125 gallon fresh to reef.

[bkent]

I have been keeping fresh water fish for several years now. I just graduated from college, about to get a real job, and buy a house with my fiance. After settling down in my house, I want to get rid of my S. American Cichlids and go reef, the main reason being that I will have the $$ to do so. My ? is two part.

First, will I be able to use any of my filters already owned on a reef tank? (2 emperor 400s and a magnum 350 canister)

Second, I have been reading up on lighting and would like to know personal ex. on vho, MH, or PC. I built a DIY hood for my 55 gallon fresh, so I can wire/build one for my 125. After all the research i've been doing (1 year+ dreaming) The lighting issue is still my biggest fear. There is a e-business that has MH retro kits locally, and I could get a good deal on say 3 175 watt kits. Would I be better off going VHO for long run? The best advice would be people that have 125+ reef tanks personal experiance.

 

[davelin315]

I have never used VHO, and they seem to be more of a cost in buying new lights than the others (my understanding is that they last around 6 months or so?). PCs and MHs will last a year or so, and I have had both. You can't beat MH for the sheer intensity of the light, and also, for the shimmering effect on your water. However, they cost a lot to run, and new bulbs are fairly expensive. I run PCs right now, and they are supposedly cheaper on the electric bill, and last as long as MHs. They don't produce as much heat as MHs do, but at the same time, they also don't have the intensity of MHs. I would go with a MH/PC combination if you can, and I think the more wattage the better (and more options you have for livestock). I'm thinking of adding either a 400 or a 1000W set of bulbs to my tank, but the 1000W bulbs are HUGE. As far as your filters, you can use anything on your tank that you want. I used to have canister filters on my reef to run chemical and mechanical filtration with. I don't anymore because I never changed the materials in the canisters, but you could also use them as circulation pumps if you wanted to, or even fill them with live rock to create a biological filter. The emperor filters you can also use (they're the hang on back filters, right?) for circulation, or mechanical or chemical filtration. Just use your imagination, who says you have to rely solely on powerheads for current?