Mike's 300 Double-D

[launchnukes]

Another great video of a beautiful tank. How long do you run your mh?

 

[prop-frags]

here's the breakdown on our photoperiod:
10:00 am Blue LEDs on
11:00 am Actinics on, LEDS off
4:00 pm Halide #1 on
4:15 pm Halide #2 on
4:30 pm Halide #3 on, Actinics off
10:00 pm Actinics on, Halide #1 off
10:15 pm Halide #2 off
10:30 pm Halide #3 off
10:45 pm LEDs on
11:00 pm Actinics off
11:30 pm LEDs off

The idea is to get a fairly decent dawn-to-dusk, with 6 hrs of halides.

Currently, our bulb/ballast combinations are as follows:
Dawn/Dusk: (3) Blue LED 14w stunner strips
Actinics: (2) 6' UVL 160w super actinic bulbs, driven with an old URI (icecap) A4 ballast
MH: (3) 400w mogul Lumenmax Elite fixtures running a combination of bulbs and ballasts right now:
Left: Radium / Coralvue electronic
Mid: Coralvue 14k / Coralvue electronic
Right: Radium / Lumatek selectable electronic

We are evaluating the MH bulb/ballasts combos to decide how we are going to change things up.

 

[launchnukes]

Thanks, I figured that it was already posted but your thread does have 34 pages and I wasn't looking forward to the search. Im definatly going to bump up the time on my mh. Oh, and let us know what bulb/ballast you decide on. Im running radiums on hqi. Love the color but coral growth and color is too early to tell. Thanks.

 

[Didac]

wow !! graet job Mike!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[prop-frags]

Thank you Didac!

 

[prop-frags]

Belly Up to the Bar...

Belly Up to the Bar...

Salad Bar that is!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/6284454001/" title="nt 1694 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6039/6284454001_3cec2f9fa3_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1694"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/6284455519/" title="nt 1703 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6033/6284455519_bb4d59dac5_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1703"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/6278795222/" title="nt 1691 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6161/6278795222_bd35473515_z.jpg" width="640" height="425" alt="nt 1691"></a>

:lmao:

 

[alittlediy]

Mike and Terry, your tank is beyond amazing...I've been tankless for the last few years, but have been contemplating a new mixed reef. I read your entire thread and I have to have a 300dd for my in wall build. As others have said, you are an inspiration to us all.

 

[aquaph8]

So many pretty fish, are the Rhomboids doing OK?

 

[prop-frags]

Thanks Brett. Our female is doing fantastic. The male, not so much. We're treating his wound with antibiotics.

 

[dahenley]

Just wondering how the equipment room/sumps/equipment pictures are coming?
(i like that portion of tanks more then others)

also, how do you like the new Closed Loop positioning and operation. any changes you wish you could have/would have done?

thanks!

 

[aquaph8]

Thanks Brett. Our female is doing fantastic. The male, not so much. We're treating his wound with antibiotics.

What are you using for antibiotics? Any details? Never really had to treat an injury before, Id love to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks

 

[prop-frags]

Hi Brett, this is Terry... We've never experienced this situation before. We've dealt with bruised mouths (some fairly bad ones), but never a mouth wound on this scale. Not only did he damage his mouth, but his head as well trying to get thru a hole in the acclimation box when we moved them to the DT.

We started with StressGuard as it has antibacterial properties when we moved them back to QT for the first couple of days and then switched to Marycin Plus which LA recommended to us in the past. It is a combination of two broad spectrum antibiotics and attaches directly to the skin of the fish.

It is obvious that the wound is painful, but he had been continuing to eat and the wound was getting smaller with no signs of infection. Thursday morning, however, the damage appeared much worse and he ate very little. I have no idea what happened - he may have been spooked again and tried to jump as he is very skittish (unlike the female who is quite gregarious and not afraid of anything).

I have been their main "care-taker" for the two months they've been in QT and have gotten quite attached to them, so I'm really hoping he pulls through. Wish us luck!

 

[Scej12]

Have you tried leaving the lights out/very low level in the QT for a period of time... say 3-4 days or so to calm his nerves...

Sheldon

 

[110galreef]

The BAR pics are sweet!

question, I added a few fish last week, of which was a, six line wrasse, melanarus wrasse, leapord wrasse, and a m bipartitius(divided wrasse) as well. It has been a week and I have yet to see the m. bipartitius. Could he be burried and still hiding?

Also the leapord wrasse, seems to "flash" bury himself randomly for a second or two only to pop back out. The melanarus does it to but very seldom. Neither is not being picked on and both are eating fine however. Will this subside??

Also if my m. bipartitus for some reason is dead, any issues with adding a new one later? Will all the wrasses get along?

 

[sreefs]

Rhomboids are very skittish when in QT's but are gorgeous when they settle in. Use room light only on the QT for a week or so then try several layers of dark screen under the tanks light and take one off a week. Like when you acclimate a coral to higher light than they are accustom to. If you are having trouble getting him to eat try black worms and Nutramar Ova and if you can get it Roggers complete blend reef food . My rhomboids really went for these when the were in QT, now the eat any thing. Also make sure the female is not chasing him because she knows he is injured might be a good idea to divide the QT in half for a while. Best of luck, they are beautiful, one of my favorites.
Hope this helps a little.

 

[prop-frags]

Thanks for the advice guys, we really appreciate it. They've been in QT for over 2 months now. He has calmed down considerably and we did originally keep the lights out for the first week and slowly added in more light. We have kept the lighting low since we moved them back to QT.

He has calmed down a lot since we got them. Of course the move to the DT in the acclimation box and the move back to QT after his mouth injury has caused him to revert back to being skittish, but he's still not as jumpy as he was when they first arrived.

The female is not chasing or picking on him, they even sleep in the same piece of PVC.

He has been eating a variety of Hikari frozen foods as well as the small NLS pellets in QT and continued to eat with gusto even after the mouth injury up until yesterday. It is obvious that it is painful for him to eat. His favorite is blood worms and he did manage to eat a few of those yesterday, but ignored everything else.

 

[pookstreet]

Very well done, Mike and Terry! You guys need more angels I love the Regal. Have tried 3 times already with no luck yet. May give it another shot if another nice healthy one comes along.

 

[prop-frags]

The BAR pics are sweet!

Glad you enjoyed them!

question, I added a few fish last week, of which was a, six line wrasse, melanarus wrasse, leapord wrasse, and a m bipartitius(divided wrasse) as well. It has been a week and I have yet to see the m. bipartitius. Could he be burried and still hiding?

Our M. bipartitus leopards have never hidden for long periods of time - not even when they were first introduced. It did take a couple of weeks for them to re-adjust their time clocks though. You may want to post that question in the Leopard Wrasse Primer

Also the leapord wrasse, seems to "flash" bury himself randomly for a second or two only to pop back out. The melanarus does it to but very seldom. Neither is not being picked on and both are eating fine however. Will this subside??

Yes, the behavior should subside as your leopard gets more comfortable with his/her surroundings.

Also if my m. bipartitus for some reason is dead, any issues with adding a new one later? Will all the wrasses get along?
We have not had any issues adding wrasses. We use an acclimation box (2-4 days) to introduce new additions and we keep everyone well-fed.

How often do you feed? Also, you will need to keep an eye on your pod population as your new wrasses can make quick work of them. We add pods to our refugium and DT on a regular basis to keep the population up.

Very well done, Mike and Terry! You guys need more angels I love the Regal. Have tried 3 times already with no luck yet. May give it another shot if another nice healthy one comes along.

Thanks so much Kenny! We love angels... maybe we'll add another in the future. Our Regal sat in an LFS's shop for 3 months when we found her. Needless to say, she was very healthy and eating well when we brought her home. Good luck if you decide to try again - they are beautiful fish!

 

[110galreef]

do you buy your pods local or order online? What type/brand do you get?
Thanks AGain!

 

[prop-frags]

We buy ours online from multiple vendors depending on what other supplies we're ordering. We like Algagen Reefpods (Tisbe, Moina Salina, and Tangerine). They are not cheap, but we also don't have to worry about hitchhikers.