Nano-Reef Q&A! Checked Daily!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
stingray man;1518941; said:
30 watts 4 a 29 isn't enough. I think a reptile light will burn the corals bc that is a dif kinda light
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Aye..... One more Question. If i get the flourecent light fixtures from home depot the 24 inch ones that are20 watts each and get 4 of them and build a custom canopy they are 2.75 inches wide so i can easily fit 4 ontop of my tank and change the bulbs would that work? bulbs would be 20 watt coralife T12 10,000k bulbs. Thanks
 
what size tank do you have. T-12's are not the best bulbs for tank because they don't enhance the growth or color for most corals. With that set of lights your really going to limit the type of coral you can have. Most mushrooms and zoanthids will survive on this amount of light, as well as some other unmentioned corals. I still recommend buying a nova extreme lighting system. T-5 HO custom with 4 bulbs, will do very nicely depending on the size of your tank. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Default.cfm has these lights on there website for a pretty descent price. take a look at them.
 
Ya with corals dont go cheep the better light the better your corals will be
 
Ahhh Ok. So as long as the fixture and bulb is t5 corals will be fine? If i start this tank i dont want to start with hard to keep things but i want to do things right with as small budget as possible.
 
Yes t-5 are on of the better corals if you really want a good coral light get a MH but for a begginer prablly not worth it
 
i wouldnt say there not worth it, just cost more initially because you may end up needing a chiller to keep the water at a stable temp. T-5's IMO are a great lighting system and are very versatile for usages. If you have a very nice system you can keep Hard corals, but mostly will be able to keep leathers, mushrooms, zoas, frogspawn, plate corals, brain corals, sun corals, etc..........

Compact Flourescents are a very common light used and can create some heat issues as well, but generally work pretty well.

Anther upside to t-5s are that the bulbs last longer. Power compacts go through bulbs pretty quickly and if metal halides are not matched with a good ballast then you can actually kill the bulb just from bad starts.
 
Yep he nailed it. Most of the t-5 lighting systems that i have seen come with cooling fans so that is another reason why there bulbs last longer
 
I was thinking of getting a small 12 or 24 gal. nano or aqua saltwter tank. I have absalutly no experiance with saltwater tanks. Ive been reading up on them. I have plenty of experiance with freshwater fish. I have about 5 75 gal tanks or larger all with corner overflows and wet/drys. I really have everything including a protien skimmer and the lighting t-5 for a 75 or 90 gal. saltwater tank. I just cant afford all the liverock and fish, and ive been a little bit leary of spending that much money with no experiance with saltwater. Thats why I was thinking of a nano or aqua 12 gal. or 24. just to give it a shot. Do you think I should go that rought or should I just go with one of my larger tanks??? I can get a 12 gal aquapod with metal halide for under $300. I dont know if thats a good price or not??? Also how well does the filtration set-up on that work???Should I convert one of my tanks over to saltwater or just buy a small 12 gal. aquapod to get into saltwater????? Please help
 
daveolejnik;1527797; said:
I was thinking of getting a small 12 or 24 gal. nano or aqua saltwter tank. I have absalutly no experiance with saltwater tanks. Ive been reading up on them. I have plenty of experiance with freshwater fish. I have about 5 75 gal tanks or larger all with corner overflows and wet/drys. I really have everything including a protien skimmer and the lighting t-5 for a 75 or 90 gal. saltwater tank. I just cant afford all the liverock and fish, and ive been a little bit leary of spending that much money with no experiance with saltwater. Thats why I was thinking of a nano or aqua 12 gal. or 24. just to give it a shot. Do you think I should go that rought or should I just go with one of my larger tanks??? I can get a 12 gal aquapod with metal halide for under $300. I dont know if thats a good price or not??? Also how well does the filtration set-up on that work???Should I convert one of my tanks over to saltwater or just buy a small 12 gal. aquapod to get into saltwater????? Please help
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sounds like good plan to go smaller, but you not going to talk to many people that recommend a smaller tank to start off with. Honestly, investing a lot of money upfront is probably a better idea because the more LR you have the better biological filtration your going to have, therfore helping out with water quality. You will still need to stay up with maintanence but you will have a better chance at keeping everything healthy.

A 75 gallon is a perfect tank to start with and if you would like to get used to saltwater then do a FOWLR with reef safe fish and then when you get more comfortable with it, start adding some coral. Also recomend getting some books. Conciencous marine aquarist is probably going to be the most recommended marine book. I own it and its great reading material for new and seasoned aquarists.

Good Luck and enjoy.
 
Thanks for the info. I see you live in wisconsin. Have you ever bought live rock from foster and smiths?? I was thinking of getting my live rock from them. I live like 20 miles from there store. so I could save on shipping. I just dont know anyone who has bought any live rock from them.
 
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