new to reefing want to start zoa dominant tank need suggestions
- Thread starter dricc
- Start date
- Tagged users None
jboone82590
Valuable Member
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2015
- Messages
- 1,009
- Reaction score
- 225
Should never use tap water with a saltwater tank. Might be ok at first but in the end it will mess thing up.
Oscar47f
Valuable Member
Hi david, welcome to the hobby!! i do strongly recommend RO/DI water mainly because the RO unit will last years and years and useful for upgrades as well as the health of your coral... What size tank are you thinking?? and all three lights are known to grow coral very nicely.. LEDs in my opinion make the colors pop better and don't add too much heat to the system like Halides and T5s but don't let that discourage you from using them they are great options and can be more affordable in some cases...
jboone82590
Valuable Member
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2015
- Messages
- 1,009
- Reaction score
- 225
Yes everything they said
jboone82590
Valuable Member
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2015
- Messages
- 1,009
- Reaction score
- 225
90 gallons?
Maki~R~G~A
Community Member
Jay_M
Active Member
To use tap water you are starting at a disadvantage. Hard to say what is being introduced to the tank and at what levels.
As far as the lighting goes, as stated above, all 3 options are more than appropriate for your goal, but IMO I would start with the T5s. With a zoa dominate tank, T5s will get ya the PAR you need (For most zoas) and are a tried and trued. If you go the LED route, which does look fantastic, they are more dangerous as well as more expensive.
To be clear, by more dangerous I mean to the coral. You have the ability to absolutely fry zoanthids with LEDs that can reach upwards of 700 PAR. A majority of zoanthids only require 50-150 PAR but at the same time some require 300+
The ability to completely customize the settings of LEDs can be a con just as well as a Pro.
A 4 to 6 bulb T5 would be my recommendation for someone getting into the hobby.
Hope this helps!!
As far as the lighting goes, as stated above, all 3 options are more than appropriate for your goal, but IMO I would start with the T5s. With a zoa dominate tank, T5s will get ya the PAR you need (For most zoas) and are a tried and trued. If you go the LED route, which does look fantastic, they are more dangerous as well as more expensive.
To be clear, by more dangerous I mean to the coral. You have the ability to absolutely fry zoanthids with LEDs that can reach upwards of 700 PAR. A majority of zoanthids only require 50-150 PAR but at the same time some require 300+
The ability to completely customize the settings of LEDs can be a con just as well as a Pro.
A 4 to 6 bulb T5 would be my recommendation for someone getting into the hobby.
Hope this helps!!
dricc
Active Member
I was looking at the reefbrite metal Halide and led combo because supposedly they give off little heat or the ati t5 . i was leaning towards these because easier learning curve.
Oscar47f
Valuable Member
Not at all, i first copied Ms Salt water tanks Settings and tweaked it a little my corals responded well to it and i used the acclimation mode which reduced overall intensity by 30% and slowly ramped up so the corals had about a month to adjust.. very handy light, very pricey though i do agree that halides and T5s will work just as well..
A. grandis
2500 Club Member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2012
- Messages
- 4,735
- Reaction score
- 3,412
Yes, RO/DI water.
ATI T5 6 bulbs.
Power heads will completely depend on your system.
Welcome to the hobby!
Grandis.
Similar threads
-
- Question
