what would you do?

[Icebox]

I just bought a second 75 gallon tank. I am going to turn it into a tank for softies.

My thought is to put an Icecap 660 on it with 4 48 in lights. Does anyone have experience with the New T5 lamps? do they use the same VHO sockets?

Now, I would like to plumb it into my other 75 gal tank and create 1 sump and 1 refuge between them. right now the sump is a 20 gal long, and I would probably continue to use that for the sump, primarily for the skimmer.

I have a 29 gallon and a 55 gal that are not currently in use. I would like to turn one of them into a refuge, with a deep sand bed. I will probably put 100 pounds of sand in the 75 which will be about 3 inches and another 100 in the 55, which should be 4-5 inches.

I have some fern caulapara, some spegheti and some grape caulapara in a tank that just has Bogart the koran angel which will go into the refuge. Which tank would you use for your refuge?

 

[wooddood]

i think the bigger the better.more water volume.this is just my opinon though.

 

[sharks]

Just make sure the sump can handle the surface water from both tanks when the system is shut down. The 29 may be a better sump and the 55 a REF. When you shut down the tank now how high does the water climb in the sump?
S

 

[fidojoe]

Better yet, use the 29 for the sump, 55 for the fuge below, and the 20 for an above tank fuge/ surge type setup (you could use a SQWD to switch the flow between the 2 tanks), that would be sweet.

 

[Witfull]

if your new tank is gooing to be heavy in softies, make sure to use a quality carbon, as they will produce chemicals that will attack other hard corals and reduce growth rates.

 

[Icebox]

fidojoe, that does sounds sweet, but I am not sure that I have that much space... lol I am not really convinced that I am willing to devote enough space to the 55 for a fuge.

sharks, great point. I had not thought about water syphoning down, and draining out of lines... Must keep that in mind. Maybe the 29 would make a better sump. That would give more volume when the system is down.

 

[Icebox]

Anyone have experience with the New T5 lighing?

 

[fidojoe]

T5, from what I hear, is great, but as with all fl. lighting not good for tanks over 24" high, unless corals are placed up higher. There is this place that has t5 setups for a reasonable price (see link below). If you have any questions about their lights, email them, they respond pretty quickly. The t5s will be excellent for a softy tank judging by the reveiws i've read on them, but take this as my opinion, being that I have yet to try them, but do plan to.

EDIT: Sorry, forgot the link http://www.aquaencounter.com/

 

[Icebox]

thanks fidojoe, GREAT LINK...

The tank they would be going on is a typical 75 gallon. Which is what, 18-20 inches tall?

with 4 bulbs, would you use 2 antics, 1 daylight, 1 50/50, or 2 50 /50 1 daylight, and 1 antic?