[BEST!]




mean, green eyes.



old man lobo....

zoas are looking HAWT!

you like that, huh?






...well me too.

I traded a 1x Minefield Cyphastrea frag, 1x red monti frag, and a 12 polyp frag of KeddRedd's zoa's for a 70w Halide ballast & bulb...


then i went to the store...

[NEW!] Monti came with the trade....






like a family photo....





*EDIT: PLEASE NOTE: the halide is NOT over the tank yet.

the breakdown.....


The Body: [new] Sears 500w halogen...................... ($15)
The Brains: [used] NAIS "E-Ballast"............................(Frags)
The Business: [new] 70w AstraLux 14k (uv glass)......(Frags)


AstraLux 14k.... nice color so far.






this thing is fargin' BRIGHT!!!



makes a slight hiss upon startup, but goes away after 6 minutes. i've read that alot of people have problems with the NAIS ballasts turning 14K's into 10K's (in appearance), so i'm watching for that.
ive also read that they tend to "emergency off" 45 minutes after startup....im now at the 30 min. mark and counting....*lol its 3:33am

BTW, this DIY halide only ended up costing me about $20 out of pocket, considering the frags cost me nothing.... im happy.


im not gloating. I'm just saying that the only way i was gettin' a halide, without the ole lady killin' me, was if it was DIRT CHEAP.

Talk about a deal!!

best depiction of the bulbs color... a tad bit whiter irl.






oh yeah.

Tank is looking great man, hows the new hammer doing?

thanks man, ur's dont look too bad either.



Hammer's doin' well. bright as balls w/ the halide on...

I think there's some changes about to take place around here....




pinklime sparkle.....



I never gave up on this leptastrea...even when it looked DEAD.




Startin' to look like ti was a good idea...

Very nice on the halide and a pretty sweet deal on the price. Cheap/free is always the way to go. That Leptastrea looks pretty good. Give it some time and it should really look nice.

Bill

im CHEAP. so tha light deal werked out well...


ive been waitin about 2 months for that leptastrea to heal....i'll wait as long as it takes.

Da Cram!!!!




Da micro's!!!!




Da Hammers!




Bo$$ Baller Shrimp!




an anemone king, surrounded by trumpets...




Irish Fireworks




Top Downs in a few minutes....

reflecting....




from the back...




nosy fishy...




i spy... a good place for thos monti's to go...




i wasnt using the tripod, so the shots are a lil' shaky...



hammers LOVE halides....



parting shot..... i REALLY need to frag these up.




all comments are welcomed...

DAM looking nice. It'll be cool watching everything morphing colors again.

ooh.... i didnt even think about that yet.

You've got a lot of great looking corals in there! I especially like the green acans.

thx MJ

Halides Kick A$$!!!!

(none of these shots have been color edited AT ALL.)

Micromussa' hungry....



Proud to report ALL zoa polyps as POX FREE!!!>>> I<3 Furan-2



Thinkin' that I may start furan dippen every winter....



happy lil' basteges.....



these Acan Lords are actually turning yellow.



banished to the Chaeto corner for stinging my Ric's....



yeah, buddy!



I was gonna go buy a new fish today....but i bought my Wifey a dozen roses instead.

* i got sidetracked...

Haha I was expecting that "but" to be a "so" in order to make up!

Oh, and yellow acans would be awesome!

DANG MJ....





howja kno?

Haha I'm just good like that! I know all the tricks.

EATS!!!!!!

mah tank is bright.....



Golddust favia...



from the front....


Sexy top-view....



Nom Nom Nom...



Echinata is happy....



mushiez wanna eat eachudder...



...and themselves.



*looks "bleached" b'cuz of the Furan dips....



notice the pink millepora... its turnin' colors already.



closer... notice the color on the encrusting base?




That's All.....

I love it! Those are some great pics... as usual

havent seen you in while...




how goes it opy?

Busy! Work is killing me. We have deadlines coming up Friday on a few projects plus I am on call 24/7 till Thursday and I feel dead. I could go as a zombie for halloween and not even use makup lol. I am trying not to let RL (real life) disturb my forum time but I cant seem to do it lol. All of that including helping to plan our Christmas vacation to the Bahamas is a hand full. I try to sneek in and troll a little bit each dail but every now and then I dont even have time to check my email lol.

Nice pics Pis!

DANG!



thanks buddeh!

umm...thats NOT an anemone.



Lookin' like a Clarkii....







I also started a frag tank today.....




not much to look @ right now.....


I will be adding the eggcrate AFTER the cycle.

I dont want the diatoms on my pretty white eggcrate...

Those are awesome pictures! The clown hosting the clam is especially awesome.

thanx MJ....


and they host the clam ALL DAY...
it gets ridiculous.

Ahhhhhh!!!!









MOARL8R!

color change....



shweet ash color change....


i got moar, but i gotta go be a husband,

I moved the Lobo Corymbosa to the SunCoral cave....they are happy.




Female in straight "protect mode".....



^She runs this tank with an iron CRAW!



BLACK superman Rhodactis....(hope it stays black.)




TopDown of my Squamosa.....




In relation to the new chalice....



would ya just look at all that color....




thx.

In case u hadn't noticed....

I removed the larger "pillar" from the left side of the aquascape.
The main reason for removal was a red turf algae that i didnt want spreading to the other rocks....

Secondary reasoning.... MOAR SPACE=MOAR FRAGS!

Tank looks great. Keep up the good work .

thanks PFL......

Went and met up with 'ScottyReef' today @ YourReef in Roseville, Ca.


as usual, scott knows everything there is to know about corals.... and i am a mear mortal,


anyways, scott gave me 2polyps of his sweet hitcher zoa's for free, and i picked up a SHWEET Motipora Spongodes and a pretty nice Chalice as well...


$25 Montipora Spongodes...





Top down....



thats the new purple chalice to the left...

Stomatella hard @ werk!



This chalice is MUCH brighter than this shot makes it appear.



Snail on snail action.....



Right side Tank Shot.



I gots moar in a sec....

Nosiest fish in the world!
















Ugh...

the halide looks great in your tank bro

thanx sam!


yeah, the Astralux 14k seems to be doin' trick.
Its a very krisp blue-white. a perfect 14k.

im having trouble figurin' out the perfect distance for the pendent, but im gettin it dialed in....


me and scott were kinda bummed that u culdnt make it today, man.

okay...


- Emerald Crab molted last night..... now he only has 1 pincer.

- Anemone Shrimp wont let my Sexy Shrimp eat... sexy is not smart enuf to just RUN AWAY.

- Cleaner Shrimp is harrassing mah clowns....



what a morning....

Snail porn!




Those are a lot of cool looking corals!

tanx MJ...


I'll take pix of the new zoa's and chalice l8r.....

i see a noticeable difference in your photos between t5/mh.

it was tiring yesterday running around getting stuff then cooking. i'm glad its over, tons of screaming kids for a whole day.

sheeit is BRIGHT.

I keep mah light 6" above mah tank.... that about right?
or too close too soon?



sounds like here,

just had mah kids pre-school Halloween party, and halloween @ our house.

Next is his Birthday in 2 days.... which means setting up for the party at his school, and setting up for his party at 'Bounce U' (building FULL of bounce-houses, jumpers, and slides....


in addition to the taking down of the halloween decorations and normal household chores, it'll be a busy week.




but,


I gots money in the pocket, and corals in the tank.... Life is good.

hehe right on man. its up to you with the light, just make sure it isn't boiling the water and your corals are happy.

where is bounce U? we were looking for a place to host his party but couldn't find a suitable one.