My first salt water reef tank experience: 38 gal Innovative Marine

[ERivera65]

I have my radion in natural mode and the intensity turned down to 45%. The light is 10" above the surface of the water. Does anyone think I should dial the intesity down more?

Thanks far any input.

Andy

I would say start at where you are and go from there. Give the corals time to acclimate and if they open up then you are good. You can increase intensity but do it slowly but monitor them. I believe most of your corals are LPS and softies so they are relatively easy to keep and do not require crystal clear water or high intense lighting. I have all LPS and softies under power compact lighting and I have never lost a coral. Just monitor them and make adjustments depending on how they react to the intensity. If they dont open up after a couple of hours lower the intensity.

 

[apw63]

I received my corals from vivid aquariums yesterday. The way the corals where packages shows vivid cares a lot about there product. I got the corals all placed but may need to tweak some of their locations, time will tell. I can not tell if the brain coral is opening up or not. Late last night it look like it may have opened up a little. I don't have to many places to move it to. My have to tweak the mp10 power. Right now the mp10 runs reef crest at 70% at night its set to run reef crest at 40%. The green pipe organ is only opening up a few polyps, but is opening. I will have to watch this ones placement too.

Here are some pics of the corals.

Thanks for looking at my tank.

Andy

 

[dchec]

Looking really good. Please continue to update the thread. I'm interested to see how things progress.

 

[footballdude2k3]

Be careful with the GSP, if it is too close to your other rock, you will have a tank of "flowing grass"

 

[apw63]

Looking really good. Please continue to update the thread. I'm interested to see how things progress.

Thank you and I plan on keeping the thread up to date.

Be careful with the GSP, if it is too close to your other rock, you will have a tank of "flowing grass"

The GPS has at least 1/2" away from all rock. I will keep an eye on it. Thank you for the advice!

I still not sure if the brain is opening up. What should the brain look like when open? I looked on the Internet for brain coral but only found varied info.

Thanks for any help.

 

[footballdude2k3]

It looks like a lobophyllia, google it, there are a ton of pictures, I could be wrong on the ID, but that is my best guess

 

[apw63]

Yea it's a Lobophyllia hemprichii. When it's feeding if its meant to have tentacles out. I have not seen it open up. Maybe it's getting to much flow. Tomorrow I will turn down the mp10 a notch. I don't have much room to move it around. It's a lot bigger that I had expected. I'll post in the coral section if it don't perk up.

Andy

 

[apw63]

My 2 clown fish are hosting in my frogspawn. I will try to get a picture posted later today. It's kind of funny to watch them trying to host in a little 2 head frogspawn. They do seem to be taking turns lol.

Andy

 

[apw63]

Here is a short video of my Clownfish hosting in my Frogspawn. I'm new to the hobby so this if very cool and exciting event for me.



Hope you enjoy the video!

Andy

 

[smkooq]

Nice I remember when my clownfish first started hosting, I was excited as hell.

Also I looked over your equipment list and we both have the exact same list haha. The only thing that separates us is our heaters.


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[apw63]

Nice I remember when my clownfish first started hosting, I was excited as hell.

Also I looked over your equipment list and we both have the exact same list haha. The only thing that separates us is our heaters.


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Do you have a build thread?

Andy

 

[apw63]

Hello all time for an update,

I did not like the clamp on fuge light that I had. I decided to build an DIY LED fuge light. I purchased 2 4W 4 LED 400-440LM 6000K White Light Square Panel Light $12.53 each shipped. The panels came with drivers. I did not think this was a bad price. I did take the lights apart cleaned them and replaced the crappy thermal paste with some nice Ceramique 2. The light housing and drivers barely get warm after 8 hours of use.

Specifications
<table class="ke-zeroborder" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td width="131">LED Quantity</td><td width="365">4 pcs</td></tr><tr><td width="131">Light Source</td><td width="365">4 LED</td></tr><tr><td width="131">Power</td><td width="365">4W</td></tr><tr><td width="131">Input Voltage</td><td width="365">85-265V</td></tr><tr><td width="131">Weight</td><td width="365">266 g / 9.38 oz.</td></tr><tr><td width="131">Color</td><td width="365">Milky White</td></tr><tr><td width="131">Luminous Flux</td><td width="365">400-440LM</td></tr><tr><td width="131">Dimensions</td><td width="365">10.9 x 10.9 x 3 cm / 4.29" x 4.29" x 1.18" (L x W x H)</td></tr><tr><td width="131">Color Temperature</td><td width="365">6000K</td></tr><tr><td width="131">Light Color</td><td width="365">White</td></tr><tr><td width="131">Lifespan</td><td width="365">30000-50000 hours</td></tr><tr><td width="131">Material</td><td width="365">Aluminum</td></tr></tbody></table>
A Instrument Tech friend of mine gave me some quick disconnects and a 2 prong plug. A little solder, shrink tube and electrical tape later and this is what I got. I used Velcro squares to hold the lights to the back of the tank. I had to cut a window out of the vinyl backing on the tank.

What do you all think?

Andy

 

[Reefed419]

very nice light build.

 

[apw63]

Thank you it was easy and fun. I'm not getting any light bleed in to the tank like I did with the clip on light. So far I'm very happy with the results, time will tell on how effective the panels are.

Andy

 

[apw63]

I seen 2 very cool events in my tank today. When some myst shrimp drifted in to my torch. The coral wrap its tenticals around the shrimp and pull it in to its mouth. This was the first time I have seen this in my tank. My Blastomussa did the same thing. Makes me feel good that I maybe doing some things right. All of my corals but my red lobe brain are doing great. I thing the brain may pull through but I'm not holding my breath. I have it out of direct light and flow. I got my fingers crossed. I also have discovered I have 2 brittle worm hitch hikers.

Just thought I would do a little good fortune sharing tonight.

Andy

 

[Siapin]

Very nice. My new system has pretty much this same exact build, however I'm not convinced that I need a skimmer (atleast for the first year or so).

 

[Fightingirish]

I have the 30g IM and my first chamber is empty as of now and using the media basket that came with the tank on the other side. I am trying to decide if I even want to continue to use this as it seems pretty cheap and may not last very long.

 

[apw63]

Lost my peppermint shrimp today. Some how he got into the vortech. He is just parts now.:sad2:

 

[JLee1469]

Lost my peppermint shrimp today. Some how he got into the vortech. He is just parts now.:sad2:

Could be the molt I've seen it stuck in my powerhead before.

Tank looks great!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[apw63]

Just a little tank update video.



Thanks for watching

Andy

Wanted to add I'm getting good growth in the fuge with my DIY LED light.