28 Gallon SW Build...hopefully...

[BfishLpond78]

I thibk with the SOL i would need to purchase additional modules to get the white and blue effect. Not sure havent had much time to read on those

 

[carey]

Yeah, I think the same thing so not sure how close the cost would be. lol But those sol's are awesome..but then again that ati fixture is beyond awesome. at least in my jealous eyes. LOL

 

[BfishLpond78]

I agree...i hear alot of back and fourth arguments on LED's love the look but i dont think im there yet with the knowledge of them. Using different intensitys and modules.

 

[carey]

Yeah, I'm not 100% sure of what I'm looking at so I'm at an impasse on them as of now. I really wanna get an led fixture for my 20g rimless coral tank too but I;m still on the fence. I definitely don't have the cash for sols so I;m looking at generic chinese ones mostly. Just have to find the right one..lol

The water shimmer and no bulb replacement is a huge plus in my book. But I'd want adjustable ones and the most techy ones available. lol

 

[BfishLpond78]

Trust me...there is an Acan LED fixture i almost bought on the spot but the middle brace on my tank made it not worth it...i almost cut it out i wanted them so bad...lol

 

[carey]

I have no braces BUT it's rimless so mounting options are somewhat limited.
When I sell off my 20L FW tank I will be moving the rimless to a wall and I figured I'd hang a fixture from that. Maybe get some plant hangers and
spruce them up a bit. lol

heres two of the leds I'm looking at, what do you think? It's for a 20g tank with about 12 inches of depth of water after the sandbed

Amazon.com: Hot!/Aquarium Coral Reef Tank White Blue LED Lamb Grow Light 120W-provide light that have the same effect as natural sunlight and hence offers plants a very good growing habitat: Sunvalleytek

LED Aquarium Light; AquaRay AquaBeam, GroBeam Cree XR, XG Emitter; PAR 38, Rio Mini Sun Lighting

 

[BfishLpond78]

On the second link which one were you looking at?

The first one seems decent for the price...not a fan of only two reviews though. But at least they are.good reviews.

 

[carey]

Yeah, the first one is the chinese fixture but it seems to have enough light behind it.

The second page I was looking at the aquabeam 1000's and 1500's. I dont have a canopy so their lights towards the top of the page wouldnt work for me. They (the ones I'm looking ) seem to also produce alot of light. But who knows, they could be crappy. lol

I plan on grabbing Mr X later and asking him his thoughts. he is like my lighting guru. hehe

 

[BfishLpond78]

Ya i usually hit up Mr. X for my lighting questions. I do like the first units specs. Seems like a bit of power, especially for your size tank. But again, i know zero on LED's i apologize for my lack of knowledge, but im always around to spitball ideas!!!

 

[carey]

That's one of the things i like most about this forum, you can bounce ideas off each other and get a feel for what you wanna do. X gave the semi thumbs up for the first fixture. I;d like to have anything I want in this 20g we're talking about, even a clam. So alot of light would be necessary. Also considering a mini maxi nem in a few months too.

Thanks for your input, its appreciated.

 

[BfishLpond78]

I realllly want to have clams i think they are absolutley gorgeous with thos colors...Mr. X said it would be iffy with a 6 bulb fixture.

 

[carey]

I think he may change his tune when he see what lights you have planned. That ati is top of the line with individual reflectors and hi end bulbs. Not to mention the adjustability of the lighting. I think a well placed calm could do very well in there. But thats just me, lol, I have no clams and can't be 100%. lol

 

[BfishLpond78]

That would be great, but i have read i would have to wait about 6 months for my tank to mature in order to support a clam correctly.

I really need to decide on a substrate, i really enjoy the white sand but dont want it to fine that it gets sucked up my filter

 

[carey]

I have the fine sand in my fw 20l and it was a pain in the beginning with it getting sucked up, BUT it resolved itself in a few days. Since since thread is soo long I forget what filter you plan on using. lol

 

[BfishLpond78]

Lol sorry...i'm modding a AC70 into a fuge...a few pages back i have pictures of it and pics of my octopus hob skimmer if your interested

 

[rdnelson99]

My sand is pretty fine and I have not had any trouble with it to speak of. After living with gravel in FW for so many years, I really like the look of the fine sand over the crushed coral. Just my opinion.

 

[carey]

Ahh yes, I remember now. lol Soo many threads I try to keep up with sometimes I forget.

I think the fuge won't generate enough pulling power to pick up much sand, so I think you should go with whatever sand or substrate YOU like. I would stay clear of crushed coral is all. Too large particles in my opinion and too likely to harbor nitrates and other nasties.

Not sure on the octopus, I would think it would pull a decent amount of water but only when it return into the tank could there be sand issues. A well placed rock can help on that.

I have an ac70 running in my 20L and the input tube is almost to the bottom of the sandbed, and I used very fine black sand for that one. I placed some rocks where the water flow comes back in and ta da no more sandstorm or sand moving and making mounds.

 

[BfishLpond78]

Gonna have some pretty decent flow in there...what brand would you recommend?

 

[carey]

For substrate? I went cheap and got 50lbs of pool filter sand for $5.
Otherwise just regular old aragonite in my other tanks. Small enough to look good and easily manipulated by my bottom dwellers but also not so small you get a sand storm every ten minutes.

 

[BfishLpond78]

Is pool filter sand white-ish?