I'm Back and looking to do salt water

[Dominick]

Well to start I will be building a tank 96inch long 36inch wide and 24inch tall
I was told that when built right I can use 1/2inch thick sound right??

Ok I'm also going to do a DIY sump out of an old tank i have And a DIY light.

I want to get the best of the best and want to do this right with a tank that big what and how many heads do I need for good current flow I want it to switch back and forth like real ocean

Any how to links for DIY sumps is appreciated
What combo of lights CF and MH?
The Tank will be viewed from 3 sides the 2 96inch sides and one of the 36x24

Any and all help is appreciated I'm a what it comes to SW
I have had a fully planted FW aquarium and that worked out nice loved it.

Last question is I see these pics of tanks with the main lights off and a blue one on is that to replicate moonlight? Does it have any role in the survival of the SW tank? And if it is just for looks will it hurt to have it on the full time the main lights are off?

Last thing I will add that I should have put first is the tank will be live sand live rock coral and fish....

Thanks in advance.
Dom

 

[want2findnemo]

Hi,

This is a link to a very good DIY Sump site

Melevsreef.com - DIY Glass Sump & Refugium


Well from what I have read is not only does moonlighting look cool. But when your main lights turn off all of a sudden your fish will expereince pitch black darkness. This may scare your fish and give them stress, having moonlighting will stimulate "moonlight" heh.

In terms of "live sand". I suggest you buy really fine sand, called Oolitic sand. The finner the sand the more surface area for your bacteria to grow live on. Dont really need to buy "live sand" from the store, imo its kinda of a scam. All your sand will be live in time.

This may help you for lighting...

http://www.fishlore.com/aquarium_light.htm

 

[Dominick]

I'm guessing live sand is kinda the same in FW tanks after they are cycled

which brings up 2 more questions do you cycle a new SW tank same as FW?
When I cycled mine I used ammonia took like 2 months but when it was done I did not lose a single new fish.

And the second question is how deep to go with the sand?

 

[melosu58]

And the second question is how deep to go with the sand?

That`s up to you. Mine is only about two inches but I know a few that have deep sand beds. Supposedly there is an advantage to them but I personally dont like the look of them but that is just me. Here is a link to sandbeds.

How Sandbeds REALLY Work by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

 

[austinsdad]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/3/1/Cycle-your-salt-tank/Page1.html

SW tank cycling link. Lot's of articles here at this site that might be interesting to you.

P.S. - how do ya'll make those long URLs into short sweet tags/titles? Change the title.

 

[Dominick]

I think the vBulletin code is

[url=http://www.aquariumadvice.com]YOUR TEXT HERE[/url]

aquariumadvice

 

[Ziggy953]

Welcome to the SW world. I posted in your thread about MH lighting. Please have a look.

As for sand beds I have about 6" deep in my 120. I also have about 6" in my refugium. I find the look of the sand interesting. As you have already read some do not. There are a lot of people that have very successful tanks with no sand at all. It's all a personal choice there.

As Austin's Dad mentioned read through the articles on the site. Cycling a SW tank is similar to that of a FW tank though we usually use a shrimp (dead cocktail shrimp) to get the cycle going. In your case with such a large tank it will take a few. Buying Some LR and some base rock will help you in your cycle. If you want to "do it right" as you mentioned then getting all of your rock up front and about 540-600lbs of it will get you going on the right foot. Remember not all of that needs to be live. I would suggest at least 100-150lbs of LR and the rest base that will help seed your tank and get things going.

You are going to need a decent skimmer. I would suggest a refugium for your system as well. IMO they are one of the best things to add to a Reef tank.

As for lighting I made some suggestions in your other thread but I will say again that T5 and or VHOs for your actinic (the blue lights) supplement is a better option then CF lights. T5s produce great lighting and have a longer bulb life then CFs or even VHOs. I use T5s and VHOs on my tank simply because I have them and I want the maximum amount of light on my system without increasing the wattage of my MHs.