[trreherd]

I still have a few questions before i order the last amount of stuff i need for my tank.
Do i need a hood? What kind? will the hood effect my lighing?
Do i need a powerhead? were should i position in? how much flow?

 

[usmc121581]

I still have a few questions before i order the last amount of stuff i need for my tank.
Do i need a hood? What kind? will the hood effect my lighing?
Do i need a powerhead? were should i position in? how much flow?

I never have had a glass top or canay on my tank till I got the MH lighting. Then I had to build one for the tank.


Yes you should have powerheads. They produce the current in the tank. If I remember right its good to go for at least 20% of the tanks volume. In gallons/hr. I have 4 power heads 2 are placed in side the rock strutare and 2 are placed in the top corners of the tank. But placement is all up to the owner and how he likes it.

 

[caferacermike]

Your tank looks sweet man. If you can get a little canopy that covers the lighting or that you can screw the fixture to you'll not have to stare at the excess lighting. A small canopy will also help fish from jumping out of a small tank. I wouldn't put glass over the tank because it will reflect back usable light. My canopy only has 3 sides. The back is open so that heat can escape. No top either. Just 3 pieces of matching wood about 6" tall. My lighting hangs inside of the trim.

 

[trreherd]

So your saying i should make one of them boxes to go on top of my tank? Not sure how to go about it. cause i still need to have good access to my tank for feeding and such.

 

[usmc121581]

I took 6"wide pre treated wood and made a box just bigger then the tank. And put the front piece on 2 hinges so I could feed the fish.

 

[trreherd]

The problem im having with this is that my light fixture is slightly longer than my tank so it would not fit in a canopy. Does anyone have any soutions?Could i get fish that are not jumper?

 

[trreherd]

Oh ya and im still haveing trouble getting a local dealer of argonite sand and good salt. I dont want to order online cause the shipping. How can i locate a local dealer? if i now someone who is tering down a tank can i use there sand? If i rinse it.

 

[bettababy]

I wouldn't use someone else's sand. Get the name and tech support or customer service phone number from the company that makes the sand. I'm sure if you let us know what brand you are after, someone here would have that info on one of their containers/bags of salt and sand.... call the company and ask them where you can purchase their product, they will have a list of retailers closest to you.

 

[trreherd]

My dad is going to get me a peice of plexi-glass from his freind and im gunna make the canopy out of that!!
and y cant i use the used sand? if i rinse it?

 

[caferacermike]

Some folks say not to use it because it is full of waste. I say rinse it very well in tap water. Save a few cups of it and rinse the rest until very clean. I mean, and I've said this before, SAND does not go bad. Once you remove the particulate matter then it is clean sand again. Put it in the tank with a touch of chlorine remover and then add the few cups that you saved to "seed" the sand bed with microfauna again.

Here in Austin we are very earth friendly. Nobody just tosses out old aragonite around here. We may remove it from a tank and put the bucket on the back porch, but it will always end back up in somebody elses tank. I see buckets traded back and forth all the time.

 

[usmc121581]

I lived next door to a guy that owned a saltwater tank. He had to leave to go to Iraq and tore is tank down. He saved the sand till he came back. He rinsed it over and over and over till it was clean again. I never believed in throwing away sand. I would say what CRM said just keep rinsing. Like he said sand is just sand. What makes it go bad is al the micro's that live in it. Clean them of that and buy another bag of live sand to seed it again.

 

[trreherd]

Im not geting the sand becuase i guess he has a bag of ls lying around that he wanted to sell me.(to expensive) Can someone tell me how much lr i want? I want to stack pretty high I want some of my corals to be about 14 inches off the bottom and closer to the light. i also want plenty of hiding spots for the fishes. How many pounds?

 

[usmc121581]

Rule of thumb is 1-1 1/2 lb/gal. but it all depends on the hieght, and how you stock them.

 

[dustin323]

On the cover issue. I use eggcrate AKA lighting diffuser. You can find it at Home Depot or Lowes in the lighting section. $10 a sheet. This will allow for gas exchange, & better cooling if you are running strong lights. As well as keep your fish in the tank & not reflect back light.

Also if you want to order things & get cheap shipping. Try out www.drsfostersmith.com it is a lfat rate of $8.99 & only goes up a dollar for a big bucket of salt. You could also order your sand from there & shipping will still be cheap. I ordered both salt & sand from there.

 

[trreherd]

wow thanks that shiping is much cheaper than the other sites. I think those eggcrates will effect the lighing too much.

 

[caferacermike]

Not really TR. It's better then an acrylic or glass top. Call a lighting specialty shop and you can get the eggcrate chrome plated for what HDeopt charges for the white. That will help to reflect the light back down.

 

[dustin323]

Not really TR. It's better then an acrylic or glass top. Call a lighting specialty shop and you can get the eggcrate chrome plated for what HDeopt charges for the white. That will help to reflect the light back down.

Yeah it definately won't affect your lighting much. A ton of reefers use this.

I wish I would have thought of calling a specialty lighting place when I purchased mine caferacer.