Weetie, I don't mean to pry but does your McCosker boy know about the pods and the palys yet? I'm too young to be a McCosker Grandma!

I suppose I probably should post some pics!



















The tank does still have a fair bit of algae which hopefully I'll be able to eradicate soon. I also think I need halides badly due to the poor color that I'm getting with my PCs. I'd like to order a fixture soon, but I'll have to wait and see if I have the funds.

I love my 4x54w Nova Extreme. It would light up a 75 nicely. A Nova Extreme Pro would be even better.

Hard to beat the shimmer of a Halide or LED spotlight though.

Tank is looking good, btw. I like it.

Thanks Chris

I've had bad luck with T5s in the past, so I'm probably going to stick with HQI halides. Although, after talking to n0rk the other night I'm toying with getting LEDs. Hopefully I'll make up my mind and have new lighting in the next couple weeks. I'm sick of the PCs washing out all of the color. Even my fish look dull.

Also, I make a couple orders of stuff for the tank earlier. LIVE stuff. Some of it should be here on Wednesday, the rest should be here on Friday.

LEDs are amazing. I love Metal Halide but don't want to deal with the replacement lamps.

My Par38 is incredible, I can't wait to get a few more for the 180.

LOVE the Giant Leather (toadstool, right?) and the Red Macro.
What kind of Macro is that?

If I go the LED route, I'll either get the 4 Par38s from NanoCustoms or 2 of these pendents. The only real problem I'm having is a know virtually nothing about LEDs and I have no clue how to mount them to my tank. I'm not allowed to hang anything from the ceiling, but I might be able to get away with mounting something from the wall behind the tank and hanging it out.

Also, do track lighting thingies just plug into an outlet? Or do I have to have someone wire it or something? Yes, I realize I'm a horrible lighting noob! lol

The main reason I'm looking towards the LEDs is simply the fact that they are cooler. Since the tank is in my bedroom and my bedroom is on the south side of the house, it can get really hot in here with halides.



It's a green polyped toadie and I've had that baby ever since it was a little 1" by 1" frag.

I have no clue what kind of macro it is. The one neat thing that came out of my tank crash is that the 2 red macros popped out of my lr. I really love the ruffly kind that is in the middle of the tank.

Most track lights just plug in. You just have to shop around.

I think "those pendants" are the ones Evil was talking about weren't nearly as strong as they advertised. He snuck a Par meter under them at whatever the last big reef show was and was very disappointed.

I love the Par38. It's an incredible little lamp, I'm hoping to get 4 or 5 more and completely ditch my t5s. Nanotuners is coming out with a smaller version too, MR16 sized lamps. I am considering those in combination with my t5s if the price difference is right. Scroll through the last few pages of my 180 thread for Par38 pictures.

Chris, your tank is looking pretty damn sweet!

I like the look of the Par38s, I'm just not positive that the technology is there yet, plus the fact that I want my tank to be predominantly softies that could easily be burned by such high par. I'm probably just going to end up with HQIs because I know that they work for me. I've toyed with T5s but my past experience along with the lack of shimmer makes me want halides lol.

Also, I went to the one petstore that is close to me to buy frozen fish food and zoecon for the upcoming arrivals and ended up with a new pet. I got a waterdog! He's a larval form of a tiger salamander. I don't need a new pet but he was so cute that I just couldn't say no to his widdle face!

Thanks! I'm happy with it so far, just gotta finish it now...

The thing about the Spotlight LEDs is the Par isn't actually that high for most of what it lights. It drops pretty rapidly as you get away from the center of the beam. Plus it shimmers! Can't go wrong with metal halide though, sounds like you're pretty partial to it.


edit: 5000

Dear dunks,

Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies and cake. You know that you want to...

With love,
Boobies.

ps.

Unless the technology is vastly different between the OEM Chinese manufacturer and the rebranded US ones, they crank out serious power for the price. A bunch (about 25) of the reefers here have got them and have reported good PAR figures (read: equal to or exceeding common 250W halide levels) and growth out of them over the last 6-ish months since many of them first got them. That was the primary reason I suggested 'em to dunks in the first place, because they'd been through a decent enough acid test on tanks I'm familiar with.

Calvin has just ordered 5 for his tank, the exact ones in question, so his conclusions will be interesting to see. He seems satisfied so far though, so time will tell.

I boobies!



I'm probably just going to stick with halides for a while. I'd love not having to deal with the heat but I'd hate to spend that much money on LEDs only to have them declared unfit or drop in price 6 months after I get them.

Also, my fish order has changed. The were out of one of the fish I wanted so they gave me a discount on a different fish. They still should be here tomorrow tho! I'll be getting a new CUC on Friday and hopefully Saturday I'll be able to pick up my trigger

Don't we all?


They are pretty awesome lights.

Yay for fish!

I'm excited about my fish. I really don't have many fish that are actively swimming all the time (the clowns stay in their hosts, the watchmans stay in their burrow, tailspot stays in his hole etc) so it will be nice to have some activity going.

Between my fish order and my trigger, the tank is stocked. Once the local fish breeder guy gets all of his guys transferred to his new system, I'll be selling my watchmans to him so he hopefully will be able to raise their young. I'm planning on replacing him with yellowhead jawfish from sealifeinc.net. I really love my watchmans but I just think it would be awesome to start having captive bred ones available. I realize that many of my fish are wild caught, but I try to buy tankraised whenever possible even if it is more expensive.

NEW FISHIES ARE HERE!!!!

The are currently acclimating. They look pretty stressed but seem okay thus far. I didn't receive my entire order though.

Uh oh, what's missing?
Be careful transferring them into the tank, mine sometimes like to "jump" when stressed.
And I mean JUMP.

Well they called me yesterday saying one of the fish I ordered wasn't in stock, so they gave me a discount on a substitution. I got all of the fish I ordered, but I was shorted 2 of the Red Mithrax crabs I ordered. They were good and emailed me within 30 minutes saying they'll refund my money.

Thanks for the tip on the jumping. I've been acclimating them with the lid on the styro container (partially to reduce stress and partially to help with jumping). I usually hand catch my fish unless they are overly small because it seems to do less damage to them.

Okay I know I've been horribly indecisive on the lighting situation, but now I'm kinda leaning towards trying T5s again. As much as I'm wanting the shimmer of halides, I'm just not sure I can take that much heat. Now I'm kinda leaning towards a Tek Elite fixture. I'm thinking/hoping the 4 bulb fixture would be enough. The only thing I'm unsure of is what combo of bulbs would I want?

I was thinking 2 ATI 12K Aquablue Special and 2 ATI Blue Plus, but I really know nothing about T5 bulbs. Other options are here. I was planning on ordering the fixture from them also.

EDIT: I should probably say I prefer the color similar to that of a Phoenix 14K HQI bulb. So whitish but with a distinct blue tinge.

2- ATi blue plus, 1 K-figi purple and 1 ati aquablue or GE6500

I reckon 2 BluePlus, 1 Fiji or GE6500, and an AquaBlue should do it. The Fiji might make the tank way too red, so grab another white of some kind in case.

2 ATI Blue+, 1 ATI Aquablue, and 1 Fiji Purple will give you a 14k look with cool tones that will do a really good job of enhancing reds, oranges, etc.
You will also get plenty of color pop.
This is the bulb combo I used when I switched from 150w MH with a Phoenix 14k to T5HO, and I felt like I actually got better coral coloration with this bulb combo than I had had with the Phoenix 14k.

I ended up ordering a Sunpod because it was about $220 cheaper.

Nice. Sunpods are great.

I got my ballasts today. I guess fedex decided I won't get my actual fixture till tomorrow.

Looks great Stacey! I'm not sure how I missed this thread! How's life in Topuka?

Thanks! I'm having a few issues with the tank atm, but I did get my sunpod so now the tank is all shimmery. Topeka still sucks lol.

Hi Dunks!!
:waves:
What issues are you having with the tank?

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to this thread again. The tank had an outbreak of ich that caused me to loose most of my livestock. Oddly enough I lost most of my older fish, but the newer fish fared a lot better. I'm assuming that the transfer caused much more stress than I had anticipated, which made them extremely susceptible to the ich. In the past I was able to fight it by just upping feedings, but for some reason this time it just didn't work.

As of right now it seems to finally be under control, but I will be QTing any new fish from now on. I'm having another algae outbreak due to not being able to do a waterchange for the last couple weeks. I'm planning on doing a rather large (20g) waterchange today, along with doing some manual algae removal.

I just ordered some more fish from BlueZooAquatics, but they will be spending a minimum of 2 weeks in QT tanks before adding to the display. They should be arriving on the 28th hopefully.

So sorry to hear about the losses.
What fish do you have left?
What will you be getting in from Blue Zoo?
Howza light working out for you?
I actually have Halide again, it's over my Prop Tank.
It's actually a 150w Halide, 2x24w T5HO combo.

All I have left is my Mystery Wrasse, Female Mccoskers, WhipFin Wrasse (which still has a couple spots, planing on trying to catch him today to medicate), Blue Throat Trigger, one Picasso Clown, one Sharknose Goby,
and my pair of Watchmans.

I'm getting a Pyle's Fairy Wrasse, Bicolor Angel, a Blue Eye Kole Tang, an Orange Spotted Lawnmower Blenny, a Black and White Clown Goby, and a Yellow Clown Goby. The wrasse and tang were both wysiwyg, so I'm extremely excited about them. I'll be getting another picasso clown too as soon as I find one I like, along with another mandarin. I was extremely upset when my other one passed as I'd had him for almost 3 years and he would eat anything I threw in the tank.

I'm really liking the light. I'm getting some shadowing due to the fact that the light isn't far off of the tank (I'm just using stock legs) and that I've got eggcrate over the tank, but overall I'm really liking it. I'm wishing I would of gotten a fixture with t5's too just to help with the shadowing, but I'm still happy with what I have.

Sounds like a nice fish lineup.
Very nice indeed.
Can you just feed the Wrasse still in the tank some food soaked in Garlic?

I've been feeding food soaked in garlic and vit. c, I'll probably just continue to do so because I highly doubt I'll be able to catch the little bugger lol. I'll only catch him if I can do so without stressing him out, because I know stressing him will only make it worse.

I'm really pretty excited about the new fish, as a few of them I've never even seen in real life lol.

nice rack dunky. fts availible?


<3U

LOL

A fts of my rack, my vivs, my reef, or all of the above?

I finally swapped out my stock bulbs for Phoenix ones today, along with doing a waterchange, getting the skimmer back running, and adding the surviving clown and sharknose goby back from QT. Also I set up my new QT tank. I was using a 10g, but since I've got so many fish to QT soon (esp. the tang), I picked up a 20g to use. I was originally planning on using 2 10g tanks, but the store had a 20H for $22 so I just got that.

Whipfin is gone. I haven't seen him in a few days so I'm assuming he died I wish I could of caught him to QT and medicated, but alas I could not. I've learned my lesson tho, all new fish will now be QT'ed and medicated before going to the display.

The new guys will be here tomorrow. I'm planning on at least a 2 week QT time (or longer if they end up needing it). I'd rather get them out of the QT as fast as possible because of the tang and such, but I won't rush them. I'm planning on prophylactically treating with Para-Guard and PraziPro.

Oh, and I got wood today! Drift wood so I can finish setting up my 2 new zoomed tanks. I'm in a hurry to get a bunch of tank and terrarium stuff done before I get cut on and am down for 3+ weeks again.

Sorry to hear about the fish losses Dunky. Sounds like some sweet new ones on the way though.

I like the new av. And I'm always up for pictures...

Since the 75g looks like poop atm, here are some pics of the frogs!

The 2 new zoomed tanks I finished up tonight:




My Veradero Imis chillin' in their favorite brom and waiting for bedtime:


Random Froglet shots:






Fatty McFatpants (aka the first tad I morphed out) He's gotten HOOOGE lol:

Whoah, you grew that Lil Dude from a tadpole??
That's impressive.
I hope he's not as high maintenance as the Lil Dude that I grew from a tadpole.

just curious, are they actually toxic? ( the frogs of course. ;p )
i really wanna get some one day

Yep. I bought some tads in like, Jan-Feb and he was the first one that morphed for me. I've got 3 more left that I got in April of a different morph that should be popping front legs any day now. They are pretty low maintenance to be honest, the hardest part is culturing fruit flies which takes maybe 10 minutes once a week to do. Your tadpole raising was quite a lot more challenging than mine!



Mine are all captive bred, so no they are not toxic. Their poison is derived from the food they eat in the wild, and since they are not fed the same diet in captivity as they eat in the wild they loose their toxicity. The only ones you really have to worry about are freshly imported wild caught frogs, which I have none of lol.

do you ever hold em?

No, and I wouldn't recommend it. Darts aren't a cuddly holding pet, mostly because of their small size and the fact that they absorb chemicals through their skin. I don't touch them at all if I can prevent it, which is more for their safety than mine.

FISHIES ARE HERE!

Sadly, the black and white clown goby was DOA, but so far everything else looks good. They are acclimating into the QT tank as I type this.

EDIT to add pic:

those are some really cool darts, now i want to get into that again lol.

I like your fish choices very much. I've been considering adding a kole tang and a bicolor angel to the collection lately. I have some liveaquaria credit burning a hole in my pocket!

How'd acclimation go? Everyone still good?

Thanky! Acclimation went great and everyone is still looking pretty good. The wrasse ate yesterday, and I think the tang did too. Everyone else was still hiding because I was up near the tank lol. The little bicolor was out and about picking on the few pieces of LR that I put into the QT tank. I haven't tried feeding them yet today, but I will as soon as I get home.

I went ahead and treated with PraziPro yesterday because I've heard that the angels have a tendency to carry parasites like flukes. Honestly the fish looked great when they came in and it really surprised me just how fat and healthy they looked. These came from Bluezoo. I actually got the wrasse and the tang off of their version of the Diver's Den (I believe they call it the Collector's Corner or something like that).

Well, I decided since the guarantee is basically up on my fish and I haven't seen any signs of disease to go ahead and move them over to the 75g. I really felt bad that they were all stuck in a 20H, especially the tang, which is also part of why I decided to move them so soon. So far they are seeming to settle in okay. The tang and the angel are hiding, but the wrasse, blenny, and goby are checking out their new digs.

I came here to ask how your bicolor was doing. Guess I don't have to ask now. Hopefully they'll all perk up. I'm loving my new bicolor angel, such a beautiful fish.

So far everyone is seeming to do great. I had to euthanize my trigger last Friday, but everyone has done great since (by the time I could catch him he was so far gone that I decided there was no point in stressing him even more and attempting to medicate him). The angle is doing extremely well, and has quite the personality. He'll charge the glass if I stick my face up to it in order to see him in his favorite rock cranny lol. I'm still fighting algae issues, which is why I haven't posted any pics, but I'm hoping weekly manual removal and large water changes will help me get it looking better.

I just bit the bullet and ordered another picasso. Lets hope this one doesn't die.