Time to re-vamp and upgrade my aquarium. I have been encouraged to start a reef builder thread as I go about major changes to my reef system. I started about 22 years ago with a built in 180-gallon (6x2x2 feet) fish only aquarium (April 2001) then converted to a reef aquarium in August 2002. Little did I know then about the challenges of keeping such a micro ecosystem thriving and it's' maintenance needs and planning the initial built as I was adding an addition to the house and could have built things to suit the aquarium better. To my luck, I did a good job (not perfect) to have the space behind the aquarium to place some equipment and do water changes etc.
I am not going to bother people reading this thread about the different changes that aquarium went through from bio-balls to UV-sterilizers to some voodoo things that the local fish store sold me on etc. So, I will start with what I have and what I intend to do.
The current reef system consists of the main display tank, a refugium and a return sump. The main tank has only soft corals as I failed to maintain hard corals over time as they all died. I knew my lighting was not strong enough (two 175 W MH and two dual actinic CF bulbs hung 24 inches above the surface of the water). So, as I want to move to a mixed reef system, the lights are the first to upgrade. Last December as I was heading out of the country my old magnetic ballast running my MH bulbs smoked and burned Infront of my eyes (lucky me). So, I rushed and bought from a relatively local fish store three Fluval 3.0 Marine LED lights and placed them over the tank (couple of inches above water and each above them 24-inch divider on the upper frame of the aquarium) and left for 2 weeks! Came back and the corals survived! I bought a single electronic ballast to run one MH bulb temporarily (see pictures below).
So, after doing some reading and posting on these forums, I decided to go with a Giesemann Stellar Hybrid fixture with 4 T5 80-watt bulbs and two Kessil AP9x LED lights. Got the parts and almost done assembling it.
I will post some pictures and continue the thread, so it won't be too long.
How the aquarium looks from the viewing area (below)
The view of the aquarium from the back where there is a small room with a secondary kitchen with RO/DI water setup, sink, equipment etc. Looks messy now. (below)
The Giesemann Stellar light fixture being assembled. two each of Giesemann T5 80 W Aqua Blue and Super Actinic and two Kessil AP9X (top view below)
More writing and pictures to come.
Comments and suggestions welcome
I am not going to bother people reading this thread about the different changes that aquarium went through from bio-balls to UV-sterilizers to some voodoo things that the local fish store sold me on etc. So, I will start with what I have and what I intend to do.
The current reef system consists of the main display tank, a refugium and a return sump. The main tank has only soft corals as I failed to maintain hard corals over time as they all died. I knew my lighting was not strong enough (two 175 W MH and two dual actinic CF bulbs hung 24 inches above the surface of the water). So, as I want to move to a mixed reef system, the lights are the first to upgrade. Last December as I was heading out of the country my old magnetic ballast running my MH bulbs smoked and burned Infront of my eyes (lucky me). So, I rushed and bought from a relatively local fish store three Fluval 3.0 Marine LED lights and placed them over the tank (couple of inches above water and each above them 24-inch divider on the upper frame of the aquarium) and left for 2 weeks! Came back and the corals survived! I bought a single electronic ballast to run one MH bulb temporarily (see pictures below).
So, after doing some reading and posting on these forums, I decided to go with a Giesemann Stellar Hybrid fixture with 4 T5 80-watt bulbs and two Kessil AP9x LED lights. Got the parts and almost done assembling it.
I will post some pictures and continue the thread, so it won't be too long.
How the aquarium looks from the viewing area (below)
The view of the aquarium from the back where there is a small room with a secondary kitchen with RO/DI water setup, sink, equipment etc. Looks messy now. (below)
The Giesemann Stellar light fixture being assembled. two each of Giesemann T5 80 W Aqua Blue and Super Actinic and two Kessil AP9X (top view below)
More writing and pictures to come.
Comments and suggestions welcome