marinekeeper Posted March 30, 2009 Author Share Posted March 30, 2009 Nice! I may end up getting one of them. Evaporation minimal? Link to comment
Jasoncgnu Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Tank is still lookin good! You just need to work on those macro shots. If my crappy Canon S110 can take decent shots then you should be able to take great shots. I'd give you advice but honestly I have no idea what I'm doing either. Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted April 1, 2009 Author Share Posted April 1, 2009 Hey thanks. I did just pick up some new frags, as I got some purple death, fire & ice and some blue perriwinkles. I do not know WTF is going on with either my photo abilities or my cameras. Link to comment
marinebiologist Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 Nice! I may end up getting one of them. Evaporation minimal? you have to top off everyday but its not too bad Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted April 2, 2009 Author Share Posted April 2, 2009 k. thanks for the info Link to comment
creacom Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 MarineKeeper: Your tank is awesome. I have two JBJ 12g tanks that I am just setting up so I am glad to see your setup and your livestock choices. What did you finally do for lighting of your 12dx? I purchased the Nanocustoms upgrade to put 48W under my cover but it did not fit the cover very well. I am considering the 70W Viper from JBJ instead. Are you happy with your Viper 150W? I was looking at your photos. I think your issue is that your camera cannot focus close enough. Look at your close-up shots and you will see that a coral in the background (as opposed to what you are focusing on) is sharp. It also helps to have enough light from above the tank to avoid using the flash and to get your f-stop up to 5.6 and your shutter speed above 1/60 of a second. Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 MarineKeeper: Your tank is awesome. I have two JBJ 12g tanks that I am just setting up so I am glad to see your setup and your livestock choices. What did you finally do for lighting of your 12dx? I purchased the Nanocustoms upgrade to put 48W under my cover but it did not fit the cover very well. I am considering the 70W Viper from JBJ instead. Are you happy with your Viper 150W? I was looking at your photos. I think your issue is that your camera cannot focus close enough. Look at your close-up shots and you will see that a coral in the background (as opposed to what you are focusing on) is sharp. It also helps to have enough light from above the tank to avoid using the flash and to get your f-stop up to 5.6 and your shutter speed above 1/60 of a second. Glad you enjoy looking at my tank and thanks for the comments. I didn't end up with a jbj, but i did get the 150w mh from coralife. Its a sweet light, but is bright as hell! I started the first 2 days acclimating my corals on the same 10 hour lighting schedule with a few pieces of nylon mesh between the tank and the light. Needless to say, my coral was not looking good at all. I am affraid I may have damaged them a bit. I did some research and gathered that I also needed to drop my lighting schedule and then gradually increase. For this week, i am running at 3.5 hours with 5 pieces of mesh. Next week will be 4 pieces of mesh and 4.5 hours of photo period. Personally, I think the 150 is a bit much for the 12g dx, but I asked many therir opinion and they say its fine. I can give a better opinion after some time has passsed. About my photos, I appreciate your advice and will work on this when I get home from NY. Dads taking care of the tank, so we will see what I come home to. I am not worried about that aspect, but I am concerned about my corals and this new light Link to comment
marinebiologist Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 yeah, i think 150w is a little to much too but a lot of people do it and dont have any problems. Good Luck with the light!!! Link to comment
creacom Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Thanks for the acclimation information. That was a good idea. What sort of mesh were you using? How is the heat affecting your tank? I don't think I will get the Coralife 150W. I like the width of it, but I think the 70W from JBJ will produce enough light while drawing less electricity, generating less heat, and looking a bit slicker. On another note, I just noticed your profile mentions Software Development as an interest. Have you written an application to log and track tank statistics, chemistry, and notes? Link to comment
el_vulture619 Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 How has the Estes sand been working out? Any noticeable problems? Detritus pockets or inverts dieing off; like snails and pods? I am thinking of adding some to my tank, mixed with some aragonite. I have some now in a brackish tank but wonder if you see any problems. I also used the white sand in my previous 10g nano and would notice the problems I have asked you about. I will admit I wasnt to keen on keeping the sand clean.... but then everyone I talk to doesnt bother to clean the their sand either. Link to comment
nvr2muchcoral Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 nice corals, they grew alot. I miss you blue mushroom Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted April 16, 2009 Author Share Posted April 16, 2009 Thanks for the acclimation information. That was a good idea. What sort of mesh were you using? How is the heat affecting your tank? I don't think I will get the Coralife 150W. I like the width of it, but I think the 70W from JBJ will produce enough light while drawing less electricity, generating less heat, and looking a bit slicker. On another note, I just noticed your profile mentions Software Development as an interest. Have you written an application to log and track tank statistics, chemistry, and notes? The mesh I am using is actually a fiberglass screen used for screen doors. Home Depot has roll of it for 6 bucks. As far as writing software to track my tank, I have not. One time, my friend set up a nice excel spreadshreet for that , but I never used it. Im sure he has and if so, i can email it to you if you like. How has the Estes sand been working out? Any noticeable problems? Detritus pockets or inverts dieing off; like snails and pods? I am thinking of adding some to my tank, mixed with some aragonite. I have some now in a brackish tank but wonder if you see any problems. I also used the white sand in my previous 10g nano and would notice the problems I have asked you about. I will admit I wasnt to keen on keeping the sand clean.... but then everyone I talk to doesnt bother to clean the their sand either. I love the estes sand. No problems what so ever. I have used this for the last 14 mos in my tank and all is well. The only invert I lost was a snail and thats cause he drowned. Every invert I currently have in my tank now is from my original Clean up crew. This same stuff is going into my next reef. I do clean my sand with a turkey baster, just blow it off. I also stir it up on occassion right before a water change. People claim this will cause a mini - cycle, but I have never had any problems. nice corals, they grew alot. I miss you blue mushroom Thanks, I just hope I continue having the same success with this bright azz light as I had in the past w/ my 48w's of PC Link to comment
el_vulture619 Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 I added the Estes black sand lat Monday.. if things go down hill I taking a road trip to Ohio!! Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted April 22, 2009 Author Share Posted April 22, 2009 Oh, I forgot to tell you that I think the sand is the reason my tank crashed! Just kidding, I do not think you will have any problems with the sand. I love it, but if you do have to take a trip to Ohio, bring some frags with you. Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted May 11, 2009 Author Share Posted May 11, 2009 Ok, for some reason I could just not get the 150mh to work with my tank. My corals absolutely hated it. I did acclimate as stated above, but with no luck. I will try again after everything recovers. All in all I lost a 6 headed candy cane and a nice acan. The stock hood with stock lighting is back on as of 2 weeks ago, I will wait a few months before i try this light again. If it doesnt work this time, Im thinking of putting it over a 20 gallon. Its paid for and I am determined to use this damn thing! Link to comment
creacom Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 Ok, for some reason I could just not get the 150mh to work with my tank. My corals absolutely hated it. I am very sorry to hear that. Also, very disappointed and a bit concerned. I went and bought two of the Coralife 150W MH lamps and have one over each tank. Temperature is a bit of an issue. I put a fan on each tank that really cools that lamp, unfortunately, it also really cooled the tank today. It was 24c (75f) when I got home. Clearly the heaters are not up to the task. I am adding second heaters to each tank today. I know one good one is enough, but why not have redundancy. What were the symptoms and why do you think it is the light that bothered the corals? How close did you mount it? (I had mine set close, but have moved it farther up to reduce the heat effect.) Are you sure it is the light and not the heat (or the fluctuation in it)? (BTW: I am not doubting you, I just would like to know how to know.) Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted May 12, 2009 Author Share Posted May 12, 2009 I am very sorry to hear that. Also, very disappointed and a bit concerned. I went and bought two of the Coralife 150W MH lamps and have one over each tank. Temperature is a bit of an issue. I put a fan on each tank that really cools that lamp, unfortunately, it also really cooled the tank today. It was 24c (75f) when I got home. Clearly the heaters are not up to the task. I am adding second heaters to each tank today. I know one good one is enough, but why not have redundancy. What were the symptoms and why do you think it is the light that bothered the corals? How close did you mount it? (I had mine set close, but have moved it farther up to reduce the heat effect.) Are you sure it is the light and not the heat (or the fluctuation in it)? (BTW: I am not doubting you, I just would like to know how to know.) Temperature was not an issue for me and neither was salinity. My tank ran at a steady 79 degrees and 1.025 salinity. The only fan used was the one built into the coralife itself. I had it about 12 inches above the tank and started with 5 sheets of light diffuser. I could tell the corals were not happy because my zoos and hammer were closed up very tightly and never once opened with the new light. I also started losing tissue from my candy cane and acan after day 2. Its weird because the light didnt look as bright as my stock lighting with the diffuser. Just not sure WTF was going on there. Things are recovering nicely with the stock lighting. Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted June 1, 2009 Author Share Posted June 1, 2009 Well, things are looking better than expected and recovering nicely after I changed back to the stock PC's. Will get some pics up soon. Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 So I put the coralife 150 on and it just about baked my tank. The tank is suprisingly recovering nicely. I will try the light 1 more time before I use it for something else. I am going to give this tank 1 more week of rehab and then the 150mh goes back on. Below are some photos of the latest recovery process. Tank is just about 1.5 years old here. Link to comment
The_Yellow_Pony Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 That thing looks packed! Love it. Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 That thing looks packed! Love it. Small space and addictive hobby. Got to make the most of it. Thank you, Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 Yesterday i put my coralife 150MH back on. We will see if I can get the corals to adjust this time. If not, not sure what I am going to do with the light, perhaps it will be up for sale. Link to comment
Enzo's REEFer Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 I was going to get a 150w light just like yours but decided to stick with my 80w pc instead. I'm on a limited budget and the lights I have now are doing just fine. I hope yours works out for you though. Quick question...what kind of starfish is the red one that is in one of your pics? Is it a Fromia? I've been wanting to get a starfish but want one that will be ok in my 10gal. Link to comment
marinekeeper Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share Posted July 28, 2009 I was going to get a 150w light just like yours but decided to stick with my 80w pc instead. I'm on a limited budget and the lights I have now are doing just fine. I hope yours works out for you though. Quick question...what kind of starfish is the red one that is in one of your pics? Is it a Fromia? I've been wanting to get a starfish but want one that will be ok in my 10gal. I am actually selling this light. Couldnt get it to work out for me. The starfish is a red tile star Link to comment
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