help me setup my first nano and pick what's best

[clownfool]

I am going to start a new SPS only tank with the amount of $$$ I have.
I will be getting the new tank in about 2-3 months.
I have my mind set on the 24g aquapod with HQI 150w MH.
I was wondering if I will need a calcium reactor for the tank once I have a good amount of SPS? I read that I need at least 4inches of sand in the tank to keep the sand from being a nutrient sponge. I plan on having at least 20lbs of live rock. I don't know what brand double end MH bulb comes with the stock lamp, so I plan on buying a new mh bulb from the start and just save the stock mh bulb for an emergency. What 150w MH DE bulb do you recommend? I like my MH bulb to have a lot of blue coloring, but want good SPS growth, so I cant decide if I want 20K, 14K, or 10K. I wanted a anthias for my only fish in my tank, but after reading about them, I have decided it would require too much food and raise the nutrient level, plus the tank will be too small for the anthias, so I decided I want just one colorful fairy wrasse. I am wondering if I will need a chiller( I was thinking about the Pacific Coast GenX CL-150 Micro Aquarium Chiller/Heater) Then I wouldn't have to worry about heating or cooling but the website said 10 degree cooling up to 22 gallons. (assuming the ambient air temp. is below 85 degrees). Not recommended for tanks using metal halides.

http://www.marineandreef.com/shoppro/chillers.html

I am also considering using the CPR Aquafuge medium Hang-on Back Refugium W/Pump and Protein skimmer.
The aquapod is 20inches wide, the cpr 19inches wide. so that would be a good fit.


So that is what I am considering for my new aquarium. As you can read I am taking my time to do all my homework so I am not hitting my head into the wall by not taking my time to reserch all options.
Any comments or suggestions are welcome so let me know what you think.

 

[brandon4291]

First of all I'd like to welcome you and thank you for choosing our site and forum to get your preparations lined up. We don't steer wrong!

For sure I know there are tons of angles out there on the web (and some varying approaches in here too) that recommend ways to begin and run your tank. I'd fully recommend you link up with someone you choose and stick with their approach, you can tell who's experienced as you get to know them through pm's and replies, because a blended approach from retailers and maybe even other hobbyists can run seriously awry because different people choose different parameters to affect certain outcomes. And, 9 out of 10 times you are reading something regurgitated from another source or by a person who kept a reef for a few months but not seriously through the long haul, years, in order to rank the validity of these approaches. I won't sell just one way of doing it, there are many, but I'd testify in a court of law this way won't fail and it's a good start. experienced reefers here will chime in on bulb recommendations and such and will add their proven approaches such that I think RDO will be a good home base for you.

I don't debate you can't keep 4 inches of sand in a nano, personally I love the way it looks. I debate the biology of what they said it would do for you and how you must maintain it if it's not to be the death of your tank eventually. Unless you plan on keeping the sand clean manually, not with detritivores solely, but as a siphoning or actual partial replacement from time to time, your sand will become a detritus trap no matter how much you keep in that size of a system. In the tank you've described, you could veritably go a year or two or three depending on your stocking/feeding/waste removal regimen and it will run perfectly fine. It will, however, show you brown spots in pockets throughout as it ages and this is the detritus they said would never build up. If you include sea cukes, or sand stars, or gobies, or bed fauna kits from various places, they will contribute to the crud, not eat it in the way commonly 'sold'. You have to deal directly with any source of surface area you add to a captive reef. If detritus can land on it, and surely fall into cracks of it, you have a detritus trap. They are meaning a deep sand bed will degrade the detritus, it won't for the most part it will simply hold it in situ for you to deal with or ignore until a crash proceeds.
Of the lights you described, it's purely a matter of taste and what looks best to you. All of them will grow sps at that intensity. Personally I'd like a 14K but it won't make markedly different results than the 10K. Perhaps a tinge of color difference one way or another depending on your feeding and water quality.

Calcium, I'd not get a reactor, who wants cables and CO2 at this stage of the game. Use a two part doser in my opinion, buy a Ca++ and alkalinity test kit and go to town with it. There's about 50 other ways to get the same end, I just think two part liquids are the best for this newer setup.

Okay you guys continue, sorry so long but that's how I roll.

Welcome

B

 

[brandon4291]

Also, I recommend you add nothing other than quality foods and the two part dosers. You get the required chemical complements from these three items.

Many of my friends have 5-10 bottles of additives on hand, the worst (most unnecessary) being anything labeled 'DNA' or anything from that company. Because they are balanced mixes, your magnesium and strontium (for example) stays in fair proportion with your water changes when using C-Balance and other two part dosers. I love C-Balance, I've ran 10+ reefs off it for the last 5 years but ESV is good too and maybe even the Kent nano line of the parts A and B. Always add your dosers in the morning before lights on, to catch your water (pH) in the most chemically-receptive mode to distribute your added ions. Follow dosing frequencies from the label and test with your kits to get it just right based on your stony coral needs. Adding a host of chemicals including iodine (regardless of what the lfs tells you) slowly jacks with your chemistry and can cause wild swings once again relative to your uptake/bioloading/maintenance habits. Remember I'm not discussing a 4 year old nano packed to the hilt with SPS and specialized corals that consume your ions in such a way like the boston marathon, you are describing a very practical approach like the ones I use and I have never ever tested for magnesium or anything else because two part dosers work well for me. I did test for calcium and alk in the early days until I memorized my system's flow.

Adding and testing for micronutrients and ion specifics is fun stuff if you are into that detail and exactness and have that knowledge, I don't. It's not needed to run an sps tank you've described.

The reason Joe and Sally can add all these dosers to their huge sandbed system and things still look well after 16 months is because within their respectable limitations, these reefs are like any other form of life, they strive to adapt to the crap the world throws at them and the longevity of corals and coral systems testify that they are pretty darn good at it for the most part......

B

 

[wetworx101]

Heres something... if you really want 'the best' ditch the aquapod. By the time you get done gutting the filter, the lights, etc... all you have left is a $20 tank... so why not just get a $20 tank and add better equipment to it rather than spend all that extra money on stuff that doesnt work.

The second thing I would suggest then would be to ditch the 150wattDE halide, and get T5s instead. Its hard to have a halide as the only light source... you are stuck with just that bulb, so its spectrums arent always the best. With T5s, you can mix&match multiple tubes to get the look you want. Not to mention, the output of the T5s will crush the 150watt halide. See, running a 150watt halide alone prolly means you will want to have a 14,000K or 20,000K bulb... the output of these bulbs is 1/2 to 1/3 that of a 10,000K at the 150watt level. 250s are more competition for T5s... as there are just better bulbs made at this size... but not so with 150s.

If I were you, I would look at a 20H, 30L, or 29g AGA tank. You can get an overflow drilled in, or, make a 'false wall' back to the tank and then place your sump inside the tank itself. All it takes is a piece of 1/4" black acrylic and some silicone. Then, get a retrofit or Tek light... something in the 4x24watt range (unless you do the 30L, in which case, you can go up to 39watt bulbs). The T5s are more efficient at creating blue light in particular, and so they will end up much brighter than the 150wattHQI when all is said and done. This will also eliminate the need for the chiller as well, most likely. As long as you keep a fan blowing across the surface between the T5s and the tank's water... the tank should stay easily under 80degrees.

Then you can spend money on other things. Heck, if you really want a bent-glass tank, you can get a Via-Aqua. Or, you can use that money towards a nice in-sump skimmer, fuge lighting, etc. Its up to you... but I'd ditch the halide.

As for calcium... a reactor is a nice luxury, if you are willing to spend the $600+ dollars you will need to to get a reliable regulator, solenoid, pH controller, and reactor itself. IMO, for anything less than a 40g, its just easier to dose. I only use two things on nanos with SPS... the rest is taken care of with water changes...
I use ESV calcium chloride for calcium, and Seachem Reef builder for alkalinity. Between the two of them, they make up a 2part suppliment, but they are much more concentrated than anything you will find in liquid form... and they are pretty cheap. A teaspoon (pre-mixed in RO water before adding, and add seperate) every other day of both should keep things nice.

 

[nhlives]

Finnex Glass 30gal with HQI 150 + T5 HO 24w x 2 + LED, a built-in skimmer and fuge. I was looking at the Aquapod but I am leaning towards the Finnex. Got the money so I an not inclined to building from scratch. Any thoughts?

 

[wetworx101]

Sounds like a good idea to me. Id use a Ushio 14,000K with 2x ATI blue+ T5 bulbs... great combo.