StevieT's Red Sea Max Experience

[clownfish1124]

oh, that's neat, t5's as compact fluorescent! thanks Stevie!

 

Edit: also, would it run in a normal compact fluorescent fixture? also is it straight pinned or square pinned

[StevieT]

straight pin and no, they are 2 55W T5 PC

 

PCs are 65W usually at that size, so they would put to much power to the bulb and burn it out I would think, even though it would be fun to try since you would get more light! They have an electroinic ballast, I think most PCs have a magnetic ballast

[DrCooper]

This thread is UNREAL

I LOVE IT

[hazmat]

I soooo wish you could explain the lighting to some of the "ahem" members on this forum that think we have plain ol PC lighting.

It's like no matter what you say they just don't get it. How are we keeping clams and SPS if we only had PC lighting?? It's almost like your tank is a POS unless you have MH lights??

So frustrating.......

[StevieT]

just send them here. Or explain we have magical lighting that is a secret to the world unless you own the tank. It is a members only club, we have a board of directors, and a cool secret password. Explain we are just playing around, I replace my clam every other month after it dies, I photoshop the growth on my SPS and my acans look like crap because they false advertise them with tricks.

[hazmat]

just send them here. Or explain we have magical lighting that is a secret to the world unless you own the tank. It is a members only club, we have a board of directors, and a cool secret password. Explain we are just playing around, I replace my clam every other month after it dies, I photoshop the growth on my SPS and my acans look like crap because they false advertise them with tricks.

 

I don't even think that will help convince the nay sayers!!

[StevieT]

Yes, it will. Just say magic, they will understand

[Reefmack]

................ I replace my clam every other month after it dies, I photoshop the growth on my SPS and my acans look like crap because they false advertise them with tricks.

 

Ahhah! Your secret is revealed StevieT! It's not the freakin magic lighting after all!

[SteveGB]

I've just started reading this thread, jumped from page 6 to here to ask a quick question, (then I'll go back) did you see a big difference after you dittched all your LR rubble, I've some in a cannister filter with Purigen and Chemi Pure Elite. From a different thread - StevieT, I still consider myself a beginner, after 10 months I know a bit, but everyday is a school day.

[StevieT]

I've just started reading this thread, jumped from page 6 to here to ask a quick question, (then I'll go back) did you see a big difference after you dittched all your LR rubble, I've some in a cannister filter with Purigen and Chemi Pure Elite. From a different thread - StevieT, I still consider myself a beginner, after 10 months I know a bit, but everyday is a school day.

 

 

Yes, I did. I could never get rid of a few nitrates, as soon as I removed the rubble, gone! I don't know why I ever did the rubble, I always figured it was a bad idea but never really thought it out. I didn't have it in there very long, but it was in there for the cycle so it was catching a lot of detritus, especially in the bag that housed it. I also started to use purigen to eliminate the nitrates and haven't had them since. I highly recommend not going with any rubble or bio balls in a reef setup.

 

This tank is almost 1 year old, I have been into saltwater over 2 years now, but I too am learning every day, this hobby just never ends with education. I also run chemi pure elite, good stuff!

[StevieT]

Ahhah! Your secret is revealed StevieT! It's not the freakin magic lighting after all!

 

 

you can't believe everything you read or see on the internets, photoshop has been good to my tank

[StevieT]

I purchased this yesterday since I am going to the Dominican Republic the first week in September for a wedding. Plan is to get some good underwater shots and check out the reefs.

 

But.... why not for the aquarium as well since I will actually get more overall use there! It should be here early to mid next week, shots will be posted and hopefully the seals are good and it doesn't kill a good camera

 

[Reefmack]

StevieT - the camera looks great. You'll have to aset up a Dominican Republic reef picture post when you get back! Any idea on the focal length of the lens - if it will be able to get a focus inside the tank? That would be great if it could.

[StevieT]

Well that is just a case for my canon SD750 so hopefully I can take most on macro in the tank. There was a thread here from a member a few weeks ago that got back from a honeymoon in Fiji, he bought that case for his canon P&S and the pictures were amazing. So I have high hopes right now for it, it is the only reason I even considered spending the money on the thing.

 

I'll have to search for that thread.... pics and video were amazing.

 

 

 

oh, yeah I will most likely make a seperate thread when I get back, I hope their are some good reefs. I am bringing my Dad's scubba gear to go snorkeling, need to do some more research on types of corals and fish I will see! I am worried about the tank...hopefully the person filling in for me can do a good job of not touching anything!

 

Ok, here is Whitten's thread, you can see the quality of pics that case was able to take.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...t=0&start=0

[Reefmack]

Well, duh! I should have noticed it looked like a case. Great link - thanks.

[SteveGB]

Made it...just finished reading 46 pages of information, why oh why did I not know about this site before, lots of non-sales based advice (unlike my LFS who tried to sell me two powerheads to increase my flow to 50 x per hour!.

Thanks to Reefmack who sent me the link.

StevieT, I will be in touch soon for a media rack, just bought a 2nd hand Tunze, soon I will be able to hear myself think again..

[StevieT]

Made it...just finished reading 46 pages of information, why oh why did I not know about this site before, lots of non-sales based advice (unlike my LFS who tried to sell me two powerheads to increase my flow to 50 x per hour!.

Thanks to Reefmack who sent me the link.

StevieT, I will be in touch soon for a media rack, just bought a 2nd hand Tunze, soon I will be able to hear myself think again..

 

That is exactly what I thought when I found this site, boy was I doign things all wrong! Hope the thread helped, I can't believe it is that long already. Reefmack is the man, can't wait to see his thread develop over here.

 

Enjoy the silence, the Tunze is so quiet, I have a media basket with your name on it.

[Reefmack]

SteveGB, StevieT - thanks for the compliments! As you know, I wish I could just post links to Nano-Reef on Reef Central, but they auto-block them. I guess they can't take the competition - grrrrrrrr! Both forums have a different "flavor", and both have their merits, and good information. After all - this is NANO-Reef, specializing in nano tanks, and we have nano tanks, so it's a great place to hang out!

[JimDantin]

re the camera housing --

 

I have a similar model for my Canon. I tried some pics in Maui with it. No leaks, but fogging was a major problem. Get some silica gel packs, put thr camera and gel packs in the housing while inside an air conditioned area and try not to open it until after you're finished taking pictures for the day.

[nanoob]

Hi, I just got my tank set up done 6 days back. I decided to try some of the stock set up first and see how well it performs. Unfortunately, the live rocks from the previous owner given to me were dried for 2 days and so were quite dead. Also, he gave me his remaining leather coral and 3 turbo snails. I remove the ceramic rings and clean the back chamber. Put in some sand to 5cm level (to complete the look) with some instant mud inside. Scaped the live rocks. Only PUR II and black sponge at the filter with skimmer off. On the 2nd day, the coral seems to flourish, extending its full polyp..I put in nitrobac from different sources. Water parameters like SG, pH, akalinity, nitrate, Ca were in good range but nitrite and ammonia were one level above zero. That's when I put in activated carbon, Chemipure. I also put on the skimmer to see how well it works. In 1 day, the skimmate is thick,smelly and filled to 1/3 the skimmer cup. Some microbubbles were seen initially. On the 3rd to 4th day, the soft coral retracted and ammonia level spiked to 3 ppm. Nitrite increased as well. Most of the existing coralline algae bleached as well. As I had yet to on the chiller, the temperature spiked to 31 degrees in the afternoon though the ambient temperature is 25 degrees. The turbo snail, feather worms (more and more emerged), 1 mussel stucked in the live rock and 1 polyp of a zoa on the live rock seems well. I turned on the chiller to decrease temp to 27 degrees and put in one more piece of live rock. I cleaned the sponge and its filled with dirt. I did a 1/3 water change with natural sea water. The leather coral seems to extend its polyps for a while before retracting again. Question is, I know the tank is not mature enough for any coral and toxic ammonia and nitrite spike midcycle and nitrate spike late cycle is expected. Other parameters are fine and maintained. Is there anything I can do to save the leather coral other than transfer to mature tank without compromising the cycling of my new tank? Yesterday, the leather coral extended itself again for short duration. It is placed at area of moderate flow and mid level light.There is also not much brown or green algae growth at the moment. My T5 are on for about 9.5 hours cycle. Any advice? Thanks!

[davidr2340]

I purchased this yesterday since I am going to the Dominican Republic the first week in September for a wedding. Plan is to get some good underwater shots and check out the reefs.

 

But.... why not for the aquarium as well since I will actually get more overall use there! It should be here early to mid next week, shots will be posted and hopefully the seals are good and it doesn't kill a good camera

 

 

That should be a BLAST!!!

 

Check out this thread I found today on another forum. I expect your pictures to look like his!!!

[StevieT]

That should be a BLAST!!!

 

Check out this thread I found today on another forum. I expect your pictures to look like his!!!

 

 

pssssssssss mine will look so much better Wow, thanks for the link, those are just amazing.

[StevieT]

Hi, I just got my tank set up done 6 days back. I decided to try some of the stock set up first and see how well it performs. Unfortunately, the live rocks from the previous owner given to me were dried for 2 days and so were quite dead. Also, he gave me his remaining leather coral and 3 turbo snails. I remove the ceramic rings and clean the back chamber. Put in some sand to 5cm level (to complete the look) with some instant mud inside. Scaped the live rocks. Only PUR II and black sponge at the filter with skimmer off. On the 2nd day, the coral seems to flourish, extending its full polyp..I put in nitrobac from different sources. Water parameters like SG, pH, akalinity, nitrate, Ca were in good range but nitrite and ammonia were one level above zero. That's when I put in activated carbon, Chemipure. I also put on the skimmer to see how well it works. In 1 day, the skimmate is thick,smelly and filled to 1/3 the skimmer cup. Some microbubbles were seen initially. On the 3rd to 4th day, the soft coral retracted and ammonia level spiked to 3 ppm. Nitrite increased as well. Most of the existing coralline algae bleached as well. As I had yet to on the chiller, the temperature spiked to 31 degrees in the afternoon though the ambient temperature is 25 degrees. The turbo snail, feather worms (more and more emerged), 1 mussel stucked in the live rock and 1 polyp of a zoa on the live rock seems well. I turned on the chiller to decrease temp to 27 degrees and put in one more piece of live rock. I cleaned the sponge and its filled with dirt. I did a 1/3 water change with natural sea water. The leather coral seems to extend its polyps for a while before retracting again. Question is, I know the tank is not mature enough for any coral and toxic ammonia and nitrite spike midcycle and nitrate spike late cycle is expected. Other parameters are fine and maintained. Is there anything I can do to save the leather coral other than transfer to mature tank without compromising the cycling of my new tank? Yesterday, the leather coral extended itself again for short duration. It is placed at area of moderate flow and mid level light.There is also not much brown or green algae growth at the moment. My T5 are on for about 9.5 hours cycle. Any advice? Thanks!

 

Hello. I am going to be blunt, you are doing this all wrong. It is almost impossible even for an expert to put coral in a brand new tank and have them survive. Rule number one would be to cycle the tank first before putting any life in the tank. That being said, there is something that is called softcycling, where you can put live rock in the tank with a few fish and maybe a coral while the tank cycles. Yet it involves almost every other day water changes to manage ammonia and nitrite. But in your case with rock that has been dried out for two days, I don't even think this is an opiton.

 

Your best bet to save your animals is to take your corals to an estabished tank for the mean time. I am shocked that a person that has had coral would even give you a leather and dried rock and expect them to live. The ammonia will surely kill the coral as it is posion to these animals. Do you have a LFS near by that would talk the coral and snails for you until you are ready?

 

What you need to do is take everything that is living out of the tank. Let it cycle. Take the chemical media out until the cycle is over. Turn the skimmer off until the cycle is over. Your skimmer at this time is picking up live rock die off, detritus and sand debris, it is most likely not picking up any proteins or organic waste becuae you have very little of that.

 

I hope that you can save the coral, it will surely die with your current situation since you do not have a tank ready for life. After you get everything out, do not do any water changes until the cycle is over.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions.

[nanoob]

Thanks for the honest input. Really appreciate your guidance despite my super long queries.

Correct me if i am wrong, the idea of tank cycle to allow the equilibrium of the bacteria in the filter media, live rocks, water and sand to deal with the current bioload of the tank. It requires bacteria, algae of different kinds at different aerobic and anerobic levels to achieve it and is different for each tank. As such, we need sufficient ammonia then nitrite and lastly nitrate levels at different cycle phase to achieve a near zero level for each through changes in the bacteria composition. If live rocks, live sand and live sea water which are compatible are used at the beginning, is it possible to achieve almost immediate maturation of the tank without going through the different phases? Is the tank any less stable than one that goes through the different phases? In short, do you know if frequent water change or softcycling make the system any worse?

 

I told one of the more established LFS about the problem and he proposed a so called trade secret recipe of powder containing enzymes and bacteria with a smaller water change. He does not reveal its name and composition. After the addition, the soft coral seems to be extending all its polyps again. A lot more life seems to emerge from some of the live rocks with growth of macroalgae and more fan worms and unknown mollusc and sponge like invertebrates growing from only 3 undried live rocks. I thought it could be 'snake oil' but results seems to suggest its effective. Is there anyone who heard of such a mixture? This same LFS manages to keep a remora which grew from 3 inch to more than 1 feet in a 3 feet tank after 2 years.

[JimDantin]

Here's what you can expect from your camera and housing, rather than the high end equipment used in the other posting.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jim.dantin/Mau...758286254065010

 

These shots were taken before the lens fogged up and ruined the remaining shots. I'm going to try some RSM shots when I get a chance.