My new tank

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johanvanpe

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Ok guys, I'm back in SA. After a lot of thought, here are the final size of my tank. No turning back I will have it next Monday. 2200mm x 700mm x 700mm. Sump 1400mm x 400mm x 400mm. Then I also bougth my self a reef octopus 1500l skimmer hope its big enough. any advice?Any suggestions on a size pump to use too feed the skimmer?
 
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BTW: Your tank specs are VERY close to that of mine....
My tank size is:
2000mm wide by 700mm high by 600mm deep (front to back).
The extra 100mm front to back you are going to have are going to be AWESOME!

Also - the 1400 sump is a very nice size as well..... Nice big DSB can be put in there....

Are you planning to go DSB in tank? Or SSB (Shallow sand bed)? Or bare bottom?
 
Oooh nice size tank! I would guess you got the DNW 200. Get yourself a Lifetech 1000lph pump to feed it. Used it on mines and it worked like a bomb!You can get those pumps at Builders Express or Pic n Pay :)
 
DNW 200

SSB AND 150MM DSB in sump.

Lighting I put myself in your hands, I want to have fish, anemones and corals, in it.

To go from 1500 to 2200 for R500-00 more I couldnot resist, sorry .....
 
No problems with that Johan! You can achieve a LOT with T5's. But whether you go metal halides or T5's, I think this would be YOUR decision.
Metal halides give an awesome "shimmer" effect to the water, and they also penetrate deeper water better. AND Corals love the lighting of metal halides.....

BUT, just as great success have been achieved by using T5's in the past as well....
You could perhaps have ie 8 x 54 watt T5's in your tank (6 white and 2 blue), or alternatively go for ie. 3 x 150 watt or even 250 watt metal halides.

The Metal halides option would give you more wattage per square foot.... BUT, they do generate a LOT more heat and uses a LOT more electricity.

Metal Halides globes generally lasts up to 2 years.... where T5 globes (depening on brand) lasts from 12 months to 18 months per globe....

You can experiment a lot more with different white colorations (different Kelvin rated globes) having more globes in your tank....

Still - as long as you have high output globes, and enough wattage per square foot to satisfy the corals and anemone's requirements, then I am cool with whatever you choose to go for!
 
Threads like this should be banned without pics in the first post:nono:
Anyways, I'll get over it:). Regarding lighting, if you do go metal halides, I've used a fan blowing over the water surface. With the heat wave joburg had last week monday and tuesday (30+) my tank was stable at 26. Every time I checked the heaters light was on. Way cheaper than spending a few K on a chiller!
 
If you go MH, T5's are really only supplemental, with your length I would go at least 4 x 250w double ended MH bulbs (good quality, coralvue, giessmann etc) and 2 or 4 T5 actinics, depending on the max length of T5 globes.
 
Gaboon, will take some pics tomorrow of where the tank will beplace and pic of the skimmer and post it. Hope I will not get banned than.......LOL:lol:
 
Rather go with the 80w T5's, you have the size tank to handle the length, and they nice and powerful ;)
 
Yeah my limited knowledge says go for T5s, but the mix of them does sound really tempting, maybe go for the mix, but with our power crisis, more pocket friendly may also be a factor to consider:)
 
Halides will be cheaper in the long run, a good halide bulb (±R1000) will last at least 1.5 years whereas 4 T5 bulbs @ ±R300 each will max out at 8 months. (A safe guesstimate of 4 T5's to 1 250w halide) Sorry, my english can like to fail me at midnight.
 
gaboon said:
Halides will be cheaper in the long run, a good halide bulb (±R1000) will last at least 1.5 years whereas 4 T5 bulbs @ ±R300 each will max out at 8 months. (A safe guesstimate of 4 T5's to 1 250w halide) Sorry, my english can like to fail me at midnight.
Click to expand...

One thing you forget, with halides you generally use more electricity because of the chiller you have to run, where as 450 watts of T5's 150mm away from the water surface only needs a PC fan to cool the water down, big difference in consumption, so I would say still too close to call ;)
 
Johan - click on the "Advanced" button just below the "Quick Reply" window...

At the bottom right you will see a "Quick Upload" link.... Click this...
You will see a popup appear (You MUST have popus enabled for MASA), where you can click on Browse.... this will allow you to select a picture on your local hard-disk (C:-drive).... Then click on "Host it"....

As easy as that! LOL!

Cheers man!
Thanks!
 
The wall where the tank will be, yes its behind my bar. Reason no one else allowed behind it. So people can look and not touch!!!!
 
Hi Johan, this tank is going to look awesome! Have you got any pics yet?
 
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