Craig Manoukian
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My sailfin keeps my turf algea well pruned and eats mysis and cylopeeze as well. You won't be sorry you added that beauty!
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addict
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Hi everybody, 
Sorry I didn't get back sooner, but school just started yesterday so I've been pretty busy getting ready for that... it's finally the beginning of the end!
But yes, I got my lighting ordered on Sunday evening... I got two 400w Halide Magnetic Ballast Retro-Kit's from Hellolights, along with two 400w 20K Ushio bulbs. I figure that since I've had such a good experience with their 250w 10K's I may as well go ahead and give their 20K's a try. If I end up not liking them, the XM 20K bulbs will run on the same ballasts so I can always change them out later.
I also ordered a bunch of Seachem test kits for the tank... I figure it's about time that I start testing all my parameters so that I can figure out what's going on more easily (the Doc Wellfish kit just wasn't cutting it anymore ). These are the kits I ordered:
Seachem Marine Basic (pH, Total Alk, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia)
Seachem Reef Status Calcium
Seachem Phosphate
Seachem Reef Status Magnesium/Alk (Magnesium, Carbonate Alk, Borate Alk and Total Alk (again))
I also have a Magnum 350 Deluxe canister on the way, and need to go get a bucket of salt so I can start the Interceptor treatments... we have to get a Q-tank together for all the crabs we can catch, and I imagine we'll be starting the treatment by the second week of February.
Thanks again Gina for helping us out...
I'll post an update once the goodies start trickling in.
Sorry I didn't get back sooner, but school just started yesterday so I've been pretty busy getting ready for that... it's finally the beginning of the end!
But yes, I got my lighting ordered on Sunday evening... I got two 400w Halide Magnetic Ballast Retro-Kit's from Hellolights, along with two 400w 20K Ushio bulbs. I figure that since I've had such a good experience with their 250w 10K's I may as well go ahead and give their 20K's a try. If I end up not liking them, the XM 20K bulbs will run on the same ballasts so I can always change them out later.
I also ordered a bunch of Seachem test kits for the tank... I figure it's about time that I start testing all my parameters so that I can figure out what's going on more easily (the Doc Wellfish kit just wasn't cutting it anymore
). These are the kits I ordered:Seachem Marine Basic (pH, Total Alk, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia)
Seachem Reef Status Calcium
Seachem Phosphate
Seachem Reef Status Magnesium/Alk (Magnesium, Carbonate Alk, Borate Alk and Total Alk (again))
I also have a Magnum 350 Deluxe canister on the way, and need to go get a bucket of salt so I can start the Interceptor treatments... we have to get a Q-tank together for all the crabs we can catch, and I imagine we'll be starting the treatment by the second week of February.
Thanks again Gina for helping us out...
I'll post an update once the goodies start trickling in.
That should be some intense lighting! We have some of the seachem test kits but, when we first started out all we heard about were the Salifert test kits and how they were the best. So, we replaced all of the kits with the salifert. The readings we got were a little different but, not drastic. Have you ever tried the Salifert and if so what is your opinion between the two kits? Do you like one over the other?
addict
Well-Known Member
Salifert does make some nice kits... but I was kinda budget-conscious as I was ordering these. The same kits would've probably cost about $30 more with Salifert, and I'd heard that the kits were about equal in accuracy, so I figured I'd save a little cash.
I spent about $83 overall on the Seachem kits.
The only thing I've actually used from Salifert was Flatworm Exit, and it's great stuff.
Well, UPS tried to deliver my Magnum 350 canister today, but nobody was home to receive it... so hopefully somebody will be here tomorrow when they show up.
The funny thing is that they left a note saying they couldn't make delivery because of our dogs... and if you saw our dogs you'd just laugh... I call them overgrown dust bunnies...
One's a pomeranian, and the other is a pomeranian mix... definitely not high on the 'ferocious dog' list... LOL.
I spent about $83 overall on the Seachem kits.
The only thing I've actually used from Salifert was Flatworm Exit, and it's great stuff.
Well, UPS tried to deliver my Magnum 350 canister today, but nobody was home to receive it... so hopefully somebody will be here tomorrow when they show up.
The funny thing is that they left a note saying they couldn't make delivery because of our dogs... and if you saw our dogs you'd just laugh... I call them overgrown dust bunnies...
One's a pomeranian, and the other is a pomeranian mix... definitely not high on the 'ferocious dog' list... LOL.
addict
Well-Known Member
Welp, things are humming right along.
I got the lighting from UPS last Friday, along with the Magnum 350 canister and my Seachem test kits... unfortunately UPS decided to play kickball with the box the Seachem kits were in, and one of the calibration regent vials was broken and leaked all over everything else inside the bag. So I e-mailed PA and they were great (even e-mailing me on Sunday)... the second kit is on its way.
I spent the weekend vacuuming out the tank... it's amazing how much crud was in the sand... it took me all day Saturday and half a day Sunday to get out all the detritus, but you can definitely see the difference in the corals... everything perked up, and the colors are becoming more vivid (not sure if this is the 'placebo effect', but even my wife said things are looking better).
I also found a very large Eunicid worm in the tank the other night (my wife actually spotted it first), so now I gotta figure out how to get that guy out of there too... it's really creepy looking and about 18" long from what I can estimate... I'm afraid to put my hands in the tank in the dark now... LOL.
The interceptor treatments are going to start this weekend... I'm spending the rest of this week getting a tank set up to hold the tank's crabs in the interim, and rigging traps to catch the hermits and such... I plan on doing a photo documentary on the process, so I should have some more pics to post once I begin treating.
My wife and I went to the LFS yesterday (Tuesday's are new stock day), and miraculously the LFS had gotten in several SPS colonies (they hardly ever get even 'one' in much less several)... so, throwing caution into the wind, we picked up three of them... all are still unidentified, but we really liked them. I hope they hold their color since we'll be installing the 20K lighting.
Here they are:
Well, that about sums it up for the time being... I have a lot of projects in the works and plan on giving this thread a workout...
I got the lighting from UPS last Friday, along with the Magnum 350 canister and my Seachem test kits... unfortunately UPS decided to play kickball with the box the Seachem kits were in, and one of the calibration regent vials was broken and leaked all over everything else inside the bag. So I e-mailed PA and they were great (even e-mailing me on Sunday)... the second kit is on its way.
I spent the weekend vacuuming out the tank... it's amazing how much crud was in the sand... it took me all day Saturday and half a day Sunday to get out all the detritus, but you can definitely see the difference in the corals... everything perked up, and the colors are becoming more vivid (not sure if this is the 'placebo effect', but even my wife said things are looking better).
I also found a very large Eunicid worm in the tank the other night (my wife actually spotted it first), so now I gotta figure out how to get that guy out of there too... it's really creepy looking and about 18" long from what I can estimate... I'm afraid to put my hands in the tank in the dark now... LOL.
The interceptor treatments are going to start this weekend... I'm spending the rest of this week getting a tank set up to hold the tank's crabs in the interim, and rigging traps to catch the hermits and such... I plan on doing a photo documentary on the process, so I should have some more pics to post once I begin treating.
My wife and I went to the LFS yesterday (Tuesday's are new stock day), and miraculously the LFS had gotten in several SPS colonies (they hardly ever get even 'one' in much less several)... so, throwing caution into the wind, we picked up three of them... all are still unidentified, but we really liked them. I hope they hold their color since we'll be installing the 20K lighting.
Here they are:
Well, that about sums it up for the time being... I have a lot of projects in the works and plan on giving this thread a workout...
Glad everything is going well for you! What a job! But, in the end, it will all be worth it!
Can't wait to see the documentary! Nice find on the corals also. A couple of weeks ago we went to our LFS and I coudn't believe all the corals they had gotten in! It was really hard to resist but, I'm wanting to p/u some rics so, I had to look and not buy!
Can't wait to see the documentary! Nice find on the corals also. A couple of weeks ago we went to our LFS and I coudn't believe all the corals they had gotten in! It was really hard to resist but, I'm wanting to p/u some rics so, I had to look and not buy!
Craig Manoukian
Well-Known Member
Good eye Nick! Way cool pics Dave!
addict
Well-Known Member
We're actually going to try to use the new corals as 'bait' to get the other crabs to come out of the ones that are attached to my rocks, then we can dip them out with fresh water... I'm hoping that we can save some of them, because the acro crabs are pretty cool little guys, and they usually don't survive the interceptor treatment...
Some new developments though... the Eunicid worm we found the other night turned out to be of the predatory variety (we caught it eating zoanthids), so we removed the rock it was in to get it out of the tank. I finally had to chisel the rock apart because the worm didn't respond to either fresh water or club soda.
Unfortunately, as I was splitting the rock I also split the worm... which is why it's in pieces. Fully extended it was over 18".
So, since we had the canopy off of the tank (the rock was too large to fit through the access door), I decided to install the new reflectors and bulbs. I still have to build the ballast for the new Ushio 20K's either tomorrow or this weekend... I'm getting pretty stoked.
Here's the new lighting arrangement:
You can kinda see the new bulbs through all the glare...
I have a 10K and 20K bulb in each reflector, so that should help break up the 'banding' effect from using different spectrum halides.
I also have two Coralife 55w PC 03 actinics running down each side for dawn/dusk.
The other two sets of PC's I took out are going to go over our seahorse/pipefish tank once I can get the time to get that started...
We're hoping to start the interceptor treatments Sunday... it mainly depends on if we can catch the crabs in the tank over the next couple days.
Thanks Craig.
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Craig Manoukian
Well-Known Member
Great looking canopy Dave!
Those Eunicid worms are really amazing. Must have been Fiji, Marshall Island, or other rock from the Pacific, eh?
Those Eunicid worms are really amazing. Must have been Fiji, Marshall Island, or other rock from the Pacific, eh?
addict
Well-Known Member
Howdy again.
Sorry it's been a while since I've gotten back... once again this semester is kicking my butt (and here I thought this would be an 'easier' semester ).
That worm definitely was a bugger... I'm thankful that it was an easy fix though. I thought I had some serious issues going on in my tank, and it turned out to be that nasty creature.
All my rock is Indo-Pacific (Walt Smith) so I'm pretty sure that's what it rode in on... I hope I never have to pull another one of those guys out. One good thing to come out of it is that it gave my daughter a subject for her science fair project (which we were up until midnight last night finishing).
I've gotten through the second interceptor treatment last Sunday, and should be done by this weekend. Everything is doing great. So far my only losses to the treatment have been three acropora crabs that I couldn't get out of the corals. There's one acro crab in the tank that's still alive and has survived the first two treatments. I'm going to have to find a special name for him... by the end of each treatment it gets all disoriented and hides under the base of the coral trying to figure out what's going on.
We removed all but two of our hermits (the ones we couldn't catch), our Periclimines shrimp, our three Sexy Shrimp, and three acro crabs, just to be on the safe side. The tank still holds our four peppermint shrimp and six Randall's Pistols, and they're doing fine. I guess I got lucky and found the right dosage to kill the bugs without nuking everything else.
Once again I want to thank Gina for her generosity... you definitely made this process easier for me, and I hope I can return the favor in the future.
Sorry it's been a while since I've gotten back... once again this semester is kicking my butt (and here I thought this would be an 'easier' semester
).That worm definitely was a bugger... I'm thankful that it was an easy fix though. I thought I had some serious issues going on in my tank, and it turned out to be that nasty creature.
All my rock is Indo-Pacific (Walt Smith) so I'm pretty sure that's what it rode in on... I hope I never have to pull another one of those guys out. One good thing to come out of it is that it gave my daughter a subject for her science fair project (which we were up until midnight last night finishing).
I've gotten through the second interceptor treatment last Sunday, and should be done by this weekend. Everything is doing great. So far my only losses to the treatment have been three acropora crabs that I couldn't get out of the corals. There's one acro crab in the tank that's still alive and has survived the first two treatments. I'm going to have to find a special name for him... by the end of each treatment it gets all disoriented and hides under the base of the coral trying to figure out what's going on.
We removed all but two of our hermits (the ones we couldn't catch), our Periclimines shrimp, our three Sexy Shrimp, and three acro crabs, just to be on the safe side. The tank still holds our four peppermint shrimp and six Randall's Pistols, and they're doing fine. I guess I got lucky and found the right dosage to kill the bugs without nuking everything else.
Once again I want to thank Gina for her generosity... you definitely made this process easier for me, and I hope I can return the favor in the future.
Craig Manoukian
Well-Known Member
Great news RA! Good luck in school!
addict
Well-Known Member
Well, thanks to everybody for your replies since the last time I posted... I can't believe it's been almost a whole year since I replied to this thread! :bugout:
Anyway, once again the gears are turning and new things are happening... due to neglect and a series of problems that I've just recently been able to get under control, my tank is almost back to square one...
I've lost about 90% of my SPS colonies, which was a real heartbreaker, and almost caused me to get out of the hobby. Fortunately, I'm a glutton for punishment, so rather than take the easy way out, I dove back in headfirst.
I'm currently replacing the lighting I just put in last January with something a bit more energy efficient... using 12kW a day was murder on the electric bill, and that was just the lighting.
So, I've ordered 4 sets of 36" 39w T5 HO retrofit kits (Sunlight Supply Tek 5) for a total of 8 bulbs... 6 of which will be Actinic Plus (actinic mixed with blue) and 2 11K Aquablue bulbs (a mixture of 60% white and 40% blue).
In addition, I'll be running a single 250w XDE DE HQI bulb in a PFO mini pendant, and driven by an ARO electronic ballast.
What I found most compelling with the new setup was bulb life. T5HO bulbs last in the area of 18 months for Actinics, and 24 months for daylights. Plus, driving the HQI bulb with an electronic ballast should also allow me to get at least 18 months out of it as well. My current bulb replacement costs are around $350/yr, whereas my replacement costs will drop to $250 every 18 months... a very compelling argument for the change.
Combine that with reduced electricity usage (about $300/yr), and it makes id doubly compelling... and from what I've read, T5 HO bulbs have deep penetration through the water column just like a halide, so I shouldn't lose too much intensity (I'll have wait for it to be installed before rendering the verdict however).
This should also reduce heat in my canopy, which will also cut down on how often my chiller kicks on, reducing my electrical usage even further. As an example, it's wintertime, yet my chiller still kicks on a couple of times daily.
I also just ordered a set of CurrentUSA Lunar Lights, and an extra Lunar Link (an additional light module), so that I'll have moon lighting once again. I was so stoked with my first setup, only to have all my LED's burn out within a couple of months. I've discovered that I was shipped the wrong resistors in that instance, which allowed too much current to flow through the LED, which burned them out prematurely... but, rather than chance it again, I spent about $30 for a commercial light setup. I'll report back how well it works once I get it installed.
I've added in some new things to the tank, of which I've started a thread on here: New Additions - photo intense (dial-up beware!)
My tank looks totally different at the moment, but I've posted a couple of photos of it in this thread here: Howdy All!
I'll probably post some more photos once the lighting gets here... which should probably be sometime next week for the T5's, and the halide should be here in a couple of days, since it's coming in from Hellolights.
Anyway, once again the gears are turning and new things are happening... due to neglect and a series of problems that I've just recently been able to get under control, my tank is almost back to square one...
I've lost about 90% of my SPS colonies, which was a real heartbreaker, and almost caused me to get out of the hobby. Fortunately, I'm a glutton for punishment, so rather than take the easy way out, I dove back in headfirst.
I'm currently replacing the lighting I just put in last January with something a bit more energy efficient... using 12kW a day was murder on the electric bill, and that was just the lighting.
So, I've ordered 4 sets of 36" 39w T5 HO retrofit kits (Sunlight Supply Tek 5) for a total of 8 bulbs... 6 of which will be Actinic Plus (actinic mixed with blue) and 2 11K Aquablue bulbs (a mixture of 60% white and 40% blue).
In addition, I'll be running a single 250w XDE DE HQI bulb in a PFO mini pendant, and driven by an ARO electronic ballast.
What I found most compelling with the new setup was bulb life. T5HO bulbs last in the area of 18 months for Actinics, and 24 months for daylights. Plus, driving the HQI bulb with an electronic ballast should also allow me to get at least 18 months out of it as well. My current bulb replacement costs are around $350/yr, whereas my replacement costs will drop to $250 every 18 months... a very compelling argument for the change.
Combine that with reduced electricity usage (about $300/yr), and it makes id doubly compelling... and from what I've read, T5 HO bulbs have deep penetration through the water column just like a halide, so I shouldn't lose too much intensity (I'll have wait for it to be installed before rendering the verdict however).
This should also reduce heat in my canopy, which will also cut down on how often my chiller kicks on, reducing my electrical usage even further. As an example, it's wintertime, yet my chiller still kicks on a couple of times daily.
I also just ordered a set of CurrentUSA Lunar Lights, and an extra Lunar Link (an additional light module), so that I'll have moon lighting once again. I was so stoked with my first setup, only to have all my LED's burn out within a couple of months. I've discovered that I was shipped the wrong resistors in that instance, which allowed too much current to flow through the LED, which burned them out prematurely... but, rather than chance it again, I spent about $30 for a commercial light setup. I'll report back how well it works once I get it installed.
I've added in some new things to the tank, of which I've started a thread on here: New Additions - photo intense (dial-up beware!)
My tank looks totally different at the moment, but I've posted a couple of photos of it in this thread here: Howdy All!
I'll probably post some more photos once the lighting gets here... which should probably be sometime next week for the T5's, and the halide should be here in a couple of days, since it's coming in from Hellolights.