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Innovative Marine Aquariums

Hypo's Underwater Garden - I am alive!


hypostatic

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Looks amazing. Maybe something to cover the back when you take pictures would show off the beauty of this tank even more.

 

Thanks! Hey Kat, you still interested in those eagle eyes?

 

and I finally moved the elegance to a good place to show it off instead of it being cramped up against the glass

 

DZKSmsg.jpg

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Hypo, it seems I have 5 separate colonies of EE and they all look a tad different and yet none of them look pinkish, all orange. I'm going to see if they will go in my pico and then decide on getting more. Thanks for your patience.

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hypostatic

Oh wow, I don't think you need any more EE then haha. Mine are definitely in the red/orange category, so you probably have them (or something super similar). I've never seen them with PINK though. Have you seen any up close and personal? You know how things get modified on the internet....

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hypostatic

hmmmmm this probably has to do with your lighting I'd imagine. maybe the red flourescent proteins aren't being excited enough to look red enough. Or just general color mixing stuff.

 

It's worth mentioning that the lighting in my tank is much "warmer" than most tanks. It doesn't have that strong blue/purple tinge that most tanks do. Like, usually when you're looking at a tank or a picture on the internet they're under pure actinics or something

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I got a new friend for the tank!

 

nmbcU3a.jpg

 

YzWSDO3.jpg

Love those guys! Mine spends all day in the flowers...bouncing between 2 or 3 :).

 

Your elegance is gorgeous!

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hypostatic

Love those guys! Mine spends all day in the flowers...bouncing between 2 or 3 :).

 

Your elegance is gorgeous!

 

Thanks! I'm thinking about getting a buddy for him. Do you know if they play nicely together?

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Thanks! I'm thinking about getting a buddy for him. Do you know if they play nicely together?

I think they do! I've only kept one of those crabs so I don't know for certain but I have kept the Caribbean version (multiples) and they did fine. I think the white ones are the same :).
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jedimasterben

I've had several, along with a pair of clownfish, that lived in a sebae nem for about a year before I lost the clowns. One of the crabs died a few months later after he accidentally got smushed, and the other I had for a very long time after, I'm honestly not sure what happened to him.

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some new additions!

 

mini mini carpet (SO TINY)

t9NVks3.jpg

 

why don't they call these tiger hermits?

r1UimXJ.jpg

 

super (blurry) macro of asterina

25PprOb.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sooooo my actinic bulb gave out today. I think 2 years is the max on those things lol. Guess it's time to change the bulbs.

 

Any suggestions for good/cheap bulbs? I have no idea what brands are good or bad.

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Soo this is the most popular T5 bulb on marine depot aparently:

 

Wave Point Reef Wave Super Violet O3 Actinic 420 T5HO Fluorescent Bulbs

ReefWave.jpg

 

 

I think the most popular brand of bulbs is ATI, yes?

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jedimasterben

I think the most popular brand of bulbs is ATI, yes?

The most popular brand by a landslide is whatever is cheapest.

 

True actinic bulbs need to be changed at most at 6 months, no matter how they're being driven, their phosphors just don't last long.

 

Blue bulbs need to be changed around the 9 month mark, as their phosphors are a bit more robust.

 

White bulbs can be changed at 12 months and sometimes up to 18, but it depends on manufacture quality.

 

Those numbers above are approximate and depend on whether the bulb is being driven at spec (underdriving and overdriving will shorten the lifespan and possibly cause the bulb to explode, in addition to rapid start, pulse start, program start, etc, refer to the bulb manufacturer's specs for what ballast you should be using, and only use that ballast) and the cooling applied. The closer the bulbs are kept to 95°F on the 'hot spot', the longer they will last. The number of strikes also comes into play, as their phosphors start breaking down with each strike, so if you turned a bulb on for an hour, off for an hour, it wouldn't last nearly as long as a bulb that was run non-stop (which is how they're specced).

 

For your tank, I would run an ATI Coral Plus and ATI Blue Plus.

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Those numbers above are approximate and depend on whether the bulb is being driven at spec (underdriving and overdriving will shorten the lifespan and possibly cause the bulb to explode, in addition to rapid start, pulse start, program start, etc, refer to the bulb manufacturer's specs for what ballast you should be using, and only use that ballast) and the cooling applied.

 

Ah, yes, I wasn't even thinking about the ballast. Thanks.

 

I like the Reef Wave because of it's shorter wavelength output. Thoughts?

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jedimasterben

Ah, yes, I wasn't even thinking about the ballast. Thanks.

Most people don't even know what the ballast does, much less that there are different kinds of starting and different power factors lol

 

I like the Reef Wave because of it's shorter wavelength output. Thoughts?

Not for a dual bulb setup. Once you get into the 6+ bulb combos adding in an actinic bulb can be helpful, but they're staggeringly low in optical output wattage due to the phosphors not being as efficient, in addition to being less visibly bright due to the shorter wavelength.

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Wait, but isn't the ATI blue plus an actinic bulb? Like, what's the difference between the ATI and the Wave Point blue bulbs?

 

Not for a dual bulb setup. Once you get into the 6+ bulb combos adding in an actinic bulb can be helpful, but they're staggeringly low in optical output wattage due to the phosphors not being as efficient, in addition to being less visibly bright due to the shorter wavelength.

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jedimasterben

Wait, but isn't the ATI blue plus an actinic bulb? Like, what's the difference between the ATI and the Wave Point blue bulbs?

No. Actinic means violet, not blue. The Blue Plus is a blue bulb. The above is a true actinic bulb and should be compared to the ATI True Actinic. ATI bulbs will have significantly higher optical output versus the Wavepoint line.

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No. Actinic means violet, not blue. The Blue Plus is a blue bulb. The above is a true actinic bulb and should be compared to the ATI True Actinic. ATI bulbs will have significantly higher optical output versus the Wavepoint line.

 

 

OOOOHH ok. I think I got confused because the True Lumen bulb that came with the ballast is called "460nm Actinic Blue", so I assumed that actinic just meant whatever is in the shorter wavelength spectrum.

 

So let me get this straight with simple language -- I want blue versus purple because 1) they don't look as bright to the eye, and 2) their actual photon output is lower. Correct?

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jedimasterben

OOOOHH ok. I think I got confused because the True Lumen bulb that came with the ballast is called "460nm Actinic Blue", so I assumed that actinic just meant whatever is in the shorter wavelength spectrum.

Nah, it's just because most companies are headed by idiots that don't know terminology, then that leads to products being named incorrectly, and then the hobby loses its understanding of the terminology, etc. lol

 

So let me get this straight with simple language -- I want blue versus purple because 1) they don't look as bright to the eye, and 2) their actual photon output is lower. Correct?

Correct on both counts, though purple and actinic aren't the same thing ;)

 

For a two bulb setup I still stand by my earlier recommendation. You won't be disappointed :)

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For your tank, I would run an ATI Coral Plus and ATI Blue Plus.

 

Ok, so my other bulb is a 12K bulb. Any idea what the coral plus color temp would be for the Coral Plus? I really like how the 12k brings out the warmer reds and yellows.

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