Well, i got a 120 gallon tank at home just sitting on the floor doing nothing and after my 8 days in Queensland, diving in the reef there, the idea of a setting up a reef tank was inveitable, i know i said i was wanting to go with discus, but on the other hand, heres my chance to go marine...and judgeing by my parents attitude towards fish, it'll be the last chance i have in a long while to come, so heres my ideas/problems of going reef:
1) Lighting: I can't afford halides, so scrap them off the wishlist...instead, i'm thinking of getting 2 4' shop lights, each of which holds 2 flurecent lights. Were getting an electirician in soon, so since i know nothing about from wiring and electrictiy it's best to let a professional do it. I understand they can't penetrate to the bottom of the tank but i won't be getting any difficult to keep corals/inverts for a long, long time to come, and even the easy to keep ones will have to wait until i'm happy with everything.
2) Since my parents don't like the idea of multiple tanks, when i put this one up i'll have to take down the current 3' (35 gallon) one i have, my idea would be to use this as a sump. I understand i'll need to put some baffles up (thats what they're called, arnt they?) and probably split it into 3 sections.
4) Not a hardware question, but i might as well throw it in here. I got about 40 kg of silver sand, will that be ok in a reef tank? What do all you guys and girls use as your substrate?
Anyway, thats enough of my ramblings for now. If anybody has any suggestions at all, feel free to post since i got little clue about how this would turn out...it looks ok on paper though....as far as i can tell
Thanks!!!
1) Lighting: I can't afford halides, so scrap them off the wishlist...instead, i'm thinking of getting 2 4' shop lights, each of which holds 2 flurecent lights. Were getting an electirician in soon, so since i know nothing about from wiring and electrictiy it's best to let a professional do it. I understand they can't penetrate to the bottom of the tank but i won't be getting any difficult to keep corals/inverts for a long, long time to come, and even the easy to keep ones will have to wait until i'm happy with everything.
2) Since my parents don't like the idea of multiple tanks, when i put this one up i'll have to take down the current 3' (35 gallon) one i have, my idea would be to use this as a sump. I understand i'll need to put some baffles up (thats what they're called, arnt they?) and probably split it into 3 sections.
- Pre Filter: Have the water come down here where it'll pass through some spogue, bio balls, etc
- Have an area for equipment like my heater, skimmer and whatever else i can get out of the tank, possibly even use it as a refugium later on.
- Put my return pump in here for the obvious reasons
4) Not a hardware question, but i might as well throw it in here. I got about 40 kg of silver sand, will that be ok in a reef tank? What do all you guys and girls use as your substrate?
Anyway, thats enough of my ramblings for now. If anybody has any suggestions at all, feel free to post since i got little clue about how this would turn out...it looks ok on paper though....as far as i can tell
Thanks!!!