-46db-853a-596cc8a69449&Aux=0|0|8C9CC7AACD54600|" alt="" /></a>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

SaltedCarmel
Mangrove Tank Stocking Suggestions
Replies
10
Views
257
SaltedCarmel
SaltedCarmel
CrisisReef
Berlin method effectiveness
Replies
7
Views
355
CrisisReef
CrisisReef
C
New Home Setup - Advice on Mixing Station Plumbing/Pump
Replies
5
Views
268
Reef Altitude
R
C
Fish stock ideas/suggestions
Replies
10
Views
596
Cuso
C
FinParadiseAquaticsLLC
Clean up crew suggestions...
Replies
6
Views
162
FinParadiseAquaticsLLC
FinParadiseAquaticsLLC
Back
Top