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Psimitry posted:You either need to take pictures under full spectrum lighting or adjust the blue out of your pictures. It looks like you're specifically taking pictures under actinics to blow out the colors.
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Jun 16, 2009 23:01
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The Interpolator posted:The pictures are color balanced for my tank's lighting. How they appear in the picture is how they appear to the human eye in the tank. Yes, my tank does run deep into the blue spectrum to make the colors pop. These are taken under dual 150w Radium 20ks with 156w of T5-HO actinic supplement. Hot drat! that's a lot of blue. My 120 only has 110watts of actinics and is running 250w 14k hamiltons .
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Jun 17, 2009 04:43
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Nobody keeps this thread bumped anymore. I dropped some of the blue out of my system and went for Phoenix 14k 150w bulbs. Think I'm going to trade out two of the pure actinic T5s for some Fiji Purples or Actinic+.       
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Jul 16, 2009 00:26
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I'm running Hamilton 14ks, and 2x pure actinics which I'm thinking of switching out as well. I like how blue my MH are but the actinics are making no difference when the halides are on. I'm thinking of just getting more daylights or possible the ATI pro-color bulbs.
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Jul 16, 2009 00:37
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The Interpolator posted:Nobody keeps this thread bumped anymore. I have these exact zoa / palys (the grayish ones on the right). They're growing like weeds heh. I also have some big bang zoas, but they're /very/ slow growing. I've been in the process of getting all my gear together for a new 90 gallon acrylic, so I haven't bought any new corals or fish. I guess I can post the stand I built:  I just ordered the plumbing parts yesterday, got about 90lbs of live rock off craigslist currently cycling in a trash can, got a Reef Octopus NW150 off craigslist as well. Building a sump out of a 29g, still need to get some glass cut. I'm going to try to get it up and running by October (1 year anniversary of starting this hobby), but I don't know. I still need to get a Vortech MP40w, lights, return pump (thinking Maxi-Jet Utility 3000), sand, and other misc. junk. As far as my livestock is concerned, my torch up and died overnight a few weeks ago, and my sexy shrimp whom were hosting it disappeared a few days after I pulled the skeleton out. I'm optimistic that they're still alive, but in hiding.
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Jul 16, 2009 19:36
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optikalus posted:As far as my livestock is concerned, my torch up and died overnight a few weeks ago, and my sexy shrimp whom were hosting it disappeared a few days after I pulled the skeleton out. I'm optimistic that they're still alive, but in hiding. You think the sexy shrimp might have been the cause of the torch's death? They are known for occasionally eating zoanthids and soft corals.
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Jul 16, 2009 20:23
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ludnix posted:You think the sexy shrimp might have been the cause of the torch's death? They are known for occasionally eating zoanthids and soft corals. I don't think so, but I guess anything is possible. I'd point the finger to my peppermint shrimp, which just won't die. I've had it for at least 10 months now, which is a record from what I gather.
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Jul 17, 2009 00:37
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My clownfish laid some eggs on thursday. This is their first batch so it's a little bare, but after I get used to their schedule I'll probably give rearing them a shot.
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Aug 1, 2009 04:53
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ludnix posted:My clownfish laid some eggs on thursday. This is their first batch so it's a little bare, but after I get used to their schedule I'll probably give rearing them a shot. Good luck! I've actually thought about trying to rear the eggs that my B&W clowns lay, but after reading about it, it's just too much of a pain. And I say this knowing that with the exception of like Picasso clowns, I am sitting on one of the most profitable species of fish to breed in-tank.
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Aug 1, 2009 06:33
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I've done a lot of research on rearing them and it sounds like feeding them will be the hardest part (2-3 times a day, ouch!), but selling them will also be difficult for me since I live in a small town.
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Aug 1, 2009 12:15
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I have a few questions, but some background first. A little over a year ago I set up a 29 gal saltwater aquarium. Its doing great and I have very slowly been adding coral to it. My husband wasn’t thrilled at first. I really love fish and I’d have an aquarium in every room if I could. My previous tanks have all been freshwater and easy to take care of. After a couple of months my husband started to really get into maintenance on the saltwater tank. We now have a second 29 gal that has been up and running for 8 months. I think my husband is into saltwater tanks more then I am. He reads up on care and maintenance, fusses over water conditions, and enjoys picking out fish/corals. I always catch him sitting in front of the tank and just watching. Since discovering his love for saltwater tanks I have been secretly saving up money so we could get a much larger tank. I’m thinking somewhere between 75-150 gallons and we do want it to be a reef tank. My questions are in regard to what type/brand of equipment you all would recommend? Any tips? Here’s a rough list. Let me know if I left anything out. Heater Cooling system Power heads (how many?)/wave maker Protein skimmer Sump system/ pump/filter Lighting/cooling fans RO/DI I’ve heard its better to have two heaters, just in case. I’ve also read that putting eggcrate (or something similar) on the bottom is a good idea to spread out the weight of the rocks. Is it ok to put that much live rock in the tank, I imagine that would be a lot of extra weight? Dr. Foster and Smith have a “tidal system” for a sump, is that any good? Sears sells RO units so we’ll probably get one from there since they will install it for us. I need to go check if they have RO/DI. Also, how hard is it to move a saltwater tank? We know that in 5 years we will be moving from this house. Should we wait to get a larger tank until after the move or is it possible to move a large saltwater tank? Could we break everything down, put in all in Tupperware and move it that way? When we moved out to Texas I transported my 50gal freshwater tank that way and we only lost one fish. If we really should wait that is fine. Dr. Foster and Smith have this system on sale right now http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3730+15517&pcatid=15517 My question is; is it worth the money? Obviously I would buy the T-5 lighting option. There is a local fish store that we are conferring with. My only complaint with them is that they are more interested in pushing their maintanence and set up service then giving out advice. So I decided that I needed some goon advice too.
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Aug 9, 2009 19:41
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What brand of aquarium are the ones that flow over the edge of the tank?
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Aug 9, 2009 21:10
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I am on the fence about starting a marine tank in the next few months (yay late birthday money!). I'm looking at pgymy seahorses. I know they need live baby brine, which I am ready with setup and set to hatch, but I am wondering how large a tank 5-6 pygmies will need. The breeder (in Florida) says a 5 gallon would be great, but that seems a bit small to be. I also am unsure about water changes; we never had seahorses at the zoo, and every marine fish we had was pretty bulletproof!
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Aug 9, 2009 21:26
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VyperRDH posted:I have a few questions, but some background first. A little over a year ago I set up a 29 gal saltwater aquarium. Its doing great and I have very slowly been adding coral to it. My husband wasn’t thrilled at first. I really love fish and I’d have an aquarium in every room if I could. My previous tanks have all been freshwater and easy to take care of. After a couple of months my husband started to really get into maintenance on the saltwater tank. We now have a second 29 gal that has been up and running for 8 months. I think my husband is into saltwater tanks more then I am. He reads up on care and maintenance, fusses over water conditions, and enjoys picking out fish/corals. I always catch him sitting in front of the tank and just watching. I'd recommend checking out your local craigslist for good deals on a 2nd hand aquarium. I got my 90g 'clear for life' acrylic with a 5" side overflow for <$200, and have seen many more even better deals with stand included as well. You're probably only going to need a chiller if you run metal halides or if your house ambient temperature is >85F. For my sump, I just picked up a cheap 29 tall glass aquarium, then added some acrylic dividers and siliconed them in place with aquarium-safe silicone. The return is powered by an eheim 1262, which is pretty expensive, but reduced the temps almost 7F, nearly completely silent, and puts out ~900gph. My powerhead is a Vortech MP40W. You'll only need one in a 4' tank, would probably do well to have two in a 6 or 8' tank. Since the motor is outside of the water, there is no heat transfer. The controller lets you do some fun stuff as well. I would recommend sticking with T5HO lighting. I picked up a Nova Extreme Pro (6x54w) from ebay (from current themselves). The amount of light it puts out seems to be more than my 150w sunpod on my 24g. I don't think you need to worry about putting anything down on the bottom of the tank, especially with acrylic. The sand is going to help distribute the weight of the rocks as well. Also, the weight of the rocks is nothing compared to the weight of the water. Just make sure the stand you get is supported every 2 feet or so. Tigertron posted:What brand of aquarium are the ones that flow over the edge of the tank? They're called zeroedge, and they're a royal pain in the rear end to keep flowing well apparently. Gotta re-level them on a regular basis.
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Aug 10, 2009 01:15
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VyperRDH posted:I have a few questions, but some background first. A little over a year ago I set up a 29 gal saltwater aquarium. Its doing great and I have very slowly been adding coral to it. My husband wasn’t thrilled at first. I really love fish and I’d have an aquarium in every room if I could. My previous tanks have all been freshwater and easy to take care of. After a couple of months my husband started to really get into maintenance on the saltwater tank. We now have a second 29 gal that has been up and running for 8 months. I think my husband is into saltwater tanks more then I am. He reads up on care and maintenance, fusses over water conditions, and enjoys picking out fish/corals. I always catch him sitting in front of the tank and just watching. For powerheads and wavemakers there are a lot of options available and pretty much any brand except Rio will be fine (Rios are notorious for leaking electricity and breaking down all the time). Octopus skimmers are very popular right now and rightly so, they preform very well for their price, I didn't see you mention anything about using a sump. I don't know if you have done any reading on this but I would 100% recommend using a sump. This way you can keep the skimmer and heaters down there as well as automatic top off sensors and whatever other equipment you end up using. In regards to lighting, I would go with as powerful lights as you ever could plan to use, otherwise you'll end up upgrading later anyways. With metal halides I would make sure to get electronic ballasts, magnetic ones have a annoying hum to them. With T5 fluorescent make sure that whatever setup you do has each bulb with it's own reflector, T5's ability to be so small even with individual reflectors is what makes them so great, if they don't have the individual reflectors you're really missing out though. Two heaters is definately a good idea, this way if you get 2x 250watt heaters and one gets stuck on it won't be as big of a deal if 1x 500w heater got stuck on. Either way a safe way to eliminate this common problem is to get a Ranco Temperature controller for the heaters. They are about $80 which seems high, but they are fairly cheap insurance that you tank will not overheat. Melev's Reef sells an RO/DI unit that is super easy to install for $160. It doesn't matter what brand you go with as long it's producing water that shows 0 TDS. I ended up hooking up a bladder tank to the RO/DI as well (it cost about $50 for a 2g tank) and have the tank hooked up to a faucet. This way I can produce 2g of RO/DI water instantly for drinking or for aquarium top-offs. Otherwise RO/DI units are very slow at filtering water (it took 3 days to fill up my 120 gallon aquarium). Rock isn't going to put much weight on the tank overall, but using eggcrate will help distribute the weight more evenly so there are no pressure points. The egg crate will also help keep the rock secure, so when you get a fish that likes moving sand around the rocks don't move with it. Just place the eggcrate down first, then setup the rock how you like it and finally add the sand when you're all done. Moving a tank isn't impossible but it's a lot of work. It's going to be a matter of whether or not you're willing to go through the effort of breaking down the tank and moving it for the 5 years of enjoyment you'll get. I'm going to be moving my 120g in about 4-5 years as well so for me it is, but that seems like a personal decision you'll have to make. Waiting 5 years might give you a chance to save up and plan for what you really want to make. And finally, go as big as you're willing spend, if you're trying to decide between a 75 and a 150, go with the 150. Feel free to post any questions you get here, this thread could use some activity. Tigertron posted:What brand of aquarium are the ones that flow over the edge of the tank?
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Aug 10, 2009 01:24
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How much are you supposed to keep the animals? Food from the store seems to be so-so, I can't believe I ever did this in before from my life. Haha, thanks..
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Aug 10, 2009 02:10
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synthy posted:How much are you supposed to keep the animals? Food from the store seems to be so-so, I can't believe I ever did this in before from my life. Haha, thanks.. The rule of thumb I have always heard is that you want to feed them as much as they can eat in 2-3 minutes. Frozen food is generally more nutritious than flake food.
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Aug 24, 2009 23:10
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Some updated pics of my (newly set up) 90G reef. I've migrated all the corals / fish from the 24 to the 90, and already have a flourishing population of pods in the refugium.  also some interesting macro algae growing on some rocks  ceriths gettin' busy 
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Aug 28, 2009 06:28
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What kind of lighting are you running?
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Aug 28, 2009 06:45
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Psimitry posted:What kind of lighting are you running? A Current Nova Extreme Pro 6x54 T5HO
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Aug 28, 2009 06:58
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I have seen more people have great luck with T5HO. I'm one of them. Kinda makes me pissed I sprung for Halides.
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Aug 28, 2009 07:33
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But the shimmer! Nice vortec, I want one of those for my 120g, maybe when the koralias die. 
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Aug 28, 2009 08:42
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ludnix posted:But the shimmer! I want a 2nd vortech, but I don't think my tank would be able to survive constant waves (cheap acrylic 'clear for life' piece of poo poo). I have it set to reef crest currently on its highest setting. It's a great pump and I don't have any regrets. I had a 150w HQI (14K SunPod) on my 24g; the T5HO actually looks *brighter*. Yes, its over twice as many watts, but the watts / gallon is less. I may need to rotate some bulbs around, though. It has two of the 10K daylight bulbs on one switch, and the other 4 bulbs on the other switch. I think I want to move two of the actinic bulbs to the two-bulb switch so I can have a dimmer light sunrise/sunset. When I turn on the actinics now, there is so many watts shining that it really isn't a sunrise or sunset.
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Aug 28, 2009 22:59
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Metal halide can have some harsh shadows whereas T5 more evenly spreads the light probably making it appear much brighter than the MH equivelant. I personally like a combination of both.
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Aug 29, 2009 04:15
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ludnix posted:Metal halide can have some harsh shadows whereas T5 more evenly spreads the light probably making it appear much brighter than the MH equivelant. I personally like a combination of both. As do I. But my electric bill doesn't.
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Aug 29, 2009 05:36
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Is T5 really that much more efficient? I haven't looked at a side-by-side comparison of PAR readings, but it seems like most people would recommend 8 4' T5 bulbs with individual reflectors to replace 2x 250 MH in which case it comes out even in wattage. I guess a lot will depend on what bulbs you're using and what color spectrum you're going for, but it doesn't seem like it's that more efficient in electrical useage.
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Aug 29, 2009 11:31
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ludnix posted:Is T5 really that much more efficient? I haven't looked at a side-by-side comparison of PAR readings, but it seems like most people would recommend 8 4' T5 bulbs with individual reflectors to replace 2x 250 MH in which case it comes out even in wattage. I guess a lot will depend on what bulbs you're using and what color spectrum you're going for, but it doesn't seem like it's that more efficient in electrical useage. You wouldn't need a chiller with T5HO at that wattage  Supposedly T5HO offers more lumens per watt than MH. It definitely is more efficient in using that energy to produce light rather than heat.
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Aug 29, 2009 18:28
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It's more efficient with evenly distributed light. But I still don't think anything can match the intensity of MH.
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Aug 29, 2009 19:40
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I have read that T5s basically produce the same heat as MH, it just doesn't seem that bad because it is distributed so much evenly over the tank instead of one blazingly hot source. I have never had T5s though so I can't say from experience, I do know that MH reflectors get hot as poo poo and don't accidentally rest your arm on them.
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Aug 30, 2009 01:39
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streetlamp posted:I have read that T5s basically produce the same heat as MH, it just doesn't seem that bad because it is distributed so much evenly over the tank instead of one blazingly hot source. I have never had T5s though so I can't say from experience, I do know that MH reflectors get hot as poo poo and don't accidentally rest your arm on them. I would absolutely believe that T5 produce the same amount of heat as MH just spread over a large distance. I know my 55w T5 bulbs are not cool to the touch and accidently bumping their reflectors can be a pretty unpleasant experience. They won't start cooking your skin on contact like MH, but if you could condense them down to a 6" bulb of the same wattage they probably would. It would be interesting to see if someone built an enclosed box to measure the total heat output by both types of lights to see how much energy is lost.
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Aug 31, 2009 15:40
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A quick update. This weekend my husband and I are checking out an aquarium for sale. We may have hit the jackpot on craigslist. There is a 175gal saltwater aquarium for sale, complete with tank, stand, liverock, fish, coral, and all accessories. The family is moving and can't bring the tank with them. They want $1500 for the whole set up. Granted its possible that I may still have to upgrade some things in the set up (I’ll know for sure what they are using when we go take a look at it tomorrow). I figure if I bought a new tank and then all the liverock for it I’d easily be spending $1500+. Not to mention the price of coral. There is a LFS that I may be able to trade/store credit fish/inverts if they have the tank stocked with species that should not be in the tank together. So my question lies in how are we going to transport everything. They only live a 10-15 min drive away from us. I’m assuming the whole Tupperware transport is the way to go? We plan on saving as much of the tank water as possible. I know the corals will need to stay submerged, if I keep the liverock damp will they be fine or should I also have them submerged in the tank water. We’ll rent a truck to move the tank and stand since we don’t own a pickup. Should we remove all the sand or can we leave some in the bottom of the tank? How would you move a fully stocked 175gal aquarium?
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Sep 5, 2009 18:54
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Keeping the liverock damp will be fine, wrap it in wet papertowels or something. Thats how it is usually shipped to the LFS. I would have a rubbermaid at home waiting to put the rock in though, minimize the die off as much as possible. How old is the tank? If it is pretty old then you may be best just getting all new sand, disturbing the sand bed in established tanks can stir up all kinds of gunk. If the equipment is all good then $1500 is a good deal but if its off brand/cheap stuff then you will definitely end up replacing all of it as you get more into the hobby. I just moved my 33g and that sucked enough.
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Sep 6, 2009 02:16
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I would get some brute trashcans to put the rock in under water. You'll probably need the brutes for water changes anyways. Here's some new pictures from my reef.  
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Sep 8, 2009 10:06
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I'm in the process of setting up my first SW tank. I had a freshwater tank for a couple years but I took it down and stored it in the basement. My GF just bought her own place and wanted to set it up. Eventually I would like it to be a reef tank, but due to the costs of everything it's going to be a gradual process and will just start as a fish only tank. Between needing to upgrade my lights from CFL to the T5/MH, building a sump tank, etc. not to mention actually populating my tank, they weren't kidding when people said a reef tank has a lot of upfront costs. One question I had while reading all the info on sump tanks - what's with all the emphasis on not allowing air bubbles into the main tank?
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Sep 8, 2009 22:07
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Kill_Discussion posted:I'm in the process of setting up my first SW tank. I had a freshwater tank for a couple years but I took it down and stored it in the basement. My GF just bought her own place and wanted to set it up. Eventually I would like it to be a reef tank, but due to the costs of everything it's going to be a gradual process and will just start as a fish only tank. Between needing to upgrade my lights from CFL to the T5/MH, building a sump tank, etc. not to mention actually populating my tank, they weren't kidding when people said a reef tank has a lot of upfront costs. There are quite a few corals that will do just fine under power compact and CFL. I wouldn't be surprised to see coraline growth under CFL either. My chaetomorpha grows like a weed under a single 16w 5100K reflected CFL in my refugium. You should be able to grow various zoanthids (some are easier than others [ie. the cheap ones that will be basically the cost of the liverock]), mushrooms, palys, and other softies. You're only going to need T5HO or better for SPS and clams. I had a bunch of LPS under power compact and they were doing great. The emphasis with building bubble traps in the sump is just because they're ugly and stick to everything. A good protein skimmer would make so many microbubbles that unless you have something to block them, they'll actually make your tank look as if it has stuff in the water. Microbubbles don't necessarily float to the surface -- they stay in the water and keep pushed down my minute currents.
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Sep 8, 2009 23:37
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Not only are the ugly, but microbubbles can cause damage when they get trapped under corals as well, it's basically like that part of the coral is out of water, which will obviously be damaging. It also decreases the clarity of the water which can be pretty annoying. If you already have CFL bulbs you can use those like optikalus said, but I wouldn't buy any if you're currently bulbless. CFL bulbs have to be changed more than any other bulb so the initial cheapness doesn't really pay off in the long run, especially since it limits your options.
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Sep 9, 2009 04:00
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Well that's some good news. That means I can do other upgrades first and get started sooner. It's a 36G tank and I started cycling it Monday with just live sand. I'm going to add some base/live rock next week. I'm probably going to create a sump that's about 10G total. Not planning on a refugium as I just don't have the room. Just a place to house the skimmer, heaters, and provide some flow. If I'm using a return pump rated at 300gph, will that be enough? What would you suggest if I need more? What's a good and reasonably priced hang-on overflow box? Once I do get around to upgrading the lights, what do you think of this?
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Sep 11, 2009 12:42
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The return pump is fine, people over do it all the time but I believe the sump should have minimal flow through it. It is a filter, it needs time to filter. I don't have a name brand in mind but I would get one where you can hook up a air pump to it so it remains sucking. If possible I would drill the tank though, I know people have used hang on overflows for years but it would worry the hell out of me. Lights look fine, the most important thing is individual reflectors which it says it has and bulb choice. So I would just upgrade the bulbs and be happy. e: about fuge's I have a 10g sump with plenty of room for a fuge. But if you want bigger compartments you can always get a hang on fuge for the sump or tank. I plan on getting a hang on fuge for the sump to clear up some space.
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Sep 11, 2009 15:24
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streetlamp posted:The return pump is fine, people over do it all the time but I believe the sump should have minimal flow through it. It is a filter, it needs time to filter. I have a 900gph+ eheim in my sump, but it has to climb ~5' so the actual gph is more like 500, and I have a bit larger sump I also have about 3300gph flow in the display, yay vortechI have a CPR hang-on-back overflow that I've never used, but it has a nipple on top to hook it up to a ToM Aquatic aqualift. Great for maintaining a siphon or sucking out flatworms after dosing flatworm exit, or auto top offs.
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Sep 11, 2009 17:13
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Kill_Discussion posted:I'm in the process of setting up my first SW tank. I had a freshwater tank for a couple years... Did you ever use copper-based medications? Even trace amounts of copper can kill invertebrates (snails, crabs, corals). I wouldn't re-used a FW tank for SW if I'd even suspected that it came into contact with copper.
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Sep 15, 2009 23:48
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