Lighting????????? and a few other questions!

[stickynicky10]

What do u guys think about 300 watts on a 75 gallon reef tank, all softies obviosly. Well what if i wanna run 600 wattts of pc is it better for my tank than 300 or will i fry somthin? also is their anyway to keep clams or some hard corals without metal halide lights? like i said could i run 600 pc and be fine with some stonies since some are found in deeper parts of the ocean and not found in direct sunlight? also how do i figure out how much l.r. my tank can hold? its a 75 gallon and the glass is about 3/8 thick? stupid question but how do u guys figure how muchg weight is in your tank as far as water? how much dose 1 gallon weigh?i know i could throw a gallon on my scale but, i just wanna know the formula? i also wanted to say i greatly appreciate everyones help as i am new to this hobby.my tank has been doing great and is on its way to being four months old. in my opinion i have had great success with it so far. the polyps i have are going crazy they have multiplied so fast im getting sick of them, ( not !). i also bought a colt coral as a frag one week after starting my tank, i thoght it had died and was gonna pull it out but said skrew it and left it. good thing i did cause the 1 inch frag i bought has bloomed nicely. it is about four inches tall now and has had numorus branches grow from it. i have decieded this is gonna be the first piece i frag . i will give some of it to friends and see how it dose. any tips on fraggin a colt coral?? i am also confused on how my system is doing so good when all i have is a tetra tec 500 filter? it is rated for tanks up to 100 gallons, i also have a sweeper powerhead rated for 75 gallon tanks, but all of u guys have refugiums or sumps. well at least from what i see and hear. so how is it i have such good success so far with no sump or refugium? why are they nessecary? just for housing more bacteria? i know my tank is new and im excited about it but i never receive any comments on what u guys think? it is a young system and you experienced hobbiest have a keen eye for well maintained reeftanks. i was just wondering if i fit in that catagorie yet, or do i need a sump? so here are some pics from when i started to current, please give some comments. they are much appreciated. thanks to all , nick

[patsfan1130]

What do u guys think about 300 watts on a 75 gallon reef tank, all softies obviosly. Well what if i wanna run 600 wattts of pc is it better for my tank than 300 or will i fry somthin? also is their anyway to keep clams or some hard corals without metal halide lights? like i said could i run 600 pc and be fine with some stonies since some are found in deeper parts of the ocean and not found in direct sunlight? also how do i figure out how much l.r. my tank can hold? its a 75 gallon and the glass is about 3/8 thick? stupid question but how do u guys figure how muchg weight is in your tank as far as water? how much dose 1 gallon weigh?i know i could throw a gallon on my scale but, i just wanna know the formula? i also wanted to say i greatly appreciate everyones help as i am new to this hobby.my tank has been doing great and is on its way to being four months old. in my opinion i have had great success with it so far. the polyps i have are going crazy they have multiplied so fast im getting sick of them, ( not !). i also bought a colt coral as a frag one week after starting my tank, i thoght it had died and was gonna pull it out but said skrew it and left it. good thing i did cause the 1 inch frag i bought has bloomed nicely. it is about four inches tall now and has had numorus branches grow from it. i have decieded this is gonna be the first piece i frag . i will give some of it to friends and see how it dose. any tips on fraggin a colt coral?? i am also confused on how my system is doing so good when all i have is a tetra tec 500 filter? it is rated for tanks up to 100 gallons, i also have a sweeper powerhead rated for 75 gallon tanks, but all of u guys have refugiums or sumps. well at least from what i see and hear. so how is it i have such good success so far with no sump or refugium? why are they nessecary? just for housing more bacteria? i know my tank is new and im excited about it but i never receive any comments on what u guys think? it is a young system and you experienced hobbiest have a keen eye for well maintained reeftanks. i was just wondering if i fit in that catagorie yet, or do i need a sump? so here are some pics from when i started to current, please give some comments. they are much appreciated. thanks to all , nick

Scott, Ninong or one of the other light gurus would be better qualified to answer your lighting questions. I can tell you that the amount of light needed is not determined on watts at all but rather "par".

When using LR as a biological filter a good rule of thumb is 1-2 lbs per gallon. 1 lbs per will do just fine.

Salt water weighs approx 8 lbs per gallon

In regards to why your tank is doing so well without a skimmer/sump? What are you water perameters? Are you doing frequent water changes? what kind of a bioload do you have? I cant see any fish in those pics

*edit* I see a blue damsel..is that it?

Oh..btw..the tank looks good

Mark

[Ninong]

After allowing for the thickness of the glass walls, the bottom of the tank and the height of the water column, a standard 75-gal tank would hold no more than about 62 gallons of water assuming it had no sand or live rock or anything else in it. Looking at your tank pictures, I would guess that you have about 50-53 gallons of water in your tank.

The weight of saltwater is really very easy to calculate. We know that one liter of pure water (SG 1.000) weighs one kilogram. And since there are 3.76 liters in a U.S. gallon of water, a U.S. gallon of pure water weighs 3.76 kg or 8.29 lbs. How much your saltwater weighs depends on its density (specific gravity). Lets assume you maintain a specific gravity of 1.025. Just multiply the weight of a gallon of pure water by your specific gravity to find the weight of your saltwater: 8.29 x 1.025 = 8.5 lbs.

Your tank looks nice but you will probably run into problems once your Niger Trigger gets bigger. They are considered high risk for reef tanks.

[stickynicky10]

Thank you for your comments fellas. but........... what about my question on the refugium or sump? how come it dose so good without one and why are they required?what are the benifits? also to be more specific how do i kow how much rock i can hold in my tank? Its obvious i cant put 500lbs of rock in their right the seals would bolw? so do i just use the formula of 1-2 per gallon at a rate of 75 gallons? or will that be to little?or to much?also what do you mean when you say to rate thetank lighting by par, not watts? thanks, nick

ps i also am going to be helping abuddy of mine start up a 140 gallon tank for a reef, i think the dimensions are 4 ft, by 2 ft, by 2ft, i would like to know how to calculate what were going to need as far as salt, and a sand bed of at lesat 3 inches. he is not sure about lighting yet but what do u think about two 150 watt metal halides, and what would i have to do if we went with power compacts?

[Ninong]

what about my question on the refugium or sump? how come it dose so good without one and why are they required?

Neither is required.

what are the benifits?

A sump allows for easier maintenance of the display tank's water level and it adds additional volume. It's also a good place for a protein skimmer or you can hook up your skimmer next to your sump. A sump is a good place for your heater, too. It's also a good place to add things, such as Kalkwasser.

A refugium is nice if you can fit one into your system because of the additional water volume and because it provides a "place of refuge" for microcrustaceans (amphipods & copepods, etc.) that nourish the display tank's livestock. Many people like to use their refugia as a place for additional sand bed capacity and as a place to grow macroalgae that can be harvested on a regular basis for additional nutrient export.

also to be more specific how do i kow how much rock i can hold in my tank?

You can stick as much rock in your tank as your heart desires. There may not be much room left for corals or fish, but how much live rock you use is entirely up to you. I have about 150-lbs of live rock in my 120-gal tank and I think that I have too much.

so do i just use the formula of 1-2 per gallon at a rate of 75 gallons? or will that be to little?or to much?

Some rock is denser (heavier) than other rock. So any so-called formula that calls for a certain weight of rock per gallon is flawed to begin with. Gulf of Mexico aquacultured live rock weighs much more than wild-collected Indo-Pacific live rock. It would be better to think of live rock in terms of how much space it occupies inside your tank. Some people might be happy to have the live rock occupy no more than one-fourth the volume of their tank while others may prefer to have one-third of the volume taken up by live rock. Here I am talking about the apparent volume, not the actual water displacement, which is much less due to the porosity of the live rock.

also what do you mean when you say to rate thetank lighting by par, not watts?

PAR is photosynthetically active radiation (400-700 nm) and one of the ways that it is measured is PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density), a measurement of the number of photons in the waveband 400-700 nm incident on a unit surface per unit time. PAR meters are used to measure PAR. Luxmeters are used to measure lux, which is the full visible range (visible to human eyes) 380-770 nm. Good PAR meters are extremely expensive but there are some reasonably good ones for less than $500 (Apogee). Or you could just use a cheapy $95 luxmeter for a general idea of your lighting intensity.

For all practical purposes, we use PAR measurements that have been done by independent researchers, such as Dr. Sanjay Joshi of Penn State, to compare one lamp to another when both are measured under the exact same conditions. So you could say that it is useful for making comparisons.

In the scientific literature PAR is measured in energy terms (Joules) and the readings are given in watts per square meter. In the hobby we usually see PAR measured in photon terms (PPFD).

Reading some of the articles written by Dr. Joshi (and others) would provide valuable information to consider in choosing a lamp of any kind. Most of his tests have been done on metal halide lamps with various ballasts but there are other articles online that give useful information on the various fluorescent lamps, although this is almost always given in lumens (lux). For example, Dr. Joshi found that the 175w Ushio 10,000K SE metal halide lamp produced three times as much PAR as the 175w Venture 5500K SE metal halide lamp when both were operated on the same magnetic ballast. That's extremely useful information. You will also learn that most 20,000K lamps have only about half the PAR of most 10,000K lamps of the same wattage size. So if you like the appearance of 20,000K lamps, you will need more of them than you would if you were using 10,000K lamps. Or you might choose Iwasaki 6500K lamps and get lots and lots of PAR. Then your only problem would be what to do (if anything) about the yellowish appearance of your tank. You might need lots and lots of actinic supplementation to get it looking like you want it.

So that's why PAR is more important than watts. And watts per gallon is a stupid rule dreamed up by simple minded "hobby" authors who didn't know what they were talking about to begin with.

ps i also am going to be helping abuddy of mine start up a 140 gallon tank for a reef, i think the dimensions are 4 ft, by 2 ft, by 2ft, i would like to know how to calculate what were going to need as far as salt, and a sand bed of at lesat 3 inches.

You will need about 180-lbs of sand. You will need a bucket of salt mix. Usually it comes in either 150-gal or 200-gal buckets. Or you could purchase three 50-gal bags. BTW, 4'x2'x2' is not a 140-gal tank, that's a standard 120-gal tank.

he is not sure about lighting yet but what do u think about two 150 watt metal halides, and what would i have to do if we went with power compacts?

Two 150w metal halides would be adequate for soft corals and some SPS placed at the top of the rock structure but most people would probably want to use two 250w metal halides for that size tank. Some people might even choose 400w metal halides but that's a bit much. Power compacts, T5 HO fluorescents and VHO fluorescents are all possibilities. Most people consider metal halides to be the best option if you are planning on keeping SPS and/or clams. There are lots and lots of lighting choices. It is an extremely complicated topic. What you choose depends on what you plan to keep in your tank, how much money you want to spend and whether or not you are going to have a chiller on your tank.