Updating Techniques and Equipment

[saltydad]

I'm returning to the hobby after an absence of a number of years. Background- 12 years in hobby, fish-only, then reef. Had a marine/reef setup/maintenance business in NY. Wondering what changes have happened in interim. To help, description of my former 75 g. tank- reef, LR/Berlin filtration, sump empty except for occasional chem. bag and pump to MTC Power Pro 48" skimmer. No refugium or plenum; had approx. 2" live sand on bottom. Lighting was 2- 10,000K MH w/ 2 actinic 40 w. in an Energysavers hood. 2 powerheads on a wavemaker in back corners of tank. Chiller- 1/4 hp. Water changes done monthly- about 10%. Started w/kalkwasser, then switched to ESV's Bi-Ionic. Mostly soft and LP corals; some sps. Used hermits, tiger tails, snails for algae/detritus control. My guess is that lighting has changed the most, would love to hear comments, suggestions, criticisms<g>. Thanks!

[michaelg]

Lighting costs have come down a bit on bulbs now.  Power compact bulbs are available in many formats, though many still prefer VHO actinics for the supplimentation.  People are going way over the 4 Watt/gallon marker that was the norm.  There is a lot of competition now among manufacturers so that is also helping to drive costs down.

 

Deep sand beds and refugia are very common now.  Turf scrubbers never really became all that popular- likely due to complexity in setting up.

Water movement options have changed a lot.  Sea Swirls and SQWD's are easy to add to an existing return pump to provide more dymamic water movement.  10X turnover of water flow is also way below the norm.  Closed loops (between the tank and pump- not through sump) are common to add additional water movement while not cluttering the tanks with powerheads.

 

Feeding is IN!  Food cocktails (see in the DIY section for our home brew discussion) and live feeds (such as phytoplankton and rotifers, and still artemia).  

 

Crabs aren't as popular as they once were- too many people have had the kill their snails and munch on corals.

 

Calcium reactors are pretty common- as are Nielsen reactors (for kalk).  Lots of stuff out there for auto-top offs now that aren't too expensive.  A lot of the other additives aren't in fad anymore, though sworn by some.  

 

2 new items worth a monthly check out are the 2 free online mags now published.  Advanced Aquarist (linked through reefs.org) and Reefkeeping Mag (linked through reefcentral.com).

[saltydad]

Michael- Thanks for the input. Re-lighting...from my reading I think I'll consider going from 175w. to 250w., and maybe going up to a mixture of 10,000K and 20,000K, along w/VHO. Now I need to research moguls vs. double-end bulbs, and types of ballasts. I'll need to research DSBs more; kind of wonder about using 4" of tank height fo DSB in terms of looks<g>.Any comments on using the MTC Power Pro? I loved it, but if a less expensive option is just as effective..great!I've heard of hang-on refugiums. For a 75g tank, what do you think? Also, are you suggesting using a Ca reactor instead of the Bi-Ionic? Thanks again.

[Sph2sail]

Check out MH Lamp thread.

 

Fairly detailed discussion on various lamps and how they look.

 

I use mogul socket, as it does not require a UV filter glass to protect the humans (the glass around the bulb does it for you).  HQIs are popular, but moguls tend to be a tad less expensive.

 

As for reflectors, PFO Parallel was reviewed very well by Sanjay in his study.  Diamond Luminarc was the best, but not available anymore.

 

s

[michaelg]

Over the long run, B-ionic is a pain.  Kalkwasser is far more economical and with a little planning will take care of your make up water as well.  Personally I like seeing a live sand bed filled with worms, algaes (corralines mostly lit from front of glass).  You also get increased reflectance off the bottom of the tank.  Really not familiar with MTC pro skimmer- skimmers have changed a lot over the years.  Iceman has a Beckett style skimmer that he is selling for cheap.  These need strong pressure rated pumps though- but really do perform well.  Hang on refugiums have problems- namely if you grow algae in them and you put it behind the tank, it is hard to get to for pruning back the algae.  

 

What do you have to work with currently- or are you starting from scratch?  There are a couple 75's for sale in the club currently (one reef ready).  Also lots of lighting.  We have a forsale section in the members area, so you can either join, or put up a list of what you are looking for here and most likely people will contact you with what they have.  Will also give you a chance to see some of the tanks in the area.

[Sph2sail]

There are a lot of us who would gladly show our set-ups to you so you can catch up on current stuff quickly.  Highly recommend you do this.

 

I'm in the Vienna area, but MichaelG is up near you.  Check w/tgallo as well...

 

I built my own Neilsen reactor for Kalk and pump all of my make-up water through it.  Neat system.  Pretty foolproof.  Glad to show you the details.  We built a bunch of stuff like this at a club building party event.

 

steve

[Sph2sail]

Some recent discussion on tanks is the notion of not having the Deep Sand Bed (DSB) in the main display tank.  Having a sizable DSB in a refugium may be a better idea.  The reasoning is that it is then easier to replace 3-5 years down the road.  There is some discussion that the DSB can't process everything forever and eventually it crashes and releases toxins into the system, killing everything.

 

If the DSB is in a separate system like a 'fuge, you can start a second 'fuge, seed it with sand and life from the first 'fuge, then eventually dump the old DSB and its inherent toxicity.

 

Dunno how important this is.  Lots of discussion that the DSB is a time bomb so providing a means to replace it w/out disturbing all the main critters in your tank may be a very good thing.

 

Food for thought.

 

s