New Tank! soon....

[Gregcoyote]

I am sure there are many reports of success in keeping reefs, but metal halides put A LOT of heat into the water. I didn't buy a chiller for the fun of it. The amount of metal halide I needed to light my coral raised the tank temperature up to +5 degrees. When keeping a house in the summer time at 78F that gave me a daytime tank temperature of 83 or better. Worse yet was the swing. So it was either heat the water at night and keep the tank at 83 or chill it. The LEDs eliminated the need for this. Just my experience and exhaustion from replacing expensive bulbs all the time.

'Nuff said on the subject...lots of options to light your tank. Just evaluate the long term costs of operating your reef. If you are successful, which everyone wants you to be, this thing might run for a long time.

 

[Henry405]

Does this place have a website? These prices are so cheap that I might can start on my upgrade sooner than I thought xD

 

[Purevil21]

The 240 I got was marked down to clear it out. But like I said earlier, for a custom order 180 with a stand and canopy was only 1300. I think they have a website and ship orders.

 

[Henry405]

If you can get me the the website or even the name of the store, it would be so much help. Thanks in advance!

Edit: didn't realize you already posted the name

 

[Purevil21]

I'm not completely settled on light yet, but I imagine an led setup for 240 gallons would be absolutely outrageous.

 

[Purevil21]

Nolans aquarium, lakeland, Florida

 

[Purevil21]

http://www.nolansaquariumsuperstore.com/

The deals listed on the website stink, call them. You can see in the picture that the 125 with furniture is 999.99.

 

[mr_X]

When keeping a house in the summer time at 78F that gave me a daytime tank temperature of 83 or better.

well, there's the factor that was missing. i think we can agree that if your house was kept closer to 70 in the summer, you wouldn't have needed the chiller. personally, i would have ran the A/C and had a cooler tank, and been more comfortable too.
as for the cost, it's "pay me now or pay me later".
just FYI, i am in no way an advocate for metal halides, and i do not condemn the use of LEDs. as a matter of fact, i find them to be the best way to light a tank, if you choose a quality fixture, and can afford the upfront cost.
i ran my 400 gallon system with a 400 watt halide, and three 250 watt halides, and my temp on the hottest day was 81. my tanks were in the basement, and we do run the a/c all summer.

 

[Purevil21]

Well, I keep my house around 74, my current tank stays about 76. To be honest I just don't know enough about LED systems to know if the LFS is really selling me a system that will support the live stock I want to keep. I really like the colors that the halides bring out in a tank as well, but I don't know how many fixtures I would need, or the best way to go about installing them. I do realize the bulbs are pretty high though. How much would a suitable LED system run me, and how would I be able to tell if the system I buy would actually support inverts, or if it was just an expensive lighting system for looks only?

 

[Gregcoyote]

It is about the total output. LEDs are just a bit different. They also bring out the colors nicely. Just add up the watts. For a 55, if you would normally light it with two 250 watt halide bulbs, then 2 LED panels with 130 1 watt LEDs would be more than enough. You might get away with one longer panel with as few as 150 LEDs. mixed blue and white.

All the posts are right about room vs tank temperature. I have come home and found my air conditioner went on the fritz and it is over 90 degrees in the house. I really don't want to risk my reef in the summer time to a 20 year old air conditioner. With a chiller, both systems would have to fail before my tank cooked.

 

[Purevil21]

What about the stock list I mentioned, does anyone think that I would be overstocked?

 

[Gregcoyote]

The tank is big enough for the Tangs. I never had much luck having anemones mixed with coral. But different strokes. Had a school of Chromis and they are about as benign as damsel fish come. Now have a school of yellow tails and they can be tough customers. But the bio load you described seems like it should be no problems. Just have a lot of variable current available.

 

[Purevil21]

I changed my tank on layaway to a 180, much easier to find equipment for a 6ft. tank. How much am I going to need to scale back my bioload. I have determined after researching that I don't want to keep an anemone, I will just stick with corals and reef safe fish. Perhaps just one Orange shoulder, one regal and the three yellow tangs. Should I be alright with that bioload in a 180? I am researching equipment. I am looking into power heads, lights and pumps now. What size return pump would I need?

 

[FDshoes]

Your return pump depends on what your overflows are capable of and the amount of head(height from pump to water discharge point. There are also other factors that also contribute to the lose in the pumps output like the number of turns(90 or45 degree), shutoff valves, total length of piping among a few other things. There is formulas online that will give you a pumps output and you want to buy a pump that will equal your overflows after all the friction lose and gravity lose is takig into account.
I am also in the process of building a 180 and my over flows are rated.at 1200 gallons per hr and I believe I need a 2100 gallon per hour pump to equal that but I am not completly done with my plumbing so I don't have all my numbers finalized.

 

[FDshoes]

http://www.reefcentral.com/index.php?s=

Use the head lose calculator

 

[mr_X]

if you are talking about a reef ready or drilled tank, you don't need a 2400gph pump. you can use whatever pump you want, providing it's capable of feeding the components in the sump. in other words, if you have a skimmer in the sump that has a 500 gph pump, you'll need at least 500 gph fed to it in order for it to work properly.
unless you have a pretty large sump, 2400 gph may give you a micro bubble issue.
as far as the stocking of a 180, i wouldn't put 5 tangs in one. 3 would be the limit in my opinion. i'm not talking bio load...just crowding.

 

[Purevil21]

Thanks as always Mr. X, I will just keep two yellows and one large tang then. I will pm you the fixture I am looking at purchasing. The tank has dual overflows, so I will research how to set up my sump. My current tank only has one, it should be some fun reading for me.