Need advice on a 200 gal tank

As I mentioned in another post, I am preparing to replace my 35 gal
tank by a 200 gal monster. Currenly, I have 2 X 150W HQI, Rena Heat
Cable, a 1/4 hp chiller and a external CO2 reactor which is good for
40 gal for my 35 gal. I need some advice before I finalize my shopping
list.

How much light would you guys recommend me to have? I am thinking 4 X
150W HQI.

I think I am going for Rena again. But any other heat cable you guys
would suggest for such a large tank?

Is 1/4 hp chiller enough for a 200 gal in reality? Any experience?

How many bags of flourite should I expect, roughly? (the tank is 72" X
24", and I want 5" front and 8" back)

Is there any CO2 reactor available for this size, or I would have to
go for 2 - 3 reactors?

Thanks a million in advance

Ken

"Kenneth Ho" wrote in message
om...
As I mentioned in another post, I am preparing to replace my 35 gal
tank by a 200 gal monster.

[...] (the tank is 72" X 24", and I want 5" front and 8" back)

Hmmm... You don't give the third dimension of the tank. Is it 24"
deep or 24" tall?

If the tank is 27" x 24" x 24" (which is a common size), that's
150gal, not 200gal.

To get 200gal at 72" long, the tank would have to be 24" deep and
32" tall, or 32" deep and 24" tall. Either way, consider the maintenance
issue: with anything over about 24" deep and 24" tall, it is no longer
possible to reach the bottom rear areas because you run out of arm :-)
Makes it very difficult to do anything like replanting. Just a thought...

How much light would you guys recommend me to have? I am thinking 4 X
150W HQI.

Assuming 72" x 24" x 24", I wouldn't go above 3 x 150W HQI. (I have a tank
that size, and I'm running 2 x 150W HQI plus 2 x 38W T8 tubes. For my taste,
that's just about right, or a little on the bright side. I guess I could use 3
x HQI
instead, but it would become harder to keep the tank in balance. I definitely
wouldn't use 4 x 150W for a tank that size.

Even if the tank is 32" tall or deep, I'd probably still not use 4 x 150W,
which would be 3W per gallon. Doable, but maintenance-intensive and very
bright.
At that light level, you need high levels of nutrients and CO2. In turn, that
means endless pruning, which can be a lot work. Or you can let nutrient and
CO2 levels drop, but then, at that light level, algae are likely to
get the upper hand. 3 x 150W would still give you ample light, reduce the
amount of maintenance, and allow you to grow even light-hungry plants.

How many bags of flourite should I expect, roughly? (the tank is 72" X
24", and I want 5" front and 8" back)

Seachem recommend 1kg of Fluorite per 200 cm^2 to a depth of 5cm, which
is a complicated way of saying "1kg per liter of substrate." If you want to
cover
a 72" x 24" area to 5" at the front and 8" at the back, that's 72" x 24" x
6.5".
Allowing for 1/4" glass thickness, that gives you a net volume of 174 liters.
Fluorite is shipped in 7kg bags, so that would be just under 25 bags.

Not cheap. I suspect that you would get equally good results by using, say,
eight bags of fluorite and top up the remainder with gravel. That's pretty much
what I did with my tank -- about 30% fluorite, 70% gravel. Plants grow
better than I would like them to :-)

Is there any CO2 reactor available for this size, or I would have to
go for 2 - 3 reactors?

No, a single reactor will do fine. Check out the Aqua Medic Reactor 1000.
You can find it at www.aqua-medic.de. That one is good for up to 500gal
and fits outside the tank, so there is less clutter inside. I'm using that one
myself and I'm very happy with it. It achieves 100% CO2 solution and
easily plumbs into the output path of a canister filter. You can find similar
reactor designs from other manufacturers.

Cheers,

Michi.

--
Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com

Thanks for the reply. 25 bags of Flourite sounds much more reasonable, I
didn't quite get what Seachem's instruction means, and wrongly guessed it at
40+ bags, now there is some money to spare for the heat cable. :-)

I still haven't decided on the lighting side, since my current 35gal is on
very bright side, 8+W per gal, I just don't feel very confortable with such
dramatic drop. Now I might just go for 3 X 250W HQIs. But then I still have
3 weeks before the new tank is in place, I still have time to think it over
again.

And the good news is that a guy in my local message forum is selling a 1/2
hp chiller very cheap, so I guess I have one problem solved.

Thanks
Kenneth

"Michi Henning" ???
???...
"Kenneth Ho" wrote in message
om...
As I mentioned in another post, I am preparing to replace my 35 gal
tank by a 200 gal monster.

[...] (the tank is 72" X 24", and I want 5" front and 8" back)

Hmmm... You don't give the third dimension of the tank. Is it 24"
deep or 24" tall?

If the tank is 27" x 24" x 24" (which is a common size), that's
150gal, not 200gal.

To get 200gal at 72" long, the tank would have to be 24" deep and
32" tall, or 32" deep and 24" tall. Either way, consider the maintenance
issue: with anything over about 24" deep and 24" tall, it is no longer
possible to reach the bottom rear areas because you run out of arm :-)
Makes it very difficult to do anything like replanting. Just a thought...

How much light would you guys recommend me to have? I am thinking 4 X
150W HQI.

Assuming 72" x 24" x 24", I wouldn't go above 3 x 150W HQI. (I have a tank
that size, and I'm running 2 x 150W HQI plus 2 x 38W T8 tubes. For my
taste,
that's just about right, or a little on the bright side. I guess I could
use 3
x HQI
instead, but it would become harder to keep the tank in balance. I
definitely
wouldn't use 4 x 150W for a tank that size.

Even if the tank is 32" tall or deep, I'd probably still not use 4 x 150W,
which would be 3W per gallon. Doable, but maintenance-intensive and very
bright.
At that light level, you need high levels of nutrients and CO2. In turn,
that
means endless pruning, which can be a lot work. Or you can let nutrient
and
CO2 levels drop, but then, at that light level, algae are likely to
get the upper hand. 3 x 150W would still give you ample light, reduce the
amount of maintenance, and allow you to grow even light-hungry plants.

How many bags of flourite should I expect, roughly? (the tank is 72" X
24", and I want 5" front and 8" back)

Seachem recommend 1kg of Fluorite per 200 cm^2 to a depth of 5cm, which
is a complicated way of saying "1kg per liter of substrate." If you want
to
cover
a 72" x 24" area to 5" at the front and 8" at the back, that's 72" x 24" x
6.5".
Allowing for 1/4" glass thickness, that gives you a net volume of 174
liters.
Fluorite is shipped in 7kg bags, so that would be just under 25 bags.

Not cheap. I suspect that you would get equally good results by using,
say,
eight bags of fluorite and top up the remainder with gravel. That's pretty
much
what I did with my tank -- about 30% fluorite, 70% gravel. Plants grow
better than I would like them to :-)

Is there any CO2 reactor available for this size, or I would have to
go for 2 - 3 reactors?

No, a single reactor will do fine. Check out the Aqua Medic Reactor 1000.
You can find it at www.aqua-medic.de. That one is good for up to 500gal
and fits outside the tank, so there is less clutter inside. I'm using that
one
myself and I'm very happy with it. It achieves 100% CO2 solution and
easily plumbs into the output path of a canister filter. You can find
similar
reactor designs from other manufacturers.

Cheers,

Michi.

--
Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com

"Macbrush" wrote in message
...

I still haven't decided on the lighting side, since my current 35gal is on
very bright side, 8+W per gal, I just don't feel very confortable with such
dramatic drop.

8+W per gallon? You are a brave man! :-)

Now I might just go for 3 X 250W HQIs. But then I still have
3 weeks before the new tank is in place, I still have time to think it over
again.

Hmmm... 750W on 200gal is 3.75W/gal. For my taste, that's too much.
But I there are people who do very well with such high light levels,
so I guess it's possible. How often do you have to prune
plants with your 8+ watts?

Cheers,

Michi.

"Michi Henning" wrote in message
...
"Macbrush" wrote in message
...

I still haven't decided on the lighting side, since my current 35gal is
on
very bright side, 8+W per gal, I just don't feel very confortable with
such
dramatic drop.

8+W per gallon? You are a brave man! :-)

Now I might just go for 3 X 250W HQIs. But then I still have
3 weeks before the new tank is in place, I still have time to think it
over
again.

Hmmm... 750W on 200gal is 3.75W/gal. For my taste, that's too much.
But I there are people who do very well with such high light levels,
so I guess it's possible. How often do you have to prune
plants with your 8+ watts?

Cheers,

Michi.



My 2 cents worth. I have a 140 gal Oceanic tanks (48x24x30). It is 30+
inches tall. There is a lot of light loss over the added 6 inch height. Go
for the more wattage. If you wire them on individual switches you can
always turn them off if it turns out to be too much light. I use 4 96watt
CF. I wish I had used 8 55watt bulbs. You will find that the middle gets
the right amount of light but the sides could use more. Position the bulbs
to give you the better coverage.

Buzz

**** Post for FREE via your newsreader at post.usenet.com ****

A friend of mine has two 150W HQI spared, so I am going to 4 X 150W HQI. I
agree that 300W on 35 gal is a bit on the "too bright" side, since I
couldn't plant ANY plants that don't requite very high light without using
things like floating riccia to shade them, not even in the darkest corner of
the tank. I will hang a rail on the top of the tank and mount the lights on
the rail, so I could always add/remove if it beccome necessary.

Pruning... it depends on my mood really, it takes 3 times every fortnight to
get it done properly though.

Thanks for helping
Kenneth

"Buzzard Face" ¦b¶l¥ó
news:mHTac.36756$_U.16363@lakeread05 ¤¤¼¶¼g...

"Michi Henning" wrote in message
...
"Macbrush" wrote in message
...

I still haven't decided on the lighting side, since my current 35gal
is
on
very bright side, 8+W per gal, I just don't feel very confortable with
such
dramatic drop.

8+W per gallon? You are a brave man! :-)

Now I might just go for 3 X 250W HQIs. But then I still have
3 weeks before the new tank is in place, I still have time to think it
over
again.

Hmmm... 750W on 200gal is 3.75W/gal. For my taste, that's too much.
But I there are people who do very well with such high light levels,
so I guess it's possible. How often do you have to prune
plants with your 8+ watts?

Cheers,

Michi.



My 2 cents worth. I have a 140 gal Oceanic tanks (48x24x30). It is 30+
inches tall. There is a lot of light loss over the added 6 inch height.
Go
for the more wattage. If you wire them on individual switches you can
always turn them off if it turns out to be too much light. I use 4 96watt
CF. I wish I had used 8 55watt bulbs. You will find that the middle gets
the right amount of light but the sides could use more. Position the
bulbs
to give you the better coverage.

Buzz






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