I bought the DE version from some dude liquidating his store inventory on eBay. $119 NIB

Nice grab. I should've never pointed you in that direction until I checked eBay first. Let me know how you like it...from all that I've read, it's one bright pendant.

Maybe he has 1 more. Yeah, the bulb is bright enough as it is inside the dinky pendant I have now. Light spills over the sides and throughout the room. Curious to find out how much of it the Lumen Bright can contain INSIDE THE TANK. Do I need a special hanging kit for it?

No...it hangs using two little hooks on the top side of the pendant...a little generic for me but you should be able to make it work with your current setup.

I just checked...you got the last & only one it looks like. You got a good deal on it...I've seen them go for as low as $140, so you saved about $20 or so...which can be used towards a frag or something...haha! All this light talk with you might just make me click "Checkout" and buy the ballast & pendant too.

DO IT! LMAO

With your Lumantek ballast, did you have to mod the cable to connect it to your pendant?

Not at all, just insert wires and screw. Not sure about the Lumen Bright pendant though. Would you know?

You have pictures of the end that connects to the pendant? That's what I'm trying to figure out before I buy the pendant...to see if I'll need any special adapter...I can't seem to find any pics online of the end that connects to the pendant online.

As for the Lumen Bright, I think it's just exposed wires at the end of the cable running from the pendant.

People are probably getting tired of our chatter. Switching to PM. LOL

Check this out. After all that, I guess I'm not getting the new reflector after all. Here's a message the guy emailed me:

"Please do not make payment-I just sold this an hour ago to someone in person. I am VERY sorry!"

I should give him bad feedback for getting me excited for no reason. (but I'm not that kind of person)

Never get tired of reef talk Randy....never know when this type info will come in handy for someone




That really blows and pretty crappy on their part....I would leave neutral feedback and say that he sold the item and still had it listed. But that's just me

Crazy weekend. I was soooo close to acquiring the new My Miami chalice, but after much thought on both sides, we amicably agreed to cancel our pending transaction. I'll possibly have to wait until next year for the My Miami, but it's my hunch that pricing will greatly exceed $1500 in the short term.

Made me a just a tad sad not to get the MM, so I bought a couple of nice frags from Isaac Seidel. He is the one who originated the Oregon Mummy Eye. Very nice guy and a sincere pleasure to do business with.

Actual frag but not my photo.

Isaac also sold me this nice frag of the Emerald Mummy Eye, which he directly obtained from Jeremy of ExoticFrags.

Actual frag but not my photo.

sorry you didn't get you my miami chalice but after a year or two it will be afordable anyway nice finds has he shipped them out yet?

Eh, no worries. I'll survive. It'll be fun to watch the price fluctuation of that piece. It would have been more fun if I had something personal at stake, but I'll try to be content from the sidelines. LOL

The MEs are shipping this afternoon!

fishes4alivin, here's your frag of Bazooka Joe. All healed up for you, Man.


Here's my other half. Looks like 3 more eyes popped up overnight! It hasn't spread out much since I first got it, but it looks like it will take off soon.

Honestly Randy, I think I like the two Mummy Eyes you are getting better than the My Miami. Like you said, although it would have been great to get in on the original pricing action, I just think the price is going to fluctuate a TON over the next year. Look at the prices of a lot of Chalice....the market isn't saturated yet but, on RC and R2R, there are TONS of some of the more common frags out there not being sold.

Can't wait to see how the two new pieces look under your lighting and photo skills.

You need to get a coral list together sometime soon

Yeah, these 2 MEs have proven themselves to be very desirable pieces, especially the Oregon. The emerald was more of a "so what else you got" purchase. lol. I do want the MM though, but I figure the longer it eludes me, the longer I'll be in the hobby

Stand by for photos. "On FedEx vehicle for delivery"

A coral list would be a cool project to work on. First things first, I gotta get these guys out of this sardine can and into a bigger tank!

Arrived, dipped, and now acclimating in the tank. Words cannot describe the incredible green of the Oregon Mummy Eye. There is no other green in my tank that compares to the intensity and fluorescence that this coral puts out. ORA Birdsnest, RedBug Monti, Nuclear Greens, Nuclear Green Acans, Prism Favia... those look *almost* green compared to this. The BGM looks completely pale in comparison. It's almost embarrassing to put the two next to eachother. LOL. I'm a little worried that I won't be able to maintain that level of brilliancy.

The emerald doesn't look too shabby either.

Pics shortly...

Randy - Cool stuff. I think the MM is way over rated. I know it would be cool but just not worth it. Plus its just a WM with orange eyes!

I just got my BGM, ME , EME today! I'll be good on chalices now!

-Dave

With all that you have in there...do you even know what you have in there let alone remember which is which? I don't even have a fraction of what you have and I already can't remember what I have in my tank. Either way, you have one of the nicest collection.

It's a great day for both of us, Dave. Haha. Lemme see em! Post em up in the Chalice thread!

Oregon Mummy Eye

Still waiting for him to puff up. Notice the bit of exposed skeleton on the left.

Emerald Mummy Eye


I'll snap a couple more later this afternoon. Hopefully they both settle in well.

Freakin awesome frags man!

Geez that OME is bright. I have a Cornbred Mummy Eye (1/2 fingernail size frag) that looks similar in brightness...I'll have to see if I can capture it justifiably (if that's a word) on camera and show you.

What camcorder are you using anyways? I might have to try my Canon camcorder out since my Canon point-shoot doesn't take pictures of anything in my tank all that well.

Sounds like a killer trading opportunity to me!!! I hear the super bright MEs are also super slow growers. Maybe in 6mos we can do an eye for an eye? Let me see pics. Post em in our fabulous Chalice thread. LOL

The camcorder is a JVC Everio GZ-MG505 w/ 3CCD technology (whatever that is). It's only 5 Mega Pixels. Nice little camera. Takes good video too. hehe.

I bought some custom cut Black Starboard on eBay. 23.125" X 17.125". Impressive, they cut it to my exact specs too. Also ordered a neoprene mat 24 x 18" to fit the exact footprint of the new ADA I'm picking up >>> 24 X 18 X 18". Since the tank is only changing by 6" in depth, I'll keep growing this thread. Maybe I'll change the title. Hehe

I'll be ordering some black egg crate to convert my existing ADA cube into a frag tank. Got this layout concept in my head that I wanna try out. It'll be drilled (finally) and plumbed into the system. Will be needing a new pendant/ballast setup for it. I'll likely run a 150W 10K off some good reflectors. Need more flow as well. Vortechs perhaps.

This is sounding more like an add-on than an upgrade, cuz I need to buy quite more than just a tank.

(I should have just bought the My Miami frag instead. Would've been cheaper. LOL)

Did you get it from the guy I told you about? Did you get your new tank in already? Did I miss that in the thread somewhere?

I believe I did, and thanks for the recommendation! No, didn't pick up the tank yet. Wanted to get the other stuff ready first, so I wouldn't be staring at an empty tank. haha. Looking for an instant upgrade when I finally do pick it up. I was chatting with Sam. He said people silicone the board to the bottom to prevent nutrient build up underneath. Did you do that to yours?

ya purp...them lumen bright reflectors are the shizz!



my boy had a lumen bright 250 and his old pos reflector 250....when he flipped 'em both on, the difference was ridiculous!




nice upgrade.

Nope...and the last time I did a complete clean-up on my tank, I didn't see any stuff being built up underneath it either. The only place it sorta builds up is the cracks between the starboard and glass...I had mine cut ~1/4" shorter all around so I wouldn't be scraping the silicones in the corner when I placed it down in the tank. Mine sits flush from the weight of the rocks. I think you'll like it a lot. If you do get algae on it, it's so easy to just scrap it off...just like the glass and the rocks stick to it really nice...no slippin' or sliding.

I didn't want to silicone mine just in case I decide to sell this tank when I upgrade in the future, plus I can take it out and add sand in the future if I decide to go with sand again. It just leaves room for flexibility & other options in the future if I didn't silicone it down.

Do you mind sharing who the seller is on Ebay? May look into using this material for a future tank.

Here you go, Adam: http://myworld.ebay.com/acesany/

New ADA? Awesome. P.S. I love the new chalices!

Thanks Randy. I'll definitely be going with this material on my next tank (which I'm not planning quite yet). Can't wait to see your new tank and what you start propping in the old one. With your current coral and husbandry, it's going to be fantastic.

Sorry to keep putting this guy in the limelight! But he's fully acclimated to his new environment now. Had me a little worried at first. Anyone else got an entire colony of this one? If so, I'd like to see it!!!



Thanks for the compliment, Adam. Problem is, the new tank will be fully stocked once I get it! That's why it's only temporary. Once I convert this cube into a presentable frag tank though, I'll be able to stock more goodies.

I can't even begin to think what this will look like as a frag tank?

Haha. We'll see. I got this new egg crate concept I want to try out. It's probably been done before but it'll be new to me. One step at at a time though. Need to make time to pick up the new ADA.

***
So I lost a Miami Hurricane frag today. I think I may have gotten glue on its flesh. It'll be a day of mourning.

Well crap Randy, sorry to hear that you lost your Hurricane frag. It always stinks losing a prized frag. I'm sure someone locally can hook you up with another piece though...you are getting to be quite the Chalice king so I'm sure you have some bargaining pieces

Good news is that it was only a 1/2" frag. I still have my little colony with about 10+ eyes on it I can't believe how many times I've fragged/traded/sold this piece. I'm certainly not the chalice king, but maybe a chalice entrepreneur. lol

I've got some really cool trades pending. Stay tuned...

Randy - Think you can shoot me a PM on Red bugs. I have them. I'm not to worried but I know you have had them and you have a smaller tank

Thanks is advance!

-dave

What's crackin' Randy? Have you picked up any more gems lately? How are things coming with the "new" tank?

After you move out of the current tank, just go ahead and empty it, clean it up, dry it off, pack it up, and ship my way Kidding off course, wish I lived closer.

Hope all is well with you and your slice of the reef.

Help is on the way. PM sent!

Man, I've been busy in the real world lately. New acquisitions haven't been a priority but maintenance is on point Have some trades pending but we haven't shipped out yet. Tank's goin real well and the Oregon Mummy Eye is already showing some growth. I was expecting that one to be a SLOW grower, but it looks like it could be the opposite. Or a normal grower at least.

Got the black starboard. Wont' know how it fits until I get the new ADA though. Might be picking up a Vortech this week. Don't know if it'll be an MP10 or MP20 or BOTH.

Haha. I got plans for the old ADA cube anyway. Need a cool yet efficient frag system. I think it shall serve that purpose.

pictuarz of teh main tank plz

Best wishes!

Here you go, Nate

FTS


Finally caved in and relocated my birdsnest to the frag bin. That new reflective white rock is now taking its place. I mounted 3 encrusting montis and 3 acros on it already. There's another spot left for a Mystic Sunset monti comin from fishes4alivin.

Side Shot

Wish I had more room for my other zoas

room for zoas, wheres that bowerbanki going to go lol!?

Tank is looking healthy, when are you planning the transfer upgrade?

Wassup Kyle. I've been thinking about that, and believe it or not, I got a spot for it!

Upgrade? Yeah. See that's the thing. Turns out I may be moving to San Diego 1 year before I anticipated. So until I know for sure, I'm gonna need to make this little space work. Definitely NOT buying anymore corals in the near term. I've got pending trades to worry about enough as it is. Oh, one of my racks should be completely cleared off when I ship off your stuff. Problem solved. LOL

I believe I'm getting a Vortech now though. All that I would need after that is the tank itself and the upgrade would be complete - the temp upgrade anyhow.

COMPLETE AWESOMENESS.
wish you could go to the swap thoo

Best Wishes!