FarmerTy

Pm'ed

Hey Max, I do but it's in a sad state right now. Kind of got kicked on the sand in lieu of all my SPS. I moved it back up so hopefully it starts looking good again soon. Check back with me in a couple months and I could probably frag you a small piece. -Ty

Max, they are green button polyps.

What we need here is someone with an established SPS tank who ran MH or T5s and had amazing colors to start with, then switch to LED and had the same result or even better with LED as far as growth and coloration is considered. I know most are newer to SPS, including myself, and went straight to LED or quickly went to LED so haven't really seen first hand stable coloration from other technologies over their tank besides LED. Closest comparison I have is the showtank at aquatek. I thought it was stunning when they ran just MH but when they switched to LED, I was far less impressed. I don't know if they had other spectrums like the reds, UV, and green in their LEDs but I did not like the look of the tank after they switched. I would have liked to have seen Tim's tank (wizard) with LEDs over it (longterm... not just really quick). He had amazing coloration and he used a combo of 400 watt MH and T5. Didn't someone like Don Duncan or someone else who had a great SPS collection switch from MH to LED within the last year? Wonder how their tank looks now. I just remember someone had their tank half lit with LED s and the other half with MHs for a brief transition period before fully going LED. -Ty

Another thing to think about with possible heat issues is not just the amount added to the system through lighting but even the pumps. I did the equivalent of that experiment when mixing salt with a mag pump and closing the lid to the brute trashcan. I swear I could have made a nice soup out of the salt mix at the temperature it was at. My advice is to get a bigger topoff reservoir, or automate the filling of the container. I ran my lines straight from my RO unit to the reservoir... all I do is flip the switch once a week and presto... its full again. I like to keep it someone manual (the switch) so that I don't accidentally flood my house... with a shutoff float valve as backup for my lack of a memory. -Ty

I don't know what type of lighting you run but with the metal halide/T5 combo I run, I appreciate the evaporation as it cools my tank. Just mentioning so that you can think about possible heat issues resulting from lowering your evaporation issue. -Ty

However more common these days... still one of my favorites. King midas

TTT

Not to volunteer a sponsor but you may want to inquire with River City Aquatics. I believe Wizard used one of their troughs during his tank move from the 90-gal to the 190-gal. -Ty

Can't even cut a guy a break on his birthday? Haha. Thanks all for the birthday wishes and thanks Chad and Belinda for being the arbiters of birthday appreciations on ARC!

Don't worry... that small piece will become a colony in no time! Trust the community on that one! If you plan to not let it take over the tank, try to keep it isolated on certain rocks only... though sometimes they will break off pieces and float them in the tank to more fruitful locations. I think we all started with a sincere fascination of the pulsing motion and some don't care for its invasiveness while others enjoy it throughout their tank.

+1 on temp. Mine is usually about 81-83... though I would recommend most keep it around 78-80 if possible. -Ty

Oops, didn't realize you had a build thread going already. I was already bugging you for more details about your setup in your introduction post. Sounds like a nice setup you got there! -Ty

bump

Yeah, just let us know what you have to bring down (coral/fish-wise... pictures would be great) and we can try to make the move as smooth as possible for your tank inhabitants. -Ty

I moved from SoCal to Austin with my nanocube. Granted it was tiny and all I had were softies and a monti or two but it came out fine after a 24hr drive. I figured at the time if you can ship corals overnight and they are fine, no different then driving them overnight. The main issue would be to have a ready and cycled tank in Austin for the corals. Maybe you can pay a LFS to hold corals for you once you arrive and can cycle a tank.

Hi 10gReef, These are moguls (SE - single end) that are for sale. I just mentioned the DE because that is what I switched to and don't need the SE anymore. Let me know. I am available Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon. -Ty

My money is always on the RBTA winning... unless its against a powerhead. I would clear the path of destruction until it settles somewhere and is happy. They typically like to attach their foot in a crevice and extend outwards towards the light. -Ty

I switched to DE last year and have these unused bulbs sitting around. $30 takes them... save you shipping and then some. -Ty

+1 Epoxy would blow up any skimmer. I'd be more worried if it didn't blow your skimmer up. I had a reef octopus in my 65-gallon. Was a big fan of the skimmer. -Ty

Oh for sure. If you had a choice of beef jerky or a ribeye,.. I don't know about you but I'm eating me some ribeye!

Congrats on the pods! Just a heads up, in a 24g, the mandarin would destroy your pod collection in about a week or two. They constantly eat and there is no way you could possibly keep up with their appetite in a 24g. Unless you intend to buy pods on a monthly basis from one of the online retailers. If you want one, get either an ORA mandarin that feeds on non-live food or get a spotted mandarin (the green one with target-looking markings on them). They usually take to non-live food more readily.

Hippo tangs are the biggest chickens of the sea. Leave him alone and he'll start associating you with food. He'll still be the first to run at the first sign of danger but after awhile he'll be much more used to you.

I was gonna say... hold up the bandwagon real quick and look into the issue first. There are many discussions out there pro or con for a grounding probe. Let's take a look at the topic a bit. It's not just as simple as grounding probe = path for current to exit my tank. I'm no electrician and hopefully someone with more knowledge of this will chime in. Richard linked a couple of good articles there. Let the discussion begin! -Ty

+1 Yeah, Roland has some great, easy-to-keep SPS in his tank.