Kman's tank

[KMan]

Well it's been a couple of weeks, My RBTA is still doing very well, looks very healthy. The clowns have hosted very fast, and every time i go to feed the BTA, the clowns will tear pieces off of the food and put it in "Jaw's" mouth as in actually feeding the Anem.. totally cool :) In other news, I got married last weekend and my wife bought me a GFO Reactor cause she saw me looking at one. My water was yellow but now that i have it installed and up and running, the water has made a dramatic change in clarity. It looks great! I'll post pictures later :)

 

[little_fish]

Congrats on getting married!!

 

[KMan]

Thank you! Now that i'm not pouring money into the wedding fund, i can save up for a nice set of lights... just which ones to get is the question :/

 

[ErinCahir]

Congrats to you and your new wife!

 

[KMan]

Uploaded a few random pictures including some new residents in my humble abode

Yellow Tang (babysitting) : Marilyn Monyellow Tang
Cleaner Shrimp: Jaqcue
6 Lined Wrasse: Not sure on a name yet..

 

[KMan]

Apparently my 6-lined Wrassed is named "Mick Jagger" :)

 

[KMan]

So some recent events since my last posting, Jacque had a parasite on his side near his gills. I read and posted around for some advice wondering if my little guy was a goner, but someone suggested cutting it out and risking it; but it was very risky and most people dont do it. But with the help of a couple of friends, a scalpel, tweezers, and a lot of patients we managed to get the bugger out.. Here are some pictures..

 

[KMan]

I've also installed my water mixing area, not to advanced.. just a garbage can, powerhead, airstone, and a couple of heaters.. I installed a spout at the bottom and attached a hose and i just fill up a bucket. and go from there.

 

[JohnnyDanger]

I love everything man it all looks great!! I built my own stand and just got done cycling as well.. My tank is about 4 weeks old now and I'm getting some green hair algae on my rocks.. I'm hoping a good water change will get rid of some of it..

 

[KMan]

Mine was the same way when I started my tank.. But I waited out until my cycle was done and bought a clean up crew and they went to town and my tank was clean within a couple of days.. Doing a water change - 4 weeks in would extend your cycle as I made that mistake - I would let your tank cycle for about 8 weeks thats what I did and had great results.

 

[little_fish]

Once your ammonia and nitrites have gone to zero your cycle is done, thre is no specified amount of time for a cycle to happen. So if your cycle is over, go ahead and start doing water changes

 

[KMan]

Once your ammonia and nitrites have gone to zero your cycle is done, thre is no specified amount of time for a cycle to happen. So if your cycle is over, go ahead and start doing water changes

True :) but I did a small 5 gal water change mid cycle cause I was uneducated on it and right at my 8 week mark everything had balanced out.

 

[KMan]

So i need some help with my lighting upgrades... I'd like to go to LED's just based upon the savings on electricity - But I have some issues.. I'm looking for a unit(s) that will work over my 48" long tank, Hoping for 2 seperate cords so i can control the blues and whites (unless it has a built in controller) Without breaking the bank... thoughts?

 

[JohnnyDanger]

Dude, I've done research like crazy on LEDs and talked to 30 different people about it.. Basically from what I've found, its best to just spend the money one time and never worry about it.. I've personally chosen Aqua Illuminations SOL units for my 55.. They are modual which is a big plus for the future.. You might also look at Aqua Illumination's new light, the VEGA.. For the money, the AI lights are the best bang for the buck.. The only step up would be the EcoTech Radions which are about 800-900$ per panel.. My friend has 6 reef tanks in his house and at work and has great success with the AI SOLs though.. You can get the SOLs for a little less than 400$ per panel if you shop around and the VEGAs for 500$ per panel.. The AI controllers are decent as well and they just came out with a new one.. You can simulate thunderstorms and clouds moving and all sorts of cool stuff.. So do your research and don't skimp on lights if you ever want a future with corals..

 

[KMan]

I've got a couple of friends with those and they do awesome for their tanks.. Although one friend of mine says he likes the T5's over his AI's so i'm not sure - But i've been leaning towards these or something like these for awhile.

 

[cvcdrk]

People seem to be having good results with the <$200 Taotronics LEDs. You can get them on ebay and amazon has some dimmable ones for a bit more (still under 200).

They're powerful.

 

[KMan]

I've looked into those, and I think i might go that route as well to give them a shot. Only thing that sucks about those is 4 power cords i'd have to redo my whole power structure to accomidate 1 extra power cable lol

 

[JohnnyDanger]

Good luck with them! Just pray you don't have any warranty issues, Ive heard stories about people having trouble with returns and such..

 

[cvcdrk]

Well there are ones out there with digital displays for the dimmers and control of the individual colors.....with one power cord each, but I haven't seen them in stock for a while. You could try looking for those. They were about $220 last I saw, though.

 

[KMan]

So i looked at some of those taotronics online and made a few phone calls... Apparently a friend of mine who has some AI Sol's is going back to T5's and is going to give me a deal on his - But thats in the near future when he has a bit more cash flow. But in other news I tinkered with my RKL and FINALLY figured out an outlet scenario that will work with the wave maker settings.. So now I have a wavemaker programmed and i hope i did it right.