New to Saltwater

Beau is hosting the January Meeting this coming Saturday the 14th at 6PM.  It will be BYOB as well as a snack to share and raffle items are always welcome.  It has been requested that there be “NO SHOES” on the carpet due to it being a whitish color.

He doesn’t have a tank to view but we will have plenty to discuss in hopes that it will get the NEW YEAR off to a good start.  The annual membership fees are due, so now would be a good time to get them in to our Treasurer Stacey Hahn.   Fees are $20 per individual or $25 per family

Attendance was low at the election meeting in November and no votes were taken at December’s meeting so we have decided to take votes for anyone that didn’t get the opportunity in November and will be attending this meeting.  
We will add the votes to November’s ballots and the announcement will be made during the meeting so we can go forward.
NOMINATIONS:
President:  Jim & Nacho
V. President: Ed, Bo & Daniel Leigey
Treasurer: Stacey
Secretary: Carmen & Angie

Let’s hope the New Year brings new members, returning members and new ideas.  The club is always willing to take suggestions to get the most out of the hobby we all enjoy.

Please PM Nate C. by clicking here for directions if you are not a club member.  

Club members can click here to go to the club member only forum to get directions.

Hope to see you all there!

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[leigekiller]

after a long time debating, I had a great opportunity drop into my lap and I aquired a great 92 gallon Corner tank.  I need a bit of help with the lighting though, suggestions mainly.   The tank is 3 foot across at the widest point and 24 deep. Its alreay set up and drilled with an overflow.   I would like to do Corals in the tank though not the Hard corals at this time.

Thanks
Daniel Hahn

[Ed]

Hello and Welcome to site,
        You have a tricky flow pattern.   It can be done.    If it were me with your tank I would  place rock in center of tank.   I would buy a lumenbrite reflector with  glass shield.  I would place light directly in  center of tank. Your rockword directly below lighting.   I would also buy a Lumatek  MH Ballast-  The new Lumatek MH ballast is adjustable to different wattages.  Jimbo recently purchased a few of them.    With most of  your light in the center of tank on rock work, you can place corals accordingly to their needs.    You always want to place new corals on the bottom and slowly work them upward according to needs.   If you later plan on doing SPS  I would buy required lighting from start.    Good luck, our March meeting is this week end.   I am asking you to email a member and tag along.   

I hope to see you there!
Ed

[Nate C.]

As Ed suggests, if you plan to down the road some day want to try the harder corals, the Metal Halides are the way to go.  Personally, I don't like to spend enough on the ballast to want to get a Lumatec ballast, I just go with the electronic ballasts from Ballastwise.com - a 400 watt is only $99, and a 175 watt was $60 the last time I checked their site.  Personally for your size tank, I think a 250 watt bulb and ballast is all you would need.  A lumenbrite reflector is a great choice (glass shield is optional if you use single-ended bulbs, but required if you use double-ended bulbs - the advantage of the shield is no salt splash making your reflectors less effective.  The glass can be easily cleaned to restore full intensity).  You may also want to think about some Actinc bulbs to help pop the color.  I'd go with VHO Super Actinic bulbs and an icecap ballast.  Be advised though, these types of set-ups often require a chiller since they put a LOT of heat into the water.  At the very least, you will want to monitor temperature closely to be sure the heat doesn't become a problem.  Colleen and I were able to run a 250 MH with 4 VHO actinic's (46.6 inches long each) over our old 75 gallon without a chiller, so you may be OK.

Now, if you are wanting to just do softies, fish and maybe LPS corals, you can probably get away with a cheaper (and cheaper to run) light set-up like T5's or power compact (PC).  In addition, since the lights tend to run cooler for these bulbs, the likelyhood of needing a chiller will be less.

Also, as Ed mentioned, there is a club meeting this weekend.  If you are interested in going, I can be sure you get directions.  Just let me know and I'll have them sent to you.

Nate (current Club President)

P.S. Ed is Vice President - and a good source of info.  I just like to present different ideas so you have more food for thought.   

[leigekiller]

so I take it these solutions are home built solutions? I was looking at more of a prebuilt option for the lights but if you can recommend a couple good sites to look at to see how one goes about building the lights.

I won't make the meeting this weekend, have to work , its crunchtime on the Project, and my native guild Brandon Meador is out of town ;P but he assures me we will make one soon.

However one question I have is, would it be better to move my freshwater to teh corner tank and use my rectangular 125 galloon for salt from the lighting standpoint?  Its not drilled or set up with overflows at all.

Thanks
Daniel

[Nate C.]

Yes, the DIY lighting is always much less expensive than a kit.  However, if you want to spend the money on something pre-built there are some that you can check out at www.hellolights.com and www.championlighting.com (they are both good source for bulbs and reflectors to do the lighting yourself as well).  Building the lighting system yourself can be a simple as a matter of a few screws to mount the reflector and a couple wire nuts to connect the wire leads to the ballast, or can get as complex as you want it to be.  Feel free to look through our website to see the pictures of the tank build (including the lighting rack I made).  www.canfieldreef.com is our website, and you will just need to click on the link for the tank build.  While our light rack looks complex, I acutally built and installed it in a weekend.  The harder part was teaching myself CAD to design it and get the right amount of material ordered. 

Now, the question is, do you have a canopy on your tank?  If so, you will  be limited by what will fit inside the canopy, so use caution when selecting a reflector or pre-built light set-up.

As for what tank you should use, that is completely up to you.  If this is your first venture into saltwater, starting with the smaller tank may be a better option.  The rectangular shape of the bigger tank may be easier to deal with for flow, but will require a bigger investment to get set up.  It will require more lights, more flow, more sand, more rock...basically more everything, and bigger support equipment.

[leigekiller]

no canopy for it though its got a prebuilt stand   Brandon mentioned that there might be someone in the club that night be willing to build the lights in return for something els be it cash or mats or what have you. 

The 92 seems to be sized with a 3ft and a 2ft set of lights in mind as fitting on the top,

I guess what I really need is some good suggetions on what to do for the 3ft and what to do for the 2ft in terms of type and wattage, for the stated occupants and a 24 inch depth. 

It looks like I am gonna get the sump and protien skimmer from petland, the owner there has been relly good about working with us for our other animals and the massive amount of supplies we get.

Thanks
Daniel

[btrue]

My advice is to start with just the basics, then come to a meeting, Daniel and many of the members can help you with the corals and animals.  Don't spend lots of money on stuff, yet, til you see what will work best.  Better to see some of the tanks in town and decide after talking with several people! 

Come see our tank any evening, we are usually home!  Just PM me for directions and make sure we are home.  Most of our club members will gladly show you their tank set-ups,any time, then you can decide what will work best for you.     You'll get all kinds of helpful advice        -Sandi

[Ed]

Again,
Here is my favorite.

http://www.coralreefecosystems.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=479

You can run 250 bulb or 400 bulb with a flip of switch.   Efficient, 5 year warrantee.

Another Vender I like is Reef Exotics.

Here are other set ups available if interested.

http://www.reefexotics.com/lumen_bright_retro.htm

Anthony the owner of Reef Exotics offered a discount to members.   You are welcome to use my name Ed Hahn and say you are from Midcolumbia Saltwater Aquarium Club.  He may ask for your name.
Its all part of stores supporting clubs.

[nacheetah]

Any relation to Ed?  If so, what a connection because Ed is full of knowledge and is awesome about sharing it.  I hope we get to meet you at the meeting tomorrow.  We got an extension on the closing of our home due to technicality issues so we will not be moving this weekend.

Daniel,  I will pm you the directions as well as reply to the other new member to the forum.

[leigekiller]

no relation that I am aware of

sorry I didnt make the meeting, have to reschedule Game night next time and hope work doesnt call me away anyway

Daniel