Need input on reef conversion plans

[SKAustin]

Ok, I've been spending the past several months researching saltwater and reef tanks. My wife and I are hoping/planning on converting our 55 gallon tank into a reef. I was hoping to lay out our plans thus far and get a bit of feedback. I really want to make sure we are facing the right direction before we start moving forward.

so here are the plans thus far:

55 gallon tank (i wish we could go bigger, but at the moment thats our limit)

48" coralife deluxe lunar aqualight 64x4 (is this lighting sufficient for shrooms/softies/some LPS?)

Coralife 125 (or 220?) needle wheel skimmer.

Sump/refugium (not sure if i'll use an empty tank to make myown, or just purchase a new unit)

and for livestock, the plans are 2 Clowns, a Firefish, Maybe a yellow tang (or comperably sized fish) and some form of gobies/blennies. For corals, were looking at mushrooms, zoos, softies and maybe a select few LPS (like sun corals and others appropriate for the lighting)

Any input, suggestions, or recommendations are greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance.
Steve

[Diver_1298]

A standard 55 is 20" tall with a 2" sand bed that puts about 18" of water between the lights and the bottom. Which is plenty of lighting for the type of corals you want to keep. Just remember that these are compact fluorescent bulbs and need to be changed out yearly. you will lose about 50 percent of the light output in that time. You can find replacements for them on Ebay for about $12.00 to $14.00 a lamp plus shipping or you can pay 30 to 40 dollars a piece from your LFS.... Keep that number in mind when you go to buy the fixture. You'll need to know the pin configuration, wattage and kelvin temperature for replacements. Enjoy yourself.

jim

[Bruce]

I think that those lights should be good. I had similar lights when I started. But be aware, that like me, you will probably want to eventually upgrade. Im not sure on the pricing your getting the lights at, but you might want to check out t-5 lights. They were cheaper for me and I am alot happier with them. Other than that everything seems fine

[SKAustin]

Well, in respect to the Price of the lights, Ive found the fixture at hellolights.com for $219.00. My lfs sells the identical fixture for $359.00

I was told that the acintic lights do not contribute to the growth of the corals. Is this true?

[milesm4]

I think that the most important thing to start out with is a good filter and pump combo. Lights are a close second, sounds like your doing the right thing by researching before you buy.

[sire_andre]

ei there....i too is just setting up my first salt water aquarium, i got just got a 50 where my arowana used to live...then i made and improvised my othere accesories. back then when im in to fresh water fish, i only use an undergravel and overhead filters but when i decided on setting up a saltwater, i mostly improvised on the accessories, the only aftermarkets i bought is my salt mix,skimmer, test kit, and two new pumps(my old was running for 8 years and i decided not to use it because it might breakdown when my saltwater will be fully operational). since my profession i architecture i designed the new stand, i hid my pipes, electrical and sump in my new table. well i just made my sump with 3/16" acrylic, so ther are no hard times in setting up the chambers plus it's easy to build and after a few hours you can use it right away.in my sump, i got crshed corals, live sand, egg tray, bio balls for my flitration and in the skimmer is also situated there.as for my lighting, i'm just using a t5 lighting, there are made in china lights where its cheaper. now i'm running my tank now, and conditioning my saltwater, the next hing that i'm gonna fut is my soft corals, thne after 2 weeks my fish.

that's it for now, it's just time sa i can post pics of my aquarium

-just remember to enjoy setting up.

[Diver_1298]

I would say that depending on the pigmentation of the Symbiotic algae (Zooxanthella) and the depth at which the corals have adapted to live that this would be a false statement. The range of the spectrum is low for our eyes (about 420) but it could be just right for a hard coral at 20m (60 feet).
Remember our corals are only as deep as our tanks, the ones in the wild go from 2 - 100 feet.

Jim

Originally Posted by SKAustin

Well, in respect to the Price of the lights, Ive found the fixture at hellolights.com for $219.00. My lfs sells the identical fixture for $359.00

I was told that the acintic lights do not contribute to the growth of the corals. Is this true?

[bouraganes]

SKAustin that should be a sufficent amount of light for your shrooms and zoos- I started out with an coral life with 4 65 watt bulbs and later on when I decided the need (or want) came up I added an 250 watt metal halide retrofit

[SKAustin]

Any recommendations on pumps, powerheads, other equipment i should get?

With the return pump from the refugium/sump how many additional powerheads would i need?

I was considering plumbing the sump return so that it split off into 4 sections, would that provide enough flow from each of the 4 outlets to eliminate the need for powerheads?

[rashr]

Hi SKAustin you are setting up exactly the system I had.....the lighting is sufficient for all that you want(I had frogspawn. shrooms, torch coral), be aware of light fall off though. I too went Power Compact when starting out because of pricing but have since switched to Metal Halides for longevity and the fact I needed more power for the 90 gal. I strongly suggest setting up a sump with a refugium.....what I did based on "Tangster" and "Coral Reefer" suggestion was take an old 10 gal tank(only cheap tank I could find to fit under the tank in my stand) and partition it into 60/40 split with the refugium being in the 60% side. With this I had to split my overflow so the flow going into my refugium was allot slower than what I had going into my sump part, but my in habitants seem to be happier and my tank maintenance has reduced not to mention easier. Hope this helps some and good luck you will have a great time creating your own little reef!