Ecoxotic Aquarium

[superkman4]

I just bought the 25 gal Ecoxotic aquarium to start my first reef tank. Any other members have one or have experience with them? I originally ordered a 20 gal CAD Lights tank but panicked and cancelled the order because I didn't think it was what I wanted.
As for lighting I plan on building my own LED system with a kit from reefledlighting.com.

 

[superkman4]

Another thought is to use three PAR38 lamps for lighting. Goal is to have enough lighting to keep SPS and a clam or two. I've looked at sunbrite, coralvue, Evilc66's fixture, and none of them seem terribly appealing when you can build a more powerful one for cheaper on your own.

Last question. If I wanted to do a build thread, would this be the place for it? Or would it be more appropriate elsewhere?

 

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

No experience with the tank but it looks really nice!! Build thread for the tank or lighting?? If it's for the lighting there is a "DIY Project" section under "general aquarium forums". If it's for the tank you could do it here or just under the general "saltwater reef aquaria" section. Can't wait for pics!

 

[iDream]

Awesome! I've been waiting for someone to buy one of these. Which fixture by Evil were you looking at?

I say keep it here with the nano people, it'll be our little secret haha

 

[superkman4]

The Evil lamp they're having a presale for...but only God know when they'll actually start shipping them so I'm building my own. As for the aquascape Im thinking of almost all dry rocks with one or two pieces of live rock to seed it...does that work just fine? As for sand I've heard white sand turns grody real fast..any suggestions for substrate? I want a goby / pistol shrimp pair so I have to accommodate them. Plus a pair of black and white clowns. And one other fish...not sure what kind...open to suggestions. And as for corals I'm going to choose them based on a color scheme...not sure about that yet either. But I'd like to be a come from behind underdog and have my tank featured on nano-reef.com as tank of the month.

 

[iDream]

The pico lamp? I don't think that would cut it over your tank anyway.

'Scaping sounds good, and as far as sand I'd recommend regular ol' dry aragonite or trying out the Estes' Ultra Reef sand, I found it on Big Al's online for like $3 for 5lbs. My GF is using it and I like the grain size and the looks so far, maybe get beige or black instead of white on that

 

[superkman4]

Which fixtures would cut it over my tank? Aside from the obscenely expensive AI Sol and Ecoxotic Panorama Module?

 

[superkman4]

What if I found a way to use three PAR 38 lamps over it?

 

[iDream]

Unless you're set on LEDs a nice say 150w MH pendant would be good. Also a nice T5HO fixture would be great

 

[iDream]

Those would be great as well. Since I know you can replace the optics on them (Evil's PAR38 lamps) you could get like 1-3 (Depending on your budget) and get like 60 or 80 degree optics and be good

 

[superkman4]

What kind of reef salt do you guys (or girls) use?

 

[superkman4]

I'm dead set on LED. do you have any experience with DIY kits?

 

[iDream]

Plenty do, just use the search button and type DIY LED, see what comes up!

And currently I buy sterilized and filtered NSW, but when I start mixing my own I'll probably use IO Reef Crystals