teenyreef Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 you mean this tank looks this damn good already and it has low par? cant wait to see how it looks when it gets more light =) I'm a little nervous but I've had it higher before. I don't want to just chase numbers, though. The bottom line is how the corals look Link to comment
gulfsurfer101 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 I never bothered following that par bs! It's like people trying to predict the weather imo! I live in south Texas and they say of you don't like the weather here then just wait twenty minutes. Besides I've seen massive sps colonies kept under vho's back in the day which are just a step above pc's. They might've been really brown but they were still massive nonetheless! Link to comment
markalot Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 DON'T RAISE THE PAR, IMO, let the corals tell you. Does the newer USB version allow you to set Sun or Electric mode? You'll want to use Sun. I have a green bird sitting in my frag rack, a piece from the one in my 40 in case I lost it. It's doubled in size just laying there so I don't think what you have is a bird, but I could be wrong. Whatever it is, it's pretty. Link to comment
ReefWeeds Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Thanks, Scott! I keep eyeing that empty spot in the top right, though. So much empty real estate. Just need something that will grow up and away from the hammer How about one of those aqua mags and you can stick something on the back wall? Link to comment
DaveFason Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Just be very careful with the light and boosting levels. Like Mark said, watch your corals and let them tell you. Like Mark said as well make sure it is set to Sun. To make things even more confusing PAR meters need a percentage compensation with LEDs. You will have 10-15% difference most times. -Dave Link to comment
ReefWeeds Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 If you were to go through the pain of reading this whole thread, or if you checked my diary on Aquaticlog, you'd notice that I never seem to be able to make up my mind about how high to set the lights. It's gone up and down several times while I've had the tank. I've never bleached anything, but with my prima donna zoas, I've always worried about having the light too high for them, so I keep turning it back down when they struggle. But I've always wondered if the lights were generally "dim" or "bright" - in other words, am I set at 100 PAR or 500 PAR? My guess, based on the stated output of the Nanobox and the intensity I've used, was that PAR at the surface was about 200. So as a late Christmas present to myself, I got Apogee's new SQ-420 USB PAR meter: http://www.apogeeinstruments.com/sq-420-smart-quantum-sensor-usb-output/ You just download the free software, plug the meter into a laptop, and go to town. I added 15% to the measurements as a rough adjustment for the blue lights. Well, the results were pretty close to what I expected in the 10g tank - about 200 PAR. I wanted to get it up to 250 or 300 eventually for the SPS but I had recently lowered the lights to try to help with acan coloration so that measurement made sense. But in this tank, it was only about 120 PAR at the water surface! This surprised me because the controller is not set too far below the 10g tank (the lights are identical), and this is a smaller tank. But then I compared the light height between the two tanks. Because this tank is smaller, the gooseneck is curved more to get the light centered. As a result, the light is 7" above the surface. In the 10g tank, it's only 4" above the surface. That makes a huge difference that I never considered. So I'm gradually increasing the light now. I already knew I needed to bring it back up after I lowered it because the red mille started turning brown. It's at 135 PAR now, and I'll bump it to 150 after a week or so. What are the settings on your controller for percentages? This is very interesting as I had the same struggle in my biocube. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 DON'T RAISE THE PAR, IMO, let the corals tell you. Does the newer USB version allow you to set Sun or Electric mode? You'll want to use Sun. I have a green bird sitting in my frag rack, a piece from the one in my 40 in case I lost it. It's doubled in size just laying there so I don't think what you have is a bird, but I could be wrong. Whatever it is, it's pretty. Just be very careful with the light and boosting levels. Like Mark said, watch your corals and let them tell you. Like Mark said as well make sure it is set to Sun. To make things even more confusing PAR meters need a percentage compensation with LEDs. You will have 10-15% difference most times. -Dave Thanks for the tips! It was set on electronic so I've switched it to sunlight (it's a setting in the PC app). The numbers I posted earlier were with a 15% increase added to account for LED's. So with the software set to sunlight, and adding 15%, I get a measurement of 165 PAR. That's with the Storm controller set to 160 blue / 70 whites. I think that's about right given the capability of the Tide which I know can get really bright if it's cranked up. I'm not interested in chasing numbers, but it is interesting to know roughly where the lighting falls as it's set now. The main reason I know it needed to go at least a little higher is that when I lowered the light last month, the red mille turned brown, losing most of the green form the skin. Also, the spongeodes / rainbow monti (whatever it really is) lost some of the brightness in the green and the polyps turned a darker color. I'll be going very slow in raising the intensity in any case! What are the settings on your controller for percentages? This is very interesting as I had the same struggle in my biocube. I just figure it out on the calculator. The Storm settings go from 0-255, so if you divide whatever it's set to by 255, that's the intensity as a percentage of the maximum possible intensity. So 160 blues is about 63%. I never bothered following that par bs! It's like people trying to predict the weather imo! I live in south Texas and they say of you don't like the weather here then just wait twenty minutes. Besides I've seen massive sps colonies kept under vho's back in the day which are just a step above pc's. They might've been really brown but they were still massive nonetheless! I agree, you can hurt corals a lot more with too much light than with too little. Brown and growing is way better than white and dead How about one of those aqua mags and you can stick something on the back wall? Hmmm...I will have to give that some thought! I think that if I put something that branches up, I could just glue it to the rock on the far upper right. It would be above the hammer so it shouldn't invite warfare. And if was something that likes high light, it would do well there. If only I had a frag of katropora, it would be perfect there But right now I'm picturing something with an intense blue. Something like the color of Mark's blue slimer, although that would grow way to big in a hurry. Maybe something like an Oregon Tort or some other really blue acro. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 Here are a couple pics to show what I'm talking about. It's been five days since I bumped up the lights, and the red mille has already gone from almost completely brown to showing some green in the spots that get more light. I've also noticed some tissue die-off in the spots that were more shaded. Red Millepora by TeenyReef, on Flickr Red Millepora by TeenyReef, on Flickr Also, almost all of the zoas have been reaching. They are open and healthy looking, but they all have elongated stalks. Zoas Reaching by TeenyReef, on Flickr Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Well, if there was ever any doubt about what the pom poms were doing together a couple pages ago, the female now has a bright orange egg sac, which means somebody got well past first base She's very quick now - I see her right at the front of the glass in the evening when the lights are down, but as soon as I approach with the camera she runs away very quickly. I got this shot with the flash on while she was hiding under a rock tonight. Pregnant Pom Pom by TeenyReef, on Flickr Link to comment
metrokat Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Free fish food soon, the best kind, nutritious. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Free fish food soon, the best kind, nutritious. The gobies are going to be very very happy soon Link to comment
jack1978 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Well, if there was ever any doubt about what the pom poms were doing together a couple pages ago, the female now has a bright orange egg sac, which means somebody got well past first base She's very quick now - I see her right at the front of the glass in the evening when the lights are down, but as soon as I approach with the camera she runs away very quickly. I got this shot with the flash on while she was hiding under a rock tonight. Pregnant Pom Pom by TeenyReef, on Flickr Great crabby pic! I've always wanted some of them guys..... Link to comment
cindyp Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 aww great photo! i'm considering perhaps trying a pom pom crab again. Link to comment
kimberbee Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Those little pom pom crabs are super cute!! I may have to consider adding a couple if I can find ones with poms! Link to comment
Cichlidrookie Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Is this the first time they have bread? Are you going to try to raise some BABY POM POM or are they fish food?? Link to comment
drgibby Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Are Pom Pom crabs born with poms? Or do there parents give them some? Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Are Pom Pom crabs born with poms? Or do there parents give them some?They would never find their parents lol. They can get them from other crabs or collect them, the anemones are free living, as well. Link to comment
vlangel Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Well, if there was ever any doubt about what the pom poms were doing together a couple pages ago, the female now has a bright orange egg sac, which means somebody got well past first base She's very quick now - I see her right at the front of the glass in the evening when the lights are down, but as soon as I approach with the camera she runs away very quickly. I got this shot with the flash on while she was hiding under a rock tonight. Pregnant Pom Pom by TeenyReef, on Flickr Ahh, she is glowing! Pregnancy suits her. Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 Great crabby pic! I've always wanted some of them guys..... aww great photo! i'm considering perhaps trying a pom pom crab again. Those little pom pom crabs are super cute!! I may have to consider adding a couple if I can find ones with poms! Dooo ittttt! They are great in picos and small nano tanks. But they are shy and mostly come out at night so they are best in picos and smaller nanos. Is this the first time they have bread? Are you going to try to raise some BABY POM POM or are they fish food?? Yes, this is the first time. I expect they will be fish food - the gobies will enjoy the experience Congrats Crab Godfather! Ahh, she is glowing! Pregnancy suits her. Thanks! She was out again tonight and I was able to get some video. It didn't take her long to notice the camera though Link to comment
patback Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Like the music choice. How much more skittish is the crab while pregnant than usual? Link to comment
teenyreef Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 Like the music choice. How much more skittish is the crab while pregnant than usual? When she's not pregnant, she usually moves away slowly like she did in this video. Most of the time now that she's pregnant, she moves away really fast Link to comment
vlangel Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 It was short but I thought the video was great. She sure is cute. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Wow! Will Pom Pom crabs be a-holes when I feed my plate coral (stealing the food) or are they more shy than that? Very very cool. I need to look into them more; I didn't realize the Pom Pom was another creature. Link to comment
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