ODOG Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 Nice set up! I think you take the award for most thought out tank! Link to comment
digitallinx Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 looks good! now let the stocking begin........ Link to comment
Chyendra Posted March 31, 2004 Author Share Posted March 31, 2004 I've still got a bit before I can stock.... I want to give the tank a bit of time to adjust to the MH (algea cycles and what not) But I think i'm going to add a group of zoos as my first corals. I'd do mushrooms, but I don't want to fry them with my lighting. I need a few more snails as well. Link to comment
TheEvilbbug Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 just put a really silent pc fan in there, that will keep things nice and cool. Auto top off is a must though. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted March 31, 2004 Author Share Posted March 31, 2004 actually I have already installed two computer fans and they keep the tank really cool! I had to turn my heater up so that the temp wouldn't fall below 78 Link to comment
TheEvilbbug Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 nice! tc? tecumseh MI? forgive the spelling (tuh come see)? i lived in birmingham for a year. great people there in MI. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted March 31, 2004 Author Share Posted March 31, 2004 no, Traverse City, MI. Michigan's ok, If you can stand the weather. Actually TC is a beautiful area Link to comment
TheEvilbbug Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 wow, ya, that is like up there, not U.P. there. but damn. hope you get out of winter soon, weve been in swimming in the lake a couple of times here in Nor.Cal gotta love this state! Link to comment
Chyendra Posted April 5, 2004 Author Share Posted April 5, 2004 upon request. Here's an update. I Haven't added anything new, but i've been working on my water params and trying to get them stable and with in the proper ranges. My PH has been swinging too much and has been getting to high (8.0-8.8 ) so I've put a light over my fuge set on a reverse photoperiod. I've shortened the photoperiod of my MH which was 12 hours down to 8 hours. I add a slight amount of vineger to my makeup water when I did my water change today, so that should help lower the PH as well. My alk was good at about 10dkh, but my calcuim was low at 320. I decided to buy some reefchem "reef complete" To raise my calcium. I added the suggested dosage to my topoff water, and it will slowly be added to my tank. This porduct (so i've read) is best used for raisieng calcium levels, and later when I have corals to use the calcium, I will use B-ionic to mantain calcuim levels. My amm and trites are at 0 and my trates are barely noticeable. Since adding the Cheato my Phosphate have dropped from 2 to .5 and I expect it will continue to fall. I'm giving my tank a few days to stableize and I'm going to test again. Hopefully my ph will have settled down. I think I'm going to get a couple of zoos next time my paycheck rolls around, and also a 13w actinic pc. Link to comment
Pyrate Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 You go girl...totally awesome, I wish I had as much patience as you. I stand in front of the micrcowave yelling HURRY UP!! Link to comment
rapier0 Posted April 7, 2004 Share Posted April 7, 2004 Thats so great to hear such great patiance hpefully every thing will go great for u good luck Link to comment
Chyendra Posted April 8, 2004 Author Share Posted April 8, 2004 Thanks! it's been a month now, and I have a few cute zoos picked out on-line that will hopefully still be there next week when I get my paycheck. After the halide was off last night, I found two little brittle stars! They are so cool! They love the small chunk of chaeto in the corner of the tank. my cruddy digital camera actually took a decent picture of the little guy. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted April 10, 2004 Author Share Posted April 10, 2004 Re-Aquascaped...gives me a little more room in the sand for substrate dwellers like ST plate corals and clams. Link to comment
Spasticat Posted April 10, 2004 Share Posted April 10, 2004 Where did you get the MH? I am thinking about making my own tank from scratch... are there sites that I can use to research MH? Link to comment
AquaFilly Posted April 10, 2004 Share Posted April 10, 2004 Just a tip incase you don't know already. Petsupplyliquidator.com has 70w HQI metal halides for $25. Might save ya some money if you didn't know about them already edit: and for such a small tank, it'd be worthwhile to buy catalina sea water from petco. It's like $2/ gallon, but for such a small tank, it wouldn't be expensive. Sea water is always better to use than synthetic salt mixes. I think you'd see a difference in coral quality. Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 Hey, nice set up. I have a few questions about how you set up the MH. I am upgrading the lighting on my 2.5 gallon to the 70w as well. I saw back in your post with the hood photos that the sides are 6 inches high, have you found this to be high enough? How far away is the light once it was mounted in the hood from the water? Can you post some more photos or describe what mods you made to the fixture. You had said you were going to do regent but then it just looked like the reflector. I assume you just removed reflector from the metal housing and mounted it. How did you mount the glass below the bulb? I was thinking of doing this(just use reflector w/o the housing) for my tank. I have not actually held one of the fixtures to see exactly how its put together. It seems as though your two fans are taking care of the heat, are they still doing so now that it is getting a little warmer? I plan to install two 40mm fans into my hood. On a different note, are you planning on taking your tank to school with you in the fall? I am a sophomore at Skidmore College, and last year I missed my tank at home so I started my 2.5 last May to bring to school with me this past fall. I love having a piece of my reef with me. I have mail ordered all the lighting gear (ice cap ballast, ushio, fans, LEDs etc...) and its waiting at home for me to put together when I finish my exams and get home this Wednesday. Jerome Link to comment
jt48 Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 Please help. I cant see any pictures in this thread but in others i can. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted May 8, 2004 Author Share Posted May 8, 2004 C Jerome: Lots of questions, I'll try to answer them all. The hood is a little over 6" tall and I keep my water line lower, to get more ripples out of my HOB, so I imagine the blub is 4.5"-5" above the water. I'll measure exact tomorrow. I'm not sure If this is too close or not, I don't have any corals yet (hopefully tomorrow!) But They WILL have to be carefully acclimated. I'm getting a bit of purple coraline growth so thats a good sign. Of the regent type fixture (it was actually a 500 watt halogen floodlight, not regent brand,) I used the ceramic sockets, the reflector, and the UV filtering glass. Mounting the glass took some creativity, Pics will help show what we did better.... I'll try to take some tomorrow, and then explain it. It hasn't gotten terribly warm in my area yet (in fact there was about 15 minutes of snow today) so high temps have yet to be an issue. Yes, I'm planning on takeing my tank with me... along with my turtle tank (20L). I'd take my 40 gallon cichlid tank too if i could But i think that would be a bit much. I hope i will beable to find a good ro water source in my area, and i'm also praying that there won't be any power outages. (or electricity restrictions ) I got a 13watt PC retro and an actinic bulb from hello lights that i'm waiting to install. But the ushio bulb is a nice color, nice white, but i like the tint of blue Tomorrow night I will Update with pics of the tank, my new corals (hopefully) and better pics of the 70w MH mod and explanations. I'm sorry jy48 I can't help you with the photos, they seem to be working for everyone else... :/ Link to comment
SaltCreep Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 very cool. what a awesome little setup. Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 Thanks for the info, I look forward to seeing the photos. Do you know the name of the 500w flood light that you used? I too am going to supplement with actinic. I ordered two acitnic o3 13w bulbs from hello lights, they have already arrived at home, I am going to get those HomeDepot ballasts to drive them. I hope you have a big dorm room, because a 20L takes up a big foot print, you might want to check with the school and see if they have any restrictions on pets and what not. I have found that most schools say you can have fish in up to a 10 gallon tank, or some say 20. You dont want to show up with some turtles and then have to have your parents take them home. Jerome Link to comment
Chyendra Posted May 8, 2004 Author Share Posted May 8, 2004 My school only allows fish, but they didn't give me a tank size restriction. We each get our own desk, and since My computer is a laptop, I won't need it for my computer, and can set my tanks on it. I'm going to make sure my roommate is cool with it before i bring them. (and if not I can always get a new room mate ) Anyway, What we did with the glass is build two little wooden blocks for the glass to attach to. We made it first, and then had to make the blocks taller so the glass wouldn't hit the bulb. Here's a pic Link to comment
Chyendra Posted May 8, 2004 Author Share Posted May 8, 2004 The glass has a frame around it that I kept on, and on the front it had a little spot for a screw that I screwed into one of the blocks. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted May 8, 2004 Author Share Posted May 8, 2004 The back was a little more difficult. The frame had two little hinge things that originally conected to the metal worklight fixture. We used special staples to suport the little hinges and stapled them to the other block of wood. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted May 8, 2004 Author Share Posted May 8, 2004 Heres what the back looks like with the glass frame attached to the blocks. Sorry for the blurryness Link to comment
C Jerome Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 I see now. Is the socket attcehd to the wood as well? Did you do this(only mount the reflector) because the whole fixture took up more space? Link to comment
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