Maroun 150g Build Thread
- Thread starter maroun.c
- Start date
melev
Well-known member
You are going to need an electrician out to check the voltage coming out of the wall first of all. Start at the source, and work your way toward the product. If a wire is crossed, it can cause some of the issues you've been experiencing. Once you know you are safe at the wall outlet, it has to be something after that point, something plugged in.
Remove all the plugs, and the ground probes, and plug in one pump at a time while you watch your voltage meter for any change. If a pump leaks energy, you don't want to use it. I've had that problem in my tank, and when you have a small cut on your finger you feel it. I'm replacing quite a few powerheads in my sump with a larger external pump & a manifold to feed those items. I just have to do it already.
Remove all the plugs, and the ground probes, and plug in one pump at a time while you watch your voltage meter for any change. If a pump leaks energy, you don't want to use it. I've had that problem in my tank, and when you have a small cut on your finger you feel it. I'm replacing quite a few powerheads in my sump with a larger external pump & a manifold to feed those items. I just have to do it already.
maroun.c
New member
I just hate it when a l write down one of those long posts and it gets lost becuase of internet disconnection or nighttime (midday where I am) backups.
So here goes again.
Melev thanks for your info will try to get an electrician to come check it out.
I wanted to get at least the skimmer pump replaced because ofthe short that happened in the powerstripp it was connected to (pump plug was not affected though) but it seems they don't get replacements here and I'll ahve to buy a skimmer so for now it stays.
Also two other pumps are the ones for the CL and they are brand new (3-4 months old) and I'm afraid that new ones might do the same as they are the same stock. do yo uthink there is any risk of copper release from them, or risk of affecting the livestock depsite the use of the probs? using them externally would be a wise choice at least maybe in my case for the return pump.
Now to continue with the problems I faced.
My BTAs seem to be unhappy.
My 8 years old BTA looks very uggly and deflated much more frequently than beofre. I know they do that to flush the water in them however it's much more common lately and a more pronounced. here's how it looks at times and sometimes its even much more deflated than this:
Also it tries to "hide" in the rocks without detaching from it attachment point as if it was hiding from the light?
It also looks twisted very frequently and I was wondering if I shoudl detwist it?
Could it be adjusting for the more intense lighting in the new tank although it looked fine initially?
my other new RBTA that was fine for the first days
woke up to it looking like this
t
hen on the same day it moved to the back of the rocks still getting a bit of light but not that much.
weirdly my clown showed much more interest in it on that day and was sucking its tentacles a bit (after it was looking ugly)I resisted the temptation of getting it out.
Few days ago it emerged back to the exact same position where it was initially andn I'm hoping it'll stay there. However it's looking much lighter and smaller. I was suspecting it could have divided however I was seeing it every day and did not see it divide nor found any clones. here's how it looks now:
I'm hoping it's not affected by the 82 degrees temperature .
Both anemones are still eating fine (1-2 times a week 1 ish and 1 shrimp divided over the 2 BTAs and carpet.) they still feel sticky a bit and have never lost attachment or anything.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
So here goes again.
Melev thanks for your info will try to get an electrician to come check it out.
I wanted to get at least the skimmer pump replaced because ofthe short that happened in the powerstripp it was connected to (pump plug was not affected though) but it seems they don't get replacements here and I'll ahve to buy a skimmer so for now it stays.
Also two other pumps are the ones for the CL and they are brand new (3-4 months old) and I'm afraid that new ones might do the same as they are the same stock. do yo uthink there is any risk of copper release from them, or risk of affecting the livestock depsite the use of the probs? using them externally would be a wise choice at least maybe in my case for the return pump.
Now to continue with the problems I faced.
My BTAs seem to be unhappy.
My 8 years old BTA looks very uggly and deflated much more frequently than beofre. I know they do that to flush the water in them however it's much more common lately and a more pronounced. here's how it looks at times and sometimes its even much more deflated than this:
Also it tries to "hide" in the rocks without detaching from it attachment point as if it was hiding from the light?
It also looks twisted very frequently and I was wondering if I shoudl detwist it?
Could it be adjusting for the more intense lighting in the new tank although it looked fine initially?
my other new RBTA that was fine for the first days
woke up to it looking like this
hen on the same day it moved to the back of the rocks still getting a bit of light but not that much.
weirdly my clown showed much more interest in it on that day and was sucking its tentacles a bit (after it was looking ugly)I resisted the temptation of getting it out.
Few days ago it emerged back to the exact same position where it was initially andn I'm hoping it'll stay there. However it's looking much lighter and smaller. I was suspecting it could have divided however I was seeing it every day and did not see it divide nor found any clones. here's how it looks now:
I'm hoping it's not affected by the 82 degrees temperature .
Both anemones are still eating fine (1-2 times a week 1 ish and 1 shrimp divided over the 2 BTAs and carpet.) they still feel sticky a bit and have never lost attachment or anything.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
maroun.c
New member
also the small SPS that I got which lost 3 braches (gone white) after I got it and seemed to be doing fine for few weeks started hving a small white spot on the brach which would extend to consume all the branch. its too small to frag to save pieces of it and now I'm left with only 2 small branches one of them has a small white spot on it for 4 days now which seems not tp be progressing anymore differently to the others. the two pieces that broke of when I first got which I fixed on some rocks and did well for 2 weeks also bleached in a matter of 1-2 hours is this RTN or anything I shoudl check for before getting more hard corals int he future:
here are the two small pieces that broke off and I fixed on rocks:
I also considered water quality issues so I did a 30 g waterchange, added a phosphate remover:
and a small glass container with water flowing trough to add more carbon and any filter media needed in the future.
my water is testing fine Ca 440 mag 1260 phosphate0 nitrate 0 PH 8.1 its not dropping at night time as it was doing initially, but I'm still getting variations 8- 8.1 or 8.2... PH meter is calibrated and seems to be fine on the calibration check. Slinity 1.025 snails and all other softies and LPs doing good. the only other SPS a Montipora that I got 90% dead is doing fine and I'm seing sings of growth on some of the healhty edges. only thing I can think of is the high temperature but then again the tank was always at 80 and I doubt a small increase would have such a bad effect?
here are the two small pieces that broke off and I fixed on rocks:
I also considered water quality issues so I did a 30 g waterchange, added a phosphate remover:
and a small glass container with water flowing trough to add more carbon and any filter media needed in the future.
my water is testing fine Ca 440 mag 1260 phosphate0 nitrate 0 PH 8.1 its not dropping at night time as it was doing initially, but I'm still getting variations 8- 8.1 or 8.2... PH meter is calibrated and seems to be fine on the calibration check. Slinity 1.025 snails and all other softies and LPs doing good. the only other SPS a Montipora that I got 90% dead is doing fine and I'm seing sings of growth on some of the healhty edges. only thing I can think of is the high temperature but then again the tank was always at 80 and I doubt a small increase would have such a bad effect?
maroun.c
New member
Now to add the SAGA and this was very sad for me Fish losses. My copperband butterfly died one eveneing after being the first at my hand on the feeding few hours before. found it lying dead behind the rocks. then I lost 2 of my 4 cardinals in a 1 week time but was told that sometimes multiple makes can kill each other? and finally I woke up 4 days ago to find my hyppo tand caught between 2 rocks head first with clear incision marks on his gill and on one side of it. don't know if he was being draged by any of those hitchiker crabs or if he was killed by them or anyother fishkiller in my tank. I don't have hermits or any other crabs yet except for a tiny anemoen crab that never leavs the carpet. this was very for me, the hyppo had shown minor signs of ich 2 weeks earlier but they resolved on their own.
I had brough around 15 small fish with me from a trip to dubai and unfortunately 5 arrived dead. 4-5 other ones died the second morning in quarantine and one purple grouper and 2 cories wrasses went carpet srufing on the same morning from a very tiny opening then lost one Lyretail that showed sings of sever popeye
so was left with a single Lyretail anthia and yellow cories wrass that went in the 150 few days ago.
So overall it has not been a happy ride lately and I'm hoping you guys will have some suggestions for me on things to do as I hate to loose fish or corals. especially not in this frequency.
FTS and a run out of the corals I have now in the tank to follow shortly and hopefully form here on it will be some "happy updates"
I had brough around 15 small fish with me from a trip to dubai and unfortunately 5 arrived dead. 4-5 other ones died the second morning in quarantine and one purple grouper and 2 cories wrasses went carpet srufing on the same morning from a very tiny opening then lost one Lyretail that showed sings of sever popeye
so was left with a single Lyretail anthia and yellow cories wrass that went in the 150 few days ago.
So overall it has not been a happy ride lately and I'm hoping you guys will have some suggestions for me on things to do as I hate to loose fish or corals. especially not in this frequency.
FTS and a run out of the corals I have now in the tank to follow shortly and hopefully form here on it will be some "happy updates"
melev
Well-known member
I'm wondering about the stray electricity you had in the tank. The ground probes will help divert that out of the water, but you only just added it and that could be why the animals aren't doing well. They may turn around now that you've got that semi-resolved.
For BTA anemones:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/bubbletipanemones.htm
http://www.karensroseanemones.com/
For BTA anemones:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/bubbletipanemones.htm
http://www.karensroseanemones.com/
maroun.c
New member
Thanks for the links Melev, very informative, but unfortunately I don't have any conclusions on the real cause on unhappiness of my anemones. Anyway the temperature seems to be better today and it should drop more during the week, I'm running 2-3 additional large fans on the tank which is also helping so temp is now around 81 and I beluieve it should dropp more so this will tell if it's a heat issue or not. On another thread I posted about tank temperature I'm getting replies that people had their tanks hit 85-86 without singns of stress!!!
Anyway lokks things are better for the last few days so I'm hoping it continues this way.
more updates and pics shortly.
Anyway lokks things are better for the last few days so I'm hoping it continues this way.
more updates and pics shortly.
chrismunn
New member
this is my opinion, and its only an opinion. but ide say that 85-86 degrees in your tank would be fine, given your inhabitants are used to that. but thats not to say that going from 78 degrees to 86 degrees in the course of a single day will be ok, because its not. i do think that if acclimated over a long time period it would be ok to keep your reef at those high temps, but if you were keeping your temp in the high 70's, and it went up to the mid 80's in under a week, that, in my opinion would be enough to cause alot of stress in the tank.
as for the stray electricity, ive had that before. the tingly feeling you get in your cuts when you reach into the tank
i did a little test once to see if it was actually electricity i was feeling by insulating myself from being grounded while standing on a thick peice of plastic. it worked, but unfortunatly its not really relevant to solving the problem 
but it was interesting.
i would imagine electricity in the tank would be a stress factor for the inhabitants, but again thats only my opinion. one thing about the electricity in the tank is that it wont affect the inhabitants untill the tanks grounded. by using a grounding probe, your essentially grounding the tank, and that means that electricity now has the opportunity to pass through the tank shocking everything in it, making the tank a closed circuit. without the grounding probe the electricity just harmlessly hangs out in the tank, untill the tank gets grounded. i read that in an article in RKM a while ago, but in the same article i read that the use of a grounding probe is debatable.
i think its safe to say that if you actually saw the crabs eating corals, they're NOT reef safe! good luck catching them. i had a couple in my 10g and it was a real PITA catching them! even when i was able to get all the rocks out, i couldnt pry them out of the rocks. triggers eat crabs dont they? you might be able use a trigger fish, but its probably a long shot.
sorry for all your unfortunate luck latley. shipping can go that way and there's not much that can be for that. as for ich and anemone trouble, given the information provided ide put my money on large tempurature floccuations....
as for the stray electricity, ive had that before. the tingly feeling you get in your cuts when you reach into the tank
i did a little test once to see if it was actually electricity i was feeling by insulating myself from being grounded while standing on a thick peice of plastic. it worked, but unfortunatly its not really relevant to solving the problem but it was interesting.i would imagine electricity in the tank would be a stress factor for the inhabitants, but again thats only my opinion. one thing about the electricity in the tank is that it wont affect the inhabitants untill the tanks grounded. by using a grounding probe, your essentially grounding the tank, and that means that electricity now has the opportunity to pass through the tank shocking everything in it, making the tank a closed circuit. without the grounding probe the electricity just harmlessly hangs out in the tank, untill the tank gets grounded. i read that in an article in RKM a while ago, but in the same article i read that the use of a grounding probe is debatable.
i think its safe to say that if you actually saw the crabs eating corals, they're NOT reef safe! good luck catching them. i had a couple in my 10g and it was a real PITA catching them! even when i was able to get all the rocks out, i couldnt pry them out of the rocks. triggers eat crabs dont they? you might be able use a trigger fish, but its probably a long shot.
sorry for all your unfortunate luck latley. shipping can go that way and there's not much that can be for that. as for ich and anemone trouble, given the information provided ide put my money on large tempurature floccuations....
maroun.c
New member
Crismunn,
thanks for your reply, i read about the ground thing a lot while seraching a solution and it seems many persons have the same thought you mention while others think that it's better not to become yourself the grounding probe if a short happens in your tank without being grounded. I'm currently lost between the two ways of thinking and don't know if I'll end up leaving it like this or just replacing all pumps releasing any current...
One thing worth mentioning is that we don't have ground in most of the buildings here (including mine) so our plugs do not have that 3rd ground outlet (which reminds me that I have to post pics of it requested before) so This is pushing me more towards leaving the grounding pribes in.
the GFCIs (pics posted few posts above) I have don't have a ground cord in them, I was told that they will still trip in case of a short like any other circuit braker however a ground leak will serve to have them trip faster in case a small loss is occuring...
Til now it seems to be working and the GFCIs have not triped since they were installed this way which leads me to 2 conclusions:
- I was having minor shorts that were adding to trip the main GFCI of al items connected together now that everything is divided on 2 GFCIs the lekages I have are not sufficient to trip the GFCI
-the 20 amp GFCI was not able to handle all the electrical load of the tank and was tripping.
conclusion 2 is the most probable IMO as the triping used to occur only in the afternoon when the halides would go on and I have added another GFCI specifically for the halides which did no trip. i also I rechecked all the connections and nothing is wrong. add to that that it is highely unlikely to have a small loss in a setup outside water as this would either short and trip the GFCI or just run normally. My halides would run for 2-3 hours before the GFCI trips.
As to my temperature swing it was a very slow increase in the temperature going from 78-79 to 80-81 with the addition of 1 250 W MH to my existing 2 150s and then up to 83-83 for 2-3 days with the last heat wave. it never exceeded 83 and never was a fast increase in temperature. anyway now its a bit cooler and the temperature is back to 81. Guess I'll just monitor it and if I ever see it changing fast or exceeding 83 I'll just have to add a chiller.
Thanks again for any suggestions anyone might have
thanks for your reply, i read about the ground thing a lot while seraching a solution and it seems many persons have the same thought you mention while others think that it's better not to become yourself the grounding probe if a short happens in your tank without being grounded. I'm currently lost between the two ways of thinking and don't know if I'll end up leaving it like this or just replacing all pumps releasing any current...
One thing worth mentioning is that we don't have ground in most of the buildings here (including mine) so our plugs do not have that 3rd ground outlet (which reminds me that I have to post pics of it requested before) so This is pushing me more towards leaving the grounding pribes in.
the GFCIs (pics posted few posts above) I have don't have a ground cord in them, I was told that they will still trip in case of a short like any other circuit braker however a ground leak will serve to have them trip faster in case a small loss is occuring...
Til now it seems to be working and the GFCIs have not triped since they were installed this way which leads me to 2 conclusions:
- I was having minor shorts that were adding to trip the main GFCI of al items connected together now that everything is divided on 2 GFCIs the lekages I have are not sufficient to trip the GFCI
-the 20 amp GFCI was not able to handle all the electrical load of the tank and was tripping.
conclusion 2 is the most probable IMO as the triping used to occur only in the afternoon when the halides would go on and I have added another GFCI specifically for the halides which did no trip. i also I rechecked all the connections and nothing is wrong. add to that that it is highely unlikely to have a small loss in a setup outside water as this would either short and trip the GFCI or just run normally. My halides would run for 2-3 hours before the GFCI trips.
As to my temperature swing it was a very slow increase in the temperature going from 78-79 to 80-81 with the addition of 1 250 W MH to my existing 2 150s and then up to 83-83 for 2-3 days with the last heat wave. it never exceeded 83 and never was a fast increase in temperature. anyway now its a bit cooler and the temperature is back to 81. Guess I'll just monitor it and if I ever see it changing fast or exceeding 83 I'll just have to add a chiller.
Thanks again for any suggestions anyone might have
maroun.c
New member
Yesterday was quite a busy and stressful day.
My plans were doing some testing on the tank then finalizing the updates on this thread to match the state the tank is in. then family launch taking the kids out....
Well it did not go as smoothly.
Woke up and went straight to the tank temp was 80.5 so it's been slowly dropping from 83. looked at the tank andmy tigger cowrie shell had dropped a small paly rock put it in place and started the daily inspection of all my items and noticed that my old BTA was not there. very weird this anemone was on the same rock for 8 years so I was under theimpression that it's foot must have fused with it by now got a flashlight and starte looking in the rocks but it was no where to be found. thought it could have detached and maybe be moved inthe rockwork. left it at this and went to prepare the kits for testing but I couldn't get that feeling that something was not OK for some reason wo wnet back tot het ank did the fish count check and all were there except for my yellow wrasse which is normal before halides. went backt ot he anemone site adn started looking more for it and still nothing, OK i'll stop the suspense I start to modify the flow from the CL outlets as I feel flow is not as I want on the front lt part of the tank and notice the small 6 outputs CL is not working. I unplug the pump and pull it out from the pumps partition and guess whos attached to the pump: MY BTA.
This was indeed a horrible feeling for me, I've had anemones in my 80 G for 8 years with 5 large ones at the same time (1 BTA and 4 large carpets) in a much smaller tank with 7-8 powerheads in the tank and I never had an anemone get sucked. Surprisingly it has passed over the 2 Seios in front of that partition which could have totally torn it to pieces if they had caught it and also luckily it was sucked by the smallest of the 3 pumps in that partition (EHEIM 1000 Lph around 250 GPH) this pump has a screen below the impeller and part of the anemone foot got sucked in there. Pump was very hot I took it out and put it in the tank did not try to release teh anemone as I remember reading it's best to let them detangle themselves and that trying to release them will lead to tearing them more. So I just put the PH withthe anemone near it's place this way it will detach and drop in the hole the maroonclown had dig I also decreased tank circulation to avoid blowing it over when it detaches.
From the sight of the tentacles I was sure that the anemone was still alive. but after couple of hours it had not detached so I cancelled all my plans and stayed in front of the tank watching it. Seing that its not even trying to get loose, I opened the pump (Just a pull of no twisting or anything required) to find that parts of the foot went between teh impeller shaft and that rubber that it goes into in the cover and there was a piece of think skin stuck there. so I removed the impeler shaft and rubber, pushed the foot skin with my finger in as far as i could and held the anemone like this for less than a min:
and it detached. the damage was not as big as I feared:
but considering that this anemone was unhappy for still unnknown resons to detach in the first place and that I hate to have any inhabitants of my reef get injured or killed I felt really bad.
So I put it in the tank in the hole near it's attachment place and within a couple of hours it climbed on the rock and attached.
I was afraid of fish picking at the injury site but my maroon who was looking like lost withuot his anemone all day immediately rushed in and got very aggressive (more than usual and this time to my advantage) in protecting it
I replugged all the pumps when I was sure it was attached and directed the flow to have a very slow current in its area but not on it.
Today it's still attached at teh same site without relocating but still looking very ugly and facing teh stands. Do you think i should take it out of the stand or is there anything I should do to accelaerate healing?
My plans were doing some testing on the tank then finalizing the updates on this thread to match the state the tank is in. then family launch taking the kids out....
Well it did not go as smoothly.
Woke up and went straight to the tank temp was 80.5 so it's been slowly dropping from 83. looked at the tank andmy tigger cowrie shell had dropped a small paly rock put it in place and started the daily inspection of all my items and noticed that my old BTA was not there. very weird this anemone was on the same rock for 8 years so I was under theimpression that it's foot must have fused with it by now got a flashlight and starte looking in the rocks but it was no where to be found. thought it could have detached and maybe be moved inthe rockwork. left it at this and went to prepare the kits for testing but I couldn't get that feeling that something was not OK for some reason wo wnet back tot het ank did the fish count check and all were there except for my yellow wrasse which is normal before halides. went backt ot he anemone site adn started looking more for it and still nothing, OK i'll stop the suspense I start to modify the flow from the CL outlets as I feel flow is not as I want on the front lt part of the tank and notice the small 6 outputs CL is not working. I unplug the pump and pull it out from the pumps partition and guess whos attached to the pump: MY BTA.
This was indeed a horrible feeling for me, I've had anemones in my 80 G for 8 years with 5 large ones at the same time (1 BTA and 4 large carpets) in a much smaller tank with 7-8 powerheads in the tank and I never had an anemone get sucked. Surprisingly it has passed over the 2 Seios in front of that partition which could have totally torn it to pieces if they had caught it and also luckily it was sucked by the smallest of the 3 pumps in that partition (EHEIM 1000 Lph around 250 GPH) this pump has a screen below the impeller and part of the anemone foot got sucked in there. Pump was very hot I took it out and put it in the tank did not try to release teh anemone as I remember reading it's best to let them detangle themselves and that trying to release them will lead to tearing them more. So I just put the PH withthe anemone near it's place this way it will detach and drop in the hole the maroonclown had dig I also decreased tank circulation to avoid blowing it over when it detaches.
From the sight of the tentacles I was sure that the anemone was still alive. but after couple of hours it had not detached so I cancelled all my plans and stayed in front of the tank watching it. Seing that its not even trying to get loose, I opened the pump (Just a pull of no twisting or anything required) to find that parts of the foot went between teh impeller shaft and that rubber that it goes into in the cover and there was a piece of think skin stuck there. so I removed the impeler shaft and rubber, pushed the foot skin with my finger in as far as i could and held the anemone like this for less than a min:
and it detached. the damage was not as big as I feared:
but considering that this anemone was unhappy for still unnknown resons to detach in the first place and that I hate to have any inhabitants of my reef get injured or killed I felt really bad.
So I put it in the tank in the hole near it's attachment place and within a couple of hours it climbed on the rock and attached.
I was afraid of fish picking at the injury site but my maroon who was looking like lost withuot his anemone all day immediately rushed in and got very aggressive (more than usual and this time to my advantage) in protecting it
I replugged all the pumps when I was sure it was attached and directed the flow to have a very slow current in its area but not on it.
Today it's still attached at teh same site without relocating but still looking very ugly and facing teh stands. Do you think i should take it out of the stand or is there anything I should do to accelaerate healing?
Last edited:
maroun.c
New member
Ok so I'll start posting the "brightest" happenings in the tank hoping this will brake the spell that seems to be on my tank lately.
so ended up getting my 250 W Gieseman MH and fixture. I waited for months for the fixture to arrive and in the end the guy at teh LFS promised to bring it in his bag from a trip to geneve.. he didn't get it unfortunately but then found one lying between his stock so yes I waited for months for something they had in the shop somewhere. I'm not gonna nag more so I got it in the end.
chose the Giesemann Blue as I heard a lot of good stuff on those. I thought it would be a 20K but when I serched it online it turned out t be a 22K still this was not so bad as i needed some blue over my 14K arcadia 150W.
This bulb although blue is a lot brighter than my old 150 W 20K Arcadia guess being 250 and much brighter made the difference.
It's not much more blue than my 2 other arcadia 150W 14 K but it does give very nice coloration in the tank when lit alone.
So I now have 2 Arcadia 150 W 14 K double ended HQI on the LT and Rt sides and the 250 W Gieseman Blue in the middle. I also have actinic T8 fluorescents and ultra white marine lamp all T8 from arcadia.
I should be getting a first T5 within this week it's gonna be a white one to be followed by an actinic one afterwards.
Each is going to cost around 225 usd for ballast and fixture with reflectors so I'm not going to hav more than 2. Might keep the actinics T8 if the T5s are too intense to act as a dusk and down period.
my questions are:
-'ve been running the 250 W for only 3 hours a day to avoid shocking my corals and I'm orineting the bulb towards the front ( this fixture can angle the bulb) I'll be decreasing the angle and increasing the time over the next weeks. what increase and frequency do you suggest for this acclimatation?
-My lighting schedule now is as fllows:
12:00 pm actinics T8 on.(to be replaced or supplemented by T5actinic)
2:00 Pm white fluorescents on (to be reolaced by white T5 this week)
3:00 PM LT 150 W 14k on
3:30 PM Rt 150 W 14 k on
5:00 PM midle 250 W 22K on
8:00 PM 250 W 22K off
9:00 PM LT and Rt halides off
11:00 PM white Fluo T8 (T5 this week) off
12:00 PM Actinic T8 off
Any info or suggestion of changes are welcome.
so ended up getting my 250 W Gieseman MH and fixture. I waited for months for the fixture to arrive and in the end the guy at teh LFS promised to bring it in his bag from a trip to geneve.. he didn't get it unfortunately but then found one lying between his stock so yes I waited for months for something they had in the shop somewhere. I'm not gonna nag more so I got it in the end.
chose the Giesemann Blue as I heard a lot of good stuff on those. I thought it would be a 20K but when I serched it online it turned out t be a 22K still this was not so bad as i needed some blue over my 14K arcadia 150W.
This bulb although blue is a lot brighter than my old 150 W 20K Arcadia guess being 250 and much brighter made the difference.
It's not much more blue than my 2 other arcadia 150W 14 K but it does give very nice coloration in the tank when lit alone.
So I now have 2 Arcadia 150 W 14 K double ended HQI on the LT and Rt sides and the 250 W Gieseman Blue in the middle. I also have actinic T8 fluorescents and ultra white marine lamp all T8 from arcadia.
I should be getting a first T5 within this week it's gonna be a white one to be followed by an actinic one afterwards.
Each is going to cost around 225 usd for ballast and fixture with reflectors so I'm not going to hav more than 2. Might keep the actinics T8 if the T5s are too intense to act as a dusk and down period.
my questions are:
-'ve been running the 250 W for only 3 hours a day to avoid shocking my corals and I'm orineting the bulb towards the front ( this fixture can angle the bulb) I'll be decreasing the angle and increasing the time over the next weeks. what increase and frequency do you suggest for this acclimatation?
-My lighting schedule now is as fllows:
12:00 pm actinics T8 on.(to be replaced or supplemented by T5actinic)
2:00 Pm white fluorescents on (to be reolaced by white T5 this week)
3:00 PM LT 150 W 14k on
3:30 PM Rt 150 W 14 k on
5:00 PM midle 250 W 22K on
8:00 PM 250 W 22K off
9:00 PM LT and Rt halides off
11:00 PM white Fluo T8 (T5 this week) off
12:00 PM Actinic T8 off
Any info or suggestion of changes are welcome.
maroun.c
New member
Hi Catherine,
Yes I feed them one fish and one shrimp cut in three and divided over the three anemones 1-2 times a week. I started soaking them in Chromaplex from kent, Coral Food from JBL, Invert Food from aquarium Systems and some fish vitamins (few drops of each for 1-2 hours before feeding)
Yes I feed them one fish and one shrimp cut in three and divided over the three anemones 1-2 times a week. I started soaking them in Chromaplex from kent, Coral Food from JBL, Invert Food from aquarium Systems and some fish vitamins (few drops of each for 1-2 hours before feeding)
maroun.c
New member
Anyone familiar with the Azoo Calcium Reactor? Only one available here and got a very good deal ona brand new one (around 50USD without the CO2 and regulator)
I don't really have that much of Ca demand in my tank anyway but thuoght it could make a nice addition so I'm not afraid of it being smaller than my need. Also it could maintain my levels if they drop for some reason while I'm on travel...
Till now my calcium, KH and MG levels have always been good and I just add 1/2 of the dose of Purple up and recently Ca balance by two little fishies every week just to be on the safe side ifmy kit (JBL ) is wrong
Is there any risk of overdosing with a reactor? does it also replenish M? sorry basic questions but I never used a Ca reactor.
I don't really have that much of Ca demand in my tank anyway but thuoght it could make a nice addition so I'm not afraid of it being smaller than my need. Also it could maintain my levels if they drop for some reason while I'm on travel...
Till now my calcium, KH and MG levels have always been good and I just add 1/2 of the dose of Purple up and recently Ca balance by two little fishies every week just to be on the safe side ifmy kit (JBL ) is wrong
Is there any risk of overdosing with a reactor? does it also replenish M? sorry basic questions but I never used a Ca reactor.
kar93
Active member
I've heard of the Azoo, this is taken from the website:
FEATURES :
Calcium Reactor:
1. Raises the carbonate (KH). Release from many positive ions, and prevents water from acidification.
2. No more electric equipment needed. Only need few water and CO2.
3. The flow path design consists of double tiers of tubular material and vortex plate, that triple the flow path than traditional design. It help CO2 totally dissolve into the water.
Calcium Releaser:
1. No power head or filter needed, so it won't influence the water temperature. Energy save design.
2. Triple effect of Calcium releasing.
3. Replenish Calcium ion continuously and steady to prolong the time use of saltwater
I haven;t heard much about it so can't really comment. I think your best bet might be getting one shipped over.
FEATURES :
Calcium Reactor:
1. Raises the carbonate (KH). Release from many positive ions, and prevents water from acidification.
2. No more electric equipment needed. Only need few water and CO2.
3. The flow path design consists of double tiers of tubular material and vortex plate, that triple the flow path than traditional design. It help CO2 totally dissolve into the water.
Calcium Releaser:
1. No power head or filter needed, so it won't influence the water temperature. Energy save design.
2. Triple effect of Calcium releasing.
3. Replenish Calcium ion continuously and steady to prolong the time use of saltwater
I haven;t heard much about it so can't really comment. I think your best bet might be getting one shipped over.
melev
Well-known member
Regarding the electricity, it would be best to have an electrician come out and verify both the power at the wall as well as the total tank load on that circuit. You may have a 20 amp breaker but if your tank pulls too much power, that would be the problem. Electricians have tools to do such measuring, taking the guesswork out of the equation.
You use 220v, right? I don't know how grounding works, but I can tell you that a ground probe is there to protect YOU, not the tank. If something bad happens, the power diverts to the ground probe instead of through your body and out your feet. I've read the debates as well, and to be honest I'm really surprised there is no official stance with absolute certainty. I have a ground probe in my sump and another one in my display, so that if I do something stupid like pull my lights down into the tank accidentally, I won't be electrocuted.
Glad you were able to save your anemone. Perhaps the increased flow was enough to make it want to move. Let's hope it heals up.
Without a way to measure PAR, it is hard to give you advice on your lighting. However, your current method sounds fine.
You use 220v, right? I don't know how grounding works, but I can tell you that a ground probe is there to protect YOU, not the tank. If something bad happens, the power diverts to the ground probe instead of through your body and out your feet. I've read the debates as well, and to be honest I'm really surprised there is no official stance with absolute certainty. I have a ground probe in my sump and another one in my display, so that if I do something stupid like pull my lights down into the tank accidentally, I won't be electrocuted.
Glad you were able to save your anemone. Perhaps the increased flow was enough to make it want to move. Let's hope it heals up.
Without a way to measure PAR, it is hard to give you advice on your lighting. However, your current method sounds fine.
maroun.c
New member
Thanks for the replies.
I scheduled with an electrician to come and check the whole thing already should be done on Friday. Hopefully that'll clear up those issues. We do use 220V which is an increased risk as well an increased hassle when ordering things or buying things from other countries as you don't always find 220V 50 HZ the Hz issue is the real problem as you can simply use a converter for the voltage but there is no converter for the frequency. Still I have one Seio pump that is 110V and 60HZ plugged it in a converter that changes the volatge from 220 to 110 and theoreticaly has no effect on the frequency as I was told by the electrician and it's working fine. maybe it will give better fow in a 110V 60Hz but so far its quite and runs smoothly even at startup so I'm keeping it in.
On the Ca issue I just checked it yeserday and it was 440. I had not added any Ca since 5-6 days. it is really weird how my calcium and alkalinity are never low we do have calcarous water to start with however shouldn't any calcium in it be taken out by the RO? weirdly I get a PH of 8-8.1 straight out of the RO.
Do you think that a Ca reactor is overkill for a tank with no SPS or maybe with very few SPS in the future?
The anemone seems to be better this morning it has clearly attached better than after i put it back in the tank, no fish is picking at the injured foot. my clown who was showing interest in the other BTA has come abck to it, and today it lifted its tentacles up the sand and they seem a bit more full now. hope it continues to inmprove. More pics later.
I scheduled with an electrician to come and check the whole thing already should be done on Friday. Hopefully that'll clear up those issues. We do use 220V which is an increased risk as well an increased hassle when ordering things or buying things from other countries as you don't always find 220V 50 HZ the Hz issue is the real problem as you can simply use a converter for the voltage but there is no converter for the frequency. Still I have one Seio pump that is 110V and 60HZ plugged it in a converter that changes the volatge from 220 to 110 and theoreticaly has no effect on the frequency as I was told by the electrician and it's working fine. maybe it will give better fow in a 110V 60Hz but so far its quite and runs smoothly even at startup so I'm keeping it in.
On the Ca issue I just checked it yeserday and it was 440. I had not added any Ca since 5-6 days. it is really weird how my calcium and alkalinity are never low we do have calcarous water to start with however shouldn't any calcium in it be taken out by the RO? weirdly I get a PH of 8-8.1 straight out of the RO.
Do you think that a Ca reactor is overkill for a tank with no SPS or maybe with very few SPS in the future?
The anemone seems to be better this morning it has clearly attached better than after i put it back in the tank, no fish is picking at the injured foot. my clown who was showing interest in the other BTA has come abck to it, and today it lifted its tentacles up the sand and they seem a bit more full now. hope it continues to inmprove. More pics later.
melev
Well-known member
Measuring pH of RO water can be misleading. I've checked it often, but never really believed my numbers. I stick to measuring saltwater.
Hopefully the electrician can work out any kinks and get everything wired as safely as possible. Do press him with the importance that it be done right, even if he has to call others for input & advice, rather than to just assume or bluff that it's okay. Tell him you would rather here "I do not know the answer" than to be lied to. You don't want his best guess - tell him to get you some solid answers even if he has to do some research and call you back later.
Hopefully the electrician can work out any kinks and get everything wired as safely as possible. Do press him with the importance that it be done right, even if he has to call others for input & advice, rather than to just assume or bluff that it's okay. Tell him you would rather here "I do not know the answer" than to be lied to. You don't want his best guess - tell him to get you some solid answers even if he has to do some research and call you back later.
