Alaska_Phil
New member
And one last one with the hood open. There's plenty of room to work in the tank and see what I'm doing.
Upgrading my 50 gal.
- Thread starter Alaska_Phil
- Start date
And one last one with the hood open. There's plenty of room to work in the tank and see what I'm doing.
Alaska_Phil
New member
I already love it. I can work in the tank and see what I'm doing. 
I had a scare the second day it was on the tank. My cheap digital temp probe was reading 88 degrees. :eek1: Turned out to be a haywire temp probe. I dug out an old glass thermometer and temp doesn't get above 83. That's still a little higher than I like, so I'm trying to come up with a clean way to add a couple small fans.
Phil
I had a scare the second day it was on the tank. My cheap digital temp probe was reading 88 degrees. :eek1: Turned out to be a haywire temp probe. I dug out an old glass thermometer and temp doesn't get above 83. That's still a little higher than I like, so I'm trying to come up with a clean way to add a couple small fans.
Phil
Alaska_Phil
New member
OK, the improvement in this frogspawn in just 6 weeks, and mostly in the past week since adding the new lighting is just amazing to me. So I had to show it off in side by side photos.
Right after the cleanup
And Now
Right after the cleanup
And Now
xlayedoutx
Member
what are the diminsions on this tank?
dylandrewsdad
New member
What do you thnk made the had the biggest effect on the frogspawn? The lighting or water quality?
Are you building the plane yourself too?
Alaska_Phil
New member
It's a 50 gal Long, 48" x 13" x 18". Just like a standard 55 but a little shorter.
I honestly don't know. I've changed too much at once. I doubt the sand bed has been in place long enough to affect water quality that much. And I always had so much nuisance algae that nitrate and phosphate were nearly undetectable. So probably not water quality. Since the clean-up I've been much better about target feeding it weekly. The flow around it is better since the power heads arn't clogged up with hair algae all the time. But I think the lighting was probably the single biggest factor. I wish I'd taken weekly photos, I swear most of the improvement is since I put the new lights on.
Yes!
Why do you think my Reef got so neglected.
Last edited:
The canopy looks good Phil. You also picked a great coach as Grim sure knows his T-5's. It is always smart to remotely mount ballasts as it keeps them out of harms way and also reduces heat output in the hood.
Alaska_Phil
New member
What can I say Tom, I've been wasting time on Reef Central for a while now. I got the hood design from Melev, it's the same as he used on his original 29 gal reef with the addition of the cooling slots. I try to give credit where it's due.
Phil
I got the hood design from Melev, it's the same as he used on his original 29 gal reef with the addition of the cooling slots. I try to give credit where it's due.Phil
That canopy turned out great! :thumbsup:
Alaska_Phil
New member
Thanks Sugar.
The finish didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped, but you can't tell from the pictures. 
As hot as those T5's get, you could probably use it for that. :lol:
They do get warm. As I pointed out in my lighting article fluorescent produce almost as much heat per watt as a metal halide. It is just they spread it down the whole length of the tube while a MH tends to focus it around the arc filaments. The main difference is the MH produces more radiant energy which makes it harder for heat to be dissipated by simple ventilation.
Alaska_Phil
New member
Thanks, But I think the jury is still out. We'll see how it looks in 6 months.
Next big project is getting a sump installed. I'm putting together an idea to pressent to the Office manager. I want to move the tank back to a corner of the lobby, about 4 ft away and rotated 90 degrees from where it is now. That would give me some space behind the tank to hide and work on equipment. I hate to disturb the tank again so soon, but ideally I'll end up with a 3' x 4' space. That would allow me to use a 33 Long for the sump. And I think with a little help I can drain it down to the top of the rocks and carefully slide it, stand, and all to the new location.
A 33 Long sump would give me plenty of equipment room to upgrade the skimmer eventually. And still have a sizable refugium.
Phil
Alaska_Phil
New member
Just a quick update. Since starting up the reactor with GFO again the hair algae is disappearing again. 
However, my Zoa colony and toad stool have been looking unhappy. The Toad stool hasn't opened it's polyps completely for a couple days, and the zoa is looking a bit pale.
So tonight I broke out the test kits. I really don't test very often I'm afraid. Calcium was right at 400, and Magnezium 1330. But Alk was down at 2.06/5.8 and pH was down to 8.0. Surprisingly, both Nitrate and Phosphate were undetectable. As much as I upset things last month I expected to see some nitrate. I'm starting to suspect my test kits. They're all Salifert kits, but some are over a year old now. I ran out of Kalk last week, and was using straight RO/DI water for top-off for a week. I used liquid Ca to keep that up, but nothing to replace the Alk, so I'm not surprised. I'll dose the tank with baking soda for a couple days and check again.
Phil
However, my Zoa colony and toad stool have been looking unhappy. The Toad stool hasn't opened it's polyps completely for a couple days, and the zoa is looking a bit pale. So tonight I broke out the test kits. I really don't test very often I'm afraid. Calcium was right at 400, and Magnezium 1330. But Alk was down at 2.06/5.8 and pH was down to 8.0. Surprisingly, both Nitrate and Phosphate were undetectable. As much as I upset things last month I expected to see some nitrate. I'm starting to suspect my test kits. They're all Salifert kits, but some are over a year old now. I ran out of Kalk last week, and was using straight RO/DI water for top-off for a week. I used liquid Ca to keep that up, but nothing to replace the Alk, so I'm not surprised. I'll dose the tank with baking soda for a couple days and check again.
Phil
Alaska_Phil
New member
Unfortunately my LFS will only test for Ammonia, Nitrite and Salinity. I may have Tuan check it with his test kits though, or add a little Potassium Nitrate to a sample and then test it.
Phil
Phil
Alaska_Phil
New member
After bringing the Alk back up using baking soda the Toadstool is happy again. Zoas are still a little pale, but in my experience they take a long time to recover their full color.
Phil
Zoas are still a little pale, but in my experience they take a long time to recover their full color.Phil
