New tank inhabitants with pictures!

[Amba]

I love this light except for two things. One - I need to buy a hanging kit separately. 2 - This thing gets HOT. Underside is too hot to touch. Is this harmful? I have a glass hood between my tank and the light, it doesn't cover the whole top (didn't want to restrict O2 exchange, and make a greenhouse) but it is what the light sits on. There are no legs, just 1/4th inch or so between the light and the tank. The light itself has a plastic splash guard but I'm sorta worried the thing is gonna melt. Any thoughts?

 

[Marines_Wife]

Honestly I would turn it on and see what the temperature does throughout the day. I know in the summer with my light my temp can go up over 10 degrees.....about a degree an hour. Its winter so it wouldn't be as drastic but still something to give you a bit of an idea.

The glass top IMHO is going to trap the heat in, your evap wont be quite so much but I think the heat from your light will have no where to go. Honestly I would think about getting something mesh for the top of the tank to keep the fish in and let the heat out and either buy a chiller now while they are relatively cheap or hang the light and put computer fans in between the light and surface of the water. Thats something else that will really ramp up your evap but if your options are either temp instability or rapid evap, well you can fix one of those with an ATO the other will cause you a lot of heartache. Believe me.

 

[Amba]

Honestly I would turn it on and see what the temperature does throughout the day. I know in the summer with my light my temp can go up over 10 degrees.....about a degree an hour. Its winter so it wouldn't be as drastic but still something to give you a bit of an idea.

The glass top IMHO is going to trap the heat in, your evap wont be quite so much but I think the heat from your light will have no where to go. Honestly I would think about getting something mesh for the top of the tank to keep the fish in and let the heat out and either buy a chiller now while they are relatively cheap or hang the light and put computer fans in between the light and surface of the water. Thats something else that will really ramp up your evap but if your options are either temp instability or rapid evap, well you can fix one of those with an ATO the other will cause you a lot of heartache. Believe me.

I have the JBJ ATO so I'm not worried about evap. I guess I will have to try and order the feet (I really didn't want to have to freaking order them... what a pain in the ass.) I'm just going to leave one of the PC on tomorrow until I figure out what I want to do. I don't really want to hang it. I might also just buy a chiller... Or clip computer fans all over my sump and display tank.

 

[Marines_Wife]

It may just be feeling hotter then you are used to. Honestly the best thing you could do is take your temp over a few hours and see what your tank tells you. Still not a really accurate way to judge your needs for the summer, but it would give you an idea of what it could be capable of :)

How do you like your ATO?

 

[Amba]

I left the light on all day temp was 78.5 when I got home so I don't think it's gonna be an issue. =D

Hopefully I'll have a bigger and badder tank before July anyways.

The ATO is incredible I never have to worry about tank levels I love and recommend it 100%.

 

[Amba]

Haven't updated this thread in a couple days but here is what's going on. The tank is doing great, no losses! I had a little aiptasia outburst so I grabbed some Aiptasia X to kill the little bastards. I also got some new stuffs today, including a digital automatic flake/pellet feeder for while I'm at class. It's pretty neat! Got a couple more pieces of that branch coral, I love the stuff! The light has been on there for like a week and I love it, all my corals look really nice under there and the heat really isn't a problem. I got another powerhead, a magnetic Korila. It's really low profile and I love the magnet, it's really fresh looking. Also got some boring stuff, salt and a new calcium test kit. Thought I'd share a few pictures.

 

[little_fish]

looks good!

Keep an eye on the those automatic feeders, they are known to not feed anything or dump everything in at once.

 

[Sir Alex]

Haven't updated this thread in a couple days

I'm afraid that's an instant ban. :(

 

[beeguiles]

Those branching rocks look cool! Now what do you plan on doing with this tank when you set up the big one? Are you stop gonna have this one running?

 

[Amba]

Those branching rocks look cool! Now what do you plan on doing with this tank when you set up the big one? Are you stop gonna have this one running?

Thanks they are actually wicked cheap too. I'm going to keep this one running unless it becomes overwhelming. I don't plan on adding a whole lot more to it honestly. I might use it as my fish quarantine and transfer the corals to the behemoth.

I'm afraid that's an instant ban. :(

Lmao.

looks good!

Keep an eye on the those automatic feeders, they are known to not feed anything or dump everything in at once.

Thanks! And it's funny you say that because I set it to feed so I can see how it works, and it didn't feed because the little door was latched, so I unlatched it and ran it again. This one has a little lever on it to control the door and it's at the lowest setting. I can see though how it would get stuck so I am only keeping a couple days worth in there, so if it does dump all of it, it will be an overfeeding not an ammonia spike nightmare, this thing holds a lot of food.

 

[slwedge71]

I notice your tank is in front of a window. Have you noticed any problem with algae ? I had to move my tank further away from my window because of huge algae spikes growing from that side of the tank.

 

[Amba]

No algae problems at all, I don't think it Is enough direct light to cause any issues.

 

[Amba]

Got some new pieces today check em out, I am not sure what the one is the guy said pipe something or other?

I got 4 ricordeas, the unidentified polyp thingy, and a giant hawaii duster.

My scooter blenny says FEED ME ASS HOLE

 

[little_fish]

cool stuff!

 

[Amba]

Can someone chime in and tell me what the non ricordea coral is please?

 

[buddy08]

looks like GSP to me

 

[Amba]

My girlfriend got me some cool stuff for christmas, a Pizza Nem, a Galaxy, a brain, a shroom rock and an unidentified SPS coral.

Heres some pics, she did pretty good for not knowing a lot about saltwater stuff

 

[Amba]

Updated FTS

 

[jcegt87]

love the tonga branchs

 

[buddy08]

looks good, hopefully that green acro encrust and grows like a weed