Krish
RF STAFF
Edit...changed my mind
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Help me design my new 240gal setup!
- Thread starter Slickdonkey
- Start date
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mattseattle
Well-known member
Krish - that is freaky.
Brian - guess I should welcome you to the ANTI-CRAB club! You can now pick up your t-shirt at the membership desk.
Brian - guess I should welcome you to the ANTI-CRAB club! You can now pick up your t-shirt at the membership desk.
Slickdonkey
Drink me
Update and pictures
Ok, now that the tank has been up for few months, here are some progress shots.
I'm trying to play around with the bulb colors; I still haven't found one I like. I started with four XM 10K's and four VHO actinics: too white. Then I tried XM 15K's: too dim. Now XM 20K's: too blue.
I guess I need to let the 20K's burn in for 100 hours or so, but I have one that is burned in and to be honest it doesn't look much different than the new ones. Next I may try 50/50's in place of my VHO actinics and see how that looks. I do like the actinics though because it really brings out the colors, especially in the green corals. I think ideally I'd like something around 12/14K for the halides. I like the brightness of the 10K's but it's just too white, even with actinics. And it makes my corals look browner. Well, I'm working on that too.
Enough, here are some pictures.
Too blue, don't you think?
Here's my favorite fish. Does anyone have a hippo tang that they don't call "Dory"? It's hard not to with a 2-year old.
Here's my gramma. Not grandma, "Royal Gramma". I think he had MHLLE a few months back while in the QT. He looks better now. I've had him for almost 7 years.
The clownfish is also about 7 years old. I stopped running ozone a few weeks ago to see the effect. Really all I notice is that my skimmer produces a lot more junk and I have to wipe the acrylic down with the magnet every two days. I could go about a week when it was running. What you see here is about 24 hours' growth since I cleaned it!
And here are some coral shots:
Here is a comparison of my xenia when I first put it in and how it looks today. What a difference two months can make!
View attachment 15356View attachment 15357
Overall I'm pretty happy. Once I get the lighting colors nailed down I can relax!
Ok, now that the tank has been up for few months, here are some progress shots.
I'm trying to play around with the bulb colors; I still haven't found one I like. I started with four XM 10K's and four VHO actinics: too white. Then I tried XM 15K's: too dim. Now XM 20K's: too blue.
I guess I need to let the 20K's burn in for 100 hours or so, but I have one that is burned in and to be honest it doesn't look much different than the new ones. Next I may try 50/50's in place of my VHO actinics and see how that looks. I do like the actinics though because it really brings out the colors, especially in the green corals. I think ideally I'd like something around 12/14K for the halides. I like the brightness of the 10K's but it's just too white, even with actinics. And it makes my corals look browner. Well, I'm working on that too.
Enough, here are some pictures.
Too blue, don't you think?
Here's my favorite fish. Does anyone have a hippo tang that they don't call "Dory"? It's hard not to with a 2-year old.
Here's my gramma. Not grandma, "Royal Gramma". I think he had MHLLE a few months back while in the QT. He looks better now. I've had him for almost 7 years.
The clownfish is also about 7 years old. I stopped running ozone a few weeks ago to see the effect. Really all I notice is that my skimmer produces a lot more junk and I have to wipe the acrylic down with the magnet every two days. I could go about a week when it was running. What you see here is about 24 hours' growth since I cleaned it!
And here are some coral shots:
Here is a comparison of my xenia when I first put it in and how it looks today. What a difference two months can make!
View attachment 15356View attachment 15357
Overall I'm pretty happy. Once I get the lighting colors nailed down I can relax!
Good looking progress, Have you thought about 2 10K and 2 20K?
Slickdonkey
Drink me
Yeah my wife suggested that and it may work. Easy to try since I still have the 10K bulbs. I'm not sure how best to do it though. Maybe 10K's in the middle two and 20K's on the outside? Or stagger them?
When I tried, I put the 20K bulbs in the middle. Can't really tell if it worked or not, but it looked good.
DisturbedReefer
Lionless :(
Wow, I must have been sleeping on this one...great job! Love the final rock layout!
Krish
RF STAFF
Sorry...Forget about it.
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balogh03
Well-known member
that is really cool, i think that it is the same tank as mine right?(8x2x2) also, i was wondering the size of your return pump, because i didnt see any powerheads. i have to run them because my 2500gph just doesnt give me enough water flow.
Slickdonkey
Drink me
Easy to try, we'll see how it looks. The 20K's make my corals look really nice, but it washes out the purple coralline and just isn't as bright as the 10K's.
Thanks -- that was mostly my wife's handiwork!
Yes, it's 8x2x2 and I don't have any powerheads. My return pump is a Hammerhead which runs dual returns, my UV/carbon, and my fuge. All this at about 14' head. Even so I have to throttle it back at least halfway. What a pump. I use another for my closed loop.
If I were to do it again I think I'd like a tank maybe 30" front to back. The way I have the closed-loop jets they really take away from your aquascaping space. But as it is this thing already consumes my living room, as you can imagine.
Slickdonkey
Drink me
Hmm...yeah I'm used to the XM10k SE, so that is waaaay too blue for me...
Me too dude!
I will experiment with this. BTW my anemone is in the tank, just hiding in the back. I can't get a good shot of him but from what I can see he's looking good.
I've actually though about removing him whenever he moves such that I can get my hands on him. I'm afraid he may sting some of the corals and may not be an appropriate addition for my tank. But for the time being he seems quite happy and looks a lot better than the mangled mess he was after mortal combat with the powerhead in my QT... twice.
Slickdonkey
Drink me
One other thing I was toying with was adding some more VHO's. I've got four already (two 4-footers on each side of the tank), but these bulbs are so thick they might interfere with the halides. Besides, 880W of actinics is a lot of power. But it might be just the ticket with 10K halides, I'm not sure...
Slickdonkey
Drink me
This thread probably belongs in the showcase forum. Anyway here are a few new pictures:
My purple polyps (thanks Mike):
My new addition (lawnmower blenny). I hired him to stir the sand up but he refuses to do that which he was hired for. Anyway he's still a fun fish to watch:
Here's my urchin. This guy is a lot of fun to watch. And look what he found! An old frag plug with an acropora starting to grow on it!
My purple polyps (thanks Mike):
My new addition (lawnmower blenny). I hired him to stir the sand up but he refuses to do that which he was hired for. Anyway he's still a fun fish to watch:
Here's my urchin. This guy is a lot of fun to watch. And look what he found! An old frag plug with an acropora starting to grow on it!
mattseattle
Well-known member
Pinkie!!!! Pinkie looks good with her new hat! Urchins will pick up anything that is not glued down so get ready to give her a weekly bath.
Tank looks awesome! I just put my donkey polyps into the new pod.
Tank looks awesome! I just put my donkey polyps into the new pod.
brianblack
Well-known member
Brian
I do not think the lawnmower blenny will do sand, although they are one of the 'cooler' fish to watch lots of character, but a sea cuke will. I can not remember the exact name but he/she is black and keeps my sand feakin clean. basically it is old sand in cleaned sand out. Just the top layer - no burrowing. I either did a search oh I know where thereeftank.com gregt has one he calls Mr Squishy and moves him from tank to tank to work. I have bought numerous 'worker fish' to do my sand - none did real well. I will post a pic of him and send you the link. If you want something to burrow and move around in the sand a few Olive snails will do the trick. They are about $8 each. They go in the sand and you won't see them till ya throw in some shrimp then they surface like a submarine least mine do. Here is a cuke pic the actinics are on right now going into nite time for the reef. If you want I will try to get a better one when he is streched out.
I do not think the lawnmower blenny will do sand, although they are one of the 'cooler' fish to watch lots of character, but a sea cuke will. I can not remember the exact name but he/she is black and keeps my sand feakin clean. basically it is old sand in cleaned sand out. Just the top layer - no burrowing. I either did a search oh I know where thereeftank.com gregt has one he calls Mr Squishy and moves him from tank to tank to work. I have bought numerous 'worker fish' to do my sand - none did real well. I will post a pic of him and send you the link. If you want something to burrow and move around in the sand a few Olive snails will do the trick. They are about $8 each. They go in the sand and you won't see them till ya throw in some shrimp then they surface like a submarine least mine do. Here is a cuke pic the actinics are on right now going into nite time for the reef. If you want I will try to get a better one when he is streched out.
balogh03
Well-known member
sleeper gobies live for sand.
Krish
RF STAFF
Nice shots Brian
Slickdonkey
Drink me
Thanks. I did some more research and it does sound like the cucumbers are the way to go for stirring sand. I'll probably grab one of these in a few weeks. I don't have deep sand (1" max) so he doesn't have to go really deep.
The blennies seem to be hit or miss. I've seen some that really rip the sand apart and others that never go near it. In any case he's fun to watch so he's a good addition either way.
I thought about these too, but several knowledgable people I've talked to say these need a well-established tank with lots of stuff in the sand in order to get enough to eat. Since my tank is only about 3 months old now I'll wait awhile on those.
Thanks dudeNice shots Brian
