new 58 gallon oceanic

[Justin_NY]

hi,
guys. i decided to upgrade my reef tank from 26 gallon to 58 gallon oceanic reef ready 36x18x21. i am still confuse about the set up. specially about the sand bed filter. do i really need it ?
i been reading a lot that sand bed will reduce my nitrate. i also thingking about aroginate sand but only for 2 inches. if sand bed really helping me a lot specially to reduce my nitrate i will go with the southdown sand. anyway, any of you guys know where i could buy the southdown sand. i been searching in home depot by college point and they have non.
also about the lighting. the tank will most of them will be sps. should i go with 250 watt mh and 2 40 watt flur or should i go with 175 with 96 watt pc.
please help me decide about this
thx

 

[triggerboy]

Justin,

I have the DSB in my tank for a year and it has been pretty easy to maintain (no nitrates what so ever). I have read through numerous "DSB or no DSB" threads on other sites like ReefCentral... Most of the anti-DSB seems to be about looks and room it takes up... and then the possibilty of a crash after a few years when they supposivly become exhausted/filled with junk.

Although mine has been doing well, if I could do it over, I'd keep about 1"-2" of sand in the tank then put a nice deep bed (maybe 6" or so) in the sump/refugium below... It does get a bit nasty with algae and a little cyano on the front glass, under the top level of the sand, I wish I could do something about it but that's life with a DSB. Another pluses to moving it into the sump are... you'll have more room in your display, you can change it out a bit easier if you ever have to without destroying the display, and you can probably run alot of flow for your SPS if you go bare bottom or very little sand in the display.

As for the sand, I'd definitly go with the Southdown if you can find it. I saw some in Home Depot (Jersey City rt.440) over this past summer... don't know if they'd still have any.

Good Luck and let us know what you finally choose to go with...

J.

 

[jackson6745]

Justin,
If you are going to go with SPS I would defenitely go with dual 250's or even a single 400w, both supplemented with t5 or vho actinics. I also wouldn't go with a DSB (like I have now). I think a simple 1" sandbed will allow for a natural appearance and also allow for easy sandbed maintanence (i.e detritus removal). For nitrate removal I would rely on a refugium and a powerful skimmer like a Euroreef. You should defenitely decide on what you're gonna do for flow. Unless you want a tank full of power heads you may want to look into a closed loop.
There is so much stuff to consider.....the best advice I could give you is to buy the best, FIRST, it will save you money in the long run.

Also, as for the lighting, if you do decide to go with 250's, the DE hqi's are much brighter than SE 250's. There are a few comparison pics in my gallery.

[ January 19, 2004, 04:48 PM: Message edited by: jackson6745 ]

 

[NaClH2oTANK]

first off, good luck! lol. there alot of questions to answer and dont do anything hasty.
What you need to do is read as many articles on it and read what people have to say. Get as many accurate facts as you can, and make your own decision. Talk to people that have set ups and see what works for them. Thats what a responsible hobbyist should do. learn.
TFH has had a few articles on the subject in the last year. Try to get some back issues. I know Reef Encounter inHackensack had a bunch of them when I was in there last.
From what I understand, if a sand bed isnt 3 or 4 inches deep, it will only be for aesthetics. I have found that a sump should be totally empty and a refugium should be seperate from it. The sump is like a heart pumping the tanks blood and circulating it. But I guess it would depend on your system. There is a chance sand will get caught up in the pumps if it gets stirred up, And thats not good.Also, I have had to dismantle mine twice so far for pump reasons(there are two external little giant pumps plumbed with bulkheads). If there was sand in the sump, I would have been screwed.
I never heard of the sand you are mentioning, I just used samoan sand from the store. it works fine for me. I think. No nitrates. But the deep sand bed for me more closely copies nature. It allows alot of different things to grow in it. And this ofcourse brings up the question:
In an unnatural environment(a closed tank) do we try to mirror nature as closely s possible? Or do we try to manipulate the unnnatural situaton through contrivances and science? I definately do not know. Good luck

 

[fishome25]

i have some southdown for sale on LI if you can't find it by you.

 

[paul]

Originally posted by fishome25:
i have some southdown for sale on LI if you can't find it by you.

I would be intrested! Where on LI are you? Price?

Thanks,

Paul.

 

[ISLANDREEFANDFIN]

PS guys looking for southdown home depot in brooklyn and staten island carries them for i beleive $3. something a bag.

 

[paul]

Originally posted by ISLANDREEFANDFIN:
PS guys looking for southdown home depot in brooklyn and staten island carries them for i beleive $3. something a bag.

Which Depot in Brooklyn? Today I went to the one on Cropsey Ave. and they did not have any!

 

[Justin_NY]

i decided to get 2 175 watt with 80 watt flur for my 58 gallon tank. do u guys think this enough for sps?
i still dont get it about the se and de. could u please tell me more

 

[jackson6745]

Justin,
Se = single ended mogul base bulbs
De = double ended

The DE put out much more light than the SE dulbs. Right now I have 2 250w over my 65gal, 1x250w SE 10k XM bulb, and 1x250w DE Ushio. If you look at the comaprison pic in my galley you'll see how much brighter the DE Ushio is.

The 175's will be enought to keep things going but you may have trouble keeping those nice colors that you see on some SPS.

I would go with 2 2x250s or even a single 400w mounted in a spider reflector to spread out the light. If you like the bluish color you could run a single 400xm 20k which will remove the need for actinics.

Take a look at some of the stuff from Premiumaquatics.com

HTH,
Rich