M&C Posted May 11, 2012 Author Share Posted May 11, 2012 Yours remind me of this: http://www.worldwidecorals.com/product_p/r4-9b.htm Yeah that looks more like it. Link to comment
Paigee Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Nice steal that mille! It looks beautiful, I'm sure even better in person Link to comment
M&C Posted May 11, 2012 Author Share Posted May 11, 2012 Nice steal that mille! It looks beautiful, I'm sure even better in person Indeed it is! My girlfriend noted that I forgot to mention SHE was the one who bought it for me. Whoops Link to comment
dallasprstn Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 The more pictures the better! I'm actually trying to type less and post more pictures lately. Everyone likes pictures! To answer your question, I've ordered from them twice now. I've had one good experience, and one bad (aiptasia, which I thankfully took care of before they spread). They have a great reputation, so I'm going to chalk that first bad experience as a fluke. They also have a truly amazing selection of corals. I'll order from them again sometime this summer. The only thing is, most websites have a minimum order total you need to reach before they'll ship to you. For Vivid Aquariums, it's $150 before taxes and shipping. If you order less than $150, the shipping rate goes way up, depending on where you live. If you order at least $150, it's $20 flate rate overnight shipping. Sweet! thanks, i'm gonna go check out their sps and maybe order a few frags for my new tank in a month or two. btw, that millepora looks suhweet! any sps colonies in my area(even the ugly brown ones) are like $60-$80. So, i always get the $19.99 frags, only cool thing is that they are buy three get one free! Link to comment
M&C Posted May 11, 2012 Author Share Posted May 11, 2012 Sweet! thanks, i'm gonna go check out their sps and maybe order a few frags for my new tank in a month or two. btw, that millepora looks suhweet! any sps colonies in my area(even the ugly brown ones) are like $60-$80. So, i always get the $19.99 frags, only cool thing is that they are buy three get one free! Colonies normally go for that much where I live as well. I have no idea why the Mille was that cheap. I'm not complaining though! I normally just buy frags too, since I prefer watching stuff grow into big colonies rather than starting out with big colonies, but I couldn't pass up that deal. That's also a pretty sweet deal for the buy 3 get 1 free. My tank would be fully stocked in a heart beat if my lfs did that Link to comment
M&C Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 Well after thinking about for a couple weeks, I think I've decided to go back to T5s. I love the LEDs I have, and I am getting good growth, but some of the colors aren't really coming out that well (blues, pinks, purples). I'm pretty sure it's because I don't have enough blue light in my setup. I have no idea how many more stunner strips it would take before they started having more of an effect in providing the proper color spectrum, so instead of playing a guessing game and potentially wasting a bunch of money, I decided to make the switch back to a tried and true setup. I ordered a 24" 4x24W Sunlight Supply Tek fixture, along with 1 Purple+, 1 Coral+, and 2 Blue+ bulbs. The good thing is, if I don't like the light these will put out, I can always try a different combination. I hope they'll get here by this week. Marindepot usually gets stuff to me in 2 days even with ground shipping, but I put in a big order for a bunch of other stuff too so we'll see. Link to comment
Paigee Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Seems to be a common change these days! Can't wait to see the new lights. Link to comment
M&C Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 Playing around with a borrowed DSLR camera. Still haven't figured it out, but I think I'm getting better. More pictures later Acans Clownfish in Torch Coral Link to comment
M&C Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 I got my lights today! I had to make a couple trips to Home Depot to get the fixture situation sorted out. The conduit I used to hold up the LEDs wouldn't hold up the T5 fixture. It was way bigger than I thought it would be. I picked up some mounting brackets and with the help of my girlfriend, got it all set up. I love the light it's putting out. The corals look good, and I'm sure they'll look even better in a couple of weeks. FTS with the lights More torch pictures! These seem to be the only pictures coming out nicely with the borrowed DSLR camera I'm using. Birdsnest Acans looking good after a couple weeks This acan has been in my tank for over a month now and hasn't shown any signs of splitting. Blue mille... still can't figure out the settings for this Cerith snail Here's a cool pic I managed to take with my phone. Whammin Watermelons. I think they're morphing to a more yellow skirt than a green one. Just saw one of my acans eating an unlucky dwarf cerith. Link to comment
Paigee Posted May 18, 2012 Share Posted May 18, 2012 Nice lights! How are you liking that colour combo? I need new bulbs but don't know which ones I want. The ones I have now are 2 x 10000k and 2 violet bulbs, and when the white turns on it is SO white. I don't like it, but they were free so hey. Link to comment
M&C Posted May 18, 2012 Author Share Posted May 18, 2012 Nice lights! How are you liking that colour combo? I need new bulbs but don't know which ones I want. The ones I have now are 2 x 10000k and 2 violet bulbs, and when the white turns on it is SO white. I don't like it, but they were free so hey. I love the color combo. It has a nice blue tint to it, but not so blue that it looks completely unnatural. The colors really pop. I'm sure in a few weeks everything will look even better. What kind of look are you going for? More white or more blue? Link to comment
M&C Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 I can finally see pink on my pink millepora. Bout time! I didn't think the new lights would have such a dramatic effect so soon after setting them up. No complaints here though! I wish I could get a picture but as is usually the case, I have camera issues. Also, I think I'm going to pick up a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp next week sometime after I take my MCAT. Link to comment
Paigee Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Glad you're having good results with the new gear I'm aiming for a blue look, similar to what I have with my LEDs... Probably about a 14/15k look? Is that what you would say you have? I'd say what I have now is like... 10/11k and I'm not a fan. Link to comment
M&C Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 Glad you're having good results with the new gear I'm aiming for a blue look, similar to what I have with my LEDs... Probably about a 14/15k look? Is that what you would say you have? I'd say what I have now is like... 10/11k and I'm not a fan. I'd say mine is a little more blue than that. Probably around 17,000K. Link to comment
coachfraley Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 Tank is looking sweet Matt. You have a lot of nice pieces in there. Have you been cleaning the back wall? Or is just that clean? Link to comment
M&C Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 Tank is looking sweet Matt. You have a lot of nice pieces in there. Have you been cleaning the back wall? Or is just that clean? Thanks! It has come a long way in 4 months. I'm looking forward to just watching things grow out for a while now before adding anything else. The walls stay pretty clean. I used to have to scrape every day, but as the tank has become more established, I have found that algae buildup only becomes noticeable after 4-5 days. The back wall isn't spotless though like the picture makes it look--that's just the camera losing some detail on the dark surface. Link to comment
M&C Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 Hmm I'm getting a little frustrated with the lack of coralline growth I'm seeing so far. I figured around the 4 month mark it would be growing like crazy but I still only have a few patches here and there. Anyone have some suggestions? I don't know what else I can do. I have just switched to T5s after trying out LEDs for a little over a month--maybe they weren't getting the job done? All parameters seem like they would support coralline growth: NO3/PO4: 0 / 0 Ca: 470ppm Alk: ~8.3dKH Mg: ~1420 (although I haven't checked this for a few weeks--will update tomorrow morning) Anyways, more pictures! Everyone loves pictures. Figured I'd try some new angles, so here's a side tank shot. Bubbles on the wall are from a recent water change--whoops. MP10 point of view. Hard to tell from that picture but the pink mille is actually really pink now. The purple humilis on the far left has browned out a bit since I got it two weeks ago, but I'm sure it will settle in after a month or two like the other sps seem to be doing. Everything else is doing very well! Orange montipora cap. I don't think I'm happy with my cap placement just yet. I'm going to move them up more on this big rock but I've just been to lazy to do so. Purple cap looking GREAT under the T5s. These pics are all unedited btw! Also notice the slimer encrusting nicely after a month in the tank. Comparison The last zoanthid frag came out of quarantine last week, and it's just now starting to open up. I left it in a peroxide dip and forgot about it. It was not happy for a while. I ordered it as a radioactive zoanthid frag but it had some more whammin watermelons on it. And here's a random picture I took of the eclipse today. It was a trippy shadow effect on the side of our apartment building Link to comment
M&C Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 Trying out some new settings on the camera tonight. Any tips from camera pros out there would be much appreciated. Slimer. Looks photoshopped but I only lowered exposure and shadows Blue millepora Tri-color acan Orange acan under actinics. Didn't even have to edit this one Link to comment
Paigee Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 That last shot of the acans is great Link to comment
matt frizz Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 That last shot of the acans is great Def. Link to comment
M&C Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 Thank you both. That colony along with the torch coral seem to be the only corals that consistently turn out well when I take pictures. Link to comment
M&C Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 Just thought I'd share a quick update since I haven't posted in a few days. I haven't really done much with the tank in the last couple of weeks. I just wanted to let things settle in and start growing. Everything really seems to be taking off! This is good and bad. The good is pretty obvious: I'm getting solid, noticeable growth on most of my corals. My SPS are really taking off, and my acans all of a sudden started growing tons of babies. The bad news is that this new growth is really taking a toll on my parameters--well one parameter, which is alkalinity. I posted a few weeks ago about it being low (~6.5dKH). I started dosing, but apparently not enough. It's still around 7ish, which is acceptable, but I know I'm losing some growth on my stony corals while it's that low. I've bumped up the dosing even more, so that's just something I'll have to keep an eye on. Also, as ridiculous as it sounds, I've been trying for weeks to find somewhere nearby with skunk cleaners or fire shrimp. I have a really good LFS about 30 minutes north--they have all kinds of exotic fish, coral, clams, even a sea apple, but no shrimp! I guess I'll just have to be patient, but it seems weird that I haven't been able to find one of our most common reef tank inhabitants for sale locally in several weeks. Link to comment
Paigee Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Just thought I'd share a quick update since I haven't posted in a few days. I haven't really done much with the tank in the last couple of weeks. I just wanted to let things settle in and start growing. Everything really seems to be taking off! This is good and bad. The good is pretty obvious: I'm getting solid, noticeable growth on most of my corals. My SPS are really taking off, and my acans all of a sudden started growing tons of babies. The bad news is that this new growth is really taking a toll on my parameters--well one parameter, which is alkalinity. I posted a few weeks ago about it being low (~6.5dKH). I started dosing, but apparently not enough. It's still around 7ish, which is acceptable, but I know I'm losing some growth on my stony corals while it's that low. I've bumped up the dosing even more, so that's just something I'll have to keep an eye on. Also, as ridiculous as it sounds, I've been trying for weeks to find somewhere nearby with skunk cleaners or fire shrimp. I have a really good LFS about 30 minutes north--they have all kinds of exotic fish, coral, clams, even a sea apple, but no shrimp! I guess I'll just have to be patient, but it seems weird that I haven't been able to find one of our most common reef tank inhabitants for sale locally in several weeks. Good to hear that youve seen a ton of growth!! That's awesome. I'm sure once you figure out exactly how much alk you lose, you'll get the dosing right to keep it at a good level Strange that you can't find those shrimp too... I was at my lfs tonight and they had about 30 fire shrimp Link to comment
M&C Posted June 2, 2012 Author Share Posted June 2, 2012 6/1/12 update! Alright so it's been a while since I've had any big updates, so I thought I'd start off the month with a new FTS and a random photo dump. Some of these pictures were taken by my iPhone, and some were taken by a DSLR. Most of these photos are untouched, and the others only edited minimally if I felt the original wasn't a true representation of whatever was being photographed. Enjoy! June FTS FTS at an angle STS ORA green birdnest 5 weeks ago... ...and today more of a close up Purple & green acans Red & blue striped acans close up of the red & blue acans blue acans with red/orange centers 6 weeks ago... ...and today tri-color acan finally growing babies (you can see one near the bottom of the picture) Probably the best picture of the blue mille I've been able to take. It's difficult to photograph blues in an aquarium because of the strong blue lighting Pink (brown) millepora 6 weeks ago... ...and today Acropora humilis that arrived bright purple before browning out, but has since regained much of the lost color. Future zoanthid garden with... ...whammin watermelon zoanthids ...lunar eclipse palythoa (that haven't done much growing at all yet) ...Lord of the Rings zoanthids that don't really look like the stock picture on the website where I bought them. These are really hard to take a picture of and I feel like this doesn't do them justice. They are a chalky purple color with bright pink circles around the centers ...radioactive dragon eye zoanthids ...limeberry & tic-tac zoanthids The lone tic-tac zoanthid that has made quite a comeback since I fragged it 2 months ago Frogspawn still looking great! Monti cap rock. If you check out page 6 you'll see some growth pictures of that green slimer. Since I posted that a week and a half ago it's already grown noticeably more like you see in this picture. Ending with another torch/clownfish picture because, for me at least, they never get old Link to comment
Deleted User 3 Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 6/1/12 update! Alright so it's been a while since I've had any big updates, so I thought I'd start off the month with a new FTS and a random photo dump. Some of these pictures were taken by my iPhone, and some were taken by a DSLR. Most of these photos are untouched, and the others only edited minimally if I felt the original wasn't a true representation of whatever was being photographed. Enjoy! June FTS FTS at an angle STS ORA green birdnest 5 weeks ago... ...and today more of a close up Purple & green acans Red & blue striped acans close up of the red & blue acans blue acans with red/orange centers 6 weeks ago... ...and today tri-color acan finally growing babies (you can see one near the bottom of the picture) Probably the best picture of the blue mille I've been able to take. It's difficult to photograph blues in an aquarium because of the strong blue lighting Pink (brown) millepora 6 weeks ago... ...and today Acropora humilis that arrived bright purple before browning out, but has since regained much of the lost color. Future zoanthid garden with... ...whammin watermelon zoanthids ...lunar eclipse palythoa (that haven't done much growing at all yet) ...Lord of the Rings zoanthids that don't really look like the stock picture on the website where I bought them. These are really hard to take a picture of and I feel like this doesn't do them justice. They are a chalky purple color with bright pink circles around the centers ...radioactive dragon eye zoanthids ...limeberry & tic-tac zoanthids The lone tic-tac zoanthid that has made quite a comeback since I fragged it 2 months ago Frogspawn still looking great! Monti cap rock. If you check out page 6 you'll see some growth pictures of that green slimer. Since I posted that a week and a half ago it's already grown noticeably more like you see in this picture. Ending with another torch/clownfish picture because, for me at least, they never get old i loooooooove that birdsnest... omg. SOOO pretty under those lights! Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.