Hello Everyone..Newbie here!!

[DMBillies]

Ok, they are definitely PC's (power compact flourescents) and because the stock ones take up the whole space side-to-side across the tank, I'd guess they are the same wattage as stock (don't know this off the top of my head). The mark that tells you the watts should be on the base of the bulb where it attaches to the electric (underneath of the black things). If you unplug one of the bulbs you should see it right on there. Looks like there isn't any reason you couldn't put a piece of wood across the top and hinge the lid to close it in. I'd just recommend leaving the back open so some heat can escape.

Clamp-on halide lights are also an option if/when you ever want to upgrade the lights. The PC's will be fine for most lower light corals (most softies and LPS) which are also really some of the best beginner corals anyway. I think I should have a few things I can hook you up with, just send me a PM to remind me before next meeting. Assuming I can get there, I'll bring you something.

 

[Turtle77]

Ok tonight when my timer turns them off I am going to wait a bit and then pull them out to see what the wattage is on them. I will let you know.

Also I have been doing the Aiptasia-X for almost a week now and it still seems to stay ahead of me. Its like every morning I wake up there is twice as many as I killed the night before. Am I ever going to get ahead?

 

[DMBillies]

I've never used aiptasia-x, but if it isn't getting it done, try Joe's Juice. If you get some of that in their mouth, they definitely won't be back quickly.

 

[Mikeyjer]

If you follow the direction properly on Joe's Juice, you'll get rid of them for good. It takes a bit of practice. You want to feed it to them, not squirt it on them. If you squirt, they retract and hide and come out later. IF you feed, they die and won't come back.

 

[Turtle77]

oookk Maybe thats what I am doing wrong, I thought I was following instructions because it say to make sure and cover it. So I should maybe just give a little right in the center instead of covering it? Should it wrap itself around the liquid? I dont know why I am struggling with this stuff... Is this normal for it to get out of control like this?

Ok so I just rearranged all my live rock today and tried my best to scrap off a couple of things I didnt want on it. As soon as the tank clears up a bit I will try and post a couple of pictures so you can see what it looks like now. I dont know if it actually follws what NeveSSL was trying to tell me or not. In the process of changing the rock around I have either lost or covered up some really pretty bright green grassy looking stuff that I really liked. What a bummer!! See it there on the bottom rock in the middle? does anyone know what it is so I can get some more?

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11107081@N02/2531396489/" title="P5201895 by chernalp, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2395/2531396489_b4273f00be.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="P5201895" /></a>

 

[DMBillies]

Most definitely green star polyps (GSP). It is pretty but can grow out of control sometimes, so you'll want to kind of isolate it to one rock. Once it grows on something, you have to get absolutely all of the mat off of the rock or it will grow back.

I'm sure there is someone that has some... in fact, I'm pretty sure I do, although you can probably get a better sized piece off of someone else.

 

[Turtle77]

Cool!! now that I know whats its called I can look for some at the store. I am still learning all the abbreviations... LOL
So far I plan to stop by the Aquatic Critter tomorrow after work and pickup some pepperment shrimp. Does anyone know if thier prices on stuff is good. I was planning to pay my dues for the club at the next meeting which means I wouldnt have my membership card yet for the discount however.

 

[gsusfreak]

i think peppermints are $10 at the critter...that's decently priced...but u can always get them for cheaper online (but thats after you spend a certain amount of course)....on my last group order, pepps were only $2 each............if a peppermint shrimp is only thing need right now...then $10 isnt too bad

 

[Turtle77]

How many peppermint shrimp to a 12gallon nano cube does everyone suggest, one or two?

 

[gsusfreak]

1 should be fine

 

[DMBillies]

I'd stick with 1 I think. Don't want to take up the whole bio-load with peppermint shrimp. That said, in my experience they do well having more than one and act much more brave when they are in a group. We used to have 5 in our 90 (mamagoose loves her shrimp) and they came out all of the time.

One word of advice on the shrimp (and many other inverts with an exoskeleton)... be sure to acclimate them slowly to your tank water. We use airline tubing with a valve on it. Slowly drip water into a bucket with the critter in it (we aim to double the volume of water in the bucket in 1 hour, dump off the additional volume, double again in 30 mins, dump, and double again in 30 minutes, add critter to new tank).

Dripping like that will ensure that most of the water in your bucket is tank water before you add the shrimp. Swings in salinity are especially damaging to shrimp. Also be sure to match temperatures and keep an eye on the temp of you bucket water while you are acclimating (especially important if your room is particularly cold/warm). We lost 2 pepps before we found out how sensitive they can be out of the bag. Since then, we've had a lobster and multiples of 4 different kind of shrimp (probably close to 12 total) and we've only ever lost 1.

 

[Turtle77]

Ok so took me a while but I finally found out what lights I have , they are the PC's one is Coralife 10,000k 24 watts and the other one is Coralife Actinic 24 Watt. whats the difference in the one that says Actinic., I think its the one thats slightly more blue (terrible grammer here) than the other one. I won my action on Ebay for the moonlight leds. I will be getting those in soon as well. Now if I set up my timers to turn one on and while the other one is off how long should I leave the daytime lights on and should the moonlights stay on the whole time the others are off?

 

[Turtle77]

I got another question. When I first got this tank it had a whole lot of really interesting and cool looking calcium build up on the back of the tank, in the past two weeks it has seems to slowly disappear. Are these little starfish cleaning it off. How do I get it back, I kind of liked it.

 

[Turtle77]

Ok another question, how many power heads to a 12g. I have an Aqualife or Aqua something 10 inthere now, but the guy who sold me the tank send another one too, should I put both in and take the filter off?

 

[crsswift70]

the calcium was probably coraline algae. it can die off or bleach with changes in chemistry or light. it usually comes back once things are stable. Actinic lights are more blue.. lights in a reef setup determine how a lot of animals look and how well some things can grow. 10000k is closer to daylight, actinics are closer to what it looks like deeper down in the water. That's how i understand it anyway. I turned my moon lights on right before the main lights turned off, and turned them off a little after the main lights turned on. i think it's more of a preference thing. if you have separate timers for your PC's you can also stagger those. moon to actinic, to actinic and 10k, to actinic, then to moon.

 

[tswilson21]

I was actually wondering this along with turtle 77. I just bought a 29 gallon tank and have the pc's with it. Pretty much the same setup as turtle. My question is are you supposed to run the actinic and 10k at the same time all day long then turn them off and turn on the moon lights. or are you supposed to run the 10k all day long and the actinic for just the last two hours?

 

[crumbletop]

You can run them however you want. I start with actinics, add the daylights so they are all on, and then at the end of the day switch off the daylights first, then actinics about an hour later.

 

[commonstranger]

Hmmmm lots of info on this post. I don't have much to add alot of people here have more experience and knowledge than I do. Ahhhhh but, good news for Turtle. If your looking for some green star polyps hold off on buying them. It just so happens that I fraged some off a rainbow rock I have. It is a nice piece about the size of a golf ball. If youd like to do some trading just let me know. You have any of those mushrooms ready yet ???

 

[commonstranger]

Turtle the purple build up on the back of your tank is Coraline Algae. It builds up when your calcium levels are good. I could be mistaken but from the looks of the purple matting that the green star polyps grow on I would say a calcium level around 350 to 400 would be plenty. If you start getting SPS Corals then you need to be around 450 to 500 reading. What chemicals are you adding to your tank ?

 

[Turtle77]

Does anyone have a good link or know how to frag mushrooms? I thought I did a good job but they didnt make it and I really wanted to trade over some to commonstranger.