Okay,
So a couple of week I joined here for some advice regarding turning my old 4x2x2 cichlid tank into a marine tank for my daughter.
My manifest was it had to be as cheap as possible (on a miniscule budget) and look good as it was going in our front room, no sump was possible (I didn't want much!!)
I was in the aquarium trade 20 years back and have a degree in marine biology. This gave me access to hopefully a rudimentary, if dated understanding of the process. However I must confess since I sold my reef tank 20 years back I have only ever dealt with rift lake cichlid breeding on the aquarium from.
To help the cause I also had a few 'bits and bobs laying around from old tanks'
So where am I at now with the project?
I picked up a 1 year old MCE600 HOB protein skimmer for 1/5th of its new price!! I will run this with carbon and maybe some phosphate remover in the media chamber. (can anyone recommend a good media for Phosphate removal please?)
I have made a load of DIY live rock that I currently have soaking and the pH is dropping nicely. After reading multiple threads I cobbled together a few ingredient lists and came to a mix that looked good for me after a few attempts.
I went with approx.
3 parts crushed shell
2 parts medium aragonite sand
2 parts coarse crushed coral
1 part fine crushed coral
1 part Coarse Salt crystal (and salt for leaving hollows/sculpting)
3 1/2 parts white cement
1/2 part acrylic shavings
The rocks look as good as dead 'live' rock in my opinion so we will see how it goes.
Finally I have added 4 t5 tubes with individual reflectors to a fan cooled hood and mounted it on the tank. This is what my main question is related to.
The lighting question I could use help with
So,
The hood I modified was 48"x12" I have mounted it down the middle of the tank. I would however like to get some more light into the tank, for coral growth / brighter colours.
As the tank is 2 foot wide I have space for a strip at the from and back of the hood.
Initially I though I would purchase some of the LED strip tape and run some down the from and back of the main light (£50 for loads and the driver). I have since read this stuff is useless and does not penetrate the water. Is this true, would It help at all along with my t5's?
I then though "Ill just buy 2 proper single strip marine LED striplights and run one either side of the t5's back and front." Shortly after this I nearly had an aneurism when I saw their prices.
So can anyone offer any lighting ideas for me that are cheap and would compliment the t5's?
Something that would accentuate soft coral colour would be a good bet as the t5's when they were running on my cichlid tank tended to make some colours like yellows and reds look pretty washed out. (I have 2 blue and 2 white tubes in it)
Well think that's all I need to report, any criticisms, help, suggestions advice, as always are greatly appreciated!
Thankyou
So a couple of week I joined here for some advice regarding turning my old 4x2x2 cichlid tank into a marine tank for my daughter.
My manifest was it had to be as cheap as possible (on a miniscule budget) and look good as it was going in our front room, no sump was possible (I didn't want much!!)
I was in the aquarium trade 20 years back and have a degree in marine biology. This gave me access to hopefully a rudimentary, if dated understanding of the process. However I must confess since I sold my reef tank 20 years back I have only ever dealt with rift lake cichlid breeding on the aquarium from.
To help the cause I also had a few 'bits and bobs laying around from old tanks'
So where am I at now with the project?
I picked up a 1 year old MCE600 HOB protein skimmer for 1/5th of its new price!! I will run this with carbon and maybe some phosphate remover in the media chamber. (can anyone recommend a good media for Phosphate removal please?)
I have made a load of DIY live rock that I currently have soaking and the pH is dropping nicely. After reading multiple threads I cobbled together a few ingredient lists and came to a mix that looked good for me after a few attempts.
I went with approx.
3 parts crushed shell
2 parts medium aragonite sand
2 parts coarse crushed coral
1 part fine crushed coral
1 part Coarse Salt crystal (and salt for leaving hollows/sculpting)
3 1/2 parts white cement
1/2 part acrylic shavings
The rocks look as good as dead 'live' rock in my opinion so we will see how it goes.
Finally I have added 4 t5 tubes with individual reflectors to a fan cooled hood and mounted it on the tank. This is what my main question is related to.
The lighting question I could use help with
So,
The hood I modified was 48"x12" I have mounted it down the middle of the tank. I would however like to get some more light into the tank, for coral growth / brighter colours.
As the tank is 2 foot wide I have space for a strip at the from and back of the hood.
Initially I though I would purchase some of the LED strip tape and run some down the from and back of the main light (£50 for loads and the driver). I have since read this stuff is useless and does not penetrate the water. Is this true, would It help at all along with my t5's?
I then though "Ill just buy 2 proper single strip marine LED striplights and run one either side of the t5's back and front." Shortly after this I nearly had an aneurism when I saw their prices.
So can anyone offer any lighting ideas for me that are cheap and would compliment the t5's?
Something that would accentuate soft coral colour would be a good bet as the t5's when they were running on my cichlid tank tended to make some colours like yellows and reds look pretty washed out. (I have 2 blue and 2 white tubes in it)
Well think that's all I need to report, any criticisms, help, suggestions advice, as always are greatly appreciated!
Thankyou
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