Recommended lighting, heating, powerhead parameters

[mling]

It's been a while since I set up my 3 reef tanks. I've forgotten the recommended parameters for a reef tank.

I am setting up a 156 Gallon.

 

Lighting : How many watts per gallon ?

Heating : How many watts per gallon ?

Powerhead : How may Gallons Per Hour ?

Skimmer : Any recommendations ?

 

For new comers, I will have 2 AquaC Remora skimmers and 1 ViaAuqa skimmer for sale when my 156 is set up. That will be sometime in early Oct.

[amay121]

1) Lighting is no longer based on watts/gallon anymore I believe. Go with either MH or T5 or combination of both.

2) Heating, go with 2 300W ( just for redundancy) You might not even need them depending on what you'll be using on your tank

3) Flow depends on what kind of tank. Some people have 10x, others have 100x. Depends on you.

4) Skimmer - depends on your price range. Every skim gets something done, but some are built differently using a different system. Recirc, venturi, blah, blah. I hear great things about the new octopus/MSX. Deltec is great (pricey), Bubble King, BubbleMaster, etc, etc, etc.

[GaryL]

1) Lighting is no longer based on watts/gallon anymore I believe. Go with either MH or T5 or combination of both.

 

2) Heating, go with 2 300W ( just for redundancy) You might not even need them depending on what you'll be using on your tank

agree

 

3) Flow depends on what kind of tank. Some people have 10x, others have 100x. Depends on you.

 

agree if you don't have the budget for vortecs or tunzes go with maxi jets and the mods. then you can upgrade later

4) Skimmer - depends on your price range. Every skim gets something done, but some are built differently using a different system. Recirc, venturi, blah, blah. I hear great things about the new octopus/MSX. Deltec is great (pricey), Bubble King, BubbleMaster, etc, etc, etc.

 

this i where you dont wanna skimp, you wil regret it later.... go with the asm g3 its comparitively inexpensive and you can do several mods to make it crank even more later down the line it cranks out of the box too with little adjustment. stay away from seaclones and prizms i have never had any luck from either of these.

Edited September 10, 2008 by GaryL

[mling]

1) Lighting is no longer based on watts/gallon anymore I believe. Go with either MH or T5 or combination of both.

2) Heating, go with 2 300W ( just for redundancy) You might not even need them depending on what you'll be using on your tank

3) Flow depends on what kind of tank. Some people have 10x, others have 100x. Depends on you.

4) Skimmer - depends on your price range. Every skim gets something done, but some are built differently using a different system. Recirc, venturi, blah, blah. I hear great things about the new octopus/MSX. Deltec is great (pricey), Bubble King, BubbleMaster, etc, etc, etc.

 

I have ordered a 156 Gal reef ready Oceanic Ultimate. It has 2 overflows.

Does the fact that it has 2 overflows reduce the need for larger power heads ?

I am thinking of getting 2 Koralia 4s.

 

I already have 160lbs of live rock waiting for that tank.

[dtfleming]

Depends on your return pump. I would say that you will still need powerheads.