1. skimmers 2. lights

[Saxe]

Long winded but I don't want to get flamed for not enough info

You guys and girls have a lot of opinions so speak up

Well, I've been reading up on the reef hobby(I've been out of it for 13 years) A lot has changed. My wife purchased a used 125 that I am preparing as a reef. I have covered the gaudy plywood on the stand and stained it. Its in place with an empty aquarium. I can't drill the bottom so I'm building a custom overflow that will be permanently attached that relies on a design similar to Lifereef. This will go to a 30 gallon sump(reason for 30 gallon is in the future I will have two surge devices as well as a refugium) I will have a DSB in the main and in the refugium. I have some aragamax on the way as well as RO/DI unit. I want to have a diverse mixture of corals and fish. Future plans include a 35 gallon refugium as well as a custom purge setup.. But first is the main tank. I am patiently reading up on the latest methods. However,I'm confused on two points.

1. Skimmer. Alot of what I read points to a counter current design being the optimal skimmer design for a reef where you want to preserve the planktonic life. How come I see everyone using these big powerful needle wheels and the like? I am thinking of building one around 5' by 4" with a 350 mag pump.(reason for the slow flow: I read that contact time and lack of turbulance was critical to proper skimming) Am I wasting my time building a counter current design?

2. Lights. I was all set to put together 6 72" VHO URI's 2-aquasun 2-50/50 2-actinic. I want a diverse bio load from clams and SPS to softies. Everyone seems to really like the Metal Halides.
Am I better off with halides? If so what would be a good setup IE. number of lamps and watts for a 125 gallon. 72x18x22. Do I have to supplement actinic in addition? What lamps do you guys simulate moonlight with?

Also. I am leaning towards going with Mag Drive brand pumps. One reason is because they are inline or submersible. The other reason is I havn't heard much bad about them. I will have an 1800 pumping from the sump and a 350 pumping to the refugium and a 350 pumping to a counter current skimmer. Any reasons out there that I should consider another brand of pump?

Well. You answer all of these and I can write a book and make a million! Thanks for your advice.

FLAMES WELCOME AS I AM LEARNING, JUST BE NICE ABOUT IT

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, you have asked many question and I will give you my opinion on a couple, for now anyway. I just bought a new sump that required an external pump. I bought a new MagDrive 9.5. I hooked it up to my new sump, in the garage, to water test it. It was so noisy I decided that I didn't want it in my living room. So I posted a this topic "who makes the queitest external pump". Check it out, there are several good, quite, pumps.

Now if your pump is going in the basement or some other room where noise is not a problem, then that a different story. MagDrives are good reliable pumps, and reasonably priced.

I'd also recommend getting Halides. I upgraded after a year. Most do. I have 2-175W 10K Ushio's and 2-110W VHO actinics. It is very appealing and natural looking light, IMHO.

My 2 cents! And without one single flame!

Louey

[ May 01, 2002: Message edited by: Louey ]</p>

 

[suckair]

as far as the lighting goes.. MH 250w is my weapon of choice, Iwasaki lamps are great but if you want top of the line HQI lamps are it.

As far as skimmers.. I run beckett style skimmers on my systems and am quite pleased with their performace. The drawback is power consumption for these type of skimmers is high.. They require large pumps to operate.

the rest is the usual, deep sand bed. lots of rock and current current current.

good luck!

PS if you want to run SPS or love to watch the coraline go wild.. Hook up a ca reactor!

 

[Saxe]

what is the advantage of a reactor over Kalkwasser?

 

[monkeyboy]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Saxe:
<strong>what is the advantage of a reactor over Kalkwasser?</strong><hr></blockquote>

Answer: You get to spend more time gawking at the tank instead of lugging a big bucket of kalkwasser all around. Reactors are pricey but well worth the money IMO. Kalkwasser is some pretty awesome stuff also, if you don't mind the slight hassle, go for it (or heck, do both!).

About the small skimmer pump, dwell time is important but so is the amount of water processed through the skimmer. With a small pump, you may not be able to pull enough air in either through a becket, venturi, etc. If you were to buy one, i'd go w/ a Precision Marine Bullet 1 or an AquaC EV-180.

About the lighting, I am a huge fan of MH lighting. I started w/ PC's, eventually upgraded to 250's and now am running 400's on my new tank. They are well worth the money (and heat

) IME. The best bang for your buck would be 3x250w Iwasaki MH lamps w/ 2 or 4 VHO Actinics to give you some nicer color.

Good luck with whatever you do!

 

[Saxe]

Monkeyboy, What I plan is a counter current DIY. With a CC I would have a separate air pump so that I could slow down the water and still have enough air in the filter.

So far, I have changed this in the setup: Instead of the VHO's I could reasonably purchase a dual 400W ballast and two reflector and mogul socket combos and run 400W 10,000k Ushio bulbs. I also have a 175 ballast that I could run a bluer bulb such as a coralife or sunburst.

I definitely don't want a loud pump so thank you for the advice. Does anyone have anything bad to say about Velocity brand? Seems to be one of the most quiet ones.

As far as the reactor, I'll have to start with kalkwasser and work my way there.

Thanks for the replies, anyone else?

 

[Anonymous]

One problem with an airpump driven PS is you have to keep a good supply of air stones. I beleive you also need to be concerned about the bubble size. Therefor you can't just buy the cheap airstones. A good wooden one is required and they tend to gunk up pretty quickly. So make sure you can easily change your airstone.

 

[danmhippo]

The fact that the airstone has to be changed rather often makes the bigger powerhead driven beckett models appealing. I personally liked the AquaC's injection skimmer.

You have made a wise decision on the lighting setup. Dual 400W is perfect for your tank size. I'd go with 20K for the deeper actinic light.

 

[Saxe]

So, does anyone feel its worth the trouble of airstones to use a CC skimmer? Do you agree that contact time is important?

Is the only advantage of a reactor the time savings? Or does it do something that the Kalkwasser cannot?