Buffy's 1st Ever SW Build - Reef Tank

[kurtyboh]

No dishes or cooking if you go out to eat

 

[Buffy]

Pics

No dishes or cooking if you go out to eat

And that's what I've had to do, drive thru's have been loving me.

Ok...Got the main bathroom done, woohoo. Got a little leak at the supply near the tank, but tightened it again. Now waiting to see....Fingers crossed.

Old stand is moved, and new stand is in place. I decided since I will have a sump that I only need 6 inches for any plumbing behind my tank....That enough?

I did however move it from 12" to 15" on the left side. So if I do have to get into the back I can go from the sides and not lean on the top rim to reach.

Took some pictures of the new corals but are a little blurry, gonna post anyway and am gonna try to take more with a regular camera, But I promised these and so I gotta get some up. They are doing much better, not all open the way I think they should be, but they are starting to open now. They are going to stay in qt until I get my main tank back up, that way they only need to be moved once instead of twice which would be less stressful for them.

Do I need to use both epoxy and glue to attach the coral or can I just use epoxy?

 

[Buffy]

Pics

Here are a few more....

 

[Gregcoyote]

I would use gelled super glue alone.

 

[carey]

Mushrooms look great! I love those things lol

 

[redsea]

Awesome corals! They look fantastic!

 

[Buffy]

Anyone want to go back a few posts and tell me what's coming out of the Elegance's mouth? And maybe provide some info on the other questions. Thanks

 

[kurtyboh]

As far as epoxy, never used it but its used in conjunction with glue. The epoxy molds to the surface of the rock and frag to give better adhesion. It does appear that glue is not required but almost everyone glues as well, my guess would be to give instant results rather than risking the frag falling off of the epoxy.

 

[Buffy]

Thanks, I'll have to get some glue then, just to play it safe.

 

[Buffy]

Hanging Light

I've decided to hang my light differently so I shouldn't have to go in that cold itchy crawl space AND it shouldn't take me 6 months to do like the toilet did, which by the way is still leak free, only thing I got to do is cut the vertical pipe some so the lid can be put back on. WOOT WOOT finally.

Gotta get bills paid, am late on bout 4 of them which means late charges, then I'm gonna hang this light, clean the 75 and hopefully start putting everything back together.

Time off is coming to an end and my nite shift cycle starts tomorrow in which time I become to exhausted to do anything, so wish me luck at atleast getting the light hung. One goal at a time works better than looking at the whole picture sometimes, whole pictures can be overwhelming for me which leads to way too much procrastination.

 

[Buffy]

AquaClear Disaster

Today I learned a hard lesson......Make sure you have the right cover's on your pumps. I fed my fish and didn't see my Kaurdern's Cardinal and the I noticed no flow (ripples) from the AquaClear so I looked in with my flashlight and there was a crab in there. I unplugged the pump and out came the crab AND my Peppermint Shrimp which I haven't seen in days and noticed something else. Took it out and looks to be a small part of my Kaudern's Cardinal.

I fed 2 days ago and he was there eating. Well he became food for the Peppermint and crab. Both Peppermint Shimp and Crab actually are ok so far. I'm surprised with what was left of the cardinal that the shrimp wasn't smushed in as he was covered by the crab.

The crab plopped out so to speak and the Shrimp took his sweet time crawling out.

I can't find any more of the "filter" covers and I should have at one more. So I replaced it with my Evolution 750 which is what I should have done in the first place.

I didn't think that big thing could fit in there but found out that's not the case.

Everybody else appears ok, except for one of the new polyps, I moved him to another qt cause he looked like he was losing alot of fleshy parts.

 

[Buffy]

ATI Bulbs and LED's ordered

So I placed an order yesterday with Marine Depot. It was in my opinion a large order. I thought maybe they'd give me a discount but they didn't. I emailed them and asked about that.

I ordered:

1 - 15 pack of Reef Discs
1 - Bob Smith Ind BSI Cyanoacrylate IC-Gel Aquarium Frag Glue -20 gram
1 - ATI 48" 54W Aquablue Special
1 - ATI 48" 54W Blue Plus
2 - Ecoxotic Stunner LED Polished Reflectors
1 - Ecoxotic 4-Way Splitter w/switches
1 - Ecoxotic 48" Stunner 24W 12000K White/445nm Royal Blue LED Strip
1 - Ecoxotic 48" Stunner 24W Magenta/12000K White LED Strip
1 - Ecoxotic 24V Wall Transformer for Stunner LEDs & Panorama Pro

I was thinking of replacing 2 of the bulbs that came with my light with the Aquablue Special and Blue plus. That would leave me with 2 actinics and 1 purple and 3 white (the white and 2 actinics came with the fixture. the 3 actinic broke and was replaced with the purple).

So on one switch would be the Aquablue Special, the Blue Plus, 1 stock white and the purple. On the other switch would be the 2 actinics.

Then 1 led strip in front and 1 led strip in back of the fixture. Any thoughts on this. Should I arrange the lights differently, put both led's in front or in back? Thoughts????

My fixture is a 6 bulb fixture, with 4 bulbs on 1 switch and 2 bulbs on the other switch.

Any help would be fantastic.

 

[mr_X]

I think that's a matter of personal preference Buffy. So you will only have 2 T5 HO lamps and the rest will be stunner strips? I don't think they support corals. I hear they are just for looks. If i'm reading this right, i think you are decreasing light output.


scratch that. i see you are adding them. I would swap out the blue plus with the actinic and the special with a daylight.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I think that's a matter of personal preference Buffy. So you will only have 2 T5 HO lamps and the rest will be stunner strips? I don't think they support corals. I hear they are just for looks. If i'm reading this right, i think you are decreasing light output.

scratch that. i see you are adding them. I would swap out the blue plus with the actinic and the special with a daylight.

What he said...the stunners are for decoration only. That's only 48 watts of LED, at best equivalent to 60-80 watts of florescent light.

 

[Buffy]

I think that's a matter of personal preference Buffy. So you will only have 2 T5 HO lamps and the rest will be stunner strips? I don't think they support corals. I hear they are just for looks. If i'm reading this right, i think you are decreasing light output.


scratch that. i see you are adding them. I would swap out the blue plus with the actinic and the special with a daylight.

Yep adding them. I'm trying to increase for the corals.

I realize led's are for my viewing for the most part.

So the 6 bulb fixture.

On the 4 bulb on/off switch:

1 Blue Plus
1 AquaBlue Special
2 stock daylights:

On 2 2 bulb on/off switch:

1 Actinic
1 Purple

That right?

 

[Buffy]

What he said...the stunners are for decoration only. That's only 48 watts of LED, at best equivalent to 60-80 watts of florescent light.

FYI, I don't understand the watt stuff, so I was going with Kelvin ratings. Just trying to increase to give the corals what they need.

 

[Buffy]

Yep adding them. I'm trying to increase for the corals.

I realize led's are for my viewing for the most part.

So the 6 bulb fixture.

On the 4 bulb on/off switch:

1 Blue Plus
1 AquaBlue Special
2 stock daylights:

On 2 2 bulb on/off switch:

1 Actinic
1 Purple

That right?

Would this be ok for the corals?

 

[Gregcoyote]

FYI, I don't understand the watt stuff, so I was going with Kelvin ratings. Just trying to increase to give the corals what they need.

Those will be good colors for viewing just fine. The corals don't need 14K, they just look a lot better. These LEDs just don't have enough "punch" for optimum coral growth, or there aren't enough of them. They will look great.

 

[Buffy]

By request..

Off topic for a short time. I changed my Avatar for a short time. I have only 2 photos more recent than this. I don't do pictures. On that note....

In this photo is my 1st Granddaughter (I have 4 now) who is now gonna be 7 and my dog Casper (I have Bailey now). He passed away shortly after this photo and this was the last Christmas I "celebrated". He passed away on 1/2/06 in my arms. (Vet assisted if you know what I mean). It was difficult to show happiness here and ever since. The months from Oct til spring are the worst and they suck and remain that way.

Since then I've had red hair/black hair/hmmm almost purple hair lol for a number of years, but now am back to blonde (my normal color) so the silver can come in and not be so noticable hahaha. My hair is now straight also (that was a perm).

Per your request Dary, you can see the "girl" (old hag lol) who climbs/hates plumbing/bikes/operates a power plant with a bunch of $$#'@/struggles with tank and gets so dang frustrated. Maybe because I'm a natual blonde is why I get to do all the struggled, blondes aren't meant to have smarts. Dang I need with white out on this screen to fix my booboos.

Back on topic, hopefully will be getting the 75 gal back on the stand sometime later today. Depending on the time, I'm gonna try to get all the rock and stuff moved back from the 55 to the 75.

 

[Dary421]

Thank you Buffy .., nice to see who you're talking to.