multi-depth reef??

[jalso]

Hey all, I am planning on setting up a 180 gallon reef tank (I've been planning for awhile now...). My question is I'm having troubles deciding on building a shallow or deep water reef.
I very much want to get Tridacna clam once everything is has stabalized, but at some point (albeit very much in the future) I'd like to add a Dendronephthya or Gorgonian coral.
Would it be possible to do both in the same tank?? With a depth of 24" could I place clams or other shallow corals at the top of rockwork, while placing deep water corals near the substrate, possibly in a 'cave' of rockwork??
If this is not an option, would it be possible to vary the intensity of light horizontally across the tank?? Say, shallow water corals on the left under intense lighting, and deep water ones on the right under lesser lighting??
This may be a really stupid and unnatural thing to try and do, but just in case its possible it would make my decision making a bit easier.
Thanx much in advance.

 

[krishj39]

you could definitely do your idea of putting the light intensive corals on one side and the deep water animals on the other, sounds cool to me actually. the other idea of putting the deep water in a rock cave or whatever could work too, but that sounds much more complicated to me.

 

[robchuck]

Do you already have the 180gal??? If not, why not consider a taller tank where you could have more control over what light reaches the bottom of the tank (even though this could get more expensive getting into more intense MH lighting). You could create a portion of the tank using lower level florescents, and have 400w MH at the other end. I also think it would make a cool visual if you sloped the substrate up going from the deep end to the shallow end. This would give the impression of going from deeper waters to shallower waters.

 

[robchuck]

-or-
This thought just occured to me. What about using a "theater-style" lighting gel to place below the lights on the deeper side. I'm not sure how this would effect the lighing spectrum, but it would sure be interesting to hear the input of others.

 

[krishj39]

if you do that sloping idea, with the high light corals in the shallow and the others in the deep end, you should add a wavemaker, just because the effect would be really cool. you could actually have waves going from the deep end to the shallow. actually, this sounds like a setup that closely mimics a natural environment. whenever i do another upgrade, i'll have to give this idea some serious thought.

 

[jalso]

I just thought of another possible variation, put a MH over the center, with floresents towards the ends. This would make the tank look more asthetically pleasing (at least to me) in that the lighting would at least be symetrical.
I dont know if the light from the MH would be reflected/refracted through the water column to the ends of the tank, which would make this idea infeasable. Any advice would be very helpfull.
Oh, on a similiar note, would there be anything else (besides lighting) that would preclude putting both deep and shallow corals in the same tank? Would a phytoplankton drip needed to keep gorgonians alive have any adverse effects under intense lighting (such as contributing to algal blooms)??
I want to make sure whatever I end up doing is as flexable as possible to evolve as I gain experience, but not be a big (=costly) mistake.
Thanx much

 

[jalso]

Thanks for the input!!
krishj39, The idea hadnt occured to me that that doing the left/right light level thing would mimic nature (on a much smaller scale), you got my wheels turning....
RobChuck, I dont have the tank yet, I want to figure out (as much as I can) what I want to work towards before I buy a bunch of stuff that I'll end up replacing
I like the idea of sloping the substrate for a visual effect. As far as the gel idea, I'm guessing that the spectrum of light passed through the gel would be so limited in spectrum as to cause adverse effects to the animals relying on it - just my guess tho.
I have heard of people putting those colored 'party' lights in their canopy (essentially a gelld incandesant) not for photosynthesis, but as a 'moon' light during the night cycle. I have no idea if any animals would appreciate doing this, but it sounds cool.
Again, thanks for the input, and if anyone knows of any reason why this wont work, please let me know so I dont burn to many brain cells on this