Few questions about lighting and a skimmer

[kospaintball]

Which is better a 58 watt T5 or a 65 watt PC. and then i have a Current fission nano skimmer, and i HATE it HATE it HATE it.

sooo my tank is only 14 gallons, i have no sump or fuge that you could put a skimmer in... my fuge is a HOB filter but you couldn't support a skimmer in it. So i need a skimmer that can be out of the tank and anything that is in tank needs to have a small foot print.

I have been lookin at the seaclone 100 but i don't know about it and have heard that you have to get the water level jusstttt right.

 

[Zack33]

The T5 are you talking about T5HO or normal T5 if it is T5HO then get the T5s for sure PCs are TERRIBLE!!! For the skimmer i would see if you could get a AC REMORA skimmer, i've never had one before but i have heard nothing but good things about them for nano reefers. For your 14 gallon it should do very well.

Zack

 

[kospaintball]

The t5 im talkin about is the nova extreme

so which ever that is lol

i already have pc lighting and i know that when time comes around to replace the bulb i might want to upgrade and my LFS sells 24 inch t5 nova extremes for $65

 

[DaveK]

T5 lighting is generally preferred over PC lighting. The big advantage T5s have is that it is pissible to position a much more effective reflector behind them. With PCs the "double bulb" makes this almost impossible.

As for skimmers, on a 14 gal tank you could use an AquaC Remora as recommended above, but I'd consider it optional on a tank your size. I do use one on my 30 gal reef and it is effective.

Having owned a SeaClone, I find that I can not say enough bad things about it. Avoid it.

Keep in mind that if you make a 5 gal water change, you change almost 1/2 the water. (remember to subtract space taken up by live rock and sand and so on) The money you would spend on a skimmer, might be a lot better spent on salt and/or an RO/DI unit.

 

[kospaintball]

i live in an apt, and i have never actually see how an RO/DI unit mounts. how does it seal up to the tap?

 

[Jeremy0322]

take if from someone that uses PC, they suck plain and simple. 58 watt of quality T5 over a 14 gallon tank will run probably close to anything, but I am no light expert. As for the skimmer, a tank that size coupled with the right maintenance schedule and the right rock to gallons ratio you probably dont need one, but if you are looking around I saw this one today...

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...-simmer-sale-price-includes-shipping-wow.html

The RO units that I have seen that are small enough to run tanks this size usually just screw onto the faucet. There is a little metal ring that can unscrew and from there it just spins right on and you are good to go. Something like this...

http://www.crystalquest.com/images/Countertop reverse osmosis-undersink-.jpg


Hope it helps!

 

[kospaintball]

hahaha that picture of the RO unit is soooo photo shopped hahaha


i have pc lighting right now and i HAtE iTtTtT

 

[Goannaman]

I just got an Aqua C Remora.

I haven't been running it long enough to comment either way, but the build quality is excellent, instructions are easy to read, and it sets up in about a minute.

 

[Jeremy0322]

Oh yea it was, and it wasnt even a good job at it, but it served its purpose of showing him how they hook up.