Grog

Pictures as of today. Will post new pictures in a few weeks. There will be a bit of re-arranging next week.

First under actinics, because that is the only time the GSP is closed. Got this chunk and another from sifuentes31 right at 2 months ago. The picture shows what I glued on, then the red outline is what is new growth in two months.

Next up is the left side of the tank. Big gorgonian is visible and my purple death colony that I got from Jeeper Ty about a year ago. These almost withered away to nothing in my old tank. I had forgotten about them but they bounced-back under the halides.

Center of the tank, the clowns 'nest', the silver gorgonian, and paly grandis here. Mono argentus being camera hams. They are really fun fish. Heavy eaters.

And the right side. Dual frogspawn colonies, bubble coral, and yellow tunicates covering rocks. A small flash of the orchid dottyback.

Sump/fuge full view, this started as two pints when I bought it. the right side is kind of bare because I harvested some caulerpa two weeks ago.

The caulerpa forest

A gorgonian frag that I put in the sump to see how it does.

We added an Ottoman in front of the tank. It opens up on top and we keep the linens for the sleeper sofa in there. Binkie stays on the Ottoman as the dog has claimed this has her spot.

I added the UV is mainly to kill algae in the water column and it with the eheim will provide water polishing. Trying to get crystal clear water and hoping for less glass scraping.

Updated my main build thread listing today with my gear and live stock changes..

Added a UV sterilizer and re-added the Eheim canister. Eheim canister is for a bit of water polishing and the pump feeds the UV filter. Water is clearing up nicely.

Will take some photos tomorrow.

I've been using the 250w 20k DE bulbs for about 4 months now. Color is great and all my critters like 'em. I run 3X over my tank for 6 hours a day. Plusrites are a pretty good deal IMO.

I think running heat in the house dries out the air and increases evap. Mine is using more now than when the AC was running.

Not sure if you are dead-set on T5 or not, but peek around on the forum some. Lots of halide fixtures for sale now. A single halide over that tank, would be plenty of light, relatively inexpensive, and give you the capability of growing almost anything you choose.

Red slime and green algae. Will be Christmas colors, even with lights. Coal instead of carbon in the filter socks. This thread is seasonal!

$100 for the pair? If so, I'll take them.

Ballasts? I'm interested.....

Are these DE or mogul? Ballasts? Pic?

You are most welcome. That tank looks really good. Crazy how those clowns hang out in the clam and the clam tolerates that nonsense.

This is a cool thread. Good luck man. Corals look great.

In my experience, they reproduce quickly. I got 2000 from the same vendor 2 months ago and pods are everywhere in my tank. If I pull algae from the teeth on my overflow: pods. When I cut back the caulerpa: pods. When I change the carbon bag: pods. Sometimes you have to go and look for them but they really do start to pop up everywhere.

When I got my order of pods in, they went straight to the fuge/sump. Over time enough have been slowly blown through the return and are in the DT now. Was making a video last night and one was buzzing around the plate coral I was trying to film. I think that was a case of an animal being annoying Usually, they like to hide. They are food and know it!

I'm in agreement with Subsea. While I use an inverse photoperiod, my sump/fuge gets a 12 hour light cycle. Pods and caulerpa a plenty so I would say light is not detrimental to them.

Now the question is: Do they reproduce quickly enough to keep up with the mandarin's appetite? I've wanted a mandarin for quite some time, and I've put off the purchase in the hopes of building up my pod population. (That and I had other things higher on my priority list.) I've wondered if I'll have to periodically buy pods to beef up my local population, or if they will reproduce enough to keep up with it. So, I'm watching your progress with the mandarin. Interesting to me.

My guess is that I do have enough and they will repopulate and keep up, but I've been wrong about many things in this hobby in the past. Lots of surprises

Either is fine. Each meeting is a case-by-case evaluation for me based on other things, not a set schedule.

Welcome aboard. Looking forward to your build thread. We like pictures.

I tend to stock low as far as fish go. I'd say add nothing. 72g you have a lot of fish in that tank... Let them grow larger and enjoy their space. You have more stuff in QT moving into your display soon. Let it settle out and let everyone find their place.

That is my official advice..

But if I were a wild man..... A nice dwarf angel would be my choice, keeping in mind that, angels are individuals and behave differently.

I'm in the 'it depends' category. My sump/fuge has very high mono-directional flow, so no power head. But in a more gentle flow system, I can see where it may need some circulation in a certain zone.

Don't feel bad about the chaeto.... For the record, I kill chaeto. My best guess is that the caulerpa out competes it for resources and it dies a slow death.

Cool videos and nice wave. At some point I'll try one of these out myself.

+1 on Netgear routers. Have a dual-channel one and love it. Our current tests here are( 21.39 Mbps download and 1.45 Mbps upload)

Also +1 on the TWC equipment. I had to reboot the modem/router at least once a month. I don't have to do that with AT&T but like every 4-6 months and power outage usually takes care of that for me

I agree with Bpb on this.

Go 2 Blue+ and 2 Coral+, good color mix and they will provide better output.

I don't want to be 'that guy', but on a 150 I think 4 T-5 is a bit underpowered. Maybe 6-8 T5 is more in line? That depends on your goals and the dimensions of your tank though. If you have the space, are dead-set on T5, and need the light. (all big ifs)

If so, then adding another 4 bulb fixture, bringing your total to 8 would be beneficial IMO. You will have more PAR, more control over color, more control over duration, etc. 8 bulbs I'd go 3 Blue +, 2 Actinic, 3 Coral +, all being ATI, but I could be tempted to mix a Purple + in when using an 8 bulb array, swapping it for an actinic.

BTW: I'm intentionally not listing other lighting choices (LED, halide, etc) and sticking to T5 as that is what you inquired about.

Ah I remember that video now. Saw it a couple days ago. I stand behind my current recommendation. 2 blue+ 2 coral+ for the win. Plenty of red. Lots of par. Not overly blue. If you get crazy with sps consider changin to a 6-8 bulb fixture in the future

Here in Bastrop, for some odd reason, we have choices. We have Uverse fiber and are heavy internet users (multiple devices streaming and games etc). No overages have ever been applied.

We are on the "UVerse Max Plus" internet plan if that helps any.

I work from home, via the web 3 days a week, so having a good connection is important. This has been pretty reliable IMO.

Good suggestions in this thread. http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/27659-4-bulb-t5ho-combo/?hl=bulb

Not sure if you have other lights in addition to T5 on your tank or if you want supplements for other sources.

I'm running 4 ATI actinic as supplements for my halides right now, wanted more pop and less PAR as the halides are plenty. If I were running T5 alone, I would recommend different bulbs. Let us know a little more about your tank size, inhabitants, other lighting, etc.

Grog

Thinking more and looking at them more... It could very well be damaged frogspawn tissue and the colors are appearing more intense when not inflated. Strange. I wonder who did that

Could be, the shape is similar but much smaller and I see no damaged heads. Plus the color is way more vivid than the colonies I have. Do they spit out 'babies'?

Agree! My intent is to do nothing to my sand. There are a ton of things in there moving, sifting, filtering, and stirring it for me. I see little puffs like geysers all the time. Snails, worms, crabs. I would assume it could go on auto-pilot for as long as you have a good crew on board, and I'm having a go at it!

Vic,

...

If you have the correct clean up crew, you shouldn't ever have to vacuum your sand.

...

And never vacuuming sand, it just removes your sand. You accomplish nothing really.

I do remote DSB in my sump. I tell visitors, non-reefers, that my sump is a sacrificial tank to make the main tank work. It is the liver of my system. I have large grain sand and due to the design, I cannot mess with it without some effort. My sump/DSM is on auto-pilot.

i have a hang on back refugium. But debated using it as a dsb, because it would be a pain to service it. How long can you run you dsb on auto pilot?
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