are people taking advantage of me?

[bhb1034]

i bought 180 pounds of live rock for my 220g fowlr. the guy from gulfview said that his rock is from 20 feet of water and doesnt need much light. he said my 300 watts of pc/standard lights should be fine for his rock and so i bought the coral covered live rock (more expensive). the guy at lfs store told me i needed about $60 of additives (sealk, reef former, strontium, argonite, calcite) so i bought them. my question is do i have enough lighting for all the life/corals/sponges etc. on the live rock? and do i need all those supplements? i havent even gotten any fish yet. im just getting started and need some help.

 

[Reef Guy11]

Hello There,

If your using 300 watts of Pc, why not invest in MH. Save you money on the Electric bill, and also IMO. I only use a 2 part Calcuim and Alkalinity Buffer, Called B-Ionic. Also Luguls Solution For Iodine made by Kent Marine. That is all.

 

[liquid]

bhb1034: I would recommend reading our Beginner's FAQ as it will answer a lot of the questions you have: http://www.reefs.org/library/newbieguide.htm

Shane

 

[reefNewbie]

yea, and return all those additives! :lol:

 

[dattack]

yea, and return all those additives! :lol:

Hehe. My sentiments exactly. And you really don't need MHs if it's a fish only system.

:lol:

 

[ereefic1]

Don't MH cost more to run than PC's? Specialy since your gonna need a chiller?

 

[Reef Guy11]

Oh Sorry 8O, didn't see that it was a FOWLR tank yeah the PC are Good. But yes it is very important to read...read...read. Have fun with your tank.

 

[kparton]

Don't MH cost more to run than PC's? Specialy since your gonna need a chiller?

I think that depends on whether or not your lights are in a canopy or suspended above the tank. i'm using pendants and all the information I've gotten here is that hanging lights 6-8" above the tank can alleviate the need for a chiller.By the way, I bought all of the additives when I got my first tank, also paid about $60. I used them religiously and I had a huge algae problem but very healthy livestock and beautiful growth on the rock.

 

[bhb1034]

thanks for all the input. yeah im still a beginner but i read everything i can get my hands on, there is just always alot of little questions. so i dont need all those additives, all i need is a the 2 part b-ionic and maybe some iodine? and 300 watts should keep my live rock and the corals that came with it alive? i was told it comes from 20ft of water and dont need much light. i really like the stuff that came on it, its full of life. i just dont want to see it all slowly die off. there is a ton of what i think is feather dusters and sponges, some small some large. do i have to so call feed these animals anything?

 

[kparton]

I think that if your goal is to keep the live rock fauna growing, then your light will be sufficient. Don't worry about feeding the little feather duster worms, they'll do fine on their own. I had a ton of them, they just kept on showing up and I never did anything in particular to feed them.

Good luck, you'll enjoy it, just make sure to do plenty of water changes after cycling to try and avoid the annoying algae blloms that can come.

 

[bhb1034]

thanks again. so i guess my lighting is good for now. it should look good when i get some fish in there. but im gone wait a couple months. another problem i have is evaporation. my top isnt fully covered but i can fix that. im researching a topoff system. any ideas? i think kent marine sells a 2.5g drip system and im guessing it would be better to dose additves that way.