equipment check-list

[jackm]

HI All
Firstly a few points, i havent bought any of it yet but the equipment with prices on i have sellers ready, my tank is a juwel 125, 80cmx33cmx42cm (lengthxwidthxheight) 125 Liters/33US gal
ok

1x 150w double ended HQI bulb 20.000k metal halide > £65 (is this OK for most begginerHard/Soft corals/invertebrates)

1x PowerHead 2000 L/H > £18

1x heater, comes with tank

1x tmc protein skimmer bak-pak with extra powerhead, unsure of flowrate > £35

20 KG aragonite sand > £40

About 5 kg LR, to start off with cant get hold of base rock so will probably go with figi (any recomendations) Hope to end up with about 15 kg <is this a good amount>

Sponge internal filter inc carbon and biological filtration, will reduce amount of sponges as cycling takes place.

That is it, pleas tell me if there is anything else i need and try to answere my Questions.

thanks a lot
jack

ps. please tell me what 'HQI' actually means and stands for, will i be able to run any 150w bulb on this unit or must it be a HQI bulb
thanks

[canyon15]

About 5 kg LR, to start off with cant get hold of base rock so will probably go with figi (any recomendations) Hope to end up with about 15 kg <is this a good amount>

Fiji rocks very porous (sp?) so you will get larger pieces/kg as opposed to say maybe a haitian rock. If you can i would go with the 15kg (33lb) to start and maybe aim for 22- 30kgs later. If you get this amount of LR you shouldn't need any mechanical filtration as the LR will provide the filtration.
I would go with 2 PH's with the total GPH or LPH being 10x the size of the tank. The reason for 2 is you can aim them at each other and cause a turbulent flow and will reduce dead spots in your tank.
As far as prices go i can't help you. I do know euro to cad is about 2.2 cad to 1 euro but as far as prices in england i don't know if those are good or bad. Maybe try ebay as i do know there is at least one supplier on there that is from the UK. HTH

[jackm]

ok thanks
what about the lighting
chees

[tecwzrd]

The 150W 20K MH light will be enough for medium light coral but probably not enough for the higher light corals. I would get a 175W MH bulb and supplement with a 96W Actinic 03 bulb which would give you close to 8 wpg and allow for just about any coral to be kept if you plan on keeping higher light corals. fantasyreef.com has a great database on corals and their needs.