125 Gallon 8 Month Birthday

[richfavinger]

You make me cry...
I miss my 125 as I had to give it up when I trashed my lighting system for it, and could not afford to get a new one for a 6' tank. But any how I setup my 75 for now, and got a kicking lighting system for it. I may setup a large tank again some day.

Truly a wonderful 125, A+ man...
TOTM, you got my vote.

Rich

 

[shealygg]

Dude...you got stars now!!! Congrats!!! And, by the way, I'm now the proud owner of a light system like yours! Can't wait to get it set up.

 

[GregM779]

Thanks Rich, at least you still have a 75g, that's a pretty good size.
I do love 6 foot long tanks though, I wish I did I have a little more depth to play with for aquascaping but the length and height are great for me. You can PM Skipper if you truly think I'm worthy of TOTM.

 

[GregM779]

shealygg, have you hooked it up yet? I think Coralife should sponsor me but then again I only recommend it because it's and awesome product. I think the moonlights are the coolest part but can never get a good pic. Throw something bright under them tonight and tell me what you think.

 

[shealygg]

As hard as it is, I probably won't be hooking them up for a little while. I'm battling ich at the moment and have been for about 2 weeks. I've already lost a CB B'fly which instigated this whole mess. Now I'm trying to save my clown and two tangs, but I haven't been able to trap the tangs to get them to the QT. I want to get all of that mess squared away before doing anything different to the tank. My next purchase is more than likely going to be a UV Sterilizer...Happy Father's Day! :lol:

I can't remember w/out looking back at the thread, but...what K are you running on the 150s? The original 10Ks or something bluer (14K or 20K)?

 

[GregM779]

What are you trying to copy me? Getting a UV too?
J/K
Yeh, it makes sense to square away the problems first.

I run 10ks, I think 20ks are too dull and blue especially for pictures. I also like the ability to see the real color of a coral and switch on the actinics to brighten them up. 10k also gives you better growth and sometimes coloration. I contacted coralife a few weeks ago about something and asked about 14k bulbs, they said that they would come out sometime this year hopefully. I haven't decided if I will change or not.

 

[shealygg]

Do you have to use their bulbs? Dumb question, but why could you not use any 150w HQI bulb? I haven't really gotten far enough into this fixture yet to know what type replacements will work. I was just assuming that this new Phoenix 14K HQI that everyone's raving about would work.

 

[GregM779]

That should be perfectly fine, I was just telling you what I knew. What bulbs did you go with? I would love to see the phoenix 14ks in action but don't know of anyone near me, you really can't tell by pics. The color could also change running on different ballasts.

 

[shealygg]

I have the 10's that came with it, and I believe my LFS guy has ordered me some 20's, which may be way too blue. If so, there's always the "for sale" forum to start posting in.

 

[fishman805]

For those of you who'd like to see what the moon lights look like on the Coralife Pro... Here's a pic of my 72" setup over my 150 gal.

 

[shealygg]

Wow...that's a pretty good bit of light. Do you leave them on all night, or do you time them off at a certain point?

 

[Grimstalk]

Greg, how are the shimmer lines with that fixture, are they pronounced?

That would be the perfect fixture had the PC's been T5's with the right reflectors. You would save on electricity, it would bring down the heat output some more, & we would get greater color pop with the blue+'s that the T5's have to offer. You might have considered an actinic in the mix if this was possible. Those that are blue freaks could even get away with running a 10K MH bulb, without much compromise.

T5's 4*39W= 156W versus
PC 4*96W = 384W

If Coralife ever comes out with a MH/T5 combo fixture, count me in. Do you know if they ever plan to? Who can we speak to?

I have the 48" x2 150W MH x 2 96W PC fixture myself and am quite happy with it...altough, I would prefer T5 lights instead of the PC. I've always found PC lights lacking on the actinic side.

Nonetheless, my corals are growing very well. Given my tank is 70 gallons I found the fixture a perfect fit for SPS (top level of reef) and LPS and some lower light corals.

I think next time I will try the 14.5K bulb by Giesmann, I'm finding that the 10K are a very white light and the blue doesn't come out as much in the acro's. 20K is just too blue for me. Has anyone tried the 14.5K 150W HQI MH?

 

[GregM779]

I run mine almost all night, I think it's totally dark for 2 hours.

 

[fishman805]

Wow...that's a pretty good bit of light. Do you leave them on all night, or do you time them off at a certain point?

Mine stay on all the time..... They don't use alot of energy and are not noticed until night time.... they give a very nice shimmer effect at night... my brittle star comes out at night right under one of them ... It's pretty cool ...

 

[Cosper]

That tank is incredible! Good job with that.. if my office reef takes off and does well; i'll be doing a large setup such as that! I am already in the process of clearing out my "junk" half of the garage for filtration!

 

[fishman805]

Good luck with that ....

 

[GregM779]

Thanks Cosper, larger systems are usually easier to take care of also.

 

[Cosper]

You're right...that has been my experience exactly with fish only tanks.

Thanks Cosper, larger systems are usually easier to take care of also.

 

[GregM779]

Well being cameraless after being robbed has sucked but I was able to borrow my brother's digital SLR for a few days. Here are some pics that I took and I'll post some more over the net few days.
On a sad note, I found my trigger on the ground today, I left my eggcrate off of the tank for the last couple of days thinking that I didn't have any fish that were prone to jump left. The eggcrate now stays on for good.
What do you guys think I should get another niger trigger or a blue throat trigger?

A New Purple Acro:eek1:

My Blonde Babe

My pair of True percs and Blonde Naso

My Marshall Islands piece

 

[GregM779]

2 Scolymias and my purple brain

Pink and Green Yumas

Purple Yumas

Orange Monti Cap

And a full angle shot