Setting up a 210G

[Caldore]

Let me start by saying what a great website this is. I have been running a 55G for little over a year...learned and lost alot along the way. Mostly softies and fish.

I would love to hear advice on lighing needed to maintain almost all types of coral. The 210G 72L X 24W X 28D all glass. This tank has 2 support on the top. I am a pretty good DYI'er so I can place the lighting where needed in the canopy.

One more question, I live in Florida at the beach and we have very fine sand. Is it possible to use this sand for substrate?

I wish that I could say that money is no object....but with that being said I would like to buy the right equipment even if I need to wait until the fund are available.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice

 

[trido]

If you want to keep mostly softies in your new tank I think that you could get away with VHOs or as little as 175 MHs. If you want to upgrade to an SPS tank you should get 250 or 400 MHs. 250s will do the job with a 28" deep tank but you may find that you cant keep some SPS all the way on the bottom but you could fill that space with softies and LPS with require less light. With 400s you can literally keep just about anything provided that you are capeable of keeping it alive in the first place.

This, of course is JMO.