building a 55 gal. reef tank

[Bax71]

It put my water level on skimmer at 9" . Will see how it does

 

[Bax71]

Ok need some advice on start up . When I start up the tank and fuge should I have micro alg. In the fuge or not . Help me out

 

[mr_X]

Not until you have livestock IMO.

 

[Bax71]

Thank you for the info . I was not to sure I have not had a saltwater tank in over 12 yr. Alot has changed from my last tank and it was a fish only .

 

[Bax71]

Need some help I can get this light real cheep it a Odessa light . What is Your opinion of the light. Is it to strong for a 55 gal reef tank



I can get it for $100.00 it has 4 T5 blue

 

[carey]

If its for a 55g then you will want one with two halides, not one.

 

[mr_X]

I would not use that light for 2 reasons. One is what Carey said- you'll only have stronger light in the center of the tank, the outer edges will be dark, and two, it's probably not powerful enough anyway.

 

[Bax71]

It was on a 75 gal Corner Tank

 

[carey]

Corner tanks are curved usually so they have less open area on top, that might be why he used it. Also, as X stated, it might not cut it, do you know if it is a 150 watt halide or a 250 watt one?

 

[Bax71]

I do believe it is 250 . I will see for sure tomorrow he going bring it to work so can look at it

 

[carey]

The 250 watt wouldnt be bad in my opinion. The brand is ok, I have several odyseaa fixtures, only T5 units though so not sure how the halides are from them. ALso, find out when he replaced bulbs, both the t5 bulbs and the halide one.

Here is the brand new unit from them

Odyssea 48 inch Metal Halide Fixture 2x250W HQI + 4x54W T5 +6xDual LED

It's $280 for reference.

 

[Bax71]

No dot know when he replaced them. And thank for the help

 

[Bax71]

How does the T5 work on your tanks

 

[mr_X]

It's not going to work over a 48" x 12" tank. It's going to put a lot of heat in the tank as well. Take it home and put it over your tank and you'll see.

Not to mention you have about $140.00 in lamps you'll have to replace every 8-12 months.

 

[Bax71]

He was going let me bring it home and try it on the take and see how it fits and light it up

 

[carey]

Not sure what your light budget is but you can get led panels for about $140 each off ebay and they would let you keep just about any coral or anemone you could want. Also, no bulb replacement needed for like 5 years. The lights would pay for themselves in about a year or so as they use ALOT less electricity and the bulb thing. Not to mention the heat the halides will put off as Mr X mentioned above. Last thing you want is a hot tank and then you'd need fans or a chiller and thats big $$

 

[Bax71]

Not much of a $$ . Doing a lot of DIY for the set up I posted a few photo's but have changed some thing around . I did put some fans on the fuge to help with heat . I Steel not to sure on lights yet . Just thought that was a good deal for the light

 

[Bax71]

All my live rock will run down the center of the tank so you could look at the tank on 3 sides

 

[bskerrichard27]

One halide in the middle of a 55 will not be enough also since its in the middle it will have a realy bad shadow effect when the light hits the center brace in the tank...I use a coralife aqualight pro with dual halides... Like what has been said you will need fans or a chiller .. My honest opinion those leds on eBay are cheap and people are having stunning results .Save your self heating and bulb replacement issues go with leds...

 

[Bax71]

Thanks for the info . Have you seen the D sun Y programmable led 48" that does the 4 seasoned & lunar mood . I kind of like the idea of set it and let it do its thing