Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I have the 24" Nova T5 from right here.
The bulbs cost about 60 bucks a year to replace (and it's very important to replace them every year).
You should probably check the bulb replacement cost of any light you choose. They're super expensive.
My light doesn't get real hot and it's in excellent shape after almost three years sitting on top of my tank.
I'd never have guessed it'd last half that long, as nothing for salt water ever does if it has metal involved. The only thing that's ever happened is that the fan started making noise. It was full of crud (salt, dust, etc.) and I had to wash it out. I dried it carefully and lubricated it very lightly and it's back to being silent and works great.
I'd happily suggest the Nova T5's to any of my friends. I could not be more pleased with it and it had came highly recommended to me.
I don't think you could possibly go wrong. :tu

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

OK guys.
Made me go back and dig up some old photos.
Loading up to Photobucket right now.
I have some shots I am very proud of involving tanks I designed/built for customers.
Will post soon.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

First one.
Believe it or not, this is a 225 gallon tank that is six feet wide.
That is how huge this furniture is that the tank looks tiny within it.
This is a $40K wall unit/tank.
The tank is custom acrylic, made to customer specs, with a built in fiberglass, handmade artificial reef with very neat looking (as close as you can get) to live coral.
After three months of having, and me having told him not to do it as he wouldn't be happy long term, the customer paid me to do a whole new tank to mimic mine with bleached corals.

This customer later moved and we built the same system but with twin tanks with a large screen TV in the middle.
My son has those shots somewhere. Need to see if we can find them.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...100_0048_2.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Left side of tank filtration.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...100_0032_2.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Right side.

All the equipment leads outside of the house to a chiller and then comes back in.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...100_0037_2.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Another view.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...100_0042_2.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

This photo brought tears.
I loved this Banana Eel.
They are so rare and so expensive.
I was afraid he would attack my Clarion when I got him, as he was so, so small, that I got rid of it and sold it.
How I regret it now.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...o/IMG_0079.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

This was a cool system to build and one I am most proud of.
Took me three days to do this plumbing.
325 custom acrylic tank with chiller to the side, covered in the same wood as the furniture.
Lights are Power Compacts.
This is when it was first set up with only a handful of fish in it.
Can you spot where my banana eel ended up?

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...o/IMG_0109.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Left side filtration.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...o/100_0063.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Beautiful Eel. Somehow, I have a soft spot for eels. That is a huge system.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Right side filtration.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...o/100_0064.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Full view of filtration.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...o/100_0065.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

1/3 HP Chiller.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...o/100_0069.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I panicked on that eel as I assumed it would dine on my small Clarion.
He ended up being quite docile in that customer's tank.
He ended up dying in a power failure at that home.
Have tried to get another one since then but they are way overpriced when available.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

My LFS has a 1500 gallon DT with 4 eels in it. all of them are between 3 and 5 feet lond and as thick as my arm. They are sooo awesome! A green Moray, Jeweled Moray, Tesselata Moray, and a Zebra Moray. Also in the tank is a huge queen angel, a panther grouper, and a minatus grouper. I love looking at that tank.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Will take some pics of mine. Have not been keeping it up as I should but recently started making an effort to restore it to its OMFG status it used to have.

I am more of a clownfish anemone guy.

Have a pair of spawning Nigripes clowns in the 70 reef with two rose bubble nems and a 3 foot pink atlantic carpet nem.

Just started a second tank for a pair of chrysogaster clowns my buddy was able to secure me through questionable methods :ss Currently at his shop for the past month to make sure they are safe.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Clowns are so cool.
I have a mated pair in my tank.
One is normal orange/white and the other is the black one pictured in this thread.
Amazing that I don't have a reef and they regularly lay eggs on the bleached coral.
None will ever make it as they are delicacies for the other fish but cool that in spite of not having anenomes, they still spawn.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I want to do a reef with different types of coral, I am worried about getting lights that can penetrate all 24" of water with the full spectrum

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

24" is not deep for today's bulbs.
You can go with VHO's and if still a concern, go with metal halides in addition but expect to generate a whole lot of heat.
In the store my son worked, all corals were maintained in metal halides.
My son had a combination of VHO and metal halides in his 75 reef, which is 24 deep and worked fine.
You will need a chiller to go along with that.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Im assuming the point of a chiller is to cool the water, but do the lamps generate THAT much heat that they actually heat the water that much?? So Im assuming that in a saltwater tank a heater isnt necessary??

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Does it heat up the water that much?
Sure.
Especially the smaller the tank is or the lower in height.
My 225 fish only is lit by four 4 - 36" Power Compact Units (96 W each).
That generates some heat but not much as Power Compacts run quite cool.
However, VHOs run hot.
Metal Halides run incredibly hot.
You can and should use fans to get some of that heat out of there (you can see that in the design of the last tank I pictured) but when you throw in the heat generated by recirculating pumps, UV, etc, it does raise your temperature quite a few degrees. Enough to make corals quite uncomfortable.

As for the heater, depends.
In South Florida, don't use them. Don't need them.
We will never have a low temperature concern.
The opposite is true. Just about everyone should have a chiller.
In the NE as an example, yeah, you would still need a heater for the cold winters.

I keep my house temperature at 75. Without my chiller, with cool Power Compacts but three pumps and a UV running the system, my temperature will rise to around 82-84.
The chiller maintains it at 77.

Many folks get away with reefs in some parts of the country without a chiller.
Most have one.
Depends on where you are and the temperature your water goes to.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

so, I would need a chiller AND a heater?

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Where you are in CT? I would say absolutely.
I say that as I spent 30 yrs in NJ.
You cannot risk your house temperature dropping to the 20's, 30's if your heater unit goes out on your home.
Well worth the investment.
If you have hot lamps, then yes to a chiller also due to the hot NE summers.
You can use one programmer (dual controller) and plug the heater in the that controller also that runs the chiller.
This way, you set the temperature where the chiller should go on (heater will not fight it and stay off) and then you set the low point where the heater goes on (chiller will now remain off).
That is the best route to go.
If you do a refugium or wet dry filter, you can drop your heater in there and it is out of sight and not cluttering the inside of the tank.
If the tank has no internal overflow to do bottom filtration, then you do the conventional heater in the tank.
I would invest in a tank with an internal overflow box. Best route to provide ample alternatives for under tank filtration.
You can always do a "hang on" overflow box but it doesn't look as nice or allow you as much flow generally.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Thanks for the info Carlos! :tu

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

A chiller also depends on your setup. I had 600 watts of halides running over a 120 with no heat issues due to the fact I had 200 more gallons of water in the basement connected into the system. There are lots of ways to get around having a chiller, but there are some times that having one is the easiest. Although they are power hungry and expensive to run.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

That they are.
Mine is a 1/3 HP.
I estimate it costs me about $35 a month to run it.
Cost me $600 "wholesale". Runs closer to $1K retail.

However, plenty of newer chillers in the market for smaller set ups (mine is 225 G) that are not as expensive and don't cost as much to run.
The run costs are more related to the temperature drop required.

One thing I have learned from my years in the business/hobby, always go bigger than you need.
Bigger on everything.
Bigger lighting.
Bigger heater.
Bigger UV.
Bigger Protein Skimmer.
Bigger chiller.
Bigger wet dry/filter.
Bigger all.
Bigger, is and will always be better.

Oh, and last but not least, bigger tank. (remember what happens to us all in the cigar hobby with humidors - we always end up with a bigger one and then want yet a bigger one - well, same thing in the fish hobby)

I have now been dreaming of a 400 gallon for a while but my wife wakes me up in the middle of it and hits me over the head.:r

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I dont have or need a chiller on my reef. Lights on ll day and its a constant 78 degrees winter and summer.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Wow. In Florida?
What do you keep your house setting at?

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

House currently has the heat on at 70 and in the summer the Air is on at 75. I dont have a canopy on my tank and instead of glass lids I have the entire top covered in egg crate. I lose about a gallon of water/day to evap.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Ahhhh........

Yup.
I use to keep my tank at 78-79 with no chiller either with the house at 75 but man did I go through water.
It took fans blowing at the top and fans on the wet dry to stop the moisture from wrecking the wood.
I would go through one gallon of water a day v. about 2 a week with the chiller.
Good thing you don't have a canopy as it would warp from the moisture.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

back to my lighting thing, im thinking about this

http://www.marineandreef.com/Outer_O...p/rcu01077.htm

i want to be able to keep clams and any type of corals

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Its a good light but I still say avoid Halides unless you are planning for a chiller as well. They are very expensive to buy, expensive to run, and are very hot. You Can keep clams and most any kind of coral under T-5s now a days. Even anemones do well under t-5s.

T5s are cheaper to buy, use less energy, put out less heat, and bulbs are much much cheaper. Trust me. I have used halides before and also gotten an electric bill for $600 as a result. Think of all the cigars you could buy for $600

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

:tpd:

Totally agree.
If I were not to do T5's for whatever reason(s), would do standard VHOs.
Last thing would be Halides for thanks to living in Florida.
When my son had them, my electric bill was about $100 per month more, minimum (of course chiller involved also).

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

T5's all the way. Depending on tank depth (24" or greater), you can overdrive T5's with an icecap VHO ballast and get great performance. T5's will keep anything you want. SPS, clams...ect. I ran halides and with all my uncovered sumps in the basement I used to evap 2.5 gallons a day. Didn't want to invest the money into a ventilation/heat exchanger, so took down all the sumps and big tank.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Just ordered my aquapod 24G. Now im shopping live sand and rock, Im thinking a mixture of Fuji and Carribiean. also theres a type that has a shelf look to it. cant remeber the name of it, but probably get some of that too.

thinking about 30 pounds total, probably a bit much but then I have it.

sweet! Thanks for the ispration and well hey here goes another slope. Between my cars, motorcycles, Boats, And cigars, Im freaking screwed! :D

anyways, Here goes nothin!

Oh any reccomendations on sand?

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Go with live sand.
It is neat.
Clean.
Has bio for you to help establish the tank.

BTW,
Don't believe it takes weeks to cycle a tank.
I have cycled many, many tanks and thrown in thousands of dollars of fish, with no problems.
The trick is three days use of a product called Bacter Vital.
Works like a charm.
I also use it quite often to set up hospital tanks asap when needed.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Good to know.

I was planning on live sand but is there a brand thats good or is it kind of a generic buy in bulk kind of thing?

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

There are not too many companies doing that from what I recall, unless more have popped up.
Any will be good.
It is not cheap as compared to regular sand but well worth the difference in price.
What I love about it is that you don't clean it. Just drop it in the tank and in no time, it all settles down and the tank is clear as can be.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

If you're not in a huge hurry, you can use 1/2 live sand and 1/2 whatever sand and give it a couple weeks. You don't even need 1/2 live sand, just a good amount to seed the tank.
I guess my point is that the base needs to be deep and thick. If the cost of the sand causes you to order less than the optimal amount, that's okay, but add enough other sand to get a good base.
Most folks skrimp on base material and it's the heart of a system. The deeper the base the more biological action and the healthier the tank. It's huge.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

This is the tank my father keeps at home. The pictures are a few months old so it probably looks different now and probably cleaner, but here it is.
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_2283-1.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_2284-1.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_2285-1.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_2286-1.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_2287-1.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_2290-1.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_2290-1.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_2291-1.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_2292-1.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_2293-1.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_2294-1.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_2295-1.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/n...IMG_2296-1.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

All this fish tank talk made me go get my diatom filter out of the shed.
I gotta polish that tank up a bit. :)

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Cool thread! I have a 120 gal. and a 10 gal. nano. Six or seven years old. My wife kept the nano at work at her previous job. I'll have to clean them enough to take pics.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Ugg, The place I orderd my tank from said that there was a price change and they arent honoring my order! bastards. Theyll sell me one for 220 now instead of the 176 I ordered mine for. that should be illegal! in fact think it might be but oh well. Dont buy from aloha aquariums!

Oh well, it may be good that it happened. Im starting to debate starting a 50 gallon tank with a remote sump:hm I dont know which way to go! only thing ive ever had a hand it was my dads old fish only tank. had a 15inch Lion fish in it. Was the coolest thing ever. sold that sucker for almost 2000 bucks to a private collector, apperently its rare that they are that big for very long. Went into a 2000 gallon tank, still there too.

anyways. Off to my search. IM still thinking nano though, but ill be using the mini skimmer i saw too. who knows, well see gah, so many options!

Im so screwed.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Check Doctor's Foster and Smith.
They're a class outfit with top notch stuff at very fair prices. You won't take an Aloha-style screwing, either. :tu

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

that CAN be fun, but it really depends on the size of her coconuts!!

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Good job pointing that out, my perverted little buddy. :tu

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I figured since I have nothing of value to add to this discussion I would help in ANY way possible!!!
http://www.geocities.com/giarc_79_rm/boobies.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

That was my place to go to for years, even going back to when they were called Pet Warehouse.
Used them extensively until I eventually got my wholesale tax license for the business.
Their prices are quite close to that of wholesale, or at least as close as one can get. Much, much cheaper than local shops and very reputable.
Another very reputable mail order one that is out of PA is "That Fish Place".
Just as good. Also ordered quite a bit from them.