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Craig Manoukian · 10-08-2004, 08:15 AM

Yvonne part II,

Not all tanks are created equal and because of the variuos options it does seem very confusing. *Believe me *I felt your pain when I was a newbie.

I will only use an example with two setups that I am familiar with to hopefully give you an idea. *It will take research on your part as well as an understanding of your tank and it's particular dynamics. *You can take two identical setups with the same lighting, filtration, and livestock and they would not be equal in their behavior.

I have an 80 gallon display tank with a 30 gallon sump/refugium. *I have a 4" sand bed in the display and refugium with 125 lbs of live rock. *I have 20 times turnover in water circulation and a protien skimmer. *My lighting is two 175 watt 10,000k MH and 80 watts of actinics. *My sand bed is cleaned and stirred by an army of nassaurius snails, cleaner shrimp, scarlet hermits, cerith snails, and conches. I export nitrates and phosphetes by harvesting the caulerpa in my refugium.

I have soft corals and clams and eveything is doing well. *The little bit of nitrates in my system are perfect for the softies and clam. *I have a total of 9 reef fish all less than 6" in length.

This is not a very good system for SPS corals. SPs corals recieve the majority of the food from photosynthesis.

mojoreef has a 700 gallon bare bottom, no sand, tank that has tons of mechanical filtration that exports the unwanted Nitrates and Phosphates from his tank. *He has over a thousand lbs of live rock. *He runs several 400 watt 6,500k MH lights with actinic supplementation. *His tank is absolutely gorgeous, but is completely different from mine.

All this is really closer to what we see in the natural reef. *You will see large colonies of SPS corals in medium current on the outer shelf of the reef. *Softies and clams are found more in the sandy lagoonal settings. *This is just a brief primer about all the differen applications for different animals.

HTH

10-08-2004, 08:15 AM	#4 (permalink)
Craig Manoukian Giant Squid Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Marina del Rey, California Posts: 3,524 Karma: 258	Re: Marine Environment 2 part Yvonne part II, Not all tanks are created equal and because of the variuos options it does seem very confusing. Believe me I felt your pain when I was a newbie. I will only use an example with two setups that I am familiar with to hopefully give you an idea. It will take research on your part as well as an understanding of your tank and it's particular dynamics. You can take two identical setups with the same lighting, filtration, and livestock and they would not be equal in their behavior. I have an 80 gallon display tank with a 30 gallon sump/refugium. I have a 4" sand bed in the display and refugium with 125 lbs of live rock. I have 20 times turnover in water circulation and a protien skimmer. My lighting is two 175 watt 10,000k MH and 80 watts of actinics. My sand bed is cleaned and stirred by an army of nassaurius snails, cleaner shrimp, scarlet hermits, cerith snails, and conches. I export nitrates and phosphetes by harvesting the caulerpa in my refugium. I have soft corals and clams and eveything is doing well. The little bit of nitrates in my system are perfect for the softies and clam. I have a total of 9 reef fish all less than 6" in length. This is not a very good system for SPS corals. SPs corals recieve the majority of the food from photosynthesis. mojoreef has a 700 gallon bare bottom, no sand, tank that has tons of mechanical filtration that exports the unwanted Nitrates and Phosphates from his tank. He has over a thousand lbs of live rock. He runs several 400 watt 6,500k MH lights with actinic supplementation. His tank is absolutely gorgeous, but is completely different from mine. All this is really closer to what we see in the natural reef. You will see large colonies of SPS corals in medium current on the outer shelf of the reef. Softies and clams are found more in the sandy lagoonal settings. This is just a brief primer about all the differen applications for different animals. HTH _________ Just tryin to recreate God's perfection in a glass bowl. 20 Gallon Reef W/Live Rock, mated pair of Maroon Clowns, Softies, 110 watts PC 10,000k lighting, and skimmer.