Equpment List

[idlefingers]

Okay, I'm getting a little bit more swayed towards the halides (thank you AK77 for your message) but still have a bunch of worries. I sit quite close to the tank and so worry that I'd be staring up at a big MH bulb!.. Is this the case? Is there any way to avoid this? Am I just worrying too much?

I think I need to start playing the lottery in hope of funding all this.

 

[AK77]

Hi Idle,

I'm currently sitting 2ft away from the lights, as they are right next to my PC desk. There is no glare from the lights as they are angled downwards. The good thing about the lights I sent you a link to is that you can swivel them on the bracket to clean the glass if need be, then re-position them.

And yup, this hobby isn't cheap. A small lottery win would do nicely for me too..... Then I could get another tank

 

[idlefingers]

Hi Idle,

I'm currently sitting 2ft away from the lights, as they are right next to my PC desk. There is no glare from the lights as they are angled downwards. The good thing about the lights I sent you a link to is that you can swivel them on the bracket to clean the glass if need be, then re-position them.

And yup, this hobby isn't cheap. A small lottery win would do nicely for me too..... Then I could get another tank

I sit slightly below the tank in my couch but I didn't think about the fact they can swivel. That sorts that worry then!

On another note, are the TMC V2 Skimmers considered a good make by you guys?

 

[rictheredneck]

i like mine alot of people like deltec but they are quite a bit more expensive. i was gonna get a deltec but could of only afforded a 2nd hand one so ended up with the tmc. neither are bad skimmers imo its up2 your budget... glad your your thinking More about the halides just a Lil note a single 400w is gonna be cheaper that buying 2 150w/175w light fittings and 2 bulbs...

 

[SkiFletch]

If you do go with the single halide option just make sure to have lower light requiring corals around the perimeter of your tank where the light will be lowest and concentrate the high-light ones in the center

For a skimmer, the V2 is good, although some people have troubles getting theirs tuned properly. If you want a more headache-free option, go with the Deltec, but if you relaly need to save he money go for the V2, but be prepared to tinker

 

[Musho3210]

single halide might not give as good as a distribution all the way around the tank, it will focus it on one spot rather than the whole tank itself.

2 150 watts uses somewhere around 300 watts, 1 400 watt uses somewhere around 400 watts, one of them is more energy efficient.

 

[idlefingers]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I've decided I am going to go for a sump and halides but am going to wait a few months to save up a bit so that I can do this properly as this has quickly become waaay more expensive than I originally thought it would be.

I've ordered a couple more books so by the time I'm ready to start buying stuff I'll will have decided what fish/inverts I'm aiming for and so can make more educated decisions on the equipment.

 

[Musho3210]

setting up a sump to an empty tank is a lot easier than setting up one on a full mature tank. A full tank also prevents you from drilling, so HOB overflow for you....

 

[AK77]

this has quickly become waaay more expensive than I originally thought it would be.

Welcome to the world that is, marine fishkeeping

 

[Musho3210]

just dont record how much you have spent.....

 

[idlefingers]

setting up a sump to an empty tank is a lot easier than setting up one on a full mature tank. A full tank also prevents you from drilling, so HOB overflow for you....

Sorry, I wasn't very clear with my previous post.. I'm going to wait, save and plan for a few months before I start buying any equipment, not just the sump and halides. I've just been planning out what I need to buy and what's best before I started getting anything (except books). I'd put aside £600 to do this, but it's quickly becoming more like £1000 before any livestock which is why I've decided to wait for a little bit.

 

[idlefingers]

Okay, I'm back in the game.. That couple of months turned into a couple of days new credit card and a bit of ebay-ing has sorted the money situation..

So, back to the equipment list.. I've spoken to a nearby lfs about tank drilling but they were no help. Went to a local glass place (for lack of a better description) today and they said they will drill glass but only if it's a single pane as the rest of the tnak would get in the way. I'm going to go a lfs a little further afield later this week and they're much better so hopefully they'll be able to help.

On the skimmer front, after reding skifletch's comment about v2 skimmers, I've been looking at the deltec mce300.. Would that be a better choice over the v2 400?

With the lighting, I've been looking at both halides and the arcadia t5 luminares and am still a bit confused about what I should do. What kind of wpg do you aim for with marines? I know different corals need different light levels, but can it be generalized into the wpg needed for soft, sps and lps corals?

 

[AK77]

They sell the diamond glass cutting holesaws on ebay. They come with a template thing that you press into place.... then just drill through with a slow stream of water to cool the blade off.

I think they were about £30 for a set.. about the same as you'd pay for having it drilled by somewhere.

 

[idlefingers]

I would but I just don't trust myself to do it. If I can't find somewhere that can do it, I'll have to settle for an overflow box..

 

[AK77]

If you like I can find the ebay vendor that I bought my Cleartides overflow box from. It was about £20-£30 cheaper than some websites Ive seen.