Almon

That's awesome. How well is the overflow working?

I have a 6' hamilton hood and just replaced the 2 96w Power Compacts with 60" / 80w T5 bulbs. I centered the both T5 bulbs with 6" to either side. There is plenty of coverage to each end of the tank. But you can certainly move one of them 6" to the right and the other 6" to the left and stagger them as Mark suggests. What about color/temp? For actinics, I prefer the 460nm (purple) over the 420nm (blue). I think the 460nm brings out more flourescence. Those are the only two I've tried.

I use a fairly diluted mix so I can simply add (slowly) a quart or two to the overflow without worrying about overdosing or Mag burn. 15 cups Mg sulphate/chloride to 5 gallons of water. Do that every day until your levels are where you want them to be.

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the help. Scott, maybe I can stop by on a weekend when you're available?

I suppose I need a dremmel tool, or similar. The brain coral below has been growing in my main reef tank for 7-8 years. There is a ridge that has extended down around the bottom of the outer edge. I'd like to cut a 1" ring from the bottom and start multiple frags. I can bring to the brain coral to you if needed and I'm happy to share frags with you. Thanks.

What does the 48" Coralife fixture look like? Any pictures?

I'm going with the lights. Replace all of them. I've been happy with both XM 10K and 20K metal halides. All power compacts are lame. I just relaced my PC actinics with T5s. Wow, what a difference. Is is possible to replace the endcaps and rewire with T5s? I don't know what the coralife hood looks like. Any pictures of the hood?

I just replaced the actinic lights in the hood of my main tank. I have a Hamilton hood with three (3) metal halides and 2 96w Power Compacts. It was really simply. I replaced the end caps (lamp holders) with T5 end caps. The ballast supports both types, so I rewired the new T5 end caps according to the wiring diagram (that's important). The previous PC bulbs were really old and had very little output left, and some of my corals were losing color because of it. Now it appears 10 x times brighter, is using half the wattage, and the corals are looking better. I don't know why I waited so long...

Many people don't like anything with the word Coralife on it. I've used them. They're alright... Power Compacts are close to the bottom rung of the lighting ladder. The difference between individual PC bulbs will not be significant. They all are at the bottom rung. IMO

I just happen to read this on Saturday.

Clearly an erroneous value. If you tank pH was 6.2, your fish would be floating. A normal pH swing would be .2 or .4, but not 2.

I have 4 tanks running...all connected together. It's all done with overflows. None of my tanks are drilled, and I've never had a problem. As Stephen said, you need enough flow through it so air bubbles don't accumulate in the tube. I like the old U-tube style. I haven't tried the newer overflows that require aqua-lifters because I feel the auqalifter just adds another component that could fail.

That all sounds sufficient. Seachem is good stuff too, although I've heard Kent products are quite diluted. If PurpleUp works, then it's clear that the levels are low. Have someone else test your water with their test kits. I have way too much coraline. I can scrape it off the wall and give you a container with massive amounts.

1500 is plenty high, if it is really 1500. I also use Salifert, but you can't consider test kit readings to be absolutely accurate. Use them as a tool. I'll ask another question, because I still think it is Ca,Alk,Mg. How do you supplement the Magnesium (Chloride) from BRK? And, how do you supplement Calcium and Carbonates? Two-part? Using Calcium Chloride?

I suspect it's these components. Their values are probably lower than you think, especially the Mg. Test kit readings can drastically vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, from batch to batch, even from consumer to consumer. What do you use for a Magnesium supplement? Bump up your Mg levels and you will see coraline grow. If you need a Magnesium supplement kit, I have one. Makes 10 gallons.

Not Rik's tongue?

In my limited experience, melting Zoanthids are almost aways due to Light and Flow. I'm not smart enough to figure that out on my own, somebody else clued me in.

Looking for Baby Bottle Nipples Bring your extra nipples that you are not using anymore to the frag fest. Make some frag plugs and take them home with you. These nipples can be used as molds for the plugs that fit into eggcrate. Bring any old nipples that you are no longer using and you can fill them with the agrocrete mixture and take them home. Remember to share and bring extra nipples for others that are less fortunate. d

Do you have pictures. We all like pictures.

This is a picture of my reef about a year ago. I use 10K XM MH with crappy Power Compact Actinics. These colors don't appear washed out.

I like 10K. It's bright and crisp. But I think my corals benefit a great deal from the actinics that are with the 10K. You should like the Tek light. You can configure it for a variety of bulbs to give a wide spectrum of light. Your corals will probably like it too. Many people have wonderful things to say about T5s. The same coral can look so very different in various tanks. Corals can change from being colorful to brown and back to colorful again, and the environment it is in has everything to do with it. I'm nursing a Valida that was dirt-brown back to health in my frag tank that uses 20K MH and VHO Actinics. It's been a year, but it's starting to look really nice. If your frags don't grow well with only 10K, you might consider changing something.

There is more to the growth and color of coral than simply the color temperature of the bulb. There is a wide ranging number of factors that are individual to each environment including temperature, intensity, depth, water clarity, ........ Do you have Actinics to support those 10K bulbs in the frag tank? If not, I would understand why they seem to wash out...

I think we should all get our bozo on!!!

You can rinse it out well with water. I use a garden hose.

I'm going...I will be giving another Demonstration on making Frag Plugs and Discs using: Crushed Coral and Shells Portland Cement Water Specialized Tools I'm hoping to get many participates making plugs and discs.