new tank eqipment questions

[trastnou1]

i had a reef tank for almost 18 years and sold it a couple years ago. i have missed it and am thinking of getting another one. i had mostly soft corals/fish/shrimp kind of reef tank with flourescent tubes. if i am gonna start from the beginning i was wondering what you all think about lights and skimmers. the tank i am looking at is 2'x4'x22" tall. i was thinking of a couple halides with a couple actinics only because the guy in the aquarium store suggested it. i have always liked the look of halides on tanks, but worry about the heat. it has a canopy.
also the skimmer. what is a good one, easy to clean, in the sump or under cabinet kind that is quiet? also i wonder about the live sand thing. i had live rock in mine and would do that again for sure, but i wonder if sand has a greater benefit. any other advise would be great. thanks so much, lori

 

[sonny]

Get the booklet "live sand secrets" by Bob Goemans. It is less than $10, and will tell you all you want to know about live sand. Live sand has great capacity for bio filtration, and when used in conjunction with live rock, is capable of keeping nitrates at zero. I am a fan of the plenum, which that booklet will explain in detail. A plenum is a space under the sand that has low oxygen levels and fosters bacteria that convert nitrates into nitrogen gas. The tank size you have chosen is a perfect size tank for a reef. A good skimmer would be the Berlin turbo, which you can buy online for less than $200 including the pump. I also like the turboflotor 1000. It is a similar cost. One key to using live sand is to keep as much of the surface of the sand open, as in don't cover it all with live rock. You can do that by making some bridges out of the live rock to keep it from completely covering the sand. Another benefit to live sand is that you don't need as much live rock in a live sand tank. Most plenum users use less than one pound per gallon.
The lighting is a real can of worms, but I am a real fan of halides with VHO actinics. Nothing else comes close to that look. Heat can be a real problem with halides though. Using fans in the canopy might be enough, but plan on keeping the house (or at least the room with the tank!) air conditioned to about 74 degrees in the summer. You could also vent the canopy to the outside with a dryer vent and fan set-up. You will have to decide for yourself, but another lighting option is the newer power compacts. They will cost about as much as halides, and to get the same intensity, you will need a lot of lamps. In my opinion, it will be cheaper in the long run to use halides, since lamp replacement will cost much more with PC's. Some people really swear by them, though. As I am interested in growing SPS corals, I chose 400 watt metal halides for my tank. There is nothing else that will give you that intensity of light in that small space. It is still not as bright as the sun though! Welcome back to the reef hobby.
Sonny
[ August 10, 2001: Message edited by: Sonny ]