Islandoftiki Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Ok folks, for Christmas, I got a new tank! Because you can never have too many, right? Under the Christmas tree was a shiny new 7 gallon glass Micro-Reefs tank! So, I robbed everything from my unused 7.5 gallon Mr. Aqua cube and put it all together with some new live sand from Live Rock Ranch. The 7.5 was my old Majano propagation tank, which got turned into a temporary mantis home, and then it just sat there, mostly unused with a small clean up crew. Well, with the new tank, I decided I would revive it into a fully functioning tank. Here's a picture of the tank and after I did the initial swap-over of stuff from the old tank: I hate that light, it's a Finnex fixture with a 50/50 CFL bulb. The actinic part of the light is useless, it makes all corals look brown and washed out, so it has to go. I may use it for growing chaeto. I just recieved the new light today. It's an Innovative Marine 6 watt 14K LED Skkye 12" strip light. I'll post pics when I get home. That should be a decent light for this tank. The filtration is an AC70 with a temporary ghetto modified rack with chemipure elite, chaeto and filter floss. Nothing fancy, but will get the job done. I also have a Hydor Pico Evo-Mag 300 gph powerhead in there to keep things flowing. That's about it. All of the rock and sand was already cycled, so the tank is already set to go. I burned off the couple remaining majanos with a micro torch, and we're ready to go. A local reefer offered me a couple pest crabs, so those will go in there when he gets back from vacation. Link to comment
Belac Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 So your going to add to your collection of freaky pests?I may have to send some bubble algae for this tank too. Or are you going to kill it all in this tank too.Seriously excited to see your zany stocking for this tank. Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 YESSS!!!! Love those pest tanks! Can't wait to see the crew. Good luck! Link to comment
Thelizardkin Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Any plan on what you want to keep pest wise? 1 Link to comment
acrab78 Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Interested to see pics and how you like the New light... Sounds like its gonna be a sweet tank!!! Link to comment
poloaa009 Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 I think that's awesome. Makes me feel layered. Link to comment
GHill762 Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 How many tanks are you running? Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 Ok folks, I got home and opened the box for the new 12" Skkye light and I have to say, I am a bit confounded by the measurement system that they're using. Let me explain. I have two other light fixtures on my other tanks that straddle the top of the tank like this one is supposed to. On my 25 gallon tank, I have a 20" Aquatic Life T5 HO fixture which is, as one would imagine, 20" wide. On my 10 gallon tank, I have a 24" Odyssea T5 HO fixture that is, well, 24" long. You're following along here, right? So, how long would you guess the Skyye 12" light is? Yep, nine inches. Wait, what? 9 inches? Where do they get the 12" description from? Hmmm, maybe that's the smallest tank it will fit on... Nope. It'll fit a 10 3/4" wide tank. Maybe it's the maximum width tank that it'll fit? Nope, that's 15". Ok, I have no idea why they call this a 12" light. When I ordered it, I figured that the fixture itself would be close to 12" and I'd have some room for adjustment with the arms. I imagined it should fit nicely on my 15 1/2" wide tank. No dice. 15" is as wide as the arms go. Here are some pictures: Skyye 12" light with arms fully retracted: Skyye 12" light with arms fully extended: And the dimensions on the back of the box that I couldn't find anywhere online: I contacted Marine Depot and Innovative Marine via email this morning to see what we could figure out. Marine Depot got right back to me and apologized for the inconvenience and the customer service rep went out and measured the next size up which is an 18" model and determined that it would fit well on a 15.5" tank. So, I'm sending this one back, and I should have the 18" model in a day or two. Great customer service from Marine Depot. Innovative Marine also replied and apparently there's a way to get another 1/2" of width out of it, but I honestly wanted it to span more of the top of the tank for aesthetics. It looked a little weird with a 9" wide light hovering over the vast expanse of a 15.5" tank... like I bought a too-small light. As a bonus, the 18" model is 9 watts total instead of 6. And it's only $20.00 more. I would also like to say that the overall quality of the unit is very good. I'm not knocking them for quality, just confusing measurements. The light color did appear to be very close to 14k. I think this light is a good option for a small tank. Anyhow, if anybody is looking into getting one of these Skkye lights, be aware that the size designation is wonky and you need to acquire the actual measurements before you order one. Can anybody figure out where they get the 12" from? Link to comment
Belac Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 I agree it is confusing way of doing it., but I think I see the measurement they are useing.I think it is the lenght of the entire unit when the arms are retracted. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 I agree it is confusing way of doing it., but I think I see the measurement they are useing. I think it is the lenght of the entire unit when the arms are retracted. That's got to be it. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 I guess I haven't posted an an updated picture since the water has settled, so here it is: There's one lonely hermit crab and a small handful of dwarf cerith snails right now. Pest crabs to come, and I'll be picking up a rock with some blue clove polyps this weekend. Link to comment
Thelizardkin Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 You should add flatworms IMO their a really cool pest Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 You should add flatworms IMO their a really cool pest They may find their way in there. I got them in the 2 gallon pest tank and the majanos ate them all. They like to crawl up on top of corals to bask in the light, and when they crawl up onto the majanos, they get eaten. Pest eat pest. Cool, huh? 1 Link to comment
Belac Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Are you going to keep bubble algae alive in this tank. I know you can't grow it in the other one, it is to delicate for you or something. Still want that problem. If you need a large colony I probably can provide it come summer. Still trying to beat the thing into submission, it refuses to go away.I think you need one of those big scary segmented worms that eat fish. That could be the show stopper for this tank. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 I'm picking up a couple of unidentified hitchhiker crabs from one of the local mail-order coral sellers on Monday. They are saving pest critters for me when they come in on shipments. A while back, they had some sort of mint green worm about a foot long that they said behaved like a snake. I didn't have anywhere to keep it at the time, so they flushed it, but I'm ready for future bizarre creatures. 2 Link to comment
Belac Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I got offered a crayfish at petsmart today. Was talking to the lady about strange things that they have had show up. I would have taken it but it would be eaten in my fresh water tank that I could put it in.I need to talk to one of the LFS that buys bulk live rock that is seeded in the ocean. Going to try and convince them to save me something strange for a tank.That worm sounds cool. I wouldn't be able to flush something so odd. Link to comment
Jacob042426 Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 I really like this tank. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted January 12, 2013 Author Share Posted January 12, 2013 The light should be here Monday and I'm picking up the unidentified hitchhiker crabs at lunch on Monday, too. I'll post pictures when I get the home from work. Link to comment
andi.rahl Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I really cannot wait to see what you get! Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted January 13, 2013 Author Share Posted January 13, 2013 Well, here's a start! Got some clean-up crew to take care of the diatoms today and a rock with some blue clove polyps! Who doesn't love blue clove polyps... covering EVERYTHING! Randon hitchhiker crabs coming Monday! Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted January 14, 2013 Author Share Posted January 14, 2013 I picked up the crabs at lunch today. I've got them in an insulated lunchbox with a couple of hand warmers and I'm monitoring the temperature. I haven't had a chance to ID them yet as I just picked them up 10 minutes ago. Here's the first one. And the second one, which looks to be a teddy bear crab. I'll take better pictures when I get home tonight. The light also arrived. Looks good. Might have to build a custom bracket for it. We'll see. Stay tuned! Link to comment
acrab78 Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Sweet I really like the first orange one he looks angry!!! Can't wait to see it all with your new lights too. Do you get all your pests for free? Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted January 14, 2013 Author Share Posted January 14, 2013 Sweet I really like the first orange one he looks angry!!! Can't wait to see it all with your new lights too. Do you get all your pests for free? Yeah, this one came from an outfit that sells exclusively on Ebay. One of the guys working there knows I'm collecting oddities and has been saving these for me. They have a big coral shipment coming in soon and maybe it will have some interesting hitchhikers! That orange one does look awesome, doesn't he? I still haven't figured out what he is. I'll take some close-up macro shots before I put him in the tank. It's hard to see him well in the bag. Link to comment
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