medi

Tough to tell for sure from the pic. Maybe snail eggs?

TTT

Not at this point in time. I'm going to let everyone else be the guinea pig for LEDs before I invest in such an expensive tech. I don't like the way the current fixture distributes the lighting around the tank. I have almost no light in the back, very little in the front, and a blindingly bright spot in the center. My current fixture has very small reflectors so I am building a new hanging canopy that will house 2x250 MH Lumenarc Minis and 4 x39W T5s in hopes to diffuse the light across the entire tank. I've kind of gotten lazy here recently so I haven't been working on it much though.

Does anyone have a Tunze nano wavebox that I could borrow for a couple of hours? Due to the shape of my tank I'm thinking about adding a second nano box and want to see what difference it would make. Thanks

Well I wish I could say there was something to update. Everything is just slowly growing along. I'm going to change lighting soon so we'll be updating with pics and more details then. For now how about a few crummy iPhone pics. Sorry I couldn't do better I was running out the door when I took these.

Early Sunday afternoon should work. I've got some stuff to do I. The evening.

I can lend a hand just about any time this weekend.

6-7-11

Maintaining proper water conditions is the best way to prevent nitrates, but if you already have the problem then the best way to eleviate the situation is with frequent water changes. I would change 20%/week until you get the NO3 to a range you're comfortable with. Also, are you skimming? If not then I would suggest investing in a good protein skimmer and skim heavily. Lastly, watch how much, quantity and frequency, that you are feeding your fish. Too much food equal high NO3.

I know exactly what you are talking about. I have never seen the API kit say anything but 0.5 Nitrites. As stated before it's unreliable at best. I wouldn't worry to much about it.

Fishy stole my answer....The only way my wife would like my tank is if it was being carried out of the front door. I've tried all of the above with no success. To quote the Mrs. "I love your tank, I just want to love it at someone else's house." Although, I do have an idea that would work. Figure out a way to make this hobby cheap, and I mean dirt cheap. Then she might like it.

Thanks Matt. I actually have everything you would need to control it wirelessly too. I'd sell both the class 1 bluetooth dongle and the Bluetooth serial adapter for $50. These are both basically brand new and cost over 75.

Sorry this was supposed to be $110.

I run the lumatek dimmable 400/250w ballast with 12k reflex bulbs. I love the combination. The light has a good hint of blue closer to the 14k Phoenix, but I get the growth of a 12k bulb.

I have an AC2 for sale that works great. I'm only selling because I just bought an AC3 off of RC. This is the backlit model. I will include the AC2 head unit, temp. probe, and AC adapter. I have a DC8 for it, but it has a short in it and everytime you plug it in it will flip the breaker in your house. I have contacted Neptune. They said if it just needs to have one plug replaced then it will be $50 plus shipping to have it repaired. $120

Keep in mind that you really don't need the cables adjusted at all four corners, rather you just need to be able to adjust the mid point where it attaches to the ceiling. Once you have the midpoint centered it should be able to tighten to keep it fixed there. I have this one and it looks nice, simple, and is awesome. Height is adjustable but not something you'd want to do every day (you have to offset the fixture weight while you adjust it) kit I use Take a look here for other options: hanging kits The kit you use looks like it could work well for what I need, but marinedepot doesn't really give any details about it. How long are the horizontal cables? My fixture is over 24" wide so I need one with longer cables. I thing. Thanks

That sounds exactly like what I want. Keep me in mind if you happen to remember.

It's still not full?? What size RO unit are you running? 25GPD? I filled my 100 in just over a day.

I am building a new hanging lighting fixture for my tank. I am going to suspend the fixture with 1/8" steel cable. As you can see in my horrible sketch I am going to have two cables attached to the ceiling, and then each cable is going to split and connect at four points on the frame of the fixture. I need the fixture to be able to adjust vertically so I can raise the lights off of the tank, and I also want the cables to be easily adjusted at the four connection points on the frame so that I can easily level the fixture. Also, this is in my living room so it needs to look aesthetically pleasing or else my wife might kill me. I've got a few different ideas of how I'd like to accomplish this, but I wanted to throw this out there and see what everyone else's thoughts are. I am open to all ideas so throw it out there. Thanks

Thanks again for the awesome frags.

i'm glad to hear there is going to be another tank similar to mine in the area. I have a 36x37x18 semi cube. I have tried several different lighting options over my tank and haven't been happy yet. I first wen with a single 250 with pc hanging fixture, but i didn't like all the shadows it created around the tank. I think you would have the same problem with a single 400 or 1000. Also, i'm not sure how your aquascape will be but i have a central lr island and with the single light it created one extremely bright spot in the middle or the rockscape that would get cooked by the intense light. I then changed to a hanging fixture with 2x250 mh and 2x39 t5s. I really like the fixture, but i'm still not getting the spread front to back like I would like to see. I think stephen hit the nail on the head when he said 4x150s in a canopy, but if you're like me you don't want to build a huge fixture to hang over your tank and ruin the asthetics. My next attempt is still the 2x250 mh, but i'm changing to lumenarc mini reflectors to hopefully spread the light out better. I have built a hanging fixture that matches my stand perfectly. In the end it will be a hanging fixture with 2x250 lumenarc MH powered by lumatek dimmable 400/250 mh ballasts, and 4x39W T5s in individual reflectlors for actinic supplementation that will be driven by an icecap 660 ballast. This will all be hanging and hopefully will not ruin the rimless look of my tank. If you'd like to come by and see my current light versus my new light so you can get some ideas feel free to swing by. That way you can do it right the first time.

If you're willing to go the diy route then you might check out Avast Marines new diy cone skimmer. I've read a lot of great reviews about it and it's supposed to be relatively simple to put together. Also, the price is awesome. If you want to go pre built you might consider checking out the SWC skimmers. I have the Xtreme Mini Cone S on my 100g and I absolutely love it. Their quality and customer service are both excellent too.

I actually have never gone. I have just reaped the benefits of other members trips. Though I know a lot of people go to the jettis at Port A. I believe you go at night and shine a flashlight along the rocks. You'll see their little eyes reflecting and you can just scoop them up with a net. Like I said though I've never been so I'm not 100% sure. You might start a new thread to get everyone's experience that have actually gone before.