n0rk Posted August 21, 2010 Share Posted August 21, 2010 Looking good as ever man, despite the setbacks like the new stocking plan, an harem of jordanis would be freaking amazing... Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted August 24, 2010 Author Share Posted August 24, 2010 Yes I am glad to get rid of the other fish....Thanks man, and is your build on a temp hold? Hope you complete that one. So I am thoroughly enjoying the BB, every couple of days, I will siphon the crap out into a filter sock, sometimes I do a 5 gallon waterchage....But the biggest change happened almost in a spur of the moment. I have been seriously considering going back to MH light. I like the shimmer, and I thought going with 400W would give me some great growth out of a 20K bulb. I've been checking out what the used powermodules are going for, and decided that I would be better off trading. So I had three lights to choose from, all Sfiligoi fixtures, either a 400W w 4 T5's, a 250W with 4 t5's, or a 2x400W. After looking at these fixtures I went with the dual 400W XR4. The reflector on the dual, gives a little better spread then the singles with t5's. It's 23"x 21"and with the two lamps it packs a lot of punch. I will probably mount two Reefbrites on this fixture at a later time. It came with 6 bulbs 1/2 new, and the other three fired for 2-3 months. I am going to try a few combos, with a 6 hour photoperiod, with three hours with both bulbs fired. Hoping I can do a 20K for 6 hours and 3 hours on a 10-12K bulb. that should stimulate growth. I may change this idea, depends on how I like the look of dual 400W 20K's. I have 10K, 12K, 14K, and 20K bulbs to choose from. This light needs to be mounted, but I couldn't help it. ^^^with one 20K XM bulb, light hung by wires from Powermodule Link to comment
d'Espresso Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 DAMNNNNNNN... this tank is too sweet to be true! i miss my bb too! Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted August 24, 2010 Author Share Posted August 24, 2010 Thanks d'Espresso, yeah, I am growing very fond of BB, its easy to clean for sure. Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted August 24, 2010 Share Posted August 24, 2010 That lighting fixture is unreal!!! That's awesome! Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted August 25, 2010 Author Share Posted August 25, 2010 Hung the light last night.... That is one 20K XM bulb...I must admit, I forgot how good the tank looks with metal halide. I even turned on the second bulb later on, and never heard my chiller go off. I'm probably going to eventually run this from 7pm until 1 am, and from 8-10, I will run both 400W bulbs together. Link to comment
sammy113 Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 Wow that is one sexy light. Love this tank. Kinda hate you for making me some brain damage for my future "big" project when I move in a couple of months Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted August 27, 2010 Author Share Posted August 27, 2010 Thanks, the light really is impressive, the spread is crazy, ballasts run dead silent, and best part, my chiller isn't running. Here's the birdseye view showing the depth of the scape...Once I remove that Setosa colony in the center, that area will be wide open for the flow to gather all the detrius. I can't believe I didnt go BB sooner, I hope everything continues to run clean...less bioload, no vodka or Prodibio, no Refuge, just good skimmer, lots of flow, water changes and siphoning out detrius every couple of days. Link to comment
n0rk Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Man, if there was one light I'd be replacing a PM with it's definitely a Sfiligoi - great minds think alike it seems irony being, you got rid of your PM and I just bought one myself... Still looking at a tank upgrade man? Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted September 2, 2010 Author Share Posted September 2, 2010 Not at the moment, having my tank go to the dumps made me realize an upgrade may not be in my best interest right now. However, who knows what I will think in another month, as my tank improves, I will probably really consider it again. Link to comment
n0rk Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 That's always the way with reef tanks man, ups and downs just like the tides we're pretending to recreate. I've just come out of a really ####ty period for reefing myself, that's why I'm chasing this new system so hard (unlike the last one which just frustrated me). Tank looks good right now though. One of the best BB tanks I've seen in a long time, works well with your rockscape. Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted September 2, 2010 Author Share Posted September 2, 2010 That's always the way with reef tanks man, ups and downs just like the tides we're pretending to recreate. I've just come out of a really ####ty period for reefing myself, that's why I'm chasing this new system so hard (unlike the last one which just frustrated me). Tank looks good right now though. One of the best BB tanks I've seen in a long time, works well with your rockscape. Yes the reef doesn't appreciate neglect that is for sure. She bit back after 2 months of neglect, so I can't complain. Yes, when you have a project, lay out the plan and just do it, you have the right idea, don't skimp, buy the best you can afford, and be done with it. Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted September 3, 2010 Author Share Posted September 3, 2010 New pics Light with 12K Reeflux and 20K XM, might just do dual 20K XM's With both bulbs fired the tank looks a little yellow, I'm going to have to play with the other bulbs I have fast growing $500 Efflo more impressive top down then from the side should have mounted this on a flat surface, it has grown around this branch rock, and the shade side is very lame 2x400W XM 20K Link to comment
n0rk Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 Jeez that light pumps out some photons, man... like the two 20K XMs, much more balanced colour than with the 12K in there. Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted September 4, 2010 Author Share Posted September 4, 2010 It really is a nice look. And now that I see it, I don;'t think I will need the supplemental lighting. We will see. I have to say, I see why guys are hardcore on MH, the look is definitely a more natural sight. With the shadowing, and the shimmering, it looks a lot better than when I had the 10 T5's. And the coral seem to be responding to that change, as well as the BB. All I can say is that I don't have to scrape the glass anymore. Link to comment
n0rk Posted September 7, 2010 Share Posted September 7, 2010 I will admit, I do miss MH some days. I think my ultimate thing would be being able to change lights out on a whim, fire up MH one day, run T5s for a few days, run some LEDs... I just love things about each of 'em so making a decision is hard Definitely won't need supps with the 20Ks man, they're plenty rich enough without needing help! Link to comment
brokenoffroad Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 wooooow! looked good with the T5's ... but those 20k's look amazing. and great photo's btw! Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted September 10, 2010 Author Share Posted September 10, 2010 Scored some new equipment. I really like using a Calcium Reactor more than dosing, so I made a trade and picked up this Aquacare Turbo Chalk Reactor #2 with the Aquacare C02 controller, this is supposed to bring the pH of the effluent back up to 7.0, which is great especially in the winter. You run it two hours, and cycle it for 30 minutes...it's a very efficient reactor, uses less C02 than traditional reactors...We shall see how it works, but the build quality is equal to, if not nicer than my Schuran Jetstream, as well as my GEO 618. Here is the controller, which measures the C02 and not pH to run the rector. The BB sure has some of my more troublesome coral, coloring up nicely. Surprisingly, the MH has experienced a lot of growth the past few weeks, without feeding even. This loves the lights. Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 Ok, so a recap from many months ago...One day my tank looked like this and then the next day, I come home to a smell of insecticide, for what it's worth, I might have contributed to this event when I went bare bottom the lazy way. Although my corals looked so good the night before the event, that I wonder if it was just a poisoning. Anyway I came home to this My ex used to get mad at me always playin with the tank, said she would bleach it one day... normally I'd say stfu, go upstairs and wait for me...,.guess maybe that's why she is my ex :yahoo: and this was some of the damage I was all bummed, basically being a ### about it and feelin sorry for myself. As soon as the event started, I removed all the coral, except two chalices, and dropped them off at Green Marine. I waited a few months before retrieving most of my LPS and a few acros and montis. All I did was basically remove my old dead coral, and let the tank run and tested a coral before bringing the rest home...HUGE MISTAKE To make myself feel better about the tank, I got a Marios nem rock as well as his Pink Lemonade colony, which was an offspring of what I lost. I also spent a huge chunk of coin buying that nem from RO. Here is the Nem rock, see the rbta with green base, that is the %%%% clone from RO I also got stuff from Ian, a Pink Sandollar, a Red Planet piece that was like two inches on the base.... Fast forward a few weeks, and one day I come home and the once proud rbta is all shriveled up. I look and have seen this before, and figured it was doing a water change...anyway, I just did a water change and changed out carbon so I was good to go....Next morning, I find all three nems looking ####ty, when I scoop them out, just the flow from the return, blows meat all over the tank, it was nasty. At that point, I decided I had to act in the right way, something that I had not done. And that was to break the tank and sump and all equipment down, and start from scratch. I wanted to do a few other things: Shim the tank and stand Thoroughly scrub out with vinegar, clean all pumps etc... The only thing that I would not clean and would reuse was the 30 lbs of rock I have in the sump, in a separate compartment, that is fed by the GFO and Carbon reactors. This compartment is where I used to clean all my rock out. After being in there for a few months, algae covered rock was clean, and Im sure it's from the water source always containing zero po4's etc... So on the weekend, I drained it, the whole tank, was syphoned into the neighbor's back yard, yes the same neighbor who had sprayed his house and backyard the day in question. Plus the guy needed a new roof and they did it when it rained, so he had to have the guys use nail guns late one night. long story short...I woke up to a nail gun, several, at around 1am...I yelled at the workers, who stopped. When I got back into bed, they started the nailing...so I went over, took their ladders...3 story house...threw them down the side of the house, then called the cops....so yes, i drained my toxic saltwater into his fruit trees... The process took a lot of time because of the vinegar baths, but what I had was a super clean tank. Collateral damage was a few scratches in the side panel, and tearing the vinyl sheet that was in the overflow to hide the plumbing. My rockwork is a lot different. I did it to make my bare bottom super effective at keeping things clean. All the rock was bought from Aquatic Collections, and was stored in heated and circulating salt water for a couple of days. The rockwork has 12 points where it touches the bottom, and the way I will run my vortechs is one on each side and one on the back...I also upgraded to MP40W ES's and can set these up to really blow the flow in the tank...huge difference between this scape and the old, in regards to keeping it clean. Oh I also got rid of some fish, and only kept the two flame wrasses, the purple tang, the mandarin, and that damn perc...BTW, I noticed that my mandarin eats pellets, which he seems to love to snatch up whenever I feed the tank. BTW all these next pics came from my HTC EVO so not the greatest, but not bad for a camera phone. Just added that rock that is all white...just some dead rock I cemented together... Aussie Enchinata Here it is after being mounted. Red Planet frag below, hopefully will retain it's green from being partially shaded by the Enchinata. Scored this Aussie Acropora spathulata from will last night You can see how much open space I have under the rocks..####ty camera phone pics Another piece I got shipped, that was supposed to be delivered by 1030, every ship I get from them shows up at 10-1030. I was home, never heard the door, and at noon, decided to check the status. Delivered, left on porch at 815 am...lol...the water was so cold, and my piece had browned out. Still has some green to it, but it's going to take some time to get it back to this... This coral is the colony on the upper left...nice huh? Scored that mini colony and a aussie enchinata mini colony last night. And Tony gave me a replacement Pink Lemonade multi branch to replace mine and mario's that I lost the day I clean everything out. That's right, I lost the rest of my acros and montis when I worked this project. I just had a container of coral left, and just had it on the kitchen table...I think the fact I had them in with the LPS was a huge mistake...cuz all of them were done when it was time to put them back...guess they didnt like being in there touching for 12 hours. It's been running clean like this for several weeks, I got a green slimer and a tort to try out before I started getting more coral. Once I saw them have growth, I started stocking. I actually bought a piece of setosa from Sean, not even thinking that I had given him the big chunk for free..lol Link to comment
Chyendra Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 Wow! I can't imagine how I would feel if something like that happend to my tank.. and my corals aren't nearly as valuble. Just the fact of losing all that beautiful livestock and all the time and work that went into it. Good for you for not giving up! I like the new scape better, When you're running a tank barebottom, it's SO nice to have all that space under the rocks to keep things clean. I think you have everything set up for success this time around. I'll be following you tank and hopeing for the best for you! Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted January 15, 2011 Author Share Posted January 15, 2011 Wow! I can't imagine how I would feel if something like that happend to my tank.. and my corals aren't nearly as valuble. Just the fact of losing all that beautiful livestock and all the time and work that went into it. Good for you for not giving up! I like the new scape better, When you're running a tank barebottom, it's SO nice to have all that space under the rocks to keep things clean. I think you have everything set up for success this time around. I'll be following you tank and hopeing for the best for you! Thanks, it took several months after the crash to get going, between work and whining, I was the poster child for reef procrastination. I think what sucked the most was all those high end frags I bought for top dollar for 1/2" frags. The time it took to grow to the point they were just getting ready to take off....I could have just sold the tank, but couldn't stomach the fact that I would get only 50% max for all the stuff, and the person buying it wouldn't have to go through the months of waiting for AGE to deliver...lol Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 The tank was amazing, that really stinks man. I'm very sorry to hear. Looking forward to seeing the new build though. I love the new scape and can't wait to see everything grow out Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 Thanks man...to tell you the truth, some of the best parts of this hobby are buying livestock and equipment. Of course watching it all grow is the greatest, but I can make up for it buy getting new stuff. So this winter was the best season in a decade, so Im going to convert this Into a new return pump...ATB Flowmaster 1500, and a great frag pack which includes three of my top coral must haves, Tyree Emma’s Mind Trick Monti, Tyree Icefire Echinata, Smurfette Acro, Raspberry Limeade Hyacinthus, 30,000 Leagues Lokani, E-Corals Unknown, Ultimatefrag’s Ultimate Red Acro, Bumblebee Acro, Aqua Glacier Bottlebrush and Ultimatefrag’s Rainbow Acro. - gotta love the WYSIWYG packs! Some of those I bought originally for over 100 a frag for 1/2 the size... Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 If you don't mind me asking, whrer are you ordering the frag pack? Those are some awesome pieces! Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted January 18, 2011 Author Share Posted January 18, 2011 Well I don't mind, because it's a great off the radar site. The guy has great stuff....it's Rocky Mountain Frags Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.