Joe's reef system

[FL.Joe]

not much new with the tank but i figured i should post the bad pics along with the good so here's the bad...just for future reference

the bubble algae is back and on the same rock...its being superglued right now

this isnt so bad but i'm curious to why it happened...i saw the snail excreting(spl?) it

 

[melev]

Your tank set up is well done. Thanks for linking me.

And I think you should update your signature line to include that comment above:
JoJo, Proud Pitbull Daddy, insanely handy and incredibly well researched.

Oh wait, I thought it said 'insanely handsome' - LOL!!! Nevermind. ROFL

Those eggs you see are from the snail you observed. Cerith eggs.
http://melevsreef.com/id/cerith_eggs.html

 

[FL.Joe]

whoa Marc...dude you dont know how much that means coming from you, that raises my "reef-esteem" lol. i'll be sure to add your comment to my signature, that will surely gain me some respect around here. lol

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Well first off, I love the Faux finish on the wall. Yes you indeed have some cerith eggs- just wait till you have a bristle worm spawning event.

The Valonia concerns me. It's rumored to be a sign of good water quality, but it's also one of the most unattractive of the nuisance algae. I would start to remove it piece by piece. Unfortunately, the way to do this is to remove the rock and take pull off each bubble. Don't remove them while in the tank, because if they burst you will spread the algae. You can use Alk paste on the spots to prevent it from returning.

It's nice to see you're so into saving Pit Bulls. My fiance and I got our Chocolate Lab from Lab4Rescue. It's a great organization, and in fact, we've agreed to do a local home visit for them.

 

[frenchie]

here is are new pup, all our pets were adopted and tried to find a medium sized dog and the other day at petco we found an ad for free dog and found this one.
This is roxy

owners were losing house and couldn't take her, she is potty trained loves playing catch and very smart dog and gets along with our cats and german shephard.

 

[FL.Joe]

Hey John. the algae rock has been removed since the last update, its laying in the fish room somewhere. the snail eggs has since disappeared.

D, thats a nice little female. i'm glad you're adopting, thanks for promoting responsible pitbull ownership.

ok, i'm not sure if i can or have done it before but i'm going to try and load a short video of the tank either tonight or tomorrow to put a visual aspect to the words.

i have moved some of the corals around trying to find the best flow/light area for them. i'll probably stop by a couple of LFS tonight to find some coral frgas. i'm not sure if i showed the turf scrubber here but after a week of use i disconnected it to revamp the lighting and flow. it is now plumbed in again and hopefully it'll start producing algae soon.

i want to thank yall for stopping by my thread, hopefully it will come back to life. i have to go back and do some reading in it to see what updates i have left out.

 

[melev]

Yes, you included a couple of pictures of the ATS, but new pictures are always appreciated.

 

[FL.Joe]

Hey Marc, i'll get some pics tomorrow...or atleast a vid. there hasnt been much progress in the tank, right now i'm just dealing with algae outbreaks and getting the ricordea and hammer to look healthier.

i REALLY have to dig that IceCap ballast out and order some t-5 bulbs, i also need some marine snow and i'm thinking of making a brine shrimp hatchery.

 

[FL.Joe]

i need some help from the pros on configuring my future t-5 set up. i have an IceCap 660 ballast(4 bulbs=464wts, 2 bulbs=324wts) and would like to combine this with the 2 ballasts i plan to remove from the PC fixture i'm using now. i would like the PC ballasts to run t-5 as well, btw the PC fixture is the Orbit 48" 260wt.

 

[FL.Joe]

ok all what are yall thoughts. after reading up i've read not all PC ballasts will power t-5 lights and since i'm not sure if mine will or not(130wts each) i'm considering using just the IceCap ballast running t-5s.

i'm thinking if i use individual reflectors and with the bulbs being overdriven it should be enough to keep most LPS, atleast in the top realm of the tank. if needed i could always add the power compact bulbs.

btw, which reflectors are better Tek II or IceCap.

 

[frenchie]

aquactinics makes very good reflectors and depending on how many t5 bulbs your gonna run you could keep anything under them. Some of nicest sps tanks i have seen had t5's.

 

[melev]

Agreed. The Icecap reflectors have a very good reputation, and with T5's you'll be able to keep more than just LPS.

I would probably hang the lights 7" off the water, based on some comments I've read in the past year. It seems like T5 lighting can be a little too intense for some corals, causing them to turn pastel. Raising them up prevents that occurrence.

 

[FL.Joe]

Thanks D and Marc. the next thing is who would you suggest i buy from, but more importantly what bulb combo do use. i'm thinking of (2)14k bulbs , (1)fiji_pink and either (1)10k bulb or (1) 12k bulb

 

[melev]

I couldn't say. That's one area I've simply not delved into. The Grim Reefer tends to know what bulb combo to go with.

Reefgeek.com and hellolights.com both have bulbs at good prices.

 

[frenchie]

got these from grim reefers t5 thread.

5 lamp 14K

Blue
Actinic
Sun/Daylight
Blue
Aquablue

5 lamp 20K look

Blue
Actinic
Aquablue
Blue
Blue, Actinic, UVL 75/25, Aquablue (going from a more to less intense blue)

6 lamp 10K

Blue
Actinic
Sun/Daylight
Aquablue
Sun/Daylight, Aquablue
Blue


6 lamp 14K

Blue
Actinic
Sun/Daylight
Blue
Sun/Daylight, Aquablue
Blue

6 lamp 20K look

Blue
Actinic
Aquablue
Blue
Blue, UVL 75/25, Aquablue (going from more to less intense blue)
Blue

 

[frenchie]

i'm running 5 bulb 20k look cause my ricordia didn't like 3 12k's and 2 blue plus.

current configuration on 75 gallon

front
blue plus
pure actinic
aqua blue special(12k)
blue plus
fiji purple

colors pop real well on corals almost a 20k look

 

[FL.Joe]

thanks D for the info. after looking at pics i REALLY like the 20K look. and since i'll have (4) t-5s and (2) PC, i'm looking at the 6 bulb set up.

to clarify the list you gave me:

AquaBlue=12k

Blue, 75/25=14k

but i'm not sure of a couple of things:

1) can a PC actnic be substituted for a t-5 actnic(since i already have the PC)?

2)which "blue" bulb are being referred to in the 20k list, there's several different ones?

 

[FL.Joe]

i finally placed an order, along wit the (2) power compact actnic bulbs there will be:

(2) blue plus bulbs

(1) 14K bulb

(1) 12K aquablue bulbs

this will give me something close to a 20K look but if its too blue i can always add the second set of PC lights, as of now they're 10k but i can get 12k.

 

[bdepp]

sweet build. taggin' along

 

[FL.Joe]

thanks bdepp