-
Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank
- Thread starter jimroth
- Start date
reefsandrotts
NJRC Member
Lifted the anchor Jim,so the thread has resurfaced...
And I know your gonna read this..... ;D
And I know your gonna read this..... ;D
Things have been mostly good lately. I changed from 1200K to 1500K bulbs which made me happy initially, because of the glowing colors, but it seems to me they have a lot less PAR and I have had some corals go brown on me. Currently trying to decide whether to go back to 1200K Ushios, or to switch to 400W ballasts (form 250W) and keep the 1500K. I took a handful of pictures recently, you can see them, um, HERE:
www.thewetsleeve.com
www.thewetsleeve.com
Yes those were taken under the 15K XM. *sigh* I have already gone back to my too-old Uschidegard 12K's, colors are already returning. An extremely generous club member has given me a 400W ballast he's not using, as well as some bulbs! Next stop: The 400W Experience! Wouldn't that be a lousy name for a band? I'm thinking that 400W may give me the colors I've been jonesing for, the colors my stuff has the potential to achieve. Plus I think that a 15K 400W bulb probably gives more PAR then a 12K 250W bulb. Might be kind of hot in summer. Gonna find out.
Jim
400s will make a difference for sure.
I originaly ran 10k Ushio, as I always did with my 175s, loved it! But, in moving from 175s to 400s SPS are only going to look 1,000% better! 8)
Switched to 15K XM thought it was better yet.
Now I am running the 12k Reeflux and I really like these. Best of them all IMO.
400s will make a difference for sure.
I originaly ran 10k Ushio, as I always did with my 175s, loved it! But, in moving from 175s to 400s SPS are only going to look 1,000% better! 8)
Switched to 15K XM thought it was better yet.
Now I am running the 12k Reeflux and I really like these. Best of them all IMO.
Baxreefs said:jimroth said:
Excellent! And I can't wait to see what's comming next!
Big Jm stopped by the shop with a few Shark Ales, so I think I have a good idea!!!
Happy New Year!
Hey, that was Dogfish Head! Sorry nobody makes a "Majestic Angelfish Pilsner,", but if they do I'll buy it. Think of the label!
Raised my lights up by 3", to about 11" off the water, rewired my fixtures to connect to the 400W dual ballast, swapped my bulbs for a couple of 400W SE 12K bulbs, and we're off to the races! I put a couple of layers of eggcrate directly under the bulbs to shield the corals while they adapt. I left the wiring to the 250W ballast and added plugs to it so I can easily switch back to the 250s, say if I have heat issues in the summer.
Can't wait to take off the eggcrate and watch those corals soak up the light!
Ordered a (used) replacement Iwaki 100RLT to replace my skimmer pump, which has been making odd noises since it ran dry last August. I figure I'll swap it out and see if there's anything obviously wrong with the existing one I can fix, never hurts to have a spare. I can add it to my "external pump junkyard."
Can't wait to take off the eggcrate and watch those corals soak up the light!
Ordered a (used) replacement Iwaki 100RLT to replace my skimmer pump, which has been making odd noises since it ran dry last August. I figure I'll swap it out and see if there's anything obviously wrong with the existing one I can fix, never hurts to have a spare. I can add it to my "external pump junkyard."
Mixed results so far from the new 400W lights. It's true I have not picked up my new 12K Reeflux bulbs yet, so the bulbs in there are both used and an unknown quantity.
Losers:
Even with the use of eggcrate, a lot of corals got light shocked and turned brown. Both my tricolors went from pretty good under 250s to monocolor (brown). Well, the ORA tricor valida is brown with purple tips. Awesome, I don't want a shirt that color. One of my Dr. Mac frags RT N'd overnight, I think it was acropora gemmifera and they seem to be prone to that. Stupid on my part, I could have easily moved it before the change. My slow growing ORA Rose Millie frag gave up the ghost too, all at once. ORA Turquoise stag turned tan with faint turquoise hints. ORA Bellina went olive drab. Red Planet is Brown Planet!
Winners:
Up at the highest level in the tank there were a couple surprises. My beautiful mini A. Tenuis from Pnoy Reefer immediately perked up and looked better than it has in a while. It's an intense forest green with blue tips. My struggling aquacultured A. Abrotanoides started looking better right away, more polyp extension and some beginnings of new growth, "bring it on!" Sunset monti is looking great and fully extended. In the middle levels there are uniform improvements. My "Kedd's Table" also via Steve, which has been hugely encrusting for more than a year, started to finally add some length, and it's going fast. The Pearlberry, which was probably too low for optimum color, has improved a lot, although not to the point of turning green. My RBTA is looking bigger and bigger, it reoriented itself to catch MORE of the light!
So-So:
My Cali Tort and Oregon Tort have so far showed zero change, which is better than a negative result. It's like they just shrugged it off. My yellow millie/prostrata with green polyps has retracted all it's feelers and looks a little bleached. I'm hoping it adapts and grows, it was doing very well.
The purple plana I won at a past meeting raffle continues to go absolutely crazy, it will NEED to be fragged or will start to get in the way!
Overall, the 400's have caused a larger temp swing in the tank then I usually get in Winter, it'***** 82oF.
Added some frags from EricBa's tank, a couple nice bluish numbers, and a much better green slimer than the one I'm currently growing, which is pretty weak. Judging by how they've done in Eric's tank, I may need a bigger boat!
Also added some orange monti capricornis from Bob D., which I have avoided until now due to my explosive green caps growth. I now have Green, Orange, and Idaho Grape, which looks more like California Raisin in my tank.
Equipment Stuff:
It always gives you a weird feeling when you set up something for emergencies and it finally is triggered and works. My lower float valve stuck a few days ago, and the topup system cheerfully added an extra eight gallons of kalkwasser, over time due to my timer setup. When it got to the top, there was floatvalve "B", waiting for his moment to shine. It was triggered and stopped the flow! I don't even know when it was, since the sump is blocked off for winter. My salinity went down just a bit, which is OK because it was a little high (38ppt) and no one was worse for the wear. I drained off the extra water and freed up the float valve.
Tried to rig a kangaroo dosing pump to dose vodka the other day, very quickly discovered that the kangaroo tubing sets don't like alcohol and they fall apart.
Changed my reactors, so I'm now running two small reactors with GFO and one big one with GAC.
Getting ready to set up an improved quarantine tank for when I get my new angel. The garage is too cold for a quarantine tank in winter. My cichlid tank is coming down, I gave half of the cichlids to Mailman Mike, he is just setting up his first tank (at age 60) and he has always admired the Mbuna!
Losers:
Even with the use of eggcrate, a lot of corals got light shocked and turned brown. Both my tricolors went from pretty good under 250s to monocolor (brown). Well, the ORA tricor valida is brown with purple tips. Awesome, I don't want a shirt that color. One of my Dr. Mac frags RT N'd overnight, I think it was acropora gemmifera and they seem to be prone to that. Stupid on my part, I could have easily moved it before the change. My slow growing ORA Rose Millie frag gave up the ghost too, all at once. ORA Turquoise stag turned tan with faint turquoise hints. ORA Bellina went olive drab. Red Planet is Brown Planet!
Winners:
Up at the highest level in the tank there were a couple surprises. My beautiful mini A. Tenuis from Pnoy Reefer immediately perked up and looked better than it has in a while. It's an intense forest green with blue tips. My struggling aquacultured A. Abrotanoides started looking better right away, more polyp extension and some beginnings of new growth, "bring it on!" Sunset monti is looking great and fully extended. In the middle levels there are uniform improvements. My "Kedd's Table" also via Steve, which has been hugely encrusting for more than a year, started to finally add some length, and it's going fast. The Pearlberry, which was probably too low for optimum color, has improved a lot, although not to the point of turning green. My RBTA is looking bigger and bigger, it reoriented itself to catch MORE of the light!
So-So:
My Cali Tort and Oregon Tort have so far showed zero change, which is better than a negative result. It's like they just shrugged it off. My yellow millie/prostrata with green polyps has retracted all it's feelers and looks a little bleached. I'm hoping it adapts and grows, it was doing very well.
The purple plana I won at a past meeting raffle continues to go absolutely crazy, it will NEED to be fragged or will start to get in the way!
Overall, the 400's have caused a larger temp swing in the tank then I usually get in Winter, it'***** 82oF.
Added some frags from EricBa's tank, a couple nice bluish numbers, and a much better green slimer than the one I'm currently growing, which is pretty weak. Judging by how they've done in Eric's tank, I may need a bigger boat!
Also added some orange monti capricornis from Bob D., which I have avoided until now due to my explosive green caps growth. I now have Green, Orange, and Idaho Grape, which looks more like California Raisin in my tank.
Equipment Stuff:
It always gives you a weird feeling when you set up something for emergencies and it finally is triggered and works. My lower float valve stuck a few days ago, and the topup system cheerfully added an extra eight gallons of kalkwasser, over time due to my timer setup. When it got to the top, there was floatvalve "B", waiting for his moment to shine. It was triggered and stopped the flow! I don't even know when it was, since the sump is blocked off for winter. My salinity went down just a bit, which is OK because it was a little high (38ppt) and no one was worse for the wear. I drained off the extra water and freed up the float valve.
Tried to rig a kangaroo dosing pump to dose vodka the other day, very quickly discovered that the kangaroo tubing sets don't like alcohol and they fall apart.
Changed my reactors, so I'm now running two small reactors with GFO and one big one with GAC.
Getting ready to set up an improved quarantine tank for when I get my new angel. The garage is too cold for a quarantine tank in winter. My cichlid tank is coming down, I gave half of the cichlids to Mailman Mike, he is just setting up his first tank (at age 60) and he has always admired the Mbuna!