Chrisk's First Saltwater Tank (Journal)
- Thread starter ChrisK
- Start date
Sump is done and it unbelievably passed the fresh water test (very gratifying 
)! Additional water is mixing and the sump will go online tomorrow morning! Very excited about getting some macro going but still need a light. Any suggestions there? I have seen people use the shop lights from HD/Lowes but I want it to look clean.
Still undecided on if I want to use a skimmer or not. If I do it will be a SWC cone. Hardware purchase at MACNA will either be a Vortech or a skimmer. Would like to get both but I can't imagine going to MACNA and not coming home with at least 1 new coral. Maybe I will get lucky and either win a Vortech in a raffle or find a good deal on an older model.
)! Additional water is mixing and the sump will go online tomorrow morning! Very excited about getting some macro going but still need a light. Any suggestions there? I have seen people use the shop lights from HD/Lowes but I want it to look clean.Still undecided on if I want to use a skimmer or not. If I do it will be a SWC cone. Hardware purchase at MACNA will either be a Vortech or a skimmer. Would like to get both but I can't imagine going to MACNA and not coming home with at least 1 new coral. Maybe I will get lucky and either win a Vortech in a raffle or find a good deal on an older model.
I'm using a standard hood fixture I had laying around running 2 6500k cfl bulbs just gonna see how that works. Curious to know how you have your sump set up, and what size sump did you use?
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Lights
I'm getting ready to add corals, and was curious as to what you guys thoughts were on the stock bulbs that come with this Current Sundial fixture. It came with 2x 10k daylight, and 2x 460nm actinic bulbs, is this a good spectrum? Keep in mind I'm gonna eventually want to grow anything SPS included. Would 12k be better? Should I go 4x actinic? What kind of schedule should I use? Right now I'm running 4 hours just actinic, and 4 with both the actinic, and the daylight bulbs. Thanks for the help
I'm getting ready to add corals, and was curious as to what you guys thoughts were on the stock bulbs that come with this Current Sundial fixture. It came with 2x 10k daylight, and 2x 460nm actinic bulbs, is this a good spectrum? Keep in mind I'm gonna eventually want to grow anything SPS included. Would 12k be better? Should I go 4x actinic? What kind of schedule should I use? Right now I'm running 4 hours just actinic, and 4 with both the actinic, and the daylight bulbs. Thanks for the help
I went pretty simple and basic with it as I wanted to preserve space since the tank is only a 20 high. Only have two 1/4" glass baffles which gives me about 13 to 14 gallons of additional water. I'll get some pics up tomorrow after its going.
I used the stock Sundial bulbs for about 9 months. I figured I may as well use them since I paid for them. Current isn't known for its bulbs but the only thing that bothered me a bit was color. When I switched bulbs I went with:
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue+
UVL Superactinic
ATI Blue+
The color is significantly better and my growth has been much better. ATI bulbs have a fairly high PAR. I may look into replacing the UVL with a KZ figi purple bulb. There are some pretty good threads on T5 lighting online.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1706461&highlight=t5+thread
If your corals were under a lower light before the Sundial, the light schedule is actually good for a few days/week. My actinics (Blue+ and UVL) run for 9 hours and all 4 run together for about 6. Actinics come on an hour before and go off an hour after the others. Some run much longer periods with much stronger lighting but my colors are telling me that I am doing something right.
I used the stock Sundial bulbs for about 9 months. I figured I may as well use them since I paid for them. Current isn't known for its bulbs but the only thing that bothered me a bit was color. When I switched bulbs I went with:
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue+
UVL Superactinic
ATI Blue+
The color is significantly better and my growth has been much better. ATI bulbs have a fairly high PAR. I may look into replacing the UVL with a KZ figi purple bulb. There are some pretty good threads on T5 lighting online.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1706461&highlight=t5+thread
If your corals were under a lower light before the Sundial, the light schedule is actually good for a few days/week. My actinics (Blue+ and UVL) run for 9 hours and all 4 run together for about 6. Actinics come on an hour before and go off an hour after the others. Some run much longer periods with much stronger lighting but my colors are telling me that I am doing something right.
Much appreciated Greech, i'm gonna use the stock bulbs for a while, but will order some Ati bulbs, that is one huge thread over @ RC, seems most of the advice there is to have lighting at the blue/purple end of the spectrum...I'm guessing coral coloring is the reason for this?
Yes color is a reason but also PAR. ATI bulbs have one of the highest, if not the highest, PAR ratings. Bulbs like the UVL and KZ Figi are more of the actinic bulbs.
Sump is online and my house is loud
. Overflow box sounds like a kitchen sink. Got some more work to do there.
Sump is online and my house is loud
. Overflow box sounds like a kitchen sink. Got some more work to do there.
Glad you got your sump going, here's hoping you get the noise fixed. I guess the noise is from water the leaving the box going to the sump... from the flow?
Box is still noisy. Refuse to post pics until I get this figured out . Built a gurgle buster today but still not happy.
www.reefcleaners.or for the chaeto
. Built a gurgle buster today but still not happy.www.reefcleaners.or for the chaeto
