Jadette's 140g Rimless Build Thread

[socalmonty]

The Barletts are doing great, thanks, Shirley. I originally bought one male and four females through LiveAquaria. They arrived in great shape and all survived acclimation. Unfortunately, I recently found one of the females baked on one of the the glass supports under my LED fixture (a variation on carpet surfing). My wife and I decided to order three more females from our LFS, Tropical Zoo and they arrived this week. Unfortunately, only two survived transport and acclimation. So anyway, now we have one male and five females. Love the color and a much more mellow disposition than the Lyretails. I still have the two lyretails. The dominant female has morphed into a beautiful male. They are still pretty active but I'll probably plan to keep them.

Love your Randalls. They are really stunning. My tank is full (really, I mean it this time) or I would add some to my mix. Your Threadfins are also very cool. The only fish in my tank that breed are my Bengaiis.

I think it's time for an FTS of your tank, Shirley. What are you using for lighting these days?

 

[jadette]

Wow. Has it really been 3 months since i last updated this thread?

And yes, Doug, I guess it is time for an FTS:

I'm still using LEDs for my frag tank, but took down my LED+T5 fixture a few months back (had a ballast issue with the T5s). Went with an all T5 setup for a couple of months, but didn't really like it too much. I'm currently running 2x400W Radiums for 6 hours a day. I'll eventually put my LEDs back up, but it's been so crazy at work that I'm usually dead tired by the time I get home so no time to really fiddle with them. I've also fallen in love with the radiums. First time in 6 years of reefing that I'm using them. My final light setup will be a MH+LED combo. I just need to cut down my 48" LED u channels to 18" so I can run them perpendicular to the length of my tank. I also recently acquired some green LEDs, so I'm going to swap some royal blues out with them. I have a combo of red, green, royal blue, normal blue, cool white, and warm white LEDs over my frag tank, and I'm liking how the frags are responding to that combo.

 

[s2k]

Nice tank - corals look very healthy.

 

[bullitr]

Looks good Shirley
Great choice of doing metal halide and LEDs combo
I wish I can afford to run metal halide ...

 

[lowbudget]

Looks good

 

[socalmonty]

Beautiful as always, Shirley. I've spent the last six months figuring out my salt issues. After trying the Tropic Marin Bio-Actif with miserable results (I did use it all up though ), I switched to Aquavitro Salinity and had equally bad results. I nearly lost a bunch of SPS and LPS. Now I am back to the salt I started with, Tropic Marin Pro Reef and things are almost back to normal. Lesson for me is to leave well enough alone.

I'm still liking my Pacific Sun Metis Hyperion LEDs but with all the salt issues, I'm just now really getting the chance to see how things do compared to my old 400W Radiums. I did love the Radiums, though. I'm with Lawrence, the LEDs have lowered my SoCal Edison bill by roughly $200 month. Hard to think about switching back.

 

[kenith]

Shirley- looks like everything is filling up fast! Can you tell us about the coral reaction/changes when you switched to the Radiums?

 

[jadette]

Thanks Toan! Btw, I brought the 400w bulbs to work. Just sitting in one of my drawers. Whenever you want them just let me know.

Lawrence - Can't wait to see the lemondrop in there. Will you be around this weekend?

Thanks Sanh! - I think 1/4 of my SPS in my tank I got from you. Too bad I lost the miami orchid when I moved tanks.

Doug - I think if I was paying that much for electricity, I would not have considered the radiums. My bimonthly bill only went up about $30 after the switch. That said, I was better with turning off unnecessary lights in the house to make me feel less guilty about the switch. It was like, "OMG, who left the kitchen lights on? I could have had my tank lights on for 20 more minutes with that wasted power!" Sorry to hear about your continued salt issues. I used up all of my Bio Actif as well. Now I'm just sticking with IO. Since it's cheaper, I don't mind doing more frequent water changes.

Ken - I would say 80% of my corals prefer the radiums over the other lights. Most of my acroporas are exhibiting amazing polyp extension. A couple did not respond well. I bleached out my efflo (now recovering), and my acroberry colony STN'd. I managed to salvage a few frags of it. Those were the only casualties. My monti caps are growing slower (better growth under T5s), but my red planet and all my millis are growing at least twice as fast as with any other lighting.
I would say that my softies (hammer, goniopora) preferred the LEDs.

So it was a mixed bag, but I loved my fuzzy acroporas the most so they got priority.

The whole MH vs LED vs T5 debate is getting kinda old. IMHO, different corals and different tanks will respond to the various types of lighting differently. I just went with the one that my favorite corals liked the most.

But enough about corals. I also love my fish! and I also love to overstock. Woo hoo!

 

[jadette]

Death to the double-posting lag monster!

 

[solitude127]

Thanks Sanh! - I think 1/4 of my SPS in my tank I got from you. Too bad I lost the miami orchid when I moved tanks.

I got some Miami Orchid for you if you'd like.

 

[bullitr]

Very nice Shirley
Is that a pyramid butterfly or the shallow tail?
I will be around this weekend

 

[uclajay]

Beautiful!!

 

[jadette]

I got some Miami Orchid for you if you'd like.

Thanks Mike! I will definitely take you up on that offer. I miss my Miami Orchid. Was the fastest grower in my tank. Grew circles around my green slimer.

Very nice Shirley
Is that a pyramid butterfly or the shallow tail?
I will be around this weekend

That's a pyramid butterfly (that I picked up from aleonn) AND a swallowtail. There's two belluses swimming around too. I've been busy collecting.

Beautiful!!

Thank you!

 

[aleonn]

You've got a beautiful tank, corals, and fish! My old pyramid definitely found a great home! I don't know how he is in your tank, but in mine, he was a pig. He was always the first to eat, even beating out the tangs.

 

[jadette]

Thanks Andy!

Yes, the pyramid butterfly is a real piggy. So funny b/c he was getting 'hazed' by the PBT the first day (they're best buds now) and even through the chasing, he was still trying to eat. Nothing gets in the way of him and his mysis!
Very active. First to "wake up" and swim around the tank and last to "retire" for the night.

Here's a bad pic of him. He just wouldn't swim still for a photo:

I'm having trouble taking photos of my corals with the radium bulbs, but here are some shots of favorite corals:

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

Dont know how I have missed this thread for this long! AMAZING tank. Im very jealous

 

[RobbReef]

Nice tank I love the rimless I also have one and loving it.

 

[bullitr]

I put the Your lemondrop in the main tank because it's not getting enough par in the sump
So here you go I promise you a picture

 

[lowbudget]

Just read you went back to mh. Nice. Now I have to ask to get frags of sps when I am ready. Fighting problems. Looks like it's coming around

 

[solitude127]

Just read you went back to mh. Nice. Now I have to ask to get frags of sps when I am ready. Fighting problems. Looks like it's coming around

I thought you were done?