Thinking of setting up my first salt tank

[Dave C]

Originally Posted by kwirky

For your tank, T5's would be a very economical choice because your tank is only 1 foot from front to back, thus requiring only 4 T5 bulbs. You'll have the fun task of sourcing out 7 foot T5 bulbs though haha.

Did I miss something? I thought it was a 6' tank.

[Ephraim]

mustof been a typo on kwirky's part. It is a 6' tank, so 2 x 4 36" bulbs

[Ephraim]

Another question... sand. People always seem to use white sand. Is there any practical reason for this. I'm really keen on back sand and would like to use it.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

White aragonite sand helps buffer the water & add calcium to the system as it slowly dissolves. The black "Taihitian" sand (I think its called) may or may not add calcium to the same degree. You'd have to check that out.

Of course, there are a lot of reefers now who swear by the bare bottom method.

Anthony

[Ephraim]

That would explain why the white sand is so common. But without it, I would just have to compensate in some way, either by adding calcium suppliments or would a canister full of crushed coral do the trick?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

You're thinking of a calcium reactor, which is basically a container filled with aragonite media that has CO2 slowly pumped in to lower the pH to dissolve the Calcium. Crushed coral will not do nearly as good a job of increasing Ca levels as aragonite sand or media.

Anthony

[Reefhawk1]

I would go with MH lighting. The appearance with corals is amazing especially when the light penetrates through a rippling current at the tank surface.

I have recently set up a 110 gallon system. This is my 6th system and the most expensive yet. I am running a coralife 150 watt HQI system with 120 lbs of live rock. I recently purchased a Asm g3 skimmer and have had it running for two days. It is amazing what a good quality skimmer can do in such a short period of time.

A drilled tank is the best way to go in my opinion. You can hide all filtration below the tank including a refugium to help with nutrient export. I also use aragonite sand in all of my past and current setups. It helps with PH levels and gives fish and inverts a place to hide. IMO a bare bottom tank looks terrible but if it floats your boat more power to ya .

The best thing for a newbie to do is research and ask questions. Save up and buy proper equipment new or used. I learned the hard way and have spent way too much $$$. Good luck with your setup.