Easy low maintenance tanks

On the subject of LEDs....

My par30s only have royal blues and cool white diodes, and I'm quite pleased with the color mix I get in the tank. It's close to a 140000 kelvin, if you are familiar with the Kelvin temperature scale. The photos in my build thread are off, as the camera does not always correctly capture the blue light wavelengths (and so it overcompensates).

Though, like Bruno says, combining a wider range of colors will give you a more "full spectrum".

 

How far will a 300 gph power head (pengiun 1140) get me? I read you want one to get 8-17X's the total gallons of your tank. Correct?

anyone have experience with the life glo and power glo fluorescent bulbs for coral?

 

I would aim for an even higher turnover. 20x turnover is a good starting point for most people (unless it's a pico tank, in which this level of turnover may create a sandstorm in the small water volume).

Have you decided what size tank you want? This will help determine the amount of flow/turnover you want in your tank from powerheads. 300g is pretty good from one pump, but it may be better to opt for two small pumps/powerhewads rather than a single one.

These multiple pumps, when pointed at water surface/or at each other, result in random flow. This means any detritus/particulates in the water will remain floating in the water column, easily taken out with filtration equipment (HOB DIY fuge) or manually. It should also aid in coral growth as most corals do no appreciate direct flow.

Personally, I would suggest two Koralia Nano 240s, or Koralia Nano 425 pumps, depending on the tank you decide to go with.

 

I have a bunch of tanks here (5 gal - 55gal) along with some stuff, so that's why I'm wondering how far a 300gph pump will get me as I already have a penguin and various heaters and I'd like to only run some fluorescent lights (life glo) that i already have.

So either I use a 30 gal (10X flow), 20 gal (15x flow) or 10 gal (30X flow).

Looking at the possibilities of colt coral, mushrooms, pagoda, montipora and etc easy low light beginner coral.

 

Do you have anymore powerheads? I would try to use two for any tank, but if you did a 10g you may be able to get away with one pump. But you will just need to be more careful about water parameters (as it's a smaller volume of water).

I think a 20 gallon would be a great starting point...even more so if this is a 20 gallon long (approx. 30" L x 12" W x 12" H). Shallower tanks are much easier to aquascape for SW than taller ones.

 

check out this thread it seems to be a low upkeep tank
http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-of...hoebox-reef-leds-live-beer-bottle-129686.html

 

BTW, montipora are small polyp stony corals, which may need dosing later on when you have more corals (more corals = more cal,mag,alk being sucked up). But if you wanted a monti cap., it is easy to care for and should be fine in moderate random flow (not direct flow) and moderate to high light. Upper placement in the tank/aquascape will be fine.

Hard corals suck up the most, LPS is sort of in between, with soft corals being the most hardy, making them a great choice for beginners.

The rest of your list looks fine.

 

Do it right the first time. Don't skimp on equipment and keep a realistic bio-load. Listen to what the motto of 3reef is "Go Slow Let It Grow"... Best advice in this hobby!