Picked up a 55g a few questions...

[saltwater4life]

Hey guys,
Here's my question. I picked up my uncles old 55g and I'm planning on upgrading my reef to the 55g. I'm sure i could use my lighting over the 55g for some of my corals but what about my anemones and open brain? Should i just get duel 250w now or would my duel 65w PC's work until i find a good deal on MH. I was planning on not setting up the tank until i got MH, Then just transfer everything from the 20g over, But i wanted to check and see if i could use PC.

Ideas?

Thanks,


Nick

 

[TRe]

for a while i had 4x65w pc's over my 55 gallon and it did great.... 2x250w mh's would without a doubt be a better choice for obvious reasons.. i actually just picked up 2 250w mh retro kits for $100 each with bulbs included so just look around
btw thats a nice little upgrade there just wait until you get to the triple digits thats when the real fun starts

 

[saltwater4life]

Thanks,
I knew someone on here had pc's on their 55g. Where did you get your retro kits from? 200 bucks is a little more then i can spend... I found a few used 2x250w retro on eBay for around 150 with shipping. I've been keeping my eye out since i picked up the tank.
Yea the tanks in the garage but it looks huge compared to my 20g i can't believe i was looking at 120g when this 55g is still going to look empty after i move everything over.


Nick

 

[TRe]

i got my retro kits from someone selling them on reefcentral.... and to be honest i havnt seen them for any less including the bulbs.... also remeber that with mh's its guna cost about $60 per bulb when those need to be replaced if your looking to save money you may wanna stick with the pc's.. however if you do decide to upgrade your corals will thank you

 

[saltwater4life]

Nice,
Yeah but you only need to replace them every 12-14months right? PC's are around 8 months, anyways if i ran 4x65w that's around 100 bucks every 8 months. so 20 bucks more and that's half the watts. Hmm... i wish 1 250w would cover the whole tank but that brace... I hate to do this but i'm probably going to hold off setting the tank up until around November so i can add in birthday money. How much do you think it cost you to set up your 55g? a few hundred?

 

[zoalover34]

all depends if you buy used or new and how much the people are selling it for.. really no way to give a good answer to the price..

 

[Lorna]

What about t5's as an option?

 

[saltwater4life]

True, I don't wanna spend a lot on lights but i also wanna be able to upgrade the tank and still be fine with the lights. I guess if it comes down to it i can always sell the lights. Hmm, I'm comparing stuff and figuring out what i should do. options and stuff really helps. Thanks guys,

Nick

 

[TRe]

if it were me id get the tank setup for now and use what you have... when u get your birthday money get a new light

 

[zoalover34]

you can also overdrive t5s w/ some icecap 660s and when overdriven ive heard really good things about them

 

[saltwater4life]

Well i would like to set up tank, but my anemones and open brain wouldn't get enough light? plus my bulbs need replaced So i'm leaning to finding and buying lights. I found what i believe is plug and play duel 250w lights. But they are DE and i was told i would need UV filters but i don't know what they are and don't wanna buy it if i can't use it... What are UV filters? glass blocking the heat?

EDIT: I was just wondering are all the metal halides the same? i mean like reef,office,plant and whatever other ones they make?

 

[saltwater4life]

Ordered 4x54w coralvue retro kits. Might over run the bulbs once i get harder corals.
Now i'm looking at the rest of the equipment i need... lol this the part i hate spending money and time on stuff you don't look at well maybe the skimmer lol