A Splash of Color - My SPS Peninsula Reef

[Oldude]

Fantabulous!

 

[Wrangy]

Before

After

In that pic i had 2 x 39W blue plus on in front of the right end (400W) and a coral plus and blue plus 24W in front of the 250W. I have the light overlap area in the gap between the far left rock and the middle one. You have two of the acros in the pic above - just so you know what they look like under your new lighting. Coral plus and blue plus make good supp T5 bulbs with the Radiums.



You better buy me something nice mate............ My yellow tang always snoops around when i'm taking top downs.

I tried to buy you something nice but couldn't even manage it for myself haha

I did recognise both those acro's and while they look pretty good under my led's I think they'll be nice and happy to get some Radium lovin' again :love2:

Well I have 4 T5 spots to play with and I was thinking most blues(?) but still a little unsure of a good mix for the four of them :uhoh3:

 

[M007]

The 150 was the one i had in mind for the job mate I saw your thread about your new lighting and honestly think 3 x 250W will be plenty as long as you run those T5's. I could have gone with 3 x 250W Radiums over this tank no probs but since i pay $150- a bulb from the US i went with 2 x 400W and will run them higher to get the same result. If you were going to go low on the scape like i have i'd suggest 3 x 400W or 4 x 250's.

These acros are 20" diagonally from the 250W bulb and 14" under the water - far left in the FTS pic, i try to correct my phone pics as best i can but don't always get it right lol.

Before

After

In that pic i had 2 x 39W blue plus on in front of the right end (400W) and a coral plus and blue plus 24W in front of the 250W. I have the light overlap area in the gap between the far left rock and the middle one. You have two of the acros in the pic above - just so you know what they look like under your new lighting. Coral plus and blue plus make good supp T5 bulbs with the Radiums.



You better buy me something nice mate............ My yellow tang always snoops around when i'm taking top downs.

So the first pic is with 250W and the second 400W?

 

[biggles]

The first pic is before i adjusted the overly blue colors the phone camera captured. The second pic is after i adjusted the colors and saturation etc.

The last pic with the clam is acros illuminated by the 400W bulb though....

Thanks Greg

Get 2 Giesemann super actinics and 2 of whatever is their version of the coral plus bulb Wrangy

 

[Wrangy]

Thanks for the tip! I definitely wanted to go Giesemann as Dave has started to get them a lot more frequently which is nice

 

[biggles]

Thanks for the tip! I definitely wanted to go Giesemann as Dave has started to get them a lot more frequently which is nice

No probs buddy, Dave will be my T5 go to guy as well

My underwater volcano has started erupting again.......:rollface:

 

[Wrangy]

No probs buddy, Dave will be my T5 go to guy as well

My underwater volcano has started erupting again.......:rollface:

What is your volcano?? It's bloody bright!

 

[sh8g8delik]

You'll be very happy with the gyre Biggles. I have the 150 and a mp40 and the corals are loving it. Helps that i have a barebottom tank as well. My gyre is running at 50-60 % i believe.

 

[biggles]

What is your volcano?? It's bloody bright!

Ha, it's just the chalice thingy - i over brightened the piccy colors to make it look all hot lava like......... in reality all those corals are dull and browned out...
I have a piece of that red thing for you, it's very timid and safe to nestle right in the middle of your awesome patch of shi... zoa's. I can promise you the chalice will get along with your garbage corals like a house on fire :thumbsup: (When the lights go out something will be on fire and it won't be a house)

I love the smell of chalice napalm in the morning....:smokin:

You'll be very happy with the gyre Biggles. I have the 150 and a mp40 and the corals are loving it. Helps that i have a barebottom tank as well. My gyre is running at 50-60 % i believe.

Thanks Anh, i'm sure the 150 gyre will be just what the doctor ordered going by everyone's advice i've received so far. I'll run it as fast as i can without destroying the sand bed to be added.

As per the rules of my journal, the second a gyre pump hits my water i will henceforth consider myself a gyre flow expert - that is all. :reading:

 

[cugly]

Looking great bud love the colors. To be honest i had the gyre since they first came out and it doesn't work as good as when i had it. And that's even after I clean it. And i was not to happy with the flow o couldn't max the flow without blowing sand all over. So i switched to the new quiet drive and oh my now i remember how good they are so much more flow from original.

 

[bibarassa]

As regards gyre, Zon told me the gyre is very fragile, snails can easly break propeller and you must clean it very frequently

 

[biggles]

Looking great bud love the colors. To be honest i had the gyre since they first came out and it doesn't work as good as when i had it. And that's even after I clean it. And i was not to happy with the flow o couldn't max the flow without blowing sand all over. So i switched to the new quiet drive and oh my now i remember how good they are so much more flow from original.

Thanks Dan, hmmmm that doesn't too good mate. Might have to look into this whole thing a bit more i think. :reading:

As regards gyre, Zon told me the gyre is very fragile, snails can easly break propeller and you must clean it very frequently

Hang on, this sounds at extreme odds with my reefing philosophy.......... i'm routinely removing stupid little snails from my acros branches when they get blown off a pump - i have hundreds and hundreds. :hammer:
I don't like cleaning anything and the pumps are always under 50% power before i force myself to clean them......:rolleye1:


Having decided that Sat morning was the day i'd bite the bullet and catch the two zebra dartfish out of the sump along with giving the filament wrasse the shark treatment prior to catching him for the twelfth time. Knowing the darts like to sleep in a rock hole i placed a couple of 90 deg 3/4" elbows that i'd glued end to end to form a 'U' into the sump a few weeks back (they've been down there a while). I put a hand in the water and they both shot into their hidy/sleeping hole pipe and i simply netted the pipe out of the water and put the net in the display - out shot the darts
I placed the pipe back in the sump as you never know when a pair of darts might turn up out of the blue. Out of the corner of my eye i could swear i saw a fish flash by in the sump gloominess..... i stand up and check the display and guess bloody what - the Pink Margin Fairy wrasse is missing even when i drop food in the water. :facepalm: I had to remove all the rock into a bucket to net him as he was like a lightning bolt on steroids and wasn't coming easy :hammer:
Okay so now i decided to catch the $#$@^ Filament wrasse out of the overflow for the twelfth time. I preempted the return with a very mild anti going into the overflow for safety treatment i like to call 'The Shark'. The method involves the gentle introduction to the recalcitrant fish of an object or image that it would rather avoid than be chased around the display for a few days. It's important to bare in mind that these are sensitive and somewhat fragile creatures we're dealing with so using an image that they encounter in the wild is of paramount importance so as to not stress the fish. After watching the doco Finding Nemo i decided to model my image on Bruce the shark and printed off a hard copy of a similar jovial creature:

Slamming this image (gently) up to the overflow glass repeatedly saw the wrasse giving definite signals that it no longer wanted to hang out in the overflow whilst Bruce was trying to say hello. He was quickly netted and returned to the display where he disappeared into the rocks as usual.
This 'natural' method can be taken a step further. Prior to adding a new angel that you're worried might nip your acros you slam the image against the display and drop food in right after. Do this for a week or so until slamming the image against the display prompts the fish to all rush over towards the shark jaws looking for the normal food drop associated with the image.
Now, when you add the new angel and you see him nipping an acro you slam the shark image against the glass and you get a much more effective result. Not only does the angel think he's about to eaten by a shark but he also watches as all his fish mates rush towards the open jaws of death as if insane........... it's like a dose of extreme fear with a side order of insanity for the angel and it won't be long before he associates acros with unpleasant memories. :thumbsup:

So today i got four new fish in the display and it cost me nothing. I didn't really print off a hard copy of a shark's jaws and use it on the fish so let's not hug any trees or wipe the oil off a seal and tell me off. I actually went out of my way to a photo print place and paid for a photo quality image - nothing is too good for my fishies :beer:

 

[M007]

I preempted the return with a very mild anti going into the overflow for safety treatment i like to call 'The Shark'. The method involves the gentle introduction to the recalcitrant fish of an object or image that it would rather avoid than be chased around the display for a few days. It's important to bare in mind that these are sensitive and somewhat fragile creatures we're dealing with so using an image that they encounter in the wild is of paramount importance so as to not stress the fish. After watching the doco Finding Nemo i decided to model my image on Bruce the shark and printed off a hard copy of a similar jovial creature:

Slamming this image (gently) up to the overflow glass repeatedly saw the wrasse giving definite signals that it no longer wanted to hang out in the overflow whilst Bruce was trying to say hello. He was quickly netted and returned to the display where he disappeared into the rocks as usual.
This 'natural' method can be taken a step further. Prior to adding a new angel that you're worried might nip your acros you slam the image against the display and drop food in right after. Do this for a week or so until slamming the image against the display prompts the fish to all rush over towards the shark jaws looking for the normal food drop associated with the image.
Now, when you add the new angel and you see him nipping an acro you slam the shark image against the glass and you get a much more effective result. Not only does the angel think he's about to eaten by a shark but he also watches as all his fish mates rush towards the open jaws of death as if insane........... it's like a dose of extreme fear with a side order of insanity for the angel and it won't be long before he associates acros with unpleasant memories. :thumbsup:

So today i got four new fish in the display and it cost me nothing. I didn't really print off a hard copy of a shark's jaws and use it on the fish so let's not hug any trees or wipe the oil off a seal and tell me off. I actually went out of my way to a photo print place and paid for a photo quality image - nothing is too good for my fishies :beer:

Ur kidding right?

 

[biggles]

Ur kidding right?

Lol yes mate, my fish would all die on the spot if i did that.......:blown:

 

[M007]

Should have known :facepalm:

 

[bibarassa]

Lol yes mate, my fish would all die on the spot if i did that.......:blown:

Andrew, you are a terrible man :lol2:

 

[inktomi]

That post should be stickied for training fish to stay away from corals!! Awesome!

 

[biggles]

Should have known :facepalm:

Don't be too hard on yourself mate, this journal is a bit of a roller coaster ride of SPS craziness at times tbh.

Andrew, you are a terrible man :lol2:

Yes, i'd tend to agree with you on that one buddy. :thumbsup:

That post should be stickied for training fish to stay away from corals!! Awesome!

Thanks mate :beer:


Yesterday i thought i'd clean a bit more coralline from the display window edges with a razor blade. Before i knew it i'd cleaned all three viewing panels completely, moved the pumps off the far side panel and rerouted the lighting leads so now i have a peninsula look except for the two pumps on the end viewing panel - they have to go eventually but for now i need them there.
I now have some work to do to sort out the neglected back side of the display, i pushed the middle island 4" towards the main viewing side and today i'm going to add another small rock behind the stags so i can mount a little red colony i've had sitting on the bottom for a month or more now. Also need to stick the horrida down as it's been rolling around the tank bottom for weeks. Whilst removing the rock from the sump yesterday i found an acro branch i'd put there six days ago and forgot to return to the display. It is very very sick, brown and STN'ing so i'll try to save that little guy hopefully.
Also need to do a 15% water change so i have a busy Sunday afternoon planned for the reef, the display looks good with all the fish back in it.

 

[plyle02]

LOL Andrew,
your approach is freaking hilarious, yet effective My girlfriend warns me of those sharks every time I paddle out for a surf, I remind her that they are vibrational creatures, that if my vibe is right, no worries, lol... keeps her worry and stress down, lol... Nice work mate, glad you are getting these guys under control, whatever method works, glad you are getting your display in order

 

[Reefvet]

... the gyre is very fragile, snails can easly break propeller and you must clean it very frequently

Thanks Dan, hmmmm that doesn't too good mate. Might have to look into this whole thing a bit more i think.

I don't like cleaning anything and the pumps are always under 50% power before i force myself to clean them......:rolleye1:

YUP, new 'Rugged' impellers coming. That's MaxSpect speak for impellers that don't break. They'll be sold as accessories for existing pumps in a couple of months but the second gen pumps will run them stock. If y̶o̶u̶'̶v̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶i̶c̶i̶p̶a̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶u̶l̶l̶ ̶p̶u̶r̶c̶h̶a̶s̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶t̶a̶ ̶t̶e̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶g̶r̶a̶m you already own one and your's broke speak up now and you may get one for free.

My girlfriend warns me of those sharks every time I paddle out for a surf, I remind her that they are vibrational creatures,..

Indeed. Very true. They closed beaches here again this week because one very large fellow 'nudged' a surfer. Vibrational = checking to see if you're edible. :eek2: