37 gallon build (697 day update)

What sucks is he has the best place in town.... lots of nice corals and fish

 

Boy that sounds like the typical horror story of LFS. Set-ups are like making chili everyone does it a little differently and everyone is convenced their's is best.

It does not take years to establish a tank with dry base rock. All you need is a few small pieces of cured live rock ( cheap ) and your good to go. Dry has it advantages in that it is much cheaper and you cut way down on amount of pesky hitch-hikers like aiptasia. LR can come with some benifical live forms but the nasty ones out weigh the benifits IMO.

You look like your off to a great start and I would just keep researching and take everything the LFS advises with a grain of salt. It is first and foremost a business and pushing the most ex*****ive and sometimes needless products is common place, buyer beware.

Tagging along.

 

Can anyone suggest a nice 30" lighting system for me... I was looking into this one but I don't think that 96 watts of light is enough do you???




Then I found this one but how would that work with the center brace of my tank blocking all the light???? just looks like a bad design



Odyssea Metal Halide System

 

Your overflow is a great effort. If your into doing it the clean way, check this out:

Glass-Holes.com dope aquarium stuff

PVC is cheap, start over!

As far as the Crushed Coral in your LFS system, he was probably to cheap to use sand...
I only have sand in my system and a sand sifter goby who kicks it up daily...never have I had a problem with sand in my pumps...

And of course he wants to sell you $400 worth of liverock. All you need is $40 worth liverock and the rest baserock. Look at this:
http://www.marcorocks.com/

 

For lighting, just build a canopy. You built the stand, canopy isn't that bad. I made one for that tank in 2 hours with paint. 175w Metal Halide and (2) 65w Power Compacts.

 

I don't really want a canopy i like the look of the all in one lights.... I have my tank set up on my 2nd story of my house and in the summer its gets pretty hot upstairs 80 + so i would think the canopy would hold in to much heat.... I just think T-5 would run a lot cooler

 

You can put T5 in canopy, but lights on stands work well, I just hate the bleed out.

 

Fresh2salt... I'm looking for a 30" light upgrade as well. The odyssea mh is interesting. I have the center brace as well. 96w would be enough in my 36g bf for softies and LPS. I too, am undecided tho ...t5s or a MH? Will the 380w MH be too much for a tank our size? Opinions appreciated!

 

Metal Halides make the best look and growth. I had a 6 bulb T5 non a 55g and I have had so much more growth on the same coral from that tank in my 72 with MH. Plus the glimmer effect is beautiful!

 

Thanks NorCal. I noticed the fixture is 15" deep ...my tank is 15" at the bow ...it would bleed too much. I presume it would render the front PCs almost useless. I'll go with a 4x24 t5... My original plan prior to seeing this post. Not many choices in a 30 inch.