29 gallon sps project

[51504reef]

MH

MH

If your going to have any other corals besides Acro. such as some LPS I believe a 20k would be a good choice. It offers you the option to keep a wider range of corals. I started with 6500K Iwasakis and had great growth but the colors were poor. Even with 14K Hamiltons I noticed that a friend with 20K had much better coral colors with slightly less growth. Thats teh trade off with some lighting choices. IMO alot of the corals we buy come from deeper water where the light doesnt penetrate as much as we think. But I am not an expert-just trying to share some experience.

 

[Cody Ray]

Well I decided that instead of spending money on a new skimmer that I would just mod my remora to sit in the sump. Hopfully tomorrow I will have pictures. I won't be able to install the skimmer until the new injector screw comes in, I lost mine to the drain while cleaning it.

All I did was pop the 2 acrylic cubes that hold the adjustment screws off and siliconed a piece of acrylic to create a foundation to prevent the skimmer from tipping over. I used silicon so that if I so desire to use the skimmer as a hang on again I can simply pull the acrylic sheet off and reinstall the adjustable screws. Sometime today I need to run down to the lfs and pick up about a foot of tubing so that the pump can sit on the bottom of the sump. Later on I also plan on doing a recirculating mod. Here is a diagram

The tub with the arrow is a feed tub coming from the overflow. Not all of the flow from the overflow will pass through the skimmer, more like 1/2 to 3/4 of it. That would be roughly 120-150 gph.

 

[Cody Ray]

Some new photos

Ballast and other electrical items

Shot of the sump, you can just see the skimmer on the left

A monti cap, it is doing ok, it wasn't very bright to begin with, just have to wait and see

A simple drip top-off. Later when my calcium requirments increase I may start dripping kalk

new fts

 

[Cody Ray]

Here is just a quick photo showing what kind and where corals will be place.
It is almost impossible to read what I put, so starting from left to right: Monti cap, Acropora sp, Clam, LPS, Monti cap, LPS, Acropora sp, Monti cap.

 

[clkwrk]

The bug has bitten you.

 

[Cody Ray]

Well I have some update photos. Well I couldn't live without some sand, so I relocated most of the rubble to the sump and added about 10lbs of sand which created roughly a 1cm deep bed. I also picked up a new fish a couple days ago, a canary blenny.

Sorry for the poor picture quality. I really need to pick up a tripod

Just a shot of my clowns

I am actually quite happy with the way this picture turned out. As you can see the monti cap is pretty pale. It didn't look too good in the lfs but for $20 bucks I thought I would give it a shot.

If you are interested in my water parameters check my sig. My nitrate and phosphate test kits are expired so I need to get some new ones.

 

[Cody Ray]

Anyone know where I can get the best deal on a 150W 10K XDE bulb?

 

[thebicyclecafe]

I think MarineDepot has then for 59 dollars per bulb. You might look in the selling forum here too.

 

[impur]

Looking good!

$57 for the bulb here.

http://diyreef.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=78&products_id=322

 

[Cody Ray]

That's a pretty good deal.