steely185 Posted May 4, 2011 Author Share Posted May 4, 2011 Still waiting for my pendants to come in. I'm anxious to get back to halides from t5s. I'm also considering removing some rock and going more minimalist. I've lost more sps(tort, Hawkins, verde, pink milli) and I'm considering keeping a select few and focusing more on lps and a couple more maxi minis to get a full range of colors. Not set on this notion yet. Looking to do something different now and finally get this tank going like I want it to be. I have had little to no time with my tank while we have been looking for a home. I don't want to attach many corals if I have to move them all in the next couple weeks. Link to comment
timdanger Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Still waiting for my pendants to come in. I'm anxious to get back to halides from t5s. I'm also considering removing some rock and going more minimalist. I've lost more sps(tort, Hawkins, verde, pink milli) and I'm considering keeping a select few and focusing more on lps and a couple more maxi minis to get a full range of colors. Not set on this notion yet. Looking to do something different now and finally get this tank going like I want it to be. I have had little to no time with my tank while we have been looking for a home. I don't want to attach many corals if I have to move them all in the next couple weeks. look in wyndham! there are like 6 houses on my street for sale. btw, the offer still stands on frags if you need 'em. is the pink milli you lost the same one you gave me a frag of? Link to comment
steely185 Posted May 6, 2011 Author Share Posted May 6, 2011 We were looking to stay a little south of broad. It doesn't matter so much to me but the fiance. Thanks for the offer. A few updated pics. Colors look pretty sad with the stock 4 bulbs on the temporary t5 fixture. Link to comment
animalmaster6 Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 The tank looks fantastic Steely. Not that that's surprising in a tank coming from you. Link to comment
steely185 Posted May 8, 2011 Author Share Posted May 8, 2011 I appreciate it guys. I went ahead and checked my salinity out of curiosity today. It was running a bit high so I pulled out a couple gallons of salt water and replaced it with fresh to drop the salinity. Hopefully this will help keep me from losing anymore sps and get some of their color back. I also placed an order from marco rocks for their E-Marco-400 5 Lb Kit of mortar. I will probably pull about half the rock from the display and transfer it to the sump. When I get the time I will redo the aquascape and go more minimalist. I'm itching for something new, creative, and open in the tank. More sandbed would not hurt either. Link to comment
Lawnman Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 I just picked this tank up today Steely. I got a pretty good deal on the tank and stand 648 after tax.It is sitting in my garage for a few weeks.Need to make a sump plumbing all that good stuff.How is the overflow?Noisey?I guess I should ready thru your thread. Still waiting for my pendants to come in. I'm anxious to get back to halides from t5s. I'm also considering removing some rock and going more minimalist. I've lost more sps(tort, Hawkins, verde, pink milli) and I'm considering keeping a select few and focusing more on lps and a couple more maxi minis to get a full range of colors. Not set on this notion yet. Looking to do something different now and finally get this tank going like I want it to be. I have had little to no time with my tank while we have been looking for a home. I don't want to attach many corals if I have to move them all in the next couple weeks. I am gonna do 3 Islands.A big one on left and right side and a ricordea island which will be smaller in the middle.I gave up on SPS along time ago.This is gonna be soft and LPS dominated. Link to comment
steely185 Posted May 8, 2011 Author Share Posted May 8, 2011 You will like it. The overflow is a bit loud. I will eventually put a new return pipe in to raise the water level in the overflow a bit. It should cut down the noise. I would replace the bulkheads as well. You would be best buying a new plumbing kit from perfecto for this tank. Their kits have an adjustable height for the return pipe. I went with a different stand for the extra room below for a bigger sump. Last bit of advice would be to be careful when cleaning the glass. It scratches easily so careful using a blade. That aside I think you will like it. It's a sharp looking tank. Link to comment
Lawnman Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Any sump pictures?I want to see how you did the plumbing.My last big tank I just used a stand pipe for the drain with a air line hose down into the sump it was whisper quiet.What return pump you using?I was told if you use a pump with no more than 700 GPH it keeps the overflow quiet. Link to comment
Lawnman Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Well I plumbed mine up today.My overflow is super quiet.Only thing that has me ticked off is the overflow teeth are way to low.The water is 2 inches below the top of the glass.The overflow should of been a inch higher or they should of made the sides so you can adjust them like the front.You were right those bulkheads are very sketchy.Gonna replace them this week. Link to comment
d9hp Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Tank looks great Dan...look forward to seeing the changes with the rock. I have 80lbs of rock and and a 10lb mortar kit waiting on some free time as well. I should get to it this week and I'll have to let you know what I think. Link to comment
steely185 Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 Finally got my new lights up. I just need to cut the plug and wire the ice cap plug. Not bad looking. Putting in a bid on a house today so more than likely I will be moving this all in the next two months. Looking forward to that fun. Link to comment
Arkayology Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 Are those SLS Reef Optix III Plus pendants? If so, we have the same lights. I knew you had good taste What bulb are you running on them? Link to comment
steely185 Posted May 16, 2011 Author Share Posted May 16, 2011 They are mogul lumen max 2 pendants. I love them so far. I'm running 250 watt reeflux 20k bulbs on ice cap ballasts. As soon as they burn in a bit more I will snap some new shots. I'm also looking at attaching a current true lumen strip to the back of each of them (they have about three inches of space below the socket where it could be mounted clean). Link to comment
Arkayology Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 They are mogul lumen max 2 pendants. I love them so far. I'm running 250 watt reeflux 20k bulbs on ice cap ballasts. As soon as they burn in a bit more I will snap some new shots. I'm also looking at attaching a current true lumen strip to the back of each of them (they have about three inches of space below the socket where it could be mounted clean). Ahh, the pendants look the same as mine. I am interested to know what the bulbs look like when they burn in too. I am consdiering switching to an ushio, reeflux, or radium 20k in Nov or Dec when my 14k phoenix needs changing. Link to comment
steely185 Posted May 17, 2011 Author Share Posted May 17, 2011 They are a little too white for my taste right now but only have about 30 hours of burn time on them. The reeflux bulbs are not quite as blue as their coral vue 20k counterparts from what I hear which is strange since it's the same manufacturer. I may go radiums next time. Ushio 20ks were nice on my 150 de sunpod but more purple than blue if you ask me. I can't argue with phoenix bulbs because I love them. Just wanted to try something new. Link to comment
timdanger Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 They are a little too white for my taste right now but only have about 30 hours of burn time on them. The reeflux bulbs are not quite as blue as their coral vue 20k counterparts from what I hear which is strange since it's the same manufacturer. I may go radiums next time. Ushio 20ks were nice on my 150 de sunpod but more purple than blue if you ask me. I can't argue with phoenix bulbs because I love them. Just wanted to try something new. there's a lot of hype around the reeflux bulbs, obviously, but i don't yet know how much of it is justified. I actually called Vue Technologies to talk about the different options -- the coralvue and reeflux bulbs are not the same manufacturer -- the coralvues are Chinese and the reeflux are Japanese (made by Fuji -- like the camera). I don't know if they are just trying to move the reeflux 20ks, but the guy I talked to (Chris), who seemed very nice and knowledgeable, was very positive about the reeflux 20k, even compared to the radium, but definitely compared to the coralvue (which he described as a cheaper bulb). Chris said that if I hated them, I could return them to him within 60 days for a regular Coralvue 20k if I wanted to do that. I imagine they'd extend a similar courtesy to you if you aren't satisfied. Link to comment
steely185 Posted May 17, 2011 Author Share Posted May 17, 2011 They are getting bluer by the day. I'm not disappointed in them though. Interesting info. Link to comment
steely185 Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 Colors are really starting to come back now on my corals. I need to remove some sand though. The clown is kicking up 7" banks of sand and ####### some corals off. I picked up a small black and gold maxima tonight. It was a petco purchase for $25 so not too shabby. The last clam I bought from them is my derasa and it has grown like crazy. I'll try and get some pics up soon. I want to do a water change and clean some things up a bit first. Maybe over the weekend. Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Any kind of weird critters running aorund in there? Link to comment
Arkayology Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 25.00 for a clam? Good deal imo. Link to comment
steely185 Posted May 29, 2011 Author Share Posted May 29, 2011 more later but here's one Link to comment
steely185 Posted May 31, 2011 Author Share Posted May 31, 2011 Went ahead and cut a new stand pipe that's 1 1/2" longer than the stock return. It has made the overflow dead quiet now. So nice now. Link to comment
Polscot Posted June 1, 2011 Share Posted June 1, 2011 man your tank is amazing, did u just glue the frag onto the back wall? im thinking of doing that with some scrolling montis Link to comment
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