Long update:
Bought the sheet of eggcrate - not sure if I'm gonna try to make an in-tank shelf, or just make a frag tank out of my 10 gallon with the t5's and the koralia PH's...
I also bought a small puck-light from HD, but now I'm mad because 1) I thought it was LED, and 2) I can't find the velcro strips I had to attach it to the stand wall!
The LFS I went to was a bit further than I normally go, and their prices are somewhat higher. I initially just went in for the CoralRx, and then left and went to some other places HD, etc., but I ended up going back to check out the coral selection. I happened to notice the 20% off HARD CORALS sign, and looked a little closer as the prices were at the top of the budget.
I was certainly suprised to see two of the "hard to find" corals that I really wanted for my tank. I'll upload the pictures from my phone after this post.
The coralRX worked really well. LOTS of little critters came off both corals, but nothing looking too nasty. Mainly a variety of starfish, pods, and a few miscellaneous stuff. I didn't see any of the usual suspects (flatworms, bugs, etc) which made me happy.
I'm pretty sure that CoralRX is just overpriced Pinesol, but don't quote me on that and kill your corals - it just stinks like wood cleaner.
Review of recent purchases:
Ecotech Radion LED: I couldn't be happier with this. The light in my tank is phenomenal, everything looks AMAZING. Things that grew well or "survived" my T5's, are growing and looking better than ever. I really like the ramp up and down throughout the day, and I currently have the Radion mimicing the Sunrise and sunset times of the Great Barrier Reef (Just for fun of course).
Ecotech Vortech MP10w ES: Overall, I couldn't be happier with these. I love how they work with each other and the lighting scheme. The program is fantastic and the corals and fish seem to be very happy.
The only negative things so far have been with the 2nd MP10 that came. 1st it was a bit loud out of the box. It quieted down within hours, but once in a while, it will start to make a louder noise. The same powerhead, twice now the wet-side has started spinning along with the propeller which is very annoying. You have to shutdown the PH, reposition, and restart and hope it doesn't start to spin again. This has only happened twice, but when it does, its super loud, and it creates tons of bubbles and splashes water out of the top.
I'd still buy them again in a heartbeat.
Reef Octopus NW110 Skimmer - pulling junk like CRAZY. I had two wet skims almost immediately, and since adding the DIY silencer, I've dialed in a drier skim, and it looks GROSS. I'm very impressed and very happy I purchased it FINALLY. NO bad things to say, period.
Mag-rock jr.:
Well, this thing has me on the fence. I initially got the exposure from mrsaltwatertank, and he was using it for frags. Well, as of now - I would say that sounds about right. My initial concern was that with (1) magnet in the center of the rock, any weight on top would just spin the rock and whatever was on it would fall. My suspicions were justified tonight. I tried to put a coral on it, and it was a joke trying to balance the coral without it tipping.
Unfortunately, I have to choice as I don't have room for that size coral anywhere else, so right now its fingers crossed until morning.
The rock is starting to get color after a few days, though it almost looks like diatoms instead of coralline. Its still early to tell.
The larger Mag-rock probably has multiple magnets and would work much better.
I'm not super upset about it, but I'm not thrilled either.
I'm going to upload the pics I could take at super low light sunset in the tank, and see if anyone can identify them. I'll put up the names of them in a later post.
