65g Marineland tank build w/ Pics

Can be hit or miss with the sixline, as you probably know. I have just seen so many having to re-home or send theirs back to the fish store.

As far as the Tang, family or not, it will outgrow that tank as I hope you know. They can and will get up to 12" long! There is fully grown one in a boarding tank at my LFS, and it is a BIG fish. In that size tank, it will barely have room to turn around, without any rocks! Next time I go I will have to take a picture so people can see how truly large these can get.

As mentioned there are plenty of awesome fish you can stock the tank with though. Just no tangs

And as far as LED lighting, I do think there has been quite a bit or research done. There are plenty that have LED fixtures that have measured PAR. I am not an expert, but I believe that 0.2W LEDs do not have enough power to penetrate to the bottom of a 24" tank. Lumens do not accurately measure usable light.

I would personally like to see why you feel this light will be good for coral growth, as it goes against where the rest of the hobby is going in terms of LED lighting. So don't take any of this the wrong way, as I am still learning what works in this hobby and what doesn't, including lighting.

 

ok, I will weigh in on the tang.....I know people are concerned regarding keeping certain tangs in certain size tanks. This is my input.....some tangs grow faster than others but it does typically take tang quite a bit of time to get to full size and sometimes, if kept in smaller surroundings (in tanks) the growth doesn't necessarily get to the size it would in nature. If a tang looks healthy and has swimming room, is eating, and the owner understands that once it outgrows the tank, it needs to rehomed, I don't see the issue. Now, a tang that needs a lot of swimming room like a clown tang and I'm sure there are others, that's a different story - you should start in a very large tank from the beginning. I also think that a 20 is too small for blue tang but if it's 3 inches long now, I don't think there is harm in keeping it in a 60 until it gets to a point where rehousing it is obvious.

 

The problem as I see it is that people get the fish when they are tiny with all the intentions of upgrading or re-homing. However, as in the OP case, after some time they get quite attached and do not want to get rid of their family member. Upgrades never happen, the fish outgrows the tank and eventually succumb to the effects of this, whether it is just a bad quality of life, disease, aggression, or some combination in between.

I am a strong believer in only buying fish that are suitable for the tank they are going in. This is to protect the fish from the well intentioned owners. We have a responsibility to do the best we can to provide a long, and quality life for these creatures

Edit: this is in no way directed at the OP saying they are being irresponsible. This is more about trying to get the hobby to be a place where all hobbyists are informed enough to make good decisions.

 

Thanks for the comments.

On the matter of the check valve, I 100% agree about check valves failing and that is the reason why I got the GF check valve. With a GF check valve, I can completely dissemble the whole unit and clean it. Yes, I agree that the anti siphon break should do its thing on my drain kit but after 8 years in the Army, I believe in back-up plans (back-up plans kept me alive) and that's why I chose to go this route because I always believe in the what-ifs lol.

About the pump... I am really confused. I'm not sure if you think this pump is self adjusting (variable speed return pump). This pump is only one speed no matter what it is attached to. This pump will run at 100% all the time (same voltage) no matter what, unless, you could control the amount of voltage that the pump can receive. Thus why I stated that adding a valve to try and control the pump will prematurely (over time) kill the pump. Since I can't control the continues voltage going to the pump, I added a return tee to allow water back into the sump. I hope this helps on why I added that extra tee and it allows for easy water changes ;D.

 

I run a check valve on my return line as well. They are not a waste, however they should only be used when you know that if they do fail, it will not overflow your sump.

 

Thanks for the comment and thanks for looking out for the fish too.

I know that the Tang grows to 12 inches or a whopping 1 foot (Disney fans will understand that joke, jungle cruise) but I understand the responsibilities that come with, just like serving in the Army. The reason why I am upgrading to my 65g is because of my Tang. A happy note, I have friends at SeaWorld that would take my fish off my hands when she gets to that size. They definitely wont have a problem with tank size. Again, thank you for the concern of fish in the hobby .

LEDs...

Yes, there has been a lot of research on LED lights and PAR has been tested but all researchers came up with the same conclusion and hypothesized that unless all manufacturers make the LED light fixtures exactly the same, all results will be inconclusive to another. In another words, LEDs are made all completely different from another LED even though they might look the same to us. That's why we have to trust what the manufacturers tell us on what that light fixture can do.

About the 0.2W LED light fixture I have, that is a test of mine that I will conduct and rate the performance on how well coral growth takes place. I also own a 1W LED light fixture as well and that will be used during my experiment of mine. I will keep everyone up to date on that when my 65g tank is up and running. I will be taking a still shot (once a week) for one year and making sure all parameters are in balance as well (everything will be documented). It will be lots of fun and I will be happy to share my findings on this forum.

Thanks again for reading my thread and I hope that you keep reading on the status of my build. I enjoy sharing my knowledge and why I am doing things the way I am.

 

By my original post I wasn't knocking leds I was just saying for that fixture its not good enough for lps. I had a 3 watt fixture and I fried a bunch of stuff. I'd be surprised that if marine land didn't say that the one watt fixture was fish only

 

Well good stuff, I will be following along to see your growth with the lights. Unfortunately LPS growth can easily vary by how much they are fed. I believe well fed LPS in subpar lighting may still grow comparable to never spot fed, very well lit LPS. If you could get your hands on a PAR meter, that would tell most, if not the entire, story and end all speculation.

 

Thanks for the comment and that is ,as well, will be on what I document. Feeding is a major role in this experiment and plays a large part, just like lighting. In a mater of fact, a PAR meter will be used but unfortunately all manufactures make LED light fixtures completely different, thus , can't be compared to another LED light fixture unless it is from the same manufacturer. Remember, each different manufacturer uses different technology and why results will be inconclusive to another manufacturer of a similar LED light.

I will test other LED lights as time passes by but I have to work with what I own unless local reefers were able to chip in and allow me to test LEDs that are running on their system.

Bottom line...
I will post my findings and test results on each manufacturer and let the reader decided if that certain manufacture LED light fixture is for them. My hopes of helping out this forum and Reefers are a big one but I think it will make for a good conversation piece and will make this forum really grow.

 

+karma for this