Lighting Question

[obsessivelady]

Hi,
I just posted this under the lighting section, but thought I would post it here as well.
I'm looking at buying the Nova Extreme SLR T-5 light fixture. Total wattage is 216 watts. It comes with 2 10000 K and 2 460nm actinic. I will be setting up a 55 gal with live rock and some fish including a couple of clowns and anenome's. This set up is affordable to me as I can only make 1 big purchase at a time and they are on sale. Next big purchase will be the filter and I'm leaning towards the Eheim. Thanks for your input!

 

[coralreefer]

that light is fine for all fish. you could also keep soft corals and a few lps. If the eheim is a canister filter, I would instead recommend setting up a sump if you haven't already set up your tank. For me, canisters only brought trouble

 

[obsessivelady]

I'm interested in the Sump, but don't know if I can figure it out. It seems a bit complicated to me. Marineland has a set up though I was looking at. I need things broken down simple. I've taken care of saltwater tanks before, but this it my first on my own, that I will be setting up and maintaining.

 

[coralreefer]

I know just how you feel. before I started a sump it was confusing to me as well. a basic sump is just a smaller tank under your display with a drain from your DT and a return back to the DT. just search diy sump on google and you'll find some great results.

 

[obsessivelady]

Thanks for your help. I will look into the sump and do some studying. I really would like to go that route and it's not like I don't have time to research, because I'm taking my time buying one thing at a time and it doesn't matter to me how long it takes. I want everything perfect for my tank. One thing I've learned from the past is to take it slow and don't be in a hurry. Patience.

 

[coralreefer]

best advice. if only i could travel back in time and tell myself that

 

[cbj25]

i would like to respectfully disagree with coralreefer. You can keep sps and lps under those t5's. As for the eheim canister, that would be a good choice if you choose to go that route. I have one on my 29 gallon reef and it has served me well for about a year and a half now. If you can drill the tank and get a wet/dry sump in there that would be best and it would look the best. Are you thinking about a skimmer?

 

[obsessivelady]

I was actually researching the diy sump online and found some interesting ideas. I think I can actually put it all together except I may need some help with the drilling. Need to do more research. I absolutely plan on having a skimmer. I don't know which one yet, I haven't gotten that far. Do you have any recommendations?

 

[gill again68]

If you dont drill to start with you can go the HOB overflow. Drilling is better but may not be in everyones ability to just whoop out a drill and start putting holes in glass. There are some nice DYI on drilling glass. If your not comfortable with that you can probably get a local glass shop to drill it for you. May be best bet.
Skimmers, I went cheap but that will probably cost me twice. Get the best you can afford and I think that will do.

 

[coralreefer]

Originally Posted by cbj25
http:///forum/post/3196635
i would like to respectfully disagree with coralreefer. You can keep sps and lps under those t5's. As for the eheim canister, that would be a good choice if you choose to go that route. I have one on my 29 gallon reef and it has served me well for about a year and a half now. If you can drill the tank and get a wet/dry sump in there that would be best and it would look the best. Are you thinking about a skimmer?
sorry, I thought she said PCs. I agree with you cbj

 

[obsessivelady]

I saw a pretty cool site about drilling your tank for the sump, but I don't have any equipment to do that. I would probably have a local glass shop do the drilling for me. Why is it better though to drill verses using an overflow unit?

 

[coralreefer]

because a HOB overflow relies on a siphon. If the siphon fails, the water from your DT will stop flowing down into your sump, but the water will continue to be pumped up back from the sump, causing an flood. A drilled overflow relies on gravity, which never fails