My 300 gallon acrylic tank

[steve the plumb]

friends hanging out

 

[steve the plumb]

Hey stop looking at me I want to pee!

 

[steve the plumb]

candy cane

 

[steve the plumb]

Pagoda

 

[steve the plumb]

green brain

 

[steve the plumb]

flame angel

 

[steve the plumb]

guy said this was a midnight angel

 

[steve the plumb]

sorry some of my pics are not the best I don't know why some pics turn out better than others

 

[chris wright]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11358260#post11358260 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by steve the plumb
well after seeing that all my fish are alive and the water quality is good I bought some more fish and corals over the last 2 weeks.My PH bus for my controller is defective so I am waiting for another one.My skimmer is working fine and I raised my lights to 5" off the top.I noticed the acrylic doesn't get as hot and the light spread is better.I think I need to get better quality bulbs next.Here are some pics

Good to see things turning around for you I see you've good taste in your fish. I have the same wrasse, the adult colours that come in the fins and face are unreal. A fish with a brillant personality to.

I want a foxface, nearly brought one, but the one shop that had them they were to stressed to travel :mad2: :lol: Curious to see if the flame angel behaves himself as well.

Cheers

Chris

 

[Elliott]

looking good Steve!

 

[steve the plumb]

Thanks guys I am so happy to be passed this silicone problem.The water is very clear.The corals have opened up today.The fish are doing fine.The water looks clean and my skimmer is doing a great job it pulls out a constant nog.I was so worried about the silicone problem,I wasn't sure if the poison stays in the tank but so far so good in the spots (sump) were there was a bit left it didn't spread it just stayed there.The fish are eating and swimming around.I am not crazy about these cheap bulbs it kind of makes the tank look a little white.Its a 14 k bulb but they are cheap.I will get better bulbs in a month or so and just keep these as an emergency back up bulb.I am not sure weather to get 20k radiums or 10k xm.I will get ati blue plus for the T5.

 

[Elliott]

I'm using 10K Reeflux 250 SE and really like them, I was using Hamilton 14K 250 SE and have noticed better sps growth with the higher par value of the 10K bulbs. I also run VHO blue actinics.

 

[steve the plumb]

I noticed this with my old tank 10k bulbs were better for growth.I chose to stay with 150 watt bulbs on this system for heat and power consumption.I have 1000 watts of light instead of 1400 watts.I don't know if that makes much of a difference but less wattage less heat.I wanted to avoid going with to much mh lights and then having to cool the tank in the summer.I think I will have to run a/c no matter what.The fixture gives off a lot of heat(from the fans)

 

[michika]

What ballast are you using? I had 10k XMs on an Ice Cap ballast and they were very yellow! Its really really good to see that everything is perking up and that things are back to where they should be!

 

[steve the plumb]

10 k bulbs tend to give a yellow tint to them but they are supposed to be better for growth.My bulbs are nice the light is good but they are cheap bulbs($39) 10 k XMare good for growth.I don't know with brand they are,they came with the fixture.I think they are your basic electronic HQI ballast.I have had XM bulbs on my old tank and they were a bit yellow and I had just a plain type of ballast.I also had the AB 10k bulbs and the XM 20 k bulbs both were nice the AB are not yellow but they are pricey.I get a nice color from these bulbs but its more of a washed out white look so I think that I will end up buying a better quality T5 and MH bulb.

 

[steve the plumb]

The lights are from Catalina in the US.They supplied the fixture, bulbs, ballast and moon lights.I paid $500 US per fixture including shipping so for the money its not bad its pretty well built.I wanted to get something better but everything I looked at was at least $1500 plus per fixture and I already was over budget.I am happy with the lights and the quality is much better than I thought it would be.

 

[steve the plumb]

this is my ballast http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/product_info.php?cPath=71_78_79&products_id=1428

 

[steve the plumb]

I cleaned my skimmer cup today.I did notice that with the wet neck running the cup does stay cleaner(the walls).I have been running the skimmer with the wet neck for a good week and I prefer to run it with the wet neck on.I still get a good amount of skim mate and the neck does stay cleaner

 

[steve the plumb]

since a fox face I bought died in the cl intake I decided to take the rock off and use egg crate.The pipe does have a few 1/4" holes drilled into it and a screen but I added the egg crate and went a bit higher than the pipe.I may place some corals on the egg crate or cut it a few inches so it doesn't show as much

 

[steve the plumb]

another pic of it I still think it wouldn't be bad to place some corals on that egg crate