Freshy thinking of taking the plunge...

[Madcrazyroyboy]

I love my vortech. It's also a wave maker built into it's controller with a ton of customizable flows. It's worth the money trust me bro and no extra heat in the tank since the motor is outside. MH lights with t5s and moonlight LEDs are the way to go but that's expensive. For my one tank I have aquatic life t5s with blue LEDs for night. It has a built in timer and is alot cheaper than MH

 

[skywhitney]

I love my vortech. It's also a wave maker built into it's controller with a ton of customizable flows. It's worth the money trust me bro and no extra heat in the tank since the motor is outside. MH lights with t5s and moonlight LEDs are the way to go but that's expensive. For my one tank I have aquatic life t5s with blue LEDs for night. It has a built in timer and is alot cheaper than MH

I'm going to be keeping my eyes on craigslist for the light cause i've see the exact one i want for $150 on there before. For now i'm good with my lights though.

I'm probably going to start with the Hydors just due to being on a budget right now but I am starting to save for a couple of MP10s. I don't see why the Hydors won't work to get me started unless i'm missing something.

 

[Madcrazyroyboy]

Mp10 I great but I'm looking for a tunze 6095 nanostreamI believe it's called. A little more than a mp10 but has a wider flow and would be great on the opposite side of my tank. Then I could turn the vortech down some. But for a budget I'd probably use what your talking about. I have a small one hovering right above my frags in my grow out tank.

 

[skywhitney]

Thoughts on something like an OceansMotion OM4 instead of powerheads?

 

[skywhitney]

I officially got the wifes approval to go ahead with the reef tank! Woohoo!!

 

[Madcrazyroyboy]

Nice! Post your build here!

 

[skywhitney]

I will for sure (and lots of questions)!

Question 1: do i need a lid for the tank or is open top ok?

 

[needmorecowbell]

Open top is fine, but you'll need a screen do nothing jumps. It will evaporate faster, but ph will be higher, which is good.

 

[skywhitney]

My PH here is a steady 8.4 all the time. Is that sufficient or is it to high?

 

[Madcrazyroyboy]

I like my ph higher and it stays at 8.3 with the glass canopy on top. My skimmer puts alot of oxygen in there. Water evaporates way too fast and can get your parameters out of wack really quick. More evaporation means higher salinity along with everything else. Unless your willing to test every day I would put atleast a glass canopy on top

 

[Steve silbernagel]

Ya I sorta got a similar issue. I have a 10" canopy as my top and I have about 3-4 gallons a week in evaporation. Do I need to test my water more frequently than once a week

 

[Joe5688]

I officially got the wifes approval to go ahead with the reef tank! Woohoo!!

I lol'd at this haha. I already got my gfs approval if we get married to have 125+g reef.

She hated me spending money on my 100g fw but not I got the 30g sw in my room she likes it. I believe the sw tank may have changed her negative attitude towards tanks lol

 

[skywhitney]

I lol'd at this haha. I already got my gfs approval if we get married to have 125+g reef.

She hated me spending money on my 100g fw but not I got the 30g sw in my room she likes it. I believe the sw tank may have changed her negative attitude towards tanks lol

I'm still working on my wifes attitude of "tanks are unnecessary spending". Oh well, that's why I have my "fish fund"

 

[Steve silbernagel]

Dude my wife's the same way one minute it's my car habit and now it's my fish tanks

 

[skywhitney]

Dude my wife's the same way one minute it's my car habit and now it's my fish tanks

haha i had to curtail the car habit until i buy the wife a new one.

 

[skywhitney]

Would a 6x39w fixture give me the ability to grow more corals? That would give me 3.5w/gal

 

[needmorecowbell]

I'd say that'd be good, softies mid to bottom, lps mid to bottom, sps top to mid. Don't do w per gal, doesnt work at all.

 

[skywhitney]

I only use the wpg as a baseline, I don't put stock into it.

Until I get another dual fixture I'm only using the quad T5. This will be sufficient to start correct?

 

[Madcrazyroyboy]

Ya I sorta got a similar issue. I have a 10" canopy as my top and I have about 3-4 gallons a week in evaporation. Do I need to test my water more frequently than once a week

What I would do is set your water so you have the right salinity etc. Then in the back corner of your tank mark where the water level is and when it's off a little then add some freshwater. That reduces the need or testing every day. It's nicer to have a freshwater tap thing that automatically fills your tank with RO/DI. There like 100 bucks

 

[Steve silbernagel]

I add about a gallon of distilled every other day. I'm workin on a RO system. What all is needed. I have an RO under my sink I'm looking to get that workin again I think it needs new filters. Haven't used it in awhile.