geoxman
Premium Member
Mucho-thanks much! Your tank got me going on zoos years ago. If it was not for your's and Archie's tank I would be diong this type of softie tank. They are spectacular tanks and some of the best I have seen.
As far as K on bulbs-I have experimented with 10-12-14-20K from most 400w bulb companies out there, and alot of $$.
It is very difficult to do supplemental lighting on my tank-if I did you would have to duck under a 36x36 light.
My tank bottom is at about 25in from ground and about 36 inches at top, so you walk right up on the tank and look down. The lighting is about 18-20 inches above that and is a lumenarc mini 400w 20k reefoptic bulb. Like I stated before I have tried most bulbs under the sun and I prefer this one next to the Coralvue 12k or XM 20k. The XM 20 k gave off a yelow cast?? Could be the M59 ballast. Most 10k were not very eye appealing, without supplement actinic, on a top down view tank.
As far as the ricordia-THEY LOVE IT! including my Yumas. You cant see all of mine from the pics, but in pic #5 and 8 you can see a gold/blue yuma and it is thriving-about 6in under the surface. All of the FL rics love the high light. The only Yuma that I have had a problem with is my red?? It has turned a bold pink but is still very plump, even after 6 plus months of this lighting.
Did you see the plain old shrooms in the back about 1 inch under the water? They have really gotten bright under 400w
I started out my new tank with a Hamilton 14k 400w because I knew the par was not too different from what I had before. I then switched to XM 20k then current-going pretty slow
I have had no ricordia problems until my temp dropped to 63, then some got the brown jelly and I lost about 50 polyps. Bad heater was the culprit. That was about a month ago
I run a Coralife UV, a modded Octo 2000 skimmer-about half of the week.
As far as feedings I feed very heavy about 2-3 times the suggested dosage of Reef plus, Chromaplex, Cyclopleeze, and Dt's products.
""I also have more polyps than most aquariums, please follow all directions"""
I also like to keep my iodine at 0.07-0.10 mg/l, Alk 11-12 dkh, Mg 1500ppm, PH 8.3, Ca the last time I checked 420ppm.
This is all done through the RHP 2 step method and dosing.
I went black for the very reasons you stated as well as the fish temperment.
As I stated in the opening-the whole idea came to me when "letmegrow" and I were having a discussion, at the store he manages, about how tranquil the fish are in a top down enviroment. After about 20 minutes in the store I decided this was going to be the new tank that I was looking for-and I have never looked back!
Some people call it a "tub" but they have never seen a top down view only tank. It seems much more natural.
Thanks for the praises-I strive to have a tank like yours and thanks for getting me into softies!
good luck and happy reefing!
As far as K on bulbs-I have experimented with 10-12-14-20K from most 400w bulb companies out there, and alot of $$.
It is very difficult to do supplemental lighting on my tank-if I did you would have to duck under a 36x36 light.
My tank bottom is at about 25in from ground and about 36 inches at top, so you walk right up on the tank and look down. The lighting is about 18-20 inches above that and is a lumenarc mini 400w 20k reefoptic bulb. Like I stated before I have tried most bulbs under the sun and I prefer this one next to the Coralvue 12k or XM 20k. The XM 20 k gave off a yelow cast?? Could be the M59 ballast. Most 10k were not very eye appealing, without supplement actinic, on a top down view tank.
As far as the ricordia-THEY LOVE IT! including my Yumas. You cant see all of mine from the pics, but in pic #5 and 8 you can see a gold/blue yuma and it is thriving-about 6in under the surface. All of the FL rics love the high light. The only Yuma that I have had a problem with is my red?? It has turned a bold pink but is still very plump, even after 6 plus months of this lighting.
Did you see the plain old shrooms in the back about 1 inch under the water? They have really gotten bright under 400w
I started out my new tank with a Hamilton 14k 400w because I knew the par was not too different from what I had before. I then switched to XM 20k then current-going pretty slow
I have had no ricordia problems until my temp dropped to 63, then some got the brown jelly and I lost about 50 polyps. Bad heater was the culprit. That was about a month ago
I run a Coralife UV, a modded Octo 2000 skimmer-about half of the week.
As far as feedings I feed very heavy about 2-3 times the suggested dosage of Reef plus, Chromaplex, Cyclopleeze, and Dt's products.
""I also have more polyps than most aquariums, please follow all directions"""
I also like to keep my iodine at 0.07-0.10 mg/l, Alk 11-12 dkh, Mg 1500ppm, PH 8.3, Ca the last time I checked 420ppm.
This is all done through the RHP 2 step method and dosing.
I went black for the very reasons you stated as well as the fish temperment.
As I stated in the opening-the whole idea came to me when "letmegrow" and I were having a discussion, at the store he manages, about how tranquil the fish are in a top down enviroment. After about 20 minutes in the store I decided this was going to be the new tank that I was looking for-and I have never looked back!
Some people call it a "tub" but they have never seen a top down view only tank. It seems much more natural.
Thanks for the praises-I strive to have a tank like yours and thanks for getting me into softies!
good luck and happy reefing!
