Starting a tank

[iVirus]

I am intending to redo my 3ft tank.

And I have a few question in mind.

1) Thinking to go bare bottom. Any views?

2) Changing my current tank 3 x 2 x 2 to 3 x 2 x 1.5 as I preffered Longish look.

3) By changing the height from 2 to 1.5, will the Max spec 230W Cree with lens be too strong?

personal view i think shouldnt be of any difference for the top since the light is of the same distance away from the water.

most likely the diff will be bottom.

[BFG]

Confirm too strong. You need to hang it higher.

[iVirus]

Confirm too strong. You need to hang it higher.

I intend to go mainly SPS.

If currently my light is at 'X' mm above water level.

By reducing the height of the tank, the light is still 'x' mm above the water, for the top part, it shouldnt be of any difference right?

The main diff will only be at the bottom of the tank if I am thinking correctly.

Is there anything i am missing here?

[tench1]

Bare bottom is nice!

However, you will face some problems such as;

1. Choice of fishes. (Fishes that sleep inside, will have problem hiding.)

2. Constant KH replensihing. (NO sand, means, your KH will go down constantly without replenishing)

3. Dirt/debris can be very obvious. (If you are a "clean freak", you might not want to do this)

4. Barebottom means no sand/chips to protect your base from falling huge rocks.

Advantage will be;

1. Clean look.

2. Dirt/debris can be easily removed.

3. you can see your fishes most of the time.

4. When you decomm, its easier and faster

my humble opinions. HTH.

[bellinayu]

My opinion on:

1. Do u intend to keep any wrasses or gobies that need sandbed such as leopard, radiant wrasses...?

Sand bed do give a natural feel so I prefer my tank with sand bed. Some people (ESP sps keepers) go without because they are afraid of sand storm. I know of people who put different sizes of sand in their low and high flow areas.

2. Yr light fixture is mounted to yr tank and not ceiling mounted right? Yr sps on the top doing alright or do u think they need more light? U can take this opportunity to change the scape to give you more top real estate space for more light demanding acros. I always find lacking of top real estate space. Yr lps corals at the bottom might bleach a bit if the lights are too strong due to change of light intensity so if you can put some in shade first would be good. As for the placement of corals, it's very much test and adjust accordingly. Yr bottom space are normally left for bn, monti, digi. In my opinion, the 1.5 ft height is very ideal for keeping sps.

[tunicate]

Just extend your existing hood downwards by 6" & it becomes a 3 x 2 x 1.5.

[iVirus]

@ tench1: the kh thing is something I am unaware of.

Iusing dosing method maybe that will help me out abit.

@ bellinayu: dont intend to keep those fish u mention. Idea to go 1.5 mainly is to keep even sps at mid level to close to bottom level if possible as u have mntion top space always limited.

@ tunicate: don't quite understand what u were saying. I am using internal overflow. I assume ur input was meant to be a joke? Or I am missing something u are referring?

[iVirus]

@ tunicate: I think I get what u mean. U meant to make te hood thicker to give the long look. But I rather change te tank dimension as mention earlier so I can place sps even at mid level .

[Solo77]

Hi bro, apart from yr tank size, u need to consider yr cabinet height to suit yr viewing pleasure. That will also determine yr Height for lightset. IMO, if u going for sps and less fish or minimum, u might want to consider placing thin layer of sand or coral chip so it looks natural either front or top view. Having coral chip as top layer, heard from some snr reefers will stable yr pH. Also if u using zeovit, having sandbed may be encouraged.

[tunicate]

@ tunicate: I think I get what u mean. U meant to make te hood thicker to give the long look. But I rather change te tank dimension as mention earlier so I can place sps even at mid level .

Yes, that's what I meant, although it's an unconventional easy way out to achieve the look you want. Hey, but I can see advantages to that:

(1) You don't need to sacrifice a reduction of water volume.

(2) Like what bro BFG said "Confirm too strong. You need to hang it higher." Now you don't have to.

However, I guess these may not be important considerations. Just go ahead & do what you want.

[iVirus]

1)

Change this scaping because there is a dark corner at the left side which i find wasted alot of space.

2)

Looking back, I like this scaping. Forgot why i changed.

3)

Change this as the coral is too high up and limited space.

4)

My current scaping.

Got this from the below link which i find the scaping i like best.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1767159&page=31

Which Rock Scape do you prefer? Or none is nice?

[Solo77]

If sps set, last one.

[iVirus]

If sps set, last one.

the last one refer to the current set up or the link i posted?