15G - heating question

[KLKelly]

He's decided on a 15 gallon.  I'll be picking that up for his birthday present today. 

Few questions.
1.  He was thinking of an AC110 as a fuge - would this be too much flow for a 15 gallon with soft corals/mushrooms?
2.  Lighting - is this tank going to be a pain finding lighting to fit.  I've seen a few nano tanks where the lighting extends out 6" past the ends of the tank.  He hasn't decided on lighting yet.
3.  I'll be purchasing the maxijets today too - how many and what size should I buy?
4.  I haven't read up on curing live rock/sand.  I think he will be doing this himself.  Can we use those 27w curly fluorescents to cure the rock - and put off buying the lighting until this process is complete?
5.  Do I need to buy a reef test kit to do this?
6.  What size of heater for a 15 gallon?  I've had nothing but pain with heaters.  I would like one that won't malfunction or crack in half   I went with the ebo's after my last two disasters and one doesn't work right.

Thanks!

Karrie

[93GTCANADA]

for the lighting i had the same one on my 15 that i had on my 10 gal. its a 24 inch long coralife fixture. just get that its plenty. i had a 50 watt heater and it was enough do not buy ebo go with the stealth i had 4 ebo screw up on me. i only had one powerhead in my 15 i think it was a maxi 600 i cant remember but sometimes its better to go with 2 smaller ones so u can direct the flow better. you do not need any lights to cure the rocks. just buy pre cured rocks from someone on this board like pat (redbelly) usually u will see a minimal to no cycle at all. if you have any more questions just post them up.

[ray]

Hi  I would reccommend the Hydor Koralias over the maxijet,better flow dispersal.
Ray

[kennyman]

On LR: If you use fully cured rock you can be up and running fast. But if you choose uncured rock you get to watch and wait for hitchhikers and weird critters that come and go. You will also learn more about how to control your tank through the cycle process. Depends of your interest I guess but I really enjoyed curing my rock and trying to learn about the weird things popping up on it. 

AP's Nitrite test is good for F/W & S/W.  And the PH needs to be highrange. He is also going to need A simple hydrometer for mixing water.

On flow: I used a penguin 330 for my 20 tall nano at first and quickly got into trouble with deadspots. I had to buy a PH to keep sheets of bacteria from accumulating. I dropped the idea of it as a fuge pretty quickly and started growing macro algae in the display instead.

I have tried 2 diy canopies with those screw-in things they didn't do anything for me. Even the canopy i built for 3x34W plus a 10W incandescent blue light for evening viewing didn't work out or me. I say leave them for guppy tanks and reading lamps 

[KLKelly]

Too many choices.  I'm learning a ton.
We have the tank - 15 gallon.

Powerheads:
I picked up 2 maxijet 600s.  I liked the price of them (thanks AZ). 
I may exchange one for a 400 once we decide on whats going to inhabit the tank.
Can a fish actually swim in that type of current?
Will the AC110 be too much for the 15 gallon?

Heater:  Do most of you put your faith in one heater?
I like the stealth and will be buying two for my freshwater tanks. Big Als was out of stock of it today though.  The 100w heater is 1/2 the price of two 50's (but it may be worth peace of mind).

He read that someone put their heater in their ac110 fuge.  Would a 100W Stealth fit in the back of the 110 modified like ArtW's?  Looking at BigAls today - the Tronic heater would fit.  Is this a dependable heater?  (I'm sure this tank will not be immune to my bad run with heaters).

Lighting:
The post on the 16gallon nano uses the 20" coralife 96w quad 50/50 setup: http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=20452.0  This seems to be a very decent price for lighting.  I've read that T5HO setups need individual reflectors to be effective.  Can someone provide me with a link to a recommended setup for a T5 unit for a 15 gallon (length 24")?  (I see some people have only 2 T5's over their tank) but the one I read was built in pieces not bought as a unit.  I'm sure with help we could build our own reflectors and canopy but the sleek finished look is nice.

Dumb question - the coralife unit for example states 20" - is this the length of the bulb or the housing?

Thanks for everyone's help and advice!!!!!!!!

Karrie

[Rumblefish]

   I'm thinking of ways to make money for my new tank. She makes a good stenographer if anyone would like to rent Klkelly from me. I ask hew all the questions she has no answers to, and before I know it theyve been asked and replied to.   

[RoxyDog]

you'll need to wait and see with the powerheads.  my tank is only 24gals, but 30 inches long and getting the flow right is a pain to say the least.   

I have 4 x T5HO bulbs under 2 reflectors and it works fine.  2 x 10000k and 2 x actinic.  it would work better with individual reflectors I think, but only 2 would fit in my canopy. (how much does it REALLY matter about the individual reflectors?  I'm not sure?)  wiring the canopy was pretty easy (thanks BD!), if you're handy you could do it no problem.

[KLKelly]

Thanks Roxy.  We'll figure it out.

Karrie

[KLKelly]

It looks like I may have ordered the wrong length of lighting 20"   I guessed that it was the bulbs that were 20" and the housing would add more length. I just discovered that the bulb is only 17"

Will the 17" lightbulb work on a 15 gallon tank (24" long)?  Or should we change the tank to a 16H gallon?

karrie 

[RoxyDog]

it will "work" I think.  is it going in a canopy or do you need to mount it on legs somehow?
a 24" fixture would have worked better I'm sure but my 30" long tank has 22" bulbs over it, in a canopy.  higher light corals will stay in the middle, lowerlight ones to the sides.

[BigDaddy]

It looks like I may have ordered the wrong length of lighting 20"   I guessed that it was the bulbs that were 20" and the housing would add more length. I just discovered that the bulb is only 17"

Will the 17" lightbulb work on a 15 gallon tank (24" long)?  Or should we change the tank to a 16H gallon?

karrie 

Sorry to hear of your woes.. maybe return for the proper fixture?

For future reference... usually the stores will advertise the total length of the fixture itself, not the total length of the bulbs.

[93GTCANADA]

im pretty my fixture was a 20 inch on my 15. but it might of been a 24 i cant remember. which fixture did u buy i mi ght be looking at something that size ?

[KLKelly]

Maybe it will work.  It will be on legs. the light itself is 17" but the tank is 24".

This is the light fixture I ordered: http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/store_pages/details/l-pc.php?product_ID=pc-al2096
We saw that a really cool 16g nano had this on it so thought it would work.

Would this be a better choice for our tank?  And are these bulbs the t5HO - it doesn't state that they are.
Coralife 24" AquaLight Fixture - 2 x 65W
- Built in Electronic Ballast
- Built in Cooling Fans
- Separate on/off controls for dawn/dusk effect
- Acrylic Lens Cover
- Coralife SP 65W 10000K Bulb
- Coralife SP 65W Actinic Bulb

Thanks for all the help and advice.  I am enjoying reading everything I can on SW tanks and now have a number of books.  I am not enjoying this lighting part 

[BigDaddy]

2 x 65 means they are compact fluorescent bulbs, not T5HO

And yeah, the unit you have the link for.. that' was designed for 10 gallon tanks (20 x 10).

The 2 x 65 will fit properly over a 15 gallon (24 x 12)

[kennyman]

That 2x65 is what I have on my 34gal cube. It would rock on a smaller tank. I think even the 96W in a nano will be plenty of light to maintain medium light corals. Stuff like Candycane, Frogspawn, open brains and of course all the soft corals. It is just if you can be happy with it not fitting the frame properly. You might get frustrated having to move the light to open the canopy all the time.

[artw]

He read that someone put their heater in their ac110 fuge.  Would a 100W Stealth fit in the back of the 110 modified like ArtW's?  Looking at BigAls today - the Tronic heater would fit.  Is this a dependable heater?  (I'm sure this tank will not be immune to my bad run with heaters).
Karrie

Karrie in my 110 I have the smallest of those black-plastic covered heaters that you can buy at Big Als.  A tronic will work also as previously mentioned.  however if you have your tank in a cold room you may need a heater that is too big for the AC110.

On the flow/refugium note.   I most definately recommend the 110 fuge even for a 15 gallon.   I have that, and a Maxijet 600 on a 20 and its pretty much perfect (you are aiming for between 30 and 40 times the tank volume per hour).     My fish love it,  its not even near too much flow for a clownfish (compared to in the ocean, waves breaking over rocks are hundreds of time stronger than anything in the aquarium).

If you would like some cheato for your fuge just let me know and I can bring some into the store tomorrow night/sat/sun.


Re: lighting I have a Current usa ORBIT  2x65 24" with moonlights, its perfect. I use a cheapo Ikea desk lamp over the fuge.  some people alternate it with the main lights but I just turn it off with the actinics

[KLKelly]

We've decided to sell the 20" lighting and go for a 24".  What a pain lighting is.

I wish I could order this from bigal's US - amazing price: http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp18366/si1383015/cl0/coralifelunaraqualightdeluxeseries242x65wwith234wbluemoonglowledlamps
Coralife 24" 2x65 plus two 3/4w moonlights $140.  JLaquatics is back ordered.

Someone mentioned Rick's aquatics in Renfrew - I'll call them tomorrow.  Can you guys recommend some other good sites where pricing is decent?

Thanks!

[Julie]

http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/cgi-bin/category_list_products.cgi?L+scstore+wpls3915ff82e982+1191893652

Not sure how many watts per gallon you will have here and also what depth is your tank?

[ray]

The lighting plays an important role in what you can keep.While pc are not bad I would look more at HO T5's using individual reflectors.Many of the companies do not utilize the indivdual reflectors so I would not reccommend them.These bulbs will allow you to keep a great variety of corals,while consuming less hydro and producing less heat.The bulbs last longer and are less expensive than the pc's.If interested you can see corals that i maintain under T5's

[KLKelly]

That is the thing that is frustrating me the most.  I can't seem to find a canopy with individual reflectors for T5s.  I see the kits to modify existing canopies and I see T5s under a canopy without individual reflectors.  Why is this such a difficult thing to find?  Maybe this puts it in the same price range as a MH light or pendant?

I'm picking these ones because I see that others have them and they are easy to find.