Question for MichealTX

howdycst

howdycst

Member
Looking at that sight (ahsupply.com) can you give me any ideas on what lighting I should get. I know nothing about lighting. My tank is 48.25 long and looking to do a reef with LR, soft and hard corals,feather dusters, fish, and thats all I can think of right now any help would be great. What about vent on lighting (fans) getting something like installed you've got to know something about wiring I guessing. Thanks already you've really helped out. Got any pics of your canopy?
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
I am still building my canopy hopefully this weekend I will have it finished. as far as wiring the are pretty self explanatory they give you a wiring diagram with the order.
as far as what lights you should get for the corals it all depends on the corals some need more light than others a good way to know is to figure out what corals you are wanting and then research the light requirments of them. the fish and dusters dont need the light so the corals is what you need to research.some of the hard corals need an more intense light like Metal halide.
as far as vents the kits come with spacers and vents but no fans you can get fans at a computer store or somewhere simaliar and use then you just cut a hole big enough for them to fit in and I am thinking wiring them into the lighting circuitry maybe someone else can help you with that one I am not real sure. also something that helps with heat with power compacts is to afix the ballast remotely as with all lights the ballast gives of alot of heat.
hope this helps out a little. any other questions just let me know I will see what I can do
sorry it took so long to reply.
Mike
btw if your are going to with power compacts for the lenght of the tank there is no bulbs that long but you can stagger them back and forth to cover the whole tank.how wide is the tank?
 
howdycst

howdycst

Member
Tank is 13.75 inches wide. I'm seriously considering in scraping the coral idea. Don't get me wrong I think they're pretty and all that. But for me FOWLR seems to be the thing for me. I want alot of movement in the tank. The last fish I had was a single Albino Tiger Oscar (9 inches in length) and that was just about it for that tank. All he did was follow yah because he ws always hungry, or so he thought. Any suggestions on lighting for FOWLR tank. Thanks again.
 
oceanjumper

oceanjumper

Member
Howdycst,
It seems to me that you already have a perfect setting for corals. If you have a 48" Formosa Deluxe with (2) 6.5K acridine and (2) 10K whites you shoudl be able to grow almost anything. Have you covered your tank, or is it open?
Or am I wrong here?
 
oceanjumper

oceanjumper

Member
howdycst,
Since you're CONSIDERING it..... I would go for it. It's what I have as well. I am very, very satisfied with the JBJ Formosa DX. It looks great.
They are on sale at www.petmeister.com. I bought the legs (stand) too, and have uncovered my tank.
 
howdycst

howdycst

Member
What do you do about salt creep? I had the regular tank cover. Two pieces of glass held together by flexable plastic strip. Well the strips wore out. So I was considering going to the local glass shop and have a solid piece of glass cut for both sides. Unless your uncovered tank works well. And I do see the advantages to that: gases escape, high oxygen content, heat loss. But the disadvantages are pretty big: jumping fish, evaporation, slat creep. I am truely interested in your input on this subject, seeing how you already have this set up. Thanks
 
oceanjumper

oceanjumper

Member
Howdycst,
Here is a picture of my tank setup. I have the hood it only for a few days now and haven't experienced saltcreep. Actually, I did experience it when I had it covered.
I really like it without the cover. It is so much more intercative. I can much easier reach in the tank (e.g. the fish eat out of my hand) and it seems that also the lighting is a bit nicer.
Of course, there is the risk of jumping fish. Nevertheless, in my experience of keeping 5 yrs freshwater fish, if they really want to get out, they will so. I had two fish jumping out via a 1' x .5' opening.
I posted a few days the question "to cover or not to cover". There was a very interesting reply.
Email me directly if you like (ocean.jumper@verizon.net)
Marc
 
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