starting reef tank

franklinr_casedo

Nice advice guys.
will keep u updated with my long long overdue hobby. will give u detailed photos on my tank later.

thanks thanks thanks.
am hoping you ll guide me all through out.

frank

Lupin

Well, Frank, look at the bright side. You won't have to hassle if mistakes come out.

Good luck with the reef.:) Got any pet shops where you can get corals?

franklinr_casedo

yes.do you still remember what i told you about this hobbies of asia i saw from unang hirit?
i found it and they are exporting fishes and all kinds of corals. and of course with high quality. better than cartimar.
and lfs guy is really kind.

Lupin

Yep.
You'll have fun shopping at that. You lucky man. No lfs here sells marine otherwise I could be interested.

By the way, I never like Cartimar. I had a spat with an employee before for not respecting my rights to choose what fish I want. They just think they know better.

bettababy

You're not set up properly for metal hallide lighting, but there may be a way to work with what you've got going. My husband is great for building light fixtures for his reef tanks, and he works for one of the USA's biggest manufacturers of aquatic and pet supplies. He works alongside of the guys who make and invent this stuff. Let me ask him tomorrow night when he's home from work, I'll have him read the posts, and I'll get his advice. I know he's fond of the T5 lighting, in part because of the lack of heat. Temperatures will make a HUGE difference in what animals you can keep, and with too much heat above and not enough ventilation, you may end up with the problem one of my accounts has... no inverts other than snails and brittle stars, because the temp is too warm for anything other than fish. There is no heater in that tank, never has been, but because of the lighting, the temp is an almost constant 84F.
I'll post back tomorrow night after consulting with Rob.

usmc121581

Good point Betta baby. I'm running 760w and I still have to use a heater to even keep my tank at 80-81%. But thats do to me living in maryland and its cold right now, and we keep our house around 70-75%. I also have proper ventilation in my canapy that I built.

franklinr_casedo

You guys are my angel.kindly do Ms Betta Baby.am about to buy lights tomor until i heard from you.

please please.

thanks, cheers

bettababy

Franklinr_casedo,

Hello, my name Rob (bettababy's husband).
The only "coral" that I have seen mentioned specifically in this thread are anemones (contrary to a lot of people's opinions, anemones are a type of coral. They belong to a group of corals called Hexacorals. Tentacles generaly occur in multiples of six.). Are you intending on keeping just anemones, or other corals such as stoney corals?

A 55gal tank in reef terms is a shallow tank. Metal halide lighting can be used, but nothing higher than 175watts mogul base (screw-in), or 150watts double ended HQI. There are halide bulbs available from 4000K on up to 20000K but 5500K would be the lowest for reef tanks. The intensity of the bulb would depend on the species of corals you wish to keep. The only sea anemone I would keep in a 55 gal tank with 20000K Halides is a Ritteri anemone (Heteractis magnifica, formerly Radiantus ritteri), as it occurs on the upper reef within 5 or 10 feet of the surface.
Halides give off intense light and heat. I see you are from the Phillipines so heat will be an issue for you. You can get around that with a quality water chiller.

If you are as of yet unsure and would like the broadest range of choices for coral selection, I would suggest going with HO (high output) T5 lighting using an equal combination of Actinic blue and 10000K daylights. HO T5 runs cooler than power compact and metal halide lighting and uses less energy. Good HO T5 daylights have a very good CRI (color rendition index) and almost that of 14000K metal halides. Even SPS (small poyp stony) corals grow exeptionally well and show exceptional color when grown under enough watts of HO T5. For a 55gal tank I would use a 6 or 8 bulb unit. There are a few good brands such as Sunlight Supply, Finex, and Coral Life will be coming out with a HO T5 lighing fixture. Don't be confused with standard T5 as in the Coral Life T5 standard output fixtures that are on the market now (they are skinny fixtures with 2 bulbs in them).

The other advantage, is that you will not need a chiller when running T5 lighting.

If you have any specific corals in mind please let bettababy know and she will ask me about their lighting needs if she isn't sure.

Good Reefing!

usmc121581

Just to clear things up I am pushing 2-250w MH's along with 260w of 2-65w 10000 and 2-65w actinic. and do not need a chiller along with alot of people I know running MH lighting.If you have enough ventilation for the heat to escape and be replaced by cool air.

caferacermike

Rob, Sanjay and I both disagree with you about only being able to push 175w bulbs. Most bulb manufacturers are pulling away from 150-175w bulbs, except DE, because of poor performance and lack of interest.

I haven't jumped into this thread yet as no real plan for the tank had been laid out. If it were my tank and I wanted to make sure I could keep anything I wanted in it, I'd probably be looking into 2x150w DE 14K with about 100-200w of additional flourescent supllements in full actinics. If the tank is only going to contain LPS or softies than a handful of T5's might be appropriate. You could aesily run 250w de's or se's if you really wanted to push some serious SPS and have them grow anywhere in the tank.



I completely disagree with any advice to ever recommend a Ritteri anemone. I do have a magnificent anemone in my 75, this is known. However even the best reefers in the world, Melev, Calfo, Boerneman and others all agree that ritteris should be left in the ocean where they belong. I would have never pruchased mine but it was a gift from a local LFS owner.