Paul_PDX Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 After having reefs for nearly 10 years in early 90's we are setting up a new reef in an 55 galon hex tank. Fortunately I kept most of my equipment and even 100 pounds of coral rock and base material. I still have a Rainbow Lifeguard wet/dry sump that was sized for my 90 gal tank, a 36" protein skimmer, and an overflow skimmer that I used on a 55 gal quarantine tank that I used to keep (I believe it is a one inch output so probably could handle 600 to 800 gal per hour). My old Grundfos/Rainbow pump is shot though so I am trying to pick a good reliable energy efficient return pump sized for this tank. My old pump was external but I am leaning to submersed for this smaller setup. I will have about 5' of head and an 8' return. Any suggestions for size, brand and good places to find them locally? Also trying to catch up on the state of the art in lighting with limited space (under hood): What I currently have is a dual 250W MH and 4 - 48" tube VHO setup that is probably too hot for this tank and/or too big. Probably very inefficient as well with 1988 technology. I also have two small coralife fixtures that hold 1-9watt actinic & 1-9watt 10,000K each. So this can get some extra light to corals near the top of the tank and provides good twilight lighting. The Hex canopy can hold 24" fluorescent bulbs at best. and has four or five inches of space between the acrylic top and the acrylic hood. It is already has clips for four T12 20" bulbs and has a ballast and end caps for two of them. With 4 to five inches space between an acrylic lid and an acryllic hood and a max length of 24" what would people recommend? I love the look of MH ripples are their any new lighting alternatives that provide similar intensity and spectrum? That is probably enough questions for today. Knowns: Goal Reef with few fish -- rock wall from base to top of tank 55 gal Hex tank Wet dry filter Protein skimmer Using Pre-mix Water from Sea Horse to startup Stagnant plenum under two inches of substrate wave timers with multiple powerheads Unknowns: Return Pump Lighting May try refugium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 Welcome back. I can't answer many of your questions, but someone here can. What I do know that hex tanks are known to be inefficient in gas exchange, and tend to build up nitrates. They are also difficult to light. Wet/dry filters tend to be out. Refugiums tend to be the "in thing" plenums are not used much anymore. Wish you the best of luck, and make sure you take a lot of pictures to chart your progress. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wegotjs Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Dennis knows this because I used to run a 35 hex. One 250Mh or you can run 2 -3 24inch vho bulbs. That should pop with the MH and you would probably struggle with hard corals on the VHO's at the bottom but should be alright middle to top of tank.. I never could get my nitrates below 25ppm on the tank . I probably had it setup 2 years plus. If you just plan on running soft corals it should be fine but you might struggle with lps and sps. If you want to talk pm and we can have a chat . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny503 Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Welcome and are you sure you want to get into reefing again? I bite the bullet for getting into it now it seem like I can't let it out of my system :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Welcome back....much like Dsoz, I have no answers for you, but when you are ready for some corals let me know. I have heard that WAVES in Tualitin makes some pretty nice tanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Welcome, I'll try to help as much as I can based on my limited experience. How tall is the tank? The 250w MH will work for 16" to 24" deep and each one generally is good for 2 foot of tank length/depth. Like Dennis mentioned I would substitute a sump/refugium for the wet/dry filter. I personally am running a plenum under the sand on my 85g tank right now which I will be getting rid of in the next week or so when I transfer everything into the new 125g tank replacing it. (I have a battle with nitrates that I believe is due to the plenum) Deep Sand Beds seem to be more effective and can either be done in the main display or remotely in a sump. I'll be carbon dosing the tank with Vodka which I started a few months ago and will continue which is something new over the past few years you may want to look into. (Check for a link to information in the "Everybody can help" thread http://www.pnwmas.org/forums/showthread.php?t=12128) You will also find a lot of links in that thread to a lot of good information you may want to check out as well. The thread is basically a compilation of links to information that many of us have found to be very usefull. Once again Welcome to the forum, Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Whoops, your going to need one piece of equipment that I haven't seen mentioned yet (You probably already have it). You will need a decent digital camera so you can post pictures of your progress in a build thread in the members tanks forum. (We love build pics) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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