125 Gallon 8 Month Birthday
- Thread starter GregM779
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GregM779
Premium Member
Well I changed all of my MH bulbs Monday and wow what a difference. This is the first time changing them (about 10 months old) and it seems so much brighter now. 3 brand new coralife bulbs fell into my lap so I used them, I was going to try the XM bulbs if I had to buy them so I'll wait until then. I'm going to wait about a month to change out my PCs to help not burn my corals but I think it's going to make a huge difference.
outprowllin
In Memoriam
i agree with the wait greg....iput the new xm's in at thanksgiving and fried all of my sps except for a few..they are now coloring back up...next time i will be more carefull.....i have to get over and see your tank...i was right there the other day after working on a customers a/c but you werent home.....ill try again another time
fishman805
Premium Member
Greg.... Did you stick with the 10k's or did you move up to the 14's?? I know you'd mentioned that you might try the 14k's when it was time.... I've got about a month to go before changing mine out ( my tanks about 10 months old now but very few corals )....
Bob
GregM779
Premium Member
I've been running my lights for 2 4 hour shifts a day for te last few months, after I replacd the bulbs I just run them for one of the four hour shiftsand I'm definitely still watching everything closely.
come by when you get a chance.
These are 10ks. Even if I was going to buy the bulbs I was going to go with 10ks. I saw the 14ks that I was looking at but the 250w version being run by 400w ballasts and I thought they looked nice but I think that the 150w will look really dull compareably. You also lose a lot of par so I'm still a 10k fan.
Greg - pictures speak for themselves - beautiful tank. I have a few questions I would be interested in hearing back on...
With the large bioload you have, how often do you do water changes and what amount?
What brand salt and what do you keep your s.g. at?
What is the Ca level and how do you maintain it?
With the large bioload you have, how often do you do water changes and what amount?
What brand salt and what do you keep your s.g. at?
What is the Ca level and how do you maintain it?
GregM779
Premium Member
The skimmer is OK for your 75g but I would definitely go with the ASM G-3 over it. I got the skimmer when I bought the tank and sump used and was planning to upgrade it. I have a MRC MR3 that I don't have room to hook up right now. If you go with the nautilus I find that it performs better with a higher water line in your sump. The skimmer has kept up well in my tank but I'm sure other skimmers would do better. I have a lot of natural filtration to help it out with the 200lbs of LR, 120 LS, and the macro in the fuge.
Thank you, I'm not a big water changer, I do about 30 gallons every 3-4 months. I'll see how the tank matures and if it is beneficial to do more then I will. I know a lot of extremely gorgeous and successful reef tanks that have gone years without a change, so I do less waterchanges not because I'm lazy bt because of what I've seen with my eyes and the results.
I used filtered sea water for a few of the changes and instant ocean for the ones that I mixed. The s.g. is 1.024-1.025
My calcium I keep around 400-420, I used to dose natureef alkalinity and hardness plus but my coral load got so high that I was having to use about 3 ounces of each per day and it was costing about $50 a month just for that so I added the calcium reactor not too long ago and love it. It is cheaper to run over time and keeps everything constant.
druluv
New member
I can't wait to see the MRC MR3 in action, that guy makes good equipment. I am saving my pennies for the Recirculating skimmer (MR-2R). I also Have the calcium reactor from him too; I bought it through reef exotics. Keep up the good work.
Where do you find the space? Upgrade time yet ?
Are you thinking about adding ozone generator?
Where do you find the space? Upgrade time yet ?
Are you thinking about adding ozone generator?
GregM779
Premium Member
Thank You!!
The skimmer is awesome, it is running right now at a LFSs 500 gallon coral tank and works great. I think I may have to build some kind of bookshelf and maybe entirely redo my sump in order for it to work correctly. I've thought about ozone and may do it in the future.
GregM779
Premium Member
Here's a new piece that I found the other day. I wanted to find a large piece that grew crazy like a stag that I could replace a piece with. The piece I was replacing was a granulosa that the redbugs originally came in on and never recovered, I gave it months and still no looking up. I'm not sure what this new piece is but I really like it. Also check out this picture hosting site and support whoever it is hosting it if they put up any sponsor links. They allow you 50megs of room and can hold pics up to 7 megs, pretty cool. www.reefbucket.com
GregM779
Premium Member
Thanks Skipper for using my avatar in this month's Reefkeeping Mag!
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-01/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-01/index.php
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