Pete's 280 log

[psteeleb]

And check put the streamer and blue fringe on this Alpha male Lyretail Anthias. Not the best picture, I'll try to take some better ones but I just can't capture the fish well with my camera

and here is the Beta Male, this guy is actually larger and has almost as long a streamer. The two of them use to bicker a bit but seem to have found their sides of the tank, females etc. There is also a pseudo male in the bunch

 

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12223887#post12223887 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Securing them to the light frame is fine. That is the hottest point, so you'd push that heat out before it can 'travel' lower.

thanks - I'll go that route first - it's an easy mount with zip ties. Do you think having them on one end is okay, or, should I put some on the other end, maybe pulling the air out?

 

[melev]

No, just put both on one end. The one on the other end pulling will be pulling moist salty air through it, and it will lead to premature failure. Better to suck in clean air and push the salty stuff out of the way.

 

[cbui2]

great pics, so you have two different anthias males? i have been searching all over to see what this is b/c mine have the same things. 1 male anthias have orange tail streamers and the other male have blue tail streamers. both with pink and reddish bodies. so what's the difference between the two?

 

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12224275#post12224275 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cbui2
great pics, so you have two different anthias males? i have been searching all over to see what this is b/c mine have the same things. 1 male anthias have orange tail streamers and the other male have blue tail streamers. both with pink and reddish bodies. so what's the difference between the two?

Thanks

They are both Lyretails (Pseudanthias squamipinnis) and initially they both looked the same. The smaller male was more aggressive, but, they both found their space and tend to leave each other alone now. I do believe the smaller still thinks he is the alpha and his fish equivalent testosterone levels elevated with the challenge and resulted in the additional growth in streamer and blue fringe. The larger (but in this case the Beta) male is slightly passive, and therefore, I'm guesing that's why he does not have as long as a streamer and does not have the blue fringe (or at least not as much of one)

 

[cbui2]

well both males have very long streamers, the orange streamers seems to be the boss and chase the blue streamers around from time to time, but all the females sometimes are forbidden to get near feeding area the the main male will steer them away. does this happen to yours? so the orange streamer must be the biggest boss out of them. sorry if im asking too many questions, just want to make sure nothing going to happen to them.

 

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12224435#post12224435 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cbui2
well both males have very long streamers, the orange streamers seems to be the boss and chase the blue streamers around from time to time, but all the females sometimes are forbidden to get near feeding area the the main male will steer them away. does this happen to yours? so the orange streamer must be the biggest boss out of them. sorry if im asking too many questions, just want to make sure nothing going to happen to them.

Mine chase each other durring feeding and keep the females in line, but it's not a big deal anymore as they seem to have settled in. It was more agressive about a month or so ago when the lareger male was introduced to the tank. They went after each other for a dew weeks then just stopped. They may get fiesty once and a while but it's not very often and seems more by chance encounters then intentional.

 

[cbui2]

k cool thanks. i figure most fishes are similar but not all even the same kind.

 

[psteeleb]

Well - I just bit the bullet and ordered 3 of the Lumatek 250w E-ballast. Got them on sale and free shipping at MarineDepot.

 

[psteeleb]

Installed the fans on the lights tonight - they work great, speed control and all. The fans are wired in parallel so the voltage is not split. The voltage is adjustable so I can control the speed. The transformer is rated for more amps then all the fans pull at max setting. I used the small computer 12v motherboard connection that was provided with the fans and wired one end to the fans and the other end to the transformer so everything is removable

First picture is of the fans getting wired together,

The second picture is the fans installed, and,

The third picture is of the speed control

I still need to do some wire management, but may wait until the new ballast arrive. I'll have breakaways on everything located between the light rack and the ballast shelf. There will also be a drip loop provided. I'll then route the wires in wire hangers up toward the ceiling near the wall so everythign is tucked neatly out of the way.

 

[melev]

That looks nice. How did it affect tank temperature, or is it too soon to tell?

 

[Lunchbucket]

Where you get the 4 panel DJ things?

Lunchbucket

 

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12232003#post12232003 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
That looks nice. How did it affect tank temperature, or is it too soon to tell?

It's too soon to tell, plus I kicked on the 400s for about 30 minutes right after the install. I installed them at 7:15 tonight, the temp when installed was 81.9, I kicked on the 400s and fans at about 8:20. The 400's were turned off about 8:50 but I didn't check the temp. Right now its 9:15, all MH's are off and tank temp is 81.7.

 

[psteeleb]

here is a lil' more detail on the fan hook up.

The fans are 12vdc .33amps (or 330 ma), I bought 10 of them from newegg.com they were on clearance sale and cost under $5 each shipped. I ordered a couple extra; they are PC case fans and are very quiet. The fans are made by “Apevia”, the model number is HA1225, I think they are rated at 565 CFM each. I checked the user ratings on the fans and they were apparently a very good buy for the low sound, CFM and especially the price. The fans housings are 4 3/4” square.

Being PC case fans they are rated 12vdc so I needed a transformer. And not knowing how much air movement I really needed and wanting to cut down on noise if I could get by with less I decided to get some variable voltage transformers. I bought 3 of them at Fry's, they were located in the same area as power surge protectors and extension cord. The transformers are rate at 1200 ma so can handle 3 no problem and probably can handle 4.

The fans came with PC motherboard and standard PC power sockets.

I connected three fans together using small zip ties and routed all the wires to one side. Then I cut all the wires to length and soldered all three to one pc wire connector. They are wired in parallel, not series. You can see this in the first picture. I then cut off the socket end of the transformer wire lead and soldered the other pc end plug to it. I test ran everything prior to soldering to make sure everything was working properly. I also placed shrink-wrap wire protectors over the wires before they were connected and soldered. After making the solder connections I pulled the shrink-wrap protectors over the bare wires and heated them with a lighted to shrink in place creating a seal around the otherwise bare wires.

I then mounted the fans to the light rack and plugged everything in, and they work great. Nice and quiet too, without reducing the speed.

Let me know if more pictures will help.

I also plan to install a couple over the sump and some in the stand. I'll post more pictures of those builds when I get to them

 

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12232172#post12232172 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lunchbucket
Where you get the 4 panel DJ things?

Lunchbucket

Progearwarehouse
http://shop.vendio.com/progearwarehouse

I have bought from them a couple times, good stuff and good prices. They are actually in the DJ and stage lighting market but have a few items like the power panels and light timers that work well in our hobby

 

[psteeleb]

Between fighting AEFW, the new lights, rearranging rocks making room for SPS, killing Ricordia’s, removing xenia, and prolonging a water change, my SPS have been looking rather stressed the past few weeks. Some so bad, I ended up treating a couple other SPS along with the rock that I found the AEFW egg's on. One of them was a frag that started to STN, I had already cut and remounted it but the STN continued some but now seems to have stopped. The treatment may have helped. The other coral was my blue tort colony, other then a few corallites getting damage it looks as good as ever, maybe even better. Fortunately, all my SPS are looking better and some are even getting better coloration then they had before all of the above started. I still have some work to do with the rearranging and want to add about 4 pieces of shelf rock for the new SPS pieces I have acquired over the past couple months. I’m also not out of the wood with AEFW’s so I’ll continue my routines until all signs of them are gone for a few weeks running.

this is the main tri color that had the real bad infestation of AEFW, the color is starting to come back nicely

Here are some more pictures of some of my other SPS:

the tort that was recently treated

an unknow acro that has an Acro crab and barnacle in it

a couple shots of one of my favorite prostrata (it must like dirty water)

a green and very fuzzy table (my guess it's a chips)

I'm thinking this is an insignious but not sure

a polcipora (they must also like dirty water and I swear my tangs poop on it on purpose)

 

[psteeleb]

and a couple more pics from today

this Decadia has been hanging in there through all this mess, it even fell into some other corals and got stung pretty bad a couple times and keeps bouncing back. I can't wait to see how it grows out

My Chips Acro lost all of its purple tips and highlights with the light change and became more of a phosphorescent green. It appears to be getting bake some of it’s purple in the polyps and only a bit in the tips (but not visible in this picture)

This cranberry Milli I picked up from MakoJ about 3weeks ago lost most of its vibrant color after the first week. It now appears to be getting at least some it back, now that its had some time to settle in a bit

 

[psteeleb]

I feed the SPS and filter feeders tonight and the Cyphastrea Decadia extended polyps like I've never seen it do before.

heres a pic with pumps on

and one with pumps off

 

[psteeleb]

and here's a lil vid I took of another acro while feeding

or maybe I just ****ed them off

 

[Electrobes]

Very very nice!