New 85 gallon ... questions ... Pics.

[OceanMist]

I setup my 85 gallon three weeks ago (3' x 2.5' x 18"), my second sw tank, this time i'm not going to cut corners and i'm going to do everything right, its looking okay so far;

RO water, v2 skim 1500 skimmer, 41kg fiji live + at least another 40kg ocean base rock, I do have a 15 gallon refuge under it however I can't plumb it until I find a hang on overflow for a descent price (£150 for a plastic box seems a rip off), at the moment I only have a moonlight fluorescent for lighting but have ordered a halide rated up to 400 watts, I have two maxi-jet 900's but will get a couple more at some point,

it is reading no ammo, no nitrite, and almost undetectable nitrate so I have added a couple of clowns which are doing great,


I was thinking of stocking it with:

- 2 percula clowns (already owned)
- 1 Yellow Tang
- either 1 purple tang or 1 powder blue tang
- 1 dwarf lion ... is this reef safe or would it attack inverts/clowns ??
- 50 dwarf blue leg hermits
- 50 astrea snails

Would this work?

also as this will be reef what Halide would be suitable (I know I want around 14'000k for colouration) but would a 250 or a 400 watt bulb be better (It will be the only light over the tank, excluding the moonlight fluorescent)??

any help, comments / suggestions would be appriciated.

 

[Cafe Jeff]

Be wary of the Dwarf Lion fish.
He ate two shrimp of mine.
That's what I get I suppose from feeding him Krill. Jeff

 

[dianeww]

This all sounds and looks good, but you didn't mention cycling your tank. Did you somehow get that done within 3 weeks? If not, you better take those clowns out!

 

[Cafe Jeff]

Cycling in under three weeks: Possible?

Is this possible?
I tore down a 20 that had been up for a year or so.
Took out the very average rock in the twenty and placed it in a new 55 with 2 inches or so of fresh Aragonite gravel and took the old canister filter and skimmer from the old tank and added a penguin something or other, didn't take a reading for a week -- somehow a damsel made the trip when I was transporting the rock, and is loving his new house -- and I am now after 8 days getting negliglbe readings of ammonia and nitrate. Could this tank be cycled? Or am I just fooling myself. Used two different test kits from two manufacturers and the readings were the same.

The dwarf lion, however, has gone all shy, but is he eating like the pig he always was. The hermit crab is busy changing shells left and right. That's it for inhabitants.

Jeff

 

[angelscrx]

If you ordered a 400w metal halide I am assuming you mean the ballast then you should get a 400 watt bulb and not a 250w bulb as it would blow it up or burn it out. I used to have 20k 250w MHs but thye were too blue so I switched to 10ks and I love them. I have added actinic VHOs to add some blue back to the tank but the color is so much better now.

 

[ccCapt]

As angelscrx mentioned, if you got a 400watt ballast, you must use a 400watt bulb. You CAN NOT use a bulb with a different wattage rating than the ballast. If the ballast is 250, you must use a 250 bulb, and same with a 400. Bulb and ballast must be same wattage.

 

[angelscrx]

By the way that is a nice looking tank.

 

[OceanMist]

This all sounds and looks good, but you didn't mention cycling your tank. Did you somehow get that done within 3 weeks? If not, you better take those clowns out!

Yes, cycle started three weeks ago with shrimp and base rock, 0 ammo and low nitrite after 2 weeks, added the 41kg lr and everything was okay after a couple of days, nitrate now tests for 0

If you ordered a 400w metal halide I am assuming you mean the ballast then you should get a 400 watt bulb and not a 250w bulb as it would blow it up or burn it out. I used to have 20k 250w MHs but thye were too blue so I switched to 10ks and I love them. I have added actinic VHOs to add some blue back to the tank but the color is so much better now.

The light I have ordered says it will use 150, 250 or 400 watt lamps, though this does just sound like it has a 400 watt ballast, I'll figure it out, i'm just not sure if 400 would be too much.

 

[angelscrx]

Can you post a link to the light you ordered? I am not sure I know of any ballast that will accept the wattage you mentioned in a Metal Halide set up.

 

[melosu58]

Did you ever get an ammonia spike?This is needed to get your cycle going.

 

[Cafe Jeff]

I didn't check for a week or so as I imagined I'd see one.
No spikes over the last week though with three, albeit small, inhabitants. Jeff

 

[angelscrx]

Unless you mean you got the reflector with a bulb cap? If so then you can plug any light you want to it becasue it doesn't come with a ballast. You have to buy the ballast seperately.

Ammonia spikes don't always happen right away some happen in the third or fourth weak depending on tank size and quality of water.

 

[melosu58]

Angel is right. I personally dont believe you`ve cycled yet. Read the article on cycling

 

[Cafe Jeff]

Hi Angel,
Confused threads.
With regard to cycling, are you speaking of my 55 gallon that with all the old filters and live rock from the old established tank does not seem to have had an ammonia spike, or the beautiful 85 gallon with the clowns?
Jeff

 

[OceanMist]

I'm sure my tank is cycled, got an ammo then nitrite spike over week one and two, my nitrate was still very high, but I added 41kg lr and this got rid of the nitrate over a couple of days (the rock was from an established tank).

Unless you mean you got the reflector with a bulb cap? If so then you can plug any light you want to it becasue it doesn't come with a ballast. You have to buy the ballast seperately.

no, I got it off ebay, its a commercial floodlight so its large and dosen't look pretty, but if I can half-descently hide it and it lights the bulbs, who cares?!
... anyways It was cheap so if needs be it can be sold or stored away,
the instructions say "FLOODLIGHT FOR 150-400 WATT DISCHARGE LAMPS" all it mentions doing is changing the fuse.

 

[angelscrx]

I'm sure my tank is cycled, got an ammo then nitrite spike over week one and two, my nitrate was still very high, but I added 41kg lr and this got rid of the nitrate over a couple of days (the rock was from an established tank).

That is a good sign.

no, I got it off ebay, its a commercial floodlight so its large and dosen't look pretty, but if I can half-descently hide it and it lights the bulbs, who cares?! ... anyways It was cheap so if needs be it can be sold or stored away,
the instructions say "FLOODLIGHT FOR 150-400 WATT DISCHARGE LAMPS" all it mentions doing is changing the fuse.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this is not a good set up for a tank. Floodlights are not designed to be used over a SW tank. I am not an electrician but I don't think the a simple switching of a fuse will be enough to run a MH set up for a long period of time. Someone please jump in and correct me if I am wrong. Thanks

 

[OceanMist]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this is not a good set up for a tank. Floodlights are not designed to be used over a SW tank. I am not an electrician but I don't think the a simple switching of a fuse will be enough to run a MH set up for a long period of time. Someone please jump in and correct me if I am wrong. Thanks

This seriously is an industrial halide (such as one you may find on the ceiling of a shop or somthing) so I think running it for 7-8 hours a day shouldn't be a problem, It really is not pretty so what I may do is seperate the bulb holder, ballast etc. from the casing and build a fixture for it to match the stand, I could keep the ballast seperately to reduce the size of the actual fixture. I think it should work.

 

[angelscrx]

Hi Angel,
Confused threads.
With regard to cycling, are you speaking of my 55 gallon that with all the old filters and live rock from the old established tank does not seem to have had an ammonia spike, or the beautiful 85 gallon with the clowns?
Jeff

Neither, I guess I did cross posts on here. Yours should be like doing a major water change. I am surprised that you didn't get a small spike at all.