cabrego

Hi all, I am considering supplementing my current set up (2x 175 W and 2 65 PC Actinic) with LEDs. My primary objective is to add additional Actinic supplementation and if feasible additional "white" light too. I am not opposed to completley removing the current actinics if required althought that would probably require more LEDs to compensate.. First of all,I am posting because I would like to know if this is feasible, how many LEDs I would require (with or without the current actinics), if someone could point me to a good DIY thread I would appreciate that. I know someone here had an article on a different forum but I can't remember who it was or where it was located. I would also like to know if heat from the MH could be a deal breaker, I don't have a lot of space so I thought LEDs might be a good options, but I might be better off going with T5s w/SLR. Thanks,

In my experience the process is always a bit clumbsy. I usually drain water out side and dump in the carbon in the trash. Rinsing the carbon can be tricky. I use to use tap water but now I use RODI water to get rid of the dust. Never rinse outside of the reactor, you will regret it!

I was in your boat a few months ago. I am a bargain shopper when it comes to things that can be very expensive. If you have the patience to do some research and look around for a good deal you might be able to find a great deal on a second hand camera. I picked up a Nikon D3000 with lens and lowepro backpack and some cleaning accessories/memory cards for 400 dollars-the camera only had 700 shots on it when I bought it. I then found an older manual nikon macro lense for 100 dollars. It works pretty well and I am forced to learn how to manually focus/meter which I don't mind. For the price I can't complain at all-my wallet and I are very happy!

Nice pair! I agree with Almon, broodstock conditioning is a big factor to consider. It is typical for the first few clutches to be sparse or come up missing but the parents will eventually become good parents. It sounds like you have the nutrition in check with Rod's frozen food, I have found it to be very high quality and my pair of percs love it. With respect to feeding you should feed your clowns as much as your water quality can handle. I usually feed my pair 2 times a day plus frozen every other day and during the week of spawning I will feed frozen food every day. good luck keep us posted!

Do you have any idea when they hatched? It is very unlikely that you are actually observing fry, but it is not impossible. Many people mistake various zooplankton (e.g., mysid shrimp, amhipods, etc.) for larva. The larva are extremely delicate and are prey for even amphipods and bristleworms-also any kind of nook or crevice can trap them. You might consider raising your next batch though. 1

so far so good in springfield...

It is nearly impossible to remove all stray voltage without installing a grounding probe. I recommend a voltmeter test since it is the safest and you can determine which components are leaking the voltage. For example, at one point I had about volts leaking into my tank, 30 of which were coming from a large return pump. Upon further inspection I noticed a damage wire and I replaced the pump. It is not uncommon to have 5-10 v leaking from a powerhead or heater.

IMO it depends on the quality of the light and accessories. Alot of time, if you do not know what you are looking for, you might realize the extras are junk. Take the time to research the items, you might just have an OK deal and not a really good deal. For example, even if the fixture is quality the bulbs might need to be replaced and that alone is over 100 dollars. What do you know about the skimmer? if everything is good quality and in good shape, it is probably a decent deal. If the lights are crappy, skimmer questionable and tank/stand scratched up it is probably worth trying to get it at a much better price.

nice pics, what lens did you use for these?

Congrats! Attempting to Raising the fry is not as difficult as you might think, but you will need a good supply of rotifers to get you started. Also, you don't necessarily need to culture phytoplankton. Check out my thread: http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=34389 If you have never tried before and you would like to, I recommend doing lots of reading as you will need to take a crash course in raising fry. I was in your situation, about a month ago. I still have 2 survivors from my first batch of eggs. They are finally looking like real clown fish! Good luck, feel free to ask questions!

HOly cow that thing is sweet looking! Was this a custom job or does a company make these? It looks like a beast! Does it have some sort of splash guard? The T5 sockets appear to be the non-water proof kind, I recommend a splash shield if they are not water proof. I had a t5 fixture with very similar sockets and even with a splash shield, they ended up corroding in less than a year and burned out my ballast. We want pics with it on !?

where are the balls? If the balls only interacted with the fresh saltwater bucket, I would error on the side of caution and just dump it.

I use infranview, it is a free download- Be sure to download the additional add-in that is required to view the data. To view data go to open image->go to view->information->and there is an exif button in the pop up box. Pretty neat stuff, I wanted to verify the use of a camera I bought off of craigs list (Nikon d3000). I had the seller send me pictures he took with the camera and a pick he took that day. I used the program to verify what he told me about the camera.

I know you can buy the plastic frames online if you are interested in replacing it. I forget the vendors name at the moment.

A little update... Yesterday, I completed a 20 gallon water change directly from the display. I also and took the sump off line and removed about 12 gallons of water and cleaned out the large skimmer section. I removed the skimmer and removed the entire section's water and cleaned out debris. I ran a large canister of carbon in the display, set up an xp1 filled with various pore sizes going down to poly and I also set up an ac50? with the mechanical filter attachment canister and filled it with poly. Today was business as usual for all fish and live stock, the fish, snails, shrimp, appeared to not skip a beat the corals look different in color but they are all alive. Actually, yesterday when I turned out the lights in the afternoon, my perculas decided to get busy and spawn about 3 days earlier than expected. my pod population seemed to take a significant hit. But I do see significant life in the fuge. Overall, I think I dodged a bullet, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks for all the support guys! OldReefer, I appreciate your offer. I am probably going to ride this out though, my inverts are still hanging in there so I hope it is not a catastrophic situation. Are you suggesting I put the poly "bare" in the tank. There is quite a bit of circulation with in the display, I am not sure how I could just put a piece in the display and keep it in one spot, if that is what you are suggesting. I also had a grounding probe in place in the sump- so I am not sure how that could have affected the dynamics of corrosion, current in the tank, etc. My wife picked up some poly at petsmart and I put it in my xp1, behind a couple of larger pore size mechanical filter sheets. Hopefully this will help too. The plan is to do a 20 g change int he display, and clean out a large volume water out from my sump that is currently offline. Regarding, electricity for coral enhancement- I actually thought to myself "gosh the color on this coral is awesome". My orange digita looked very pink in color and then I looked at my normally brown/blue tip stag and it was very blue throughout the body. That's when I said oh crap! Never thought I would be disappointed with rapid color enhancement!

The copper I am worried about is the 110v electrode wiring that corroded away. Also, note my first post, there is definitely something wrong with my corals.

Both of the processes you have described have occurred, from the copper that was still present there was signs of corrosion on the pieces intact. Also, there was about an inch of wire actually missing, I am describing that portion of the wire with the phrase "dissolved away". So are you saying that it is possible for the copper wire to completely oxidize but yet not have dissolved into the water?

OK, what size poly should I go with? I have a rena xp that I can run the micro filtration pads, not exactly sure what their ratings are.

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Rusted iron in general is not a big deal, but the wires are copper and corroded away and the magnets are probably made of nickle who knows what other kinds of bad metals are in the air pump. I wasn't too worried about it until I stopped to inspect the corals and live stock and I noticed some significant changes in the corals as described in the first thread. This made me open up the air pump to find that everything metal was rusted/corroded and the copper contacts to the motor were completely corroded away. The pump is gone the pump was not on a gfci.

I was already running carbon for quite a while, I usually replace it every month. Lights are out, carbon is fresh.

OK, here is the deal an air pump fell into my sump sometime last night and I didn't notice until this morning. The good news is there was no fire. After I unplugged the pump and pulled it out I did notice a brown fluid leaking from it (signs of rust). All of the live stocked seemed mostly fine (i.e., fish, shrimp snails are alive and eating) but I did notice my corals seemed to be saturated with color (e.g., orange digita looks more pink than orange). Maybe signs of bleaching. I see this in SPS, zoas, and paly. I took the air pump apart and as expected the electrodes in the pump were corroded away, and all metal components showed signs of rust. So far I have turned off all the lights taken the sump off line, running a dedicated canister of fresh carbon in the 90g display. Making about 20 gallons (max capability) of salt water. Dosed with prime to detox metals. Is there anything else I can do? advice? comments?

Thanks for the deal, gosh that tank was heavy!