New setup and stress (<< mine )

KahluaZzZ

KahluaZzZ

Superstar Fish
#1
Jun 12, 2004
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Montreal, Quebec
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#1
Hi everybody ! Well i read a lot of posts and i can say that it's the best forum i've seen !

I bought a 55 gallons tank last month, 'cause i wanted to start a SW or reef aquarium. I read so many articles on SW fishes for the whole month..i am completely obsessed ! I really don't want to mess my setup nor the future inhabitants. ( BTW sorry if my english may suck, i'm a franco )
Here in montreal, there's only 3 SW shops...and i can confirm that YOU SHOULD NEVER TRUST their employees.
They give you ridiculous tips and they are nervous when you ask complex questions...and anyways, they don't have SW fishes at home 'cause their bosses are too cheap to pay them more than the minimum.
Anyways, i bought the only skimmer available, yeah you know it, the seaclone 100. Some people hate it...some love it. I bought the big master test kit, 200 w heater, Instant Ocean salt, 2x 40w Marine Glo, 1x 40w 18k Life-Glo 2, 1x 40 w Powerglo for my custom hood, hydrometer, custom powerhead, thermometer and other small gadgets.

Now i am a little bit scared, 'cause i spent 160 CAD $ on the bulbs and i want to know IF there's a possibility that
live rock, anemonia will be able to live well with just 160 w total of lighting. The Life-glo 2 seems to be very very powerfull. My shop didn't have HVO so...well i bought NO. BTW i have the standard 55 gallons ( like 48x21x12 )

I'm hoping to buy 80 pounds of live rock for the filtering, but first i need feedbacks about the lighting. I know i could do a SWF only, but i need to know if a reef can be alive and well.

Thanks guys :D
 

dbacksrat

dbacksrat

Superstar Fish
#2
Jun 3, 2003
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Glendale, AZ
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#2
reading- you're off to a good start...have everything planned out before u do any spending..........as for the lfs--most of the major chain stores have employees that know little to nil--dont trust em.....lightwise, i've read that corals and other light needing inverts need a lot of light, like 4-6 watts a gallon or something close to that (dont take my word for it though)...........i would start with a fish only system to get the hang of it, then maybe convert to reef or something like that (that's my plan)--good luck
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#4
Oct 22, 2002
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#4
Well I've seen things grow under worse lighting. Forget worrying about your live rock - many things on it will grow under terrible light, and many like sponges prefer no light. Coralline algae typically does better under what are considered poor lighting conditions.
You have 4 NO fluorescent tubes in there, over 21 inches of water, which is quite deep. You will find that quite a lot of things like zoanthoids or protozoanthoids will grow quite well in the top 8 or 10 inches, but as light intensity decreases exponentially with depth your tank will be quite dark at the bottom.
If I was you I'd try and build some kind of cave structure, with a flat top . Grow what you can on the top of this, and do what you can in deeper water.
 

S.Reef

S.Reef

Superstar Fish
#9
Dec 1, 2003
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Michigan
#9
Turboflotor just introduced a airdriven counter current skimmer for smaller systems(100g or less). Its about $50. You should reallly look into it.


Sam Reef
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#11
Oct 22, 2002
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#11
No I have a prizm which doesn't have a much better rep. It's noisy and high maintenance, but can be made to work and the seaclown is similar.
I hate to say it, but you've just learnt the value of research the hard way.
If you scout around inside of wetwebmedia.com you'll find an Online magazine called the Conscientious aquarist in which Steven Pro gives a pretty honest review of skimmers. One problem you will find with online skimmer reports is that people tend to get into skimmer wars and just say this is crap and that's crap and the others great except it's 700 dollars for 2 feet of plastic tubing and a water pump
 

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