SmartLights for LR? Additives? Help!

[fishgirl]

Hey everyone!
I finally got my 75 all-glass tank into place and the glass canopies should be in soon. I'm planning on buying my skimmer, extra powerheads, and lighting from an online store soon. My tank will have fish, LR, LS and a clean-up crew. Since the middle of the tank is divided with a brace and I will have a canopy on each side, I assume I need to buy two seperate hoods. Would the SmartLamp daylight/actinic thing be good for nice coralline on LR but no corals? Should I buy the more expensive but nicer hoods or should I shove some retro-fit kits in a couple cheap hoods and save the $ ? What about the ballast? Do these lamps get hot? Any good? Any info would be great.
Yet another question: Since I've only been doing fish-only the only additive I've been adding is kent zoe liquid vitamins for my fish. With a fowlr will I have to add essential elements or coral vite or iodine or calcium for coraline? Is there anything that's easy to dose and combines alot of the stuff needed into one? Would good lights and circulation do it w/o supplements?
Thanks so much and if you have any links to show me just email!

 

[reefj13]

The lighting is up to you. I have a ten gallon reef tank with mushrooms anf purple corraline coated liverock with only one 10K 18" light over it. While the better the light the quicker corraline algae grows there are low live corraline algaes. As for additives I would strongly reccomend adding calcium, strontium, and iodine. Also do not buy all in one supplements. Every tank uses elements at defferent levels and you should always be able to add one without the other if you have to.

 

[q]

You could also just use one light hood. I am assuming that your tank is 48 inches long. It would be ideal to use the 48 inch VHO bulb. The brace in the middle is of no real concern. It would cost more in the long run because of bulb replacements as you would have to replace twice the number of lights.
I am also assuming that by "glass canopies" you mean the cover over the water that your lights will be sitting over and not a cover for the lighting hoods.

 

[fishgirl]

Yes I mean the glass tops that sit over the water and under the lighting hoods when I say "canopy" cause that's what the guys at the lfs call 'em. My tank is 48" inches long - it would be great if I could use just one hood. I think I wil go with the SmartLamp 48" but can I put a retro-fit in a cheap hood or should a buy the fancy hood that goes with it? Do retro-fits come with ballast etc?
What brand of additives does everybody use and do I start adding during or after the cycle??
Thanks
-Jean

 

[broomer5]

Fishgirl,
If you are certain you will not ever want any coarls in this 75 tank - power compacts are hard to beat for the price.
CustomSeaLife has some real nice 48" pc lighting ( smartlites ) that have the metal hood, ballast, heat vents in the ends and switch, for a reasonable price.
You could go with the Smart Lamp 48
2 X 65W Ultra Actinic/ Ultra Daylight Split 48" x 6" x 4" for about $149.00
Would really light up your tank nicely, I'm sure coralline would grow well, and if down the road you wanted some easy corals, mushrooms, leathers, you could probably keep some of them as well.
I've got the same lighting set up on my 30 gallon long - very lightweight, doesn't get too hot, and that tank is thriving.
Just an idea - save you the hassle of trying to get the retro's to fit right

 

[fishgirl]

Thanks Brian, that's what I'll get!
Btw, more info about additives would be great.

 

[broomer5]

Oh yeah - additives
There are so many out there that sometimes it's hard to choose what is best. I find that Seachem products work well for me.
For a FOWLR - and your desire to get some coralline algae growth - you'll want to look into adding some form of calcium and some way to maintain your alkalinity.
I've used SeaChem Reef Plus, Reef Complete, Reef Calcium and Reef Builder. They are fairly simple to use - liquid additives.
In addition to the test kits you've been using Jean, I would also suggest getting test kits for alk and calcium ( if you don't already have them )
Since your just concerned about the coralline for now - go easy on any additives, I've always half dosed or quarter dosed the recommended amounts on the packaging. Not cause I am cheap, well maybe a little, but more often with regular monthly water changes using good brand of salt, I think you replace a lot of trace elements consumed in your tank.
You may want to do a search online and look at different sites detailing reef water chemistry, and if you want some links to good sites please let me know.
Good luck - I'm sure you're excited about your new 75'er !!!!!!
Brian