DivingTheWorld
Active member
Yeah, for me it's the time involved. My wife hates how much time I spend on it.
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DivingTheWorld's Custom Leemar 80g Rimless Reef
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D-Nak
Active member
I'll take a photo this evening. I have a piece of silicone tube that connects the pump to the rest of the plumbing. It's supposed to help eliminate some of the noise associated with the pump causing the pipe to vibrate.
In terms of heat, I've heard that the Vectra runs warm for a DC pump but I've never checked mine with a thermometer.
DivingTheWorld
Active member
Here's a couple new tank pictures. We'll call these "half" tank shots. :lmao:
DivingTheWorld
Active member
Wow, great price. I did end up buying that pump. I paid $270 for it. Should have held out! Who's running that $200 sale?
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DivingTheWorld
Active member
I read a thread somewhere on Reef Central entitled to the effect of "Rebuilding from my epic fail". Well, I have failed epic-ally...
Some may have been wondering what happened to my tank, and this thread?
Back in October or so I started seeing issues with my acros and montis. Some started to stn and die off. I wasn't sure what the issue was and started eliminating variables. In November my tank was still shaky, but we had a trip planned to visit family in Asia, so I set up my usual vacation equipment, briefed my Dad on how to test for Alk (every 3 days) and Cal (once a week) and off we went. 3 weeks later we arrived home to a crashed tank and over half my corals dead.
Since then I have checked and rechecked every variable, done Tritan tests, checked equipment, etc. There are no pests. My best guess is that I was running such long hours on my T5 bulbs, that I didn't replace them when I should have. I replaced them following our trip which put them at around 11 months. I found a few threads on Reef Central which talked about T5 bulbs changing spectrum once used up which can damage corals.
The good news...for the most part my montis have all survived, my fish didn't skip a beat, and all my zoas and chalices look great. A couple of my favorite corals survived just fine (RR Pink Floyd, RR The Vinh, Oregon Tort, ORA Pink Lemonade, etc.). A few of my corals are still dying off which I've read is normal. Once they are hit with something traumatic, it can take some time for them to die off completely.
Better news...at Christmas I picked up a new frag pack of some really special stuff. It's been in my tank for almost a month and showing excellent color and polyp extension, so I think I'm past whatever it was that hit my tank. It's on the mend!
At some point I may be be hitting some of you up for frags of acros I've sold (such as Copps CITR Red Dragon). I'm not looking for freebees, I'll be buying.
That's all for now. :headwalls:
Some may have been wondering what happened to my tank, and this thread?
Back in October or so I started seeing issues with my acros and montis. Some started to stn and die off. I wasn't sure what the issue was and started eliminating variables. In November my tank was still shaky, but we had a trip planned to visit family in Asia, so I set up my usual vacation equipment, briefed my Dad on how to test for Alk (every 3 days) and Cal (once a week) and off we went. 3 weeks later we arrived home to a crashed tank and over half my corals dead.
Since then I have checked and rechecked every variable, done Tritan tests, checked equipment, etc. There are no pests. My best guess is that I was running such long hours on my T5 bulbs, that I didn't replace them when I should have. I replaced them following our trip which put them at around 11 months. I found a few threads on Reef Central which talked about T5 bulbs changing spectrum once used up which can damage corals.
The good news...for the most part my montis have all survived, my fish didn't skip a beat, and all my zoas and chalices look great. A couple of my favorite corals survived just fine (RR Pink Floyd, RR The Vinh, Oregon Tort, ORA Pink Lemonade, etc.). A few of my corals are still dying off which I've read is normal. Once they are hit with something traumatic, it can take some time for them to die off completely.
Better news...at Christmas I picked up a new frag pack of some really special stuff. It's been in my tank for almost a month and showing excellent color and polyp extension, so I think I'm past whatever it was that hit my tank. It's on the mend!
At some point I may be be hitting some of you up for frags of acros I've sold (such as Copps CITR Red Dragon). I'm not looking for freebees, I'll be buying.
That's all for now. :headwalls:
DivingTheWorld
Active member
I run 8, 36". I was thinking 8 months? I was previously planning for 10 months and basically just got lazy not realizing it would be an issue which ran me to 11 months.
DivingTheWorld
Active member
Interesting, so you both swap at 6 months? Anyone else want to chip in what time period they run theirs for? Maybe I need to do a poll...
I read tons of threads when I first installed them and it seemed the average was 10 months. Some people run them for 12 or more. The bulbs aren't cheap, but it's better than losing thousands in corals which I just did. :sad2:
Agreed with scuzy. I believe if people are running hybrids for the t5 they can wait longer. But for t5 as main lighting plays a factor also. Your absolutely right. The bulbs are expensive. One of the reasons why I got away from t5. But also at the same time. With t5 is when I had the best growth/color. Currently I'm only running radions. I'll probably end up doing a hybrid approach like scuzy
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DivingTheWorld
Active member
Yeah, no way I'm going away from T5. Looks like 6 months it is. Better safe than sorry!
DivingTheWorld
Active member
Good question John, my assumption would be that the older bulbs are a problem. If what I've read is true and their spectrum changes causing damage to corals, mixing them with newer bulbs is not going to help.
How's your tank doing? Last time I picked up a frag you were going through some stuff as well.
So if it is true, I finally got the answer. I think we hit the same issue. Most of SPSs were gone slowly since last Sept/Oct. All LPSs are doing well. I remember my T5 bulbs were about ~10mos and ~3mos older mixed half/half. Another learning!!! :debi:
I am using MH now since Dec when I was thinking it could be the lighting issue. Thanks for sharing. Now I know why I have not seen your post recently.
Will MH kill SPS as well if using too long?
DivingTheWorld
Active member
I'm sorry to hear that John. I got some of my favorite frags from you! I can't speak to MH. I avoid it because it's too hot and my tank is in the house.
This hobby has a long learning curve. I just hope I can help someone else out with my mistakes!
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