210 reef tank setup

The Gray Phantom · Feb 5, 2017

Im looking at a 210 gallon tank that I would make a reef tank. I have a 55 and 12 gallon reef tanks right now this is just an upgrade. What tank would you recommended? Are the NYOS skimmers that good for their price or is the Bubble Magus just as good? For lighting which would work best
2 Kessil AP 700 or 3 AI Hydra 52 HD I would like to have clams,elegance coral, scolys, plates, and open brains on the sand bed. I would hang the lights 4"-6" above the water. About how many pounds of live rock would I need? And sand. Are Jebao pumps any good? Thankyou

sbash · Feb 5, 2017

Yup. Do it.

The NYOS skimmer look pretty nice. I use an AquaMaxx Cone S3 on my 220 and it does a great job. Granted, my bio-load is light...

For the LED fixtures, I would be wary of any that does not specifically list the quanty and spectrum of each LED in their hardware. On that note, the Hydra is very heavy on the reds (and greens); too much for my taste. I have taken to building my own LED fixtures and could not be happier with the results. I would go more into detail, but it will likely bore you. What I will say, however, (aside from do as much reading on using LEDs on a reef as possible) the spread is very important. Both of these fixtures use, essentially, a puck (like a cluster) of LEDs, personally, I would go for a fixture with 80-90 degree lenses and the LEDs spread out (like the Aquatic Life XS-UV series). There is a good article on here somewhere comparing a few different styles, but I cannot find it right now...

In my 220G, I doubt I have more than a couple hundred punds of rock. My refugium has probably 40lbs. I started with much less, but my tank is tall, so I had to add a bunch more rocks to fill the space(30% more perhaps). I have found, in most cases, we need less rock than we want... I doubt the 1.5-2 lbs per gallon is actually accurate. It is unlikely that I have over 300 lbs of rock in my system.

The Gray Phantom · Feb 10, 2017

Thankyou

PatW · Feb 11, 2017

It depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

As for rock, many people are going for a minimal rock scape. But what you use would be determined by your plans for aquascape. The kind of rock you use also figures in. You would need less weight in a not very dense rock. You also need to consider the number of platforms you want for coral placement and the number of hiding spots your fish will need. Often your goals will conflict (I want minimal aquascape and lots of coral platforms) with each other so you need to compromise. I have less than 1 lb per gallon and I have plenty of rock ... probably more than I need.

I have hydra 52. They each have 2 green and 2 red LEDs. It isn't that much but I don't know how useful they are. They are nice lights. You can fool with them to get the look you want. And they program well. I go more with a white look while most reefers like a really blue dominant cast to their lighting. Each light has 2 pucks with 26 LEDs each. This causes the light to concentrated and not as even as one might want. There are plenty of other LED lights out there.

As to the skimmer, I have a Super Reef Octopus 5000 on a 300 gallon and it works fine. It does well with carbon dosing if I want to lower nitrates. I have heard of the other skimmers you mentioned but I have no experience with them. My SRO uses a gate valve for adjustment. Even using a gate valve, it does not take much adjustment to have a big effect. Also you want a skimmer that uses a good pump. If you can, see if you can see the skimmer you want in action.