Propogation tank setup advice

[hurrifan]

I am setting up a 40 gallon (36L X 15W X 16H)propogation tank. I plan on using PC lighting (apporximately 200 watts). Is this amount of lighting sufficient for porpogating SPS or anything else I may desire? What is the best set up for propogation (substrate, filtration, live rock, etc.)? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, I am a novice and am going at this somewhat blind, so please forgive my next question. I have heard frequent talk on this board regarding refugiums...What exactly is this, and what is it its purpose? Please advise.

 

[Reefer Dude1]

SPS will live and grow, but they wont color and grow as rapidly as they should. If you can do some research on low cost metal halide setups.

 

[THillson]

The best way to set up a propagation tank is the same way you would for a display tank as far as lighting, filtration and skimmers are concerned. The only major difference would/could be the depth of the tank, prop tanks tend to be shallower so you can get by with less lighting. I would not recommend using PC's on a SPS prop tank ( I've tried it and I did not like the results). Go with MH (use 65K bulbs to get the most out of your money) supplemented with actinic. Since you want to do SPS corals get a high quality skimmer, I recommend adding a Ca reactor and make the system volume as big as you can (use a very large sump/refugium) to provide stability. As far as info on refugiums I would recommend you do a search of this and other reef boards on refugiums. There have been allot of post on them and you should be able to get all the info you need in this manner.