80W NO T12 reef?...I must be crazy.

[Invigor]

I won't knock t12s, but if you want NO t8 is where it's at then overdrive them with a wh7 ballast.

[DanG]

Wow, ghetto reef.

[fakename]

All I can say is that WE NEED PICS!! Haha! Look forward to seeing how the experiment goes!
Cheers,
Aaron

[Stab_Master_Arson]

Fakename, WIll do.

After talking to a few people I am going to take their suggestions and put in a sump and buy a better protein skimmer first. I know, I know...I am taking away from the budget..ness of the reef tank but the point is to test the lighting and not the other equipment.

I don't know if putting the corals high in the tank is cheating but that is what I plan.

I will probably have the whole set up created in the next couple months since I am now going to blow about 400 bucks...Hell, there is no such thing as "blown Money" when in comes to an aquarium...except on lighting IMHO....and on over priced live stock..(can I through in my props to J&L aquatics, the best Aquarium store I have ever been to with the most reasonable prices.)

I already had a psuedo-reef before but since then have been only really Fish, LR and inverts. I want to get the corals going again. Softy corals that is.

Thanks

[Stab_Master_Arson]

DanG.

Indeed, a ghetto tank. the perculas will have "dice games" every thursday and saturday.

[Stab_Master_Arson]

Invigor, T8's?

I heard of this over driving through ice caps etc but can these items you speak of be purchased from Canadian tire or from another budget store not meant for aquarists?

[Invigor]

hmm workhorse ballasts shouldn't be hard to find, but they're about $50 manufactured by "fulham". I've had best luck with philips daylight deluxe bulbs from home depot, they're about $5/bulb and 6500k they must shift colors when you crank em up cuz they get whiter. (I do however now run t5s and halides, but done on a ghetto budget and all DIY)