How not to build a 750/1500 gallon build thread-Khaosinc 3/5/71-8/30/11

[romanr]

The nice thing about metal halides is that when you go to replace them you are replacing 3 or 4 (in a tank the size of khaos tank). And I really think you'll get a good year out of some decent MH with a decent ballast. If you go VHO you'll be replacing a lot more bulbs (maybe not so much the cost factor but the pain in the ars factor) and probably only getting about 8 or 9 months out of them.

 

[romanr]

I would recommend hellolights.com. You can call them for setup advice as well as electrical advice. They are really top notch and have some of the cheapest prices around for the DIY'er.

 

[khaosinc]

Man I can't wait till you get some good lighting on that puppy, your rock work is amazing. I think people are going to be blown away when you get your lighting done.

Advise: Once you get the lighting in place, ask for reefcentral volunteers to find someone with a weekend, a really good camera and some good reef tank photography skills to really do a "pro" job on a spread of photos (to post on RC of course!)

Whats sad is I already have over 1500 watts of T5's over that tank (12 bulb 72" nep, 8 bulb 48" nep and a 8 bulb 6' T5 no name unit and 8 T8s just to fill in some of the space). I am overdue for some newe bulbs however. I think that getting them up off the tank will help some to spead out the light. My current plan is to add 3 400 watt MH bulbs in some fixtures that used to be warehouse lights. With some polishing of the aluminum housing and a couple mods they should fit nicely and work ok. I can run them with 220 power which will be nice. (fish room is wired for it already), then fill in some of the other space with blue LEDs for help with the atinic 'pop' more than getting any real par value out of them.

One of these days I will get a camera that hasn't been dropped quite so many times, and doesn't have scratches on the lens and I might even figure out how to get some decent pics.

Both the foxface, and the hippo are looking good and eating both flake and frozen.

I promised myself I would actually run some tests today, so I suppose I should go be usefull.

 

[khaosinc]

I would recommend hellolights.com. You can call them for setup advice as well as electrical advice. They are really top notch and have some of the cheapest prices around for the DIY'er.

One of the advantages of my line of work is that in addition to all sorts of goodies in the bone yard at work, I have the plant electrician at my disposal as he owes me a 1/2 dozen favors or so as it is.

 

[khaosinc]

Surprisingly enough the tank parameters tested fairly well other than my PH being low. I couldn't test KH as I can't for the life of me find the little color card for it. The tests also might be a little suspect as its most likley pushing 2 years old.

PH 7.8
Ammonia - trace, but below the first result.
no2 0
no3 also barely readable. (I was surprised)

I haven't ever tested for calc or mag. I always mean to get tests for them and forget when I am ordering. I only have a couple stoney corals and both are doing well so I call that good enough for now. Coraline is growing like nuts so something must be correct in there.

 

[miracle333]

Been following along...great full tank shot! Loved the story about the dog as well. Keep it coming along Khaos!! :spin1:

 

[Cuby2k]

No idea where this came from... I haven't added anything new in ages. I'm trying to believe its not a manjo for the moment... tommorow it goes away.

Hey khaosinc, I would be willing to bet that is majano but I don't thinks it's all that bad. Boiling water from a turkey baster will make short work of them.

Melev has some good shots of the buggers on his web page.

Glad to see you are plugging along brother.

 

[Tim]

Just read the whole thread and all and can seem to say is WOW!!

Real glad to hear that your health issiues are behind you.

 

[jjk_reef00]

I'm very interested in seeing if you are going to switch to MH. I'd say the lumenbright large pendents would be a very good choice because you hang them high off the water. That reduces heat and increases spread. I have 3 of them over my 8' tank and it easily covers it. I'm convinced that 3 of them would cover a 9' tank but I'm not sure about your 10' tank.

I read a thread a while back where the guy didn't want to use MH and he ended up switching because dealing with all those t5 bulbs can be a pain.

 

[blennymower]

Khaos, all looking good brotha. What's holding you from bringing us the next big update?

 

[khaosinc]

I'm very interested in seeing if you are going to switch to MH. I'd say the lumenbright large pendents would be a very good choice because you hang them high off the water. That reduces heat and increases spread. I have 3 of them over my 8' tank and it easily covers it. I'm convinced that 3 of them would cover a 9' tank but I'm not sure about your 10' tank.

I read a thread a while back where the guy didn't want to use MH and he ended up switching because dealing with all those t5 bulbs can be a pain.

I do know that, I have about 30 over my tank right now and its not near enough light to start in on the fun stuff. I really need to finish my hoood this weekend and play with the MH lights I have. They are not "for" marine aquariums but they are outdoor use and sealed which I think would be nice in this application.

As for a "big update" that would involve anything big going on. The hippo tang and the foxface (which I'm still second guessing actually putting in my tank) are eating like pigs and may go in this weekend. I know where I got them from runs copper in their tanks (and wonders why they can't sell anenomes) so I'm pretty sure they are clean of most headaches. I also need to build a hanger for some LED's I am playing with. I think I can use the 900 lights as a moonlight...LOL.

I'm also planning on a bit of re-arranging this weekend. I'm planning on making more of a rock garden area where I am having trouble keeping the sand from being blown around (something about the Korila 8 pointed near there I suspect). I plan on seeding the whole area with softies once I get a bit more light over the tank.

I'm also leaning toward releasing a mess of mollies in the tank so I have something to look at until I can get some "real" fish in that tank. I set a tank up tonight to acclimate some. We shall see what happens. They are a fun little fish, and I can put like 20 in the tank for the cost of one salt water fish and they are fun to watch.

This whole working for a living thing is overrated.

 

[khaosinc]

how about some pic updates.....

The new hippo is buddied up with the other one, and the foxface is doing well...

I also might have accidently added a couple other fish...

very camera shy... but eating well

I do love gobys... the shrimp that lives near that spot isn't so impressed.

Linka is still cruising around..

found a new spot...

 

[khaosinc]

Marine betta doing his best Eel impression...

Them dang things really are indestructable. I tossed them in this bucket after pulling them out of my sand weeks ago... only pulled it out to toss water in while acclimating the fish to the DT.. no heat, no light and no flow.... still going strong.

Apperently I might have had this coral out of the water a bit long when I was killing the snails on it... not a happy camper.

 

[coreyz]

Thanks for sharing I have been reading your thread for months now!

 

[khaosinc]

thanks for tagging along. I'm still running a little slow but with it being nasty and cold outside I'm hoping I can start making some progress on this tank now.

 

[MrineLfRlz]

Them dang things really are indestructable. I tossed them in this bucket after pulling them out of my sand weeks ago... only pulled it out to toss water in while acclimating the fish to the DT.. no heat, no light and no flow.... still going strong.

cant make them out what are they?

 

[makoslo]

Awesome thread and wonderful read! Look forward to more.

subscribed

 

[flying_dutchman]

MrineLfRlz, they're urchins

 

[khaosinc]

cant make them out what are they?

Aspasia... I'm doing an experiment (ok, I'm to lazy to dump the bucket) No flow, no top off, no feeding and no light. Anyone wanna guess how long they live. Its sitting at almost a month now.

 

[kbarnett63]

Aspasia... I'm doing an experiment (ok, I'm to lazy to dump the bucket) No flow, no top off, no feeding and no light. Anyone wanna guess how long they live. Its sitting at almost a month now.

This could be turned into a game: "Guess the expiration date"