caferacermike

Sand was a big concern for me. I have a RO/DI 6 stage. Was planning to have about 20g ready mixed and use the rest from his tank. I have many brand new 50g Brute cans with wheels to help. I can't afford another 40g and sand right now on my budget (just bought a lot of lighting equipment and oh yeah a 6 stage RO/DI unit) He lives in Leander and I live in Central Austin. What if I went back bare bottom for awhile to help stave off cycling? I could always add plenty of sand later and it's always best to have your rock on the bottom of the tank instead of resting on the sand.

Arrested? Nah. It's more like wife decided to serve him with seperation papers cause he wouldn't buy her a Mercedes. She doesn't work and would be legally able to live for free in the house he bought for months on end while she decides what will make her happy. He's been down that road before. He is serving her with divorce papers instead. All of his stuff is going to be hauled out to his new place before she has a chance to smash, break, sell any of it.

But really I need advice cause I fear this tank will crash.

Let's just say a friend of mine is moving out of his house under bad terms.

I set up a nice 40g for him about 9 months back. All is well with the tank. He wishes for me to set up his tank and take care of it while he takes care of a lot of grown up issues.

Any advice as to what I should take into account if I have to head to his house Sat night around midnite and take instant possession of his tank? I'd have about an hour to drain yank and get.

Couple of clowns, lobster, shrimps, brittle stars, hundreds of snails, hammers, torch, gonoporia, zoos, 60 lbs live sand, 50 lbs live rock.

Ok so I have 12k PC bulbs, dual bulbs and full actinics to choose from.

It sounds like I should lean towards the Pheonix with either 12k or dual PC's. So XM's aren't all they are cracked up to be? It seems that some are fanatics of the brand.

I'm really just looking for growth. I've had my tank up for a year now and have also gotten a lot of SPS frags. I want the tank to begin filling in. The fixture I bought originally had 2x 150w 20k and 2x 96w dual pc's. My corals thrived and lived but did not grow and multiply much. It was when I was going to replace the 150's with 10k bulbs that I decided to go ahead and switch out to 250's.

Hey folks I got my new Icecap 250w ballasts today. I'm planning to order my reflectors by Friday this week from Hellolights as they seem to have the "perfect" plain ol reflector and socket DIY set up that I need. Basically I'm taking a fixture that came with 2x 150 HQI and retrofitting them to 2x 250w and want it all to look the same when finished.

So Hellolights offers these bulbs,

http://www.hellolights.com/25hqid.html

Those bulbs being,

Aqualine

Coralife

Hamilton

Ushio

XM

Pheonix.

Now I'm not sure what I've heard but it was something about Ushio bulbs being driven better with Sodium ballasts. I've heard a lot of people like the dual output from Pheonix 14K and they like the cost. I'm tinkering with the XM 10K. I don't know about Aqualine and wonder if it's worth $90 a bulb. I've been told to stay away from coralife but not a solid answer as to why. Hamilton seems to be the all around under dog in the lighting world. Always there, no hype and low prices.

I'm leaning towards 10K as I have 2x 96w 48" PC bulbs in both Dual 12k/actinics and super actinics (meaning I have about 8 full sets of PC bulbs I can choose from as I bought tons of them when I got my fixture). I have been filling my tank with a lot of SPS frags and that's why I am changing my bulb wattage and spectrums.

Give me ideas and why. $150 is some coin for 2 lightbulbs and since I am already going into the $500 range for this project I want to get it right the first time.

The Dude is right. Silica sand will cause diametaceous algae blooms as they live off the silicates.

I've heard numerous reports about overskimming but one point keeps coming up, when the water is clean it will stop producing. Plain and simple.

What day or days are you going? Looking for hitch hikers with boats?

frog fishes for me.

If you can find and live clams or oysters I'd like them to start a filter feeding colony in my fuge.

I've been wanting to get down that way for months and try collecting. A friend of mine said that my kayaks would be perfect for navigating the estuaries and I want to try it so bad. He said I'd be able to grab large clumps of seaweed and I'd find all kinds of pipe fishes, sea horses, triggers, and frog fishes.

Best of luck.

Watch the rocks carefully. Using cements and such can leach out lime and other metals into your water. Also could cause huge shifts in PH. I applaud you for making your own rock but as many many threads about doing so say to rinse the rock everday for months. I have always loved the tip about placing it the holding tank for your toilets, it will rinse the rock everytime you flush.

PICS......... Wanna hold a class? I've seen a member on Maast offer to hold a class for $25 a person. Local would be much better.

Check that 69 gallon that Reef1 has been trying to sell on MAAST for about 2 months. I'd bet he will make a great deal on it.

Welcome to arc.

I'm wondering if we have to be members of his forum to view pics?

<<<<<<< My avatar is the best pic I have ever taken with my Kodak 6.1. I can't take a whole tank shot to save my life.

I have some loose zoos in dif colors, maybe a red mushroom here or there. Some kenyan tree that frags all the time. Might find a nice color button polyp.

I would like some. I noticed you are fragging a colt. I have a Kenyan Tree that has been shedding branches like crazy. That stuff grows as fast as Colt.

Killeen really isn't that far with a promise of dinner.

So far this looks to be the best TOTM of any site.

Volunteers to help write and edit descriptions and text and a volunteer to offer photography services of the winners tank to make the TOTM display pic really shine. I think the idea of having a star photographer help with the display pic is what could really set our clubs TOTM apart from any others. And if we agree that the winner had an option to host us for a monthly meet and greet the pictures could be taken then. Of course winners would not be obligated to show their tanks but it would be nice to see TOTM tanks at the house the month they win.

I'm willing to help anyway that I can. I can't type, I have bad grammar and I swear a lot so I wouldn't be a good editor. My photography skills could only get me nominated and that's why I came up with the idea of having a photgrapher help with the final pics.

Andrew I am totally jealous of your problem. None of my brains ever extend sweepers. I think it's because I feed heavy and therfore they do not feel it is necessary to send them out.

Seahorse I too would think that you have medussa or pasketti worms. Although I have had several LPS come back from the dead. Each one I knew immediately what was happening as I could see the actual coral growing, not a mysterious hidden section. Some were skeletons I got at Aquatek to seed my tank when I set it up. Another back to lifer was a hammer I bought and immediately broke the 4 heads apart into single branches (was going to split it witha friend). All but one head survived. I kept the dead algae covered piece near the top of the tank only because I forgot about it. Then one day about 5 months later I noticed about 12 tiny green spots, thought I was imagining it. It has completely grown out and is my favorite hammer. I've been told never throw an LPS away. Keep it in the sump or the tank and try putting it back in the light 6 months later as they sometimes do come back.

Hahaha, I was worried about this all day.

Welcome from downtown Austin.

Frogs.

One greenish yellow guy that now has pink spots and white "algae" growths over it's body. Started as a 1/2" jet black character with white "toenails" at the end of its fins. It was such a contrast in colors that I had to get it. Now that it is 2" and has been in my sump for many months it completely changed colors on me. I believe it to be a response to living in a field of caulerpa. It looks just like the stuff.

One sargassum frog I got from a Maastard while on safari at Mustang Island. It's quite the character as well as they are the only frogs with a swim bladder that allows them to actually cruise around.

Both anglers are feeding heavily and growing quickly.

I've been planning to move them to their own tank for 4 months now and I got the tank back in April. Basically I couldn't find a stand I wanted and began working so many hours I couldn't contract someone to build it for me. I've got one coming from Del Rio (posted on another local forum) and will set it up ASAP. Plans include Magnum HOT 350 can, Aqua C Remora Skimmer, 40lbs live sand, 20lbs live rock (all pieces bought way back when), custom sump and fuge with Eheim 1048 return. plan to build a 20x 20 x 14" acrylic box as fuge which will be built with legs to hold it over a 20x 20x 14 sump that will have a piece of acrylic to hold the skimmer in place. The theory is to have the water fall into the first fuge and have a little air trap assembly at one end and a 1" bulkhead to let water drain to the sump below. In the event of power failure I believe most of the water will be held in the fuge. I'm hoping to add another 10g to the total volume.

I hope to get them in there soon as I have an 18w PC over their current fuge/home running 24 hrs to prevent PH swings. I haven't noticed any stress issues and it has been 6 months but I'd still prefer them in a home suited for them.

I am going to need to trim down the reflector about 1/2" to make it fit. Also since my fixture is only 5" wide I will need different glass for it. Will regular pane glass work or does it need to be tempered? I think I've always read the descriptions as including tempered glass to block UV rays.

Anyone know?

The ballast should arrive Tuesday. I will be ordering the bulbs and reflectors Sometime early next week. Any recommendations? I've heard a lot about Pheonix 14k. Trying to stay under $60 for bulbs as that seems to be the median price for 250 DE. I had been hoping to only add a single mogul 250 and ballast to the fixture as I had an offer for a set up at $100. That was what got the ball rolling on the project. That was why I had the original question about just adding a single 250. Now it looks as though I've got $200 in the ballast, $70 in reflectors and possibly $120 in bulbs. That's about $400 total after shipping and such. This project has gotten way out of hand. But I was entrusted with some gorgeous SPS and now it's my duty to ensure their health.

Next it's a B ionic doser and supplements. After that a Kalk wasser reactor and doser and finally a calcium reactor.

All this and I'm trying to put together a 24g nano for my frogs.

Looks like I have a deal pending for a 2x 250w electronic ballast. If that goes through I'll be trying to find 2 250 sockets and reflectors. Looking at some from hellolights. I'll be getting 2 of these http://www.hellolights.com/25hqidenmhre.html and cutting them to fit in the fixture. Next will come choosing some 250DE bulbs in the range of 10-14k

"i think that adding a 400 to a dual 250 setup works a lot better than adding a 250 to a dual 150, as with the latter you have lights that are not fully penetrating the tank and your lighting may be unbalanced."

Thank you. That's exactly what I was waiting to hear. That I can keep adding wattage but the bulbs will not penetrate like a higher wattage bulb.

You mention switching ballasts? Are 250w DE the same length as 150ws? I thought they were a larger bulb altogether. I've got a chance this week to maybe get some wholesale pricing going on, to many decisions now. I think sunlight supply has a nice 2x 250w MH with 2x 54w T5.

I'd think about 10k to 14k for MH and super actinics for the T5's.

Thanks guys. The suggestion are not closed so if you have an opinion please share it.

OK guys so I have found it nearly impossible to get a question answered exactly as it is written on MAAST. I want to try a more user friendly and local approach.

Recently I acquired a lot of SPS frags from 2 wonderful people. I do not want to let these guys down as they have put a lot of faith in me.

My current light setup may be letting me down. Oddysea fixture 48" 2x 150wDE 20K and 2x 96w PC 12K on a 75g. Don't get started about spectrums as I know they are backwards and that was discussed in other threads. I was going to get some different bulbs but now I have another idea that may replace the fixture alltogether.

My question is along the lines that I can easily tear apart he fixture and add another 250w DE and another ballast. I am wondering if just adding more and more wattage is actually a good thing. Is just adding another 250w going to be the same as actually having high wattage bulbs? I hear that 150DE bulbs won't reach down but about 5" when suspended about 10" above the water line. Will a 250 reach down to the bottom or would I be better off with a 400w bulb? I'm stuck wondering if 2x 250MH with some PCs would be a better light than 2x 150w 1x 250w 2x 96wPC. Would 3 250w be better or would a single 400w in the center surrounded by 2 150w be even better?

I'm all ears as I've been working tons of OT the past 3 months and if I'm going to do it right now is the time.

The sum of it all, Is a lot of small bulbs the same as having one or two large wattage bulbs?

I agree about the price and quantity in a bottle.

I'd buy a couple of pounds of live sand from a good shop and set it in a fuge or grow out tank. You'll have more than you can handle in a few weeks.