Blog Comments

Hi Melev
That's a real nice tang. I hope mine will get there with your help.

Reefgeek.
hcakebox@bellsouth.net

Does'nt Melev just make you want to try "HARDER" at this hobby?? heh Hey, one day my frags will grow up!! ;-) ...and maybe my tank will grow also!

I can't see your picture, but I can provide my own. FYI, in the comments (replies) field, you have to use the URL to show an image, like hosting it on Photobucket or Flikr. Attachments only work in the original entry.

Hahaha, I don't know what happened...lol.

So in the next eight weeks, you have time to buy a few essentials to set up a quarantine system. Get it up and running. In six weeks, float a sponge of some sort (the kind used in our filter equipment, not a sink sponge) for 7 days, then put it in the quarantine tank to get it seeded. That way when you come home with the clownfish a week later, the QT has had time to get up to par. A simple HOB bio-wheel filter is fine for a QT.

ROFL! I just skipped over that thinking it was something "I" was missing

Hat, isn't it a little early to be drinking? LOL

Yeah, I'm doing a third (really closer to 1/4 now) of a water change every day now till my readings get right. Then I'm going to take Phils advice on dosing the tank when I need to do so. My tank is doing good, but I'm still fighting algae. My corals are growing nicely.

Thanks Allen for the info! Eight weeks it is. When I do introduce fish I will take it slow. Then I want a pIr of clowns; not sure which kind yet. A watchmant goby and a lawnmower blenny. No more tangs for me till a upgrade.

Water Changes are your friend. When "Things" are out of whack I do large and often water changes to help get them back in order.

Nitrates (NO3) are exported in direct proportion to percentage of water change. If you do a 50% water change then your NO3 reduction is roughly 50%. Keep this in mind when trying to figure how MUCH water to change. In a healthy tank I like to see an average of 10% a week.

Thanks for the info Allen! ;-). Going to take it slow. I 'm still taking readings every day. All reading are where they should be, but I need to lower Nitrates a little and raise my PH a little. How would you do this?

With all due respect I'd go ahead and push it out 2 additional weeks (8 week total). There are some instances where 6 weeks fell short but I believe that the majority of 8 week runs have proven HIGHLY successful. Since you're waiting anyways why not hang out 2 more weeks just for good measure


Also while you're waiting don't cross-use any equipment in that tank. If you happen to have multiple tanks don't use nets etc from one to the other or you risk re-introducing the parasite and starting the process all over again.

Yep, I definitly payed the piper, lost all my fish..;-|. Now I'm going to wait 6 weeks like Marc said before adding anything.

Wow this is like pm'ing each other, fast reply! Yeah, the T5's will be my primary light, for sure.

Yes our whole society is a "I want it NOW" but there are still somethings in life we can't rush regardless of what the marketing GuRus tell us.

I've found out that slow and steady wins the race with anything "Salty". We either play by Mother Nature's rules or we suffer the consequences.

IMHO I'd run my T5's the longest because they have the most PAR and will out-do your PC's many times over. I'd consider the PC's as "supplemental" lighting and T5's as primary.

Thanks for the info BigAl! Yeah I'm
going to set up a QT before adding more livestock. The ich really wiped me out, lesson learned. I ahold have known better. I believe in this hobby we want now, then we pay for it later!

Thanks for the info BigAl! Yeah I've been reaching and I'm going to go with T5 HO's. Going to have 2 bulbs, 1 actinic and one white. Plus my PC's with my LED moonlights. I believe my corals will like that. All on timers where the T5,s have the shortest time. Like Marcs timer setup on his huge tank.

Originally Posted by fchidsey

The bulbs at the hardware stores usually don't meet the kelvin requirements of our fish tanks.

I do have a question about the bulbs on E-bay and if anybody had bought them used them and how they are?

Here is a link of some I found today I'm a little skeptical

http://cgi.ebay.com/250W-250-watt-14...item5191f2f1f2

The best way I can put this is... RUN! Don't look back at those bulbs. There's a VERY good reason why they are so cheap.. because they are CHEAP! I tried some eBay bulbs and they looked GREAT for 6 weeks then for one went "Yellow" for a week then it quickly shifted into the Red/Orange spectrum. Within a week the other one did the same thing. "Lucky" for me I bought (4) when I bought and guess what.. they ALL did this in less than 2 months time. I bought (4) for the price I'd normally pay for (1). You get what you pay for and I ended up wasting almost $100 that should have gone into QUALITY bulbs.

Trust me when I say, "Your tank WILL know the difference between GOOD bulbs and cheap bulbs". Remember there's a lot more to Bulbs/PAR than what our eyes are seeing.

As for Home Depot (or any of the Building/Hardware Supply) bulbs/fixtures you're not going to get any real performance or satisfaction from them. I've seen 1 fixture from HD that was MODDED and used for a frag tank (70w bulb) but he ended up spending more time and $$ than if he would have bought it new already set up for REEFING.

Ditto to Phil! A HT is a very cheap investment that will pay off HUGE rewards... if used.