Atram 5.5 tank diary

[atram]

Full tank shot. Kind of sparse, I moved most of my mature corals to my larger tank.

 

[midknight]

Tank looks sweet and gives me hope that mine might become this nice. I finally finished the test and have sand and water so not much to look at right now. :celeb2:

 

[atram]

Thanks, this tank has been running for almost a year. It's been through alot, but seems very stable now. I buy a box of catalina ocean water every month and change 25 pct of the water weekly, add B-Ionic for Calcium/Alkalinity (8.2/9dkh). Auto-top off with Kalk which stabilizes the PH, I also have 2 microjet ph's controlled by a wave maker that keeps the coral's happy.

 

[bennerkla]

Atram-

Looks great! Couple of questions...

With my 5.5 I'm adding a 70 watt MH, what kind of HQI socket did you use? Could I see a picture of the inside of your canopy?

Did you make an AC70 refugium?

Thanks for any advice...

Ben

 

[bennerkla]

Also, any opinions on the Ushio 10k bulb? I think that is what I'm going to get, supplemented with an actinic so I can do dawn/dusk...

 

[atram]

Ben,

I'm using these sockets

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/lamps-now_1894_9292622

From: http://www.hellolights.com/lampclips.html

I'll take a pic of the inside of my canopy tonight. I didn't get to the fuge this weekend, I think I'll buy the parts tonight. I have never used Ushio 10k bulbs, but I have heard good things about them. I have seen tanks on the web with Ushio 10k's and Actinic supplementation and they looked nice.

I'm using Atralux 14k bulbs, I bought 2 during a group buy last year and I just replaced bulbs. I'm good for a while, but will probably need to look at other bulb options because the Astralux are hard to find.

Al

 

[bennerkla]

Al- Thanks, that would help. Is your reflector custom made as well? I wasn't sure if MH reflectors have to have any special type of material.

I just tried to order from illuming.com but the paypal didn't work, but hopefully I can get my bulb soon.

Thanks for the pics,

Ben

 

[atram]

Ben - Yes my reflector is DIY, I bought a piece of aluminum at Lowe's, I bent and polished it myself. I was to impatient to wait for monday so my buddy could take it to work and bend it on his break machine.

 

[bennerkla]

Atram,

I just ordered today that same socket you have, with a Ushio 10k 70 watt bulb and a 13 watt actinic retrofit kit. I'm really excited, be sure to check my thread for updates!

Will you still post a pic of the inside of your canopy?

Thanks,

Ben

 

[atram]

Ben - Cool, I'll be checking your thread. Yes, I will post pics this evening.

 

[atram]

New Zoas

New Zoas

Some pics of zoa's I recenty obtained

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y202/rm1alan/zoas3.jpg