tas5tas' 237g Total System Build
- Thread starter tas5tas
- Start date
tas5tas
New member
You don't need to put Vortechs on a timer. There are so many different things the Vortech's can do it's unreal. You can run them constant speed. You can run them in lagoon mode, which ramps the pump up and down slowly over a one hour period. You can run them in reef crest, which ramps the pump up and down quickly over a one hour period. There are also two different pulse modes that can be used to create a wave effect as well. There is short pulse and long pulse. The speed of the pump can be set independantly for all modes with the variable speed knob. I love my Vortechs. I run my two in reef crest mode antisynched from each other.
Charlie Davidson
New member
One on each end? 2 on one side?
I have a 40 ordered.. :smokin:
I have a 40 ordered.. :smokin:
tas5tas
New member
I bought some more fish today for my tank. Hopefully my bioload is going to help my colored sticks grow a little faster. I added 3 large Green Chromis, 6 medium Green Chromis, and 2 Bangaii Cardinalfish. Here is an updated fish list for my tank........
10-Green Chromis
2-Ocellaris Clowns
2- Black and White Ocellaris Clowns
1-Sixline Wrasse
3-Bangaii Cardinalfish
1-Yellow Tang
1-Male Blonde Naso Tang
1-Blue Hippo Tang
1-Yellow Eye Kole Tang
I still want to add about 7-8(1 male and 6-7 females) Lyretail Anthias, but I won't do that until I can get my sixline wrasse out of the tank.
10-Green Chromis
2-Ocellaris Clowns
2- Black and White Ocellaris Clowns
1-Sixline Wrasse
3-Bangaii Cardinalfish
1-Yellow Tang
1-Male Blonde Naso Tang
1-Blue Hippo Tang
1-Yellow Eye Kole Tang
I still want to add about 7-8(1 male and 6-7 females) Lyretail Anthias, but I won't do that until I can get my sixline wrasse out of the tank.
Charlie Davidson
New member
I love Bangaii 
But I am bacteria and Vodka powered
But I am bacteria and Vodka powered
tas5tas
New member
I love Bangaii too, but unfortunately my resident bangaii already took out one of the new ones and the other one has isolated itself on the opposite side of the tank. Hopefully it can make it. My stupid sixline is chasing all 10 chromis all over the tank too.....even the 3 large ones that are bigger than he is. I hate adding new fish to the tank....I even do it with the lights off, but it doesn't always help. When I added the 3 clowns a couple of weeks ago I had no issues.
Charlie Davidson
New member
Adult Bangaii do that! hopfully-you have a "pair" left.
they do not tolerate interlopers in thier space..
they do not tolerate interlopers in thier space..
tas5tas
New member
I am actually adding a few more bulbs to my setup next month so you may want to do 8-9 bulbs on yours since it is 6" wider than mine. I will be running 7 T5's and 2 VHO Actinics by the end of next month. I'm adding another IC-660 next month. The spread of the bulbs is great though. I keep mine about 7.5" off the water. Any lower and all of my zoas close up and polyp extension on my SPS is minimal.
tas5tas
New member
Update..........
Growth is still somewhat slow, but is becoming more noticable over the last 4-6 weeks. I'm hoping to invest in a par meter soon to check exactly how much light my corals are receiving. Ever since switching to T5's, I can't seem to get a straight answer on how far up the fixture should be or high far under the fixture people are keeping their acros and other SPS. Colors are great though!! I do feel as though the extra fish and increased feeding are helping not only my colors, but growth as well. The Microbacter 7 from Brightwell Aquatics that I started using a month ago is working awesome at keeping the tank crystal clear. Not sure if the dosing of Lugol's or Strontium is actually helping with anything or not. I added in my 2- Modded K4's today and I'm using them with the flow directors so they'll act like Tunze's. I now have approximately 13000gph turnover in my display. That's around 105x/hour turnover. All of the corals are happy, beleive it or not and polyp extension is fine too. I shouldn't have any accumulation of detritus anywhere now. Here are my current water parameters as of today........
SG- 1.026
Temp- 79
pH- 8.08-8.23
Ca- 460
Alk- 9.5dkh
Mg- 1400
No3- 0ppm
Po4- 0ppm
Current bulb layout........
Front
ATI Blueplus
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blueplus
ATI Blueplus
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blueplus
Growth is still somewhat slow, but is becoming more noticable over the last 4-6 weeks. I'm hoping to invest in a par meter soon to check exactly how much light my corals are receiving. Ever since switching to T5's, I can't seem to get a straight answer on how far up the fixture should be or high far under the fixture people are keeping their acros and other SPS. Colors are great though!! I do feel as though the extra fish and increased feeding are helping not only my colors, but growth as well. The Microbacter 7 from Brightwell Aquatics that I started using a month ago is working awesome at keeping the tank crystal clear. Not sure if the dosing of Lugol's or Strontium is actually helping with anything or not. I added in my 2- Modded K4's today and I'm using them with the flow directors so they'll act like Tunze's. I now have approximately 13000gph turnover in my display. That's around 105x/hour turnover. All of the corals are happy, beleive it or not and polyp extension is fine too. I shouldn't have any accumulation of detritus anywhere now. Here are my current water parameters as of today........
SG- 1.026
Temp- 79
pH- 8.08-8.23
Ca- 460
Alk- 9.5dkh
Mg- 1400
No3- 0ppm
Po4- 0ppm
Current bulb layout........
Front
ATI Blueplus
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blueplus
ATI Blueplus
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blueplus
tas5tas
New member
Finally finished the new lighting rack and installed the new lighting today. I now have a total of 8- 80w T5's and 2- 140w VHO Actinics. I will try to get some pictures tomorrow if I'm not too busy. Here is the new bulb layout..........
FRONT
ATI Blueplus
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Pro Color
ATI Blueplus
GE 6500k
ATI Blueplus
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blueplus
UVL Super Actinic R
UVL Super Actinic R
The thing that I like the most is that with my dusk/dawn lights and my midday lights on, my tank looks exactly like a tank with 400w Radiums. The two Aquablue Special and GE6500 k are only going to be on for 4 hours/day for now and that's to help with growth.
FRONT
ATI Blueplus
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Pro Color
ATI Blueplus
GE 6500k
ATI Blueplus
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blueplus
UVL Super Actinic R
UVL Super Actinic R
The thing that I like the most is that with my dusk/dawn lights and my midday lights on, my tank looks exactly like a tank with 400w Radiums. The two Aquablue Special and GE6500 k are only going to be on for 4 hours/day for now and that's to help with growth.
tas5tas
New member
Thank you
