hi! light upgrade o'er here! junk for sale/swap... long arsed post

SoupySteve

SoupySteve

Reefer Dadness
Hey all! I ordered 2 150 watt hqi coralife pendants from hellolights last night:smokin:. With the "RCONLY" discount, they were 455.15 and will be here delivered ups ground soon. My 55gal will go from 2x65pc to this... a nice upgrade, IMO :bum:
So anyway, how should I slowly acclimate my tank? I may get some pics up here if I'm not too lazy. My plan is this - my daily light cycle is 830 to 2100 with my pcs... I think I should continue the pc lighting for a week or so - at the same times, but slide them to the rear of the tank and turn on the pendants for 1 hour day one, 2 hrs day two, 4 hours days three and four, yaddah yaddah...
I don't know how all my softies will react - so this is quite exciting indeed. I have only one LPS (a neat-o green brain) now and NO SPS. I've always liked the maze or closed brain corals ... but it is a whole bunch of RCing I gotta do to find out what I want/need in there...
So, does anyone want a 3yr old 2x65W customsealife fixture? If someone had some LPS or SPS frags, I could prolly pass it yer way. BTW, it does have the "saltwater makes me horny" sticker on one side - and is in above average shape for its age. The bulbs (they're the 50/50 style 4 pin square plug style) are less than two months old. John at C&S carries them - generally costs me between $35 and $50 to replace them depending on how busy it is and his demeanor.
I also need to trim down my kenya tree and colt corals - so if anyone wants some cuttings, swing by. I also have reddish and blue shrooms I can easily pluck out...
I also have an 5"pc 18W that is 4 mos old I have that may make someone's day.
I have a 55 gallon plastic barrel that I'll give to someone if they help me rig something up in my garage using the other 55g barrel I have in there and my ro unit, etc... :bum:
I've started dosing my tank occasionally with B-ionic and have seen tremendous amounts of coralline algae growth. I've also finally got some cool macroalgae to take hold in there BESIDES that damned chaeto... I see how well it grown at C&S in that bow tank he has at the register - so I'm sure it'll enjoy the light upgrade also...
I have only one firefish, a bicolor blenny, and a royal gramma in my tank at the moment...
 
Congrats on your new lighting!!:thumbsup:
As for acclimating to the new lights you could get some pieces of screen and remove one layer everday for about 2 weeks, or you could start with a short photo period and slowy increase the time you leave the lights on.
 
Sounds good, Steve. We need to see some pictures with the new lights.

When I added my 250 halides, I just started with a 2 hour photoperiod and worked up to 6 hours. My VHOs run for about 12 hours.

That 18W, 5" PC sounds pretty interesting. How much?

What do you want to do with your RO/DI? I think that I have a float valve around here somewhere that you can mount inside the barrel. This will shut off your RO/DI when the barrel is full. You can install a valve in the barrel to take water out. Let me know if you want some assistance or if you have any questions. I can also post some pictures of what I did.
 
chapter 2 - dude went crazy!!!

chapter 2 - dude went crazy!!!

sorry for the slow responses...
'ol dad here got to thinkin' that the tank needed more of an upgrade than JUST the lighting, so I also:

bought some eggcrate and a dremel tool, cut a nearly 4' section of the eggcrate out and placed it 3-3.5" in front of the "rear wall" of my display. I used the dremel to cut some holes through some of my live rock and used plastic cable ties to affix them to the eggcrate. this made some R-A-D lookin' caves and shelves. the dremel's tip i was using got dull after only 4 pcs, so i still have some exposed eggcrate. using another tip, i used the dremel to make covers for this... hard to explain. i'll have to take pics... anyway, i threw all my chaeto back behind there and sealed them shut... i hope that the plant life'll spring out of the egg crate - and this will act like an in-tank refugium.
that was all done saturday/sunday
sunday night i was feeling optimistic and gettin' jazzed about the lighting upgrade and bought two clowns, a super cool clam (the vietnamese one that is on sale at live aquaria), and 3 mangroves!
they arrived yesterday - everything was dead. just kidding. they rock my friggin' face off! the clowns are insanely small, the mangroves are AWESOME! i put one down in the substrate anchored by some LR, one in the "in-tank fuge", and the other i have placed in a place where it will stay as long as my return from my sump is on - there's a very tall chunk 'o LR underneath... we'll see which method of placement yeilds the best results :smokin:
i cannot wait to see the clam under the pendants! it looks schweet even under the PCs

i think i'm going to work out some crazy far-fetched equation to satisfy my german genes to find the proper acclimation process for my tank :smokin:

john, i think the PCs i posted earlier about are 5" 9w 10k? and 5" 9w actinic in a coralife unit, there's a glass splash guard... how about you gimmie that float valve (unless they are pricey) help me install it and you can have it??? ! I like WHERE my RODI unit is now. I have it set up so that the waste water runs into the washing machine :D the good line drops into (now: rubbermaid 30g want: my 55g drum). i mix my saltwater in (now: old salt bucket want: aforementioned 30g rubbermaid) with an old ph in it.

i think rikk mentioned that he'd like a barrel and a frag...??? i am home after 3pm almost every weekday. feel free to come and take it! it's blue! i'll take a $20 and a big assed frosty (wendy's) for it!

as far as my frags go, i have a kenya tree and a colt that NEED to be trimmed, so those are free to anyone who swings by. i'm scratching my chin and thinking about trying to sell some of the trimmings here on RC...

i'll have the 48" 2x65w 50/50 available as soon as my pendants arrive and i hang them... friday afternoon. someone make me an offer

i checked my ups tracking # at work today. ups guy says " they're somewhere in kansas as of 11am today expect them tomorrow" :smokin:

it is amazing what one can do if they decide to pull themselves from the clutches of Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game for a couple 'o days!

does anyone have some spare non-turbo snails???

i think i've sufficiently shown how pumped i am about my tank ...

adios
:smokin:
 
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Aye, aye A-Train, A-Diggiddy Dawg...

Aye, aye A-Train, A-Diggiddy Dawg...

here she be - and my daughter as well! the pic does neither any justice :( all of the chunks on the 2nd 1/4 to the crossbrace line i can dremel (or is it dremmel?) a hole into will be attached to the eggcrate. please refrain from making comments about the hair algae - i didn't realize that one of my RODI hadn't been changed since i got hitched! it is isolated right there in that blob in the center... when i cut the egg crate, I drew out an upward angle from the left, then cut out a chunk in the center... I guess you'd have to have been out in the garage with me on a good buzz with a dremel! :smokin:
any CONSTRUCTIVE criticisms?
showphoto.php
 
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i'll take your custom sealife 2x65. i had one that i picked up for little of nothing and one of the ballasts went out so i cut the thing in half and made it a single 65w. so i would love to take yours off your hands. what do you want for it? hopefully i'm first in line :)
 
how's $50 sound? the bulbs cost just shy of that themselves - surely the rest of the unit, legs, and the fact that i once owned it :smokin: should be worth the rest!!! :D
 
how old are the bulbs (i know the thing itself is 3years old) ? and (you probably mentioned this, but) are the bulbs the 10k or are they blue actinic. from the photo i'll assume they're 10k.
 
both of the bulbs are 50/50 bulbs 10k/actinic... y'know, like blue on one half, white on other. they are less than 2 months old. nevermind about the "legs" - they ended up getting "removed" thanks to an incident while putting up the pendants... :D
 
Re: chapter 2 - dude went crazy!!!

Re: chapter 2 - dude went crazy!!!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6857900#post6857900 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SoupySteve
sorry for the slow responses...

john, i think the PCs i posted earlier about are 5" 9w 10k? and 5" 9w actinic in a coralife unit, there's a glass splash guard... how about you gimmie that float valve (unless they are pricey) help me install it and you can have it??? ! I like WHERE my RODI unit is now. I have it set up so that the waste water runs into the washing machine :D the good line drops into (now: rubbermaid 30g want: my 55g drum). i mix my saltwater in (now: old salt bucket want: aforementioned 30g rubbermaid) with an old ph in it.
Click to expand...

It's a deal! I'll track down the float valve, and I'll post some pictures of my setup tomorrow so you can get some ideas. Do you have a platform to set your 55g drum on? You'll want it high enough to be able to get a container under your spigot (HEHE I said spigot!), and to provide some head to push the water out and possibly up into your tank or topoff container. I may be able to get away Sat. afternoon if you're going to be around.
 
pm'd you again. waiting for a reply. i have an internet connection all weekend and like i said i'll be free monday and if you will be free, i can swing by your place on sunday night i'll be back at 7ish. let me know! thanks :)
 
awww are you serious? i'm going to fayetteville all weekend. i'm free everyday up until then based on the schedule i'll PM you. hope we can figure something out between us

:bum:
 
lets see. it seems that my fayetteville plans got cancelled. so i will be in ozark/springfield all weekend. let me know when i can meet up with you. thanks :)
 
off subject, but tell me about your hex tank. what's in it? i considered a hex once, and a corner tank, but still went with the conventional rectangular tank.

friday, i should be available after 1pm. my number is a3a4a3-a8a6a5a4a (without the a's of course). gimmie a call and i can give you directions, etc...
 
i have white sand and black slate and some fake plants in it for aquascaping. livestock wise, its got 4 neon tetras, 3 black tetras, black sailfin molly, silver molly female (newest addition, now pregnant! the skank! lol), 2 loaches (not sure what kind they were), and a black african knife and a few ghost shrimp cruisin around :) (i had 10 but i believe the knife made a few midnight snacks out of them. lighting, i'm just using 2 18" flourescent bulbs and wired up a couple blue cathodes to an adjustable transformer for some great moonlighting ( the knife is constantly out and about when those cathodes come on since he is a nocturnal hunter by nature) :cool:

and for a quick review, my fish love the tallness of the tank (in response to the changeover from the 29g). they are much better looking and healthy and also more freely swimming and active. also the loaches love flying through the sand and scattering it around as they follow eachother around through cracks and crevices i made for them from stacked slate. :lol:

and friday sounds good. i get out of class at 2 and would love to see your setup and talk to you about some SW stuff since i'm just starting out. i'll give you a call when i get out to my car. By the way i assume your name's Steve so i'm going to put that in my phone so i don't lose your number. Thanks :)

Steve Shaar
 
those baby mollies will make good snacks for the blackskirts and the knife... :D can't beat food that multiplies!!!
 
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