Glad to see this forum taking off!!!

[Hypertek99]

Thanks everyone for joining us here. Hope to see more Virginians soon. Oh Turbols300 i got most of my prize in. My last pack comes in tomorrow so i'm going to post pics of everything once i get them all in. Oh and the PPE's are going to be a few weeks can't wait to get those!

 

[turbois300]

No doubt!!! HEy do you want some of my xenia for your fuge or anyything??? I'm gonna frag it soon.

 

[turbois300]

Yo man. When I was talking about the PDs not being purple I meant they don't look like these.... any thoughts? I don't think that it is only lighting.. Sorry for stealing the pict (to the pict owner)

 

[surfn]

mine are very purple, but the ones i gave to chris turned brown in his show tank......even though IMO his lighting set up is pretty good.....all the other corals in his show tank look great IMO.

possibly they need more light.....

 

[turbois300]

I have a new 10K bulb should I put that in. Even though it doesn't have the blue cast to it would it be better for the corals? it seems to be way brighter than the 15K. Does color temp(K) have an effect on coral coloration?

 

[surfn]

I have a new 10K bulb should I put that in. Even though it doesn't have the blue cast to it would it be better for the corals? it seems to be way brighter than the 15K. Does color temp(K) have an effect on coral coloration?

thats probably why.....

10k bulbs brown out the color in allot of softie corals IMO. yes it may be brighter, and better for sps...but not so for softies.

if you had the XM15k......that bulb is very poorly made, the reason why its so dim.

the XM20k is actually brighter than the XM15k.

what wattage and type of ballast and fixture (SE or DE) do you use again?

 

[J. Montgomery]

He's my frag from Al, under Ushio 14k (175W)

 

[turbois300]

Mine look just like that J. Mont - I've been running the 15K and haven't had the 10K on the tank at all. When I first got the set up I put both bulbs in and could tell the 10K was brighter. I have an Icecap balast and the bulb is a single end. When I went home at lunch today the large polyp looked a bit more brown/transparent and the baby polyp looked more purple like J Monts....???? I got an RPE at the same time and the red center line thingys seem to really pop more than when I first got them. I got them both from Hyper and I know he's got good stuff so???? Guess I need to bit the bullet and get a 14K Hamilton or something. Or should I go for the 20K Radium???? I don't mind the $$$ just want the good look. Also I have acinic PC's on th etank too..... should that help or should I put different bulbs on there... They are only like 2 months old. My MHs are on for like 10hrs a day or so... My acro and micro's are kicking butt and so are the rest of my corals (softies, LPS and SPS) I only have a Slimer and a Superman monti for SPS......is it ok to put the monti up in the tank or should I keep it low?? It seems to be coloring up nicely but not that super bright blue you see on the forums.

 

[surfn]

thats right.....i remember your situation now.

yeah, get the radium20k....or the hamilton14k.....both will do great. hamilton will be better for sps.....radium will be better for zoas/lps.

but it think both of ya'll (you too josh), should move the PD's up higher in the light. come to think of it. everyone who says they have them brown out have them in too much shade.

 

[turbois300]

to the top they go then......I'll be goin Radium I think.. they are about mid way up in the tank so I'll put them at the top. I think I may move my MH down closer to the water too. I've had it up high to get the other corals used to it but I think it's time to "lower the dynamite"

 

[revhtree]

Hey bro I would lower the light first if your going to do that and then see what they do before moving them up and the light down at the same time. Might melt them.

 

[turbois300]

See that is why I like you guys so much!!!!! You help me not be my normal, do 15 things and see what I break, self. I hear ya rev!!!! I'll do that tonight and give it a week or so before I move anything!!!! Thanks my brutha!!!!!! I have had way too much coffee today on top of no sleep and a 500+ point rally week in the markets.....I tell ya. I really picked the wrong year to get into day trading!!!

 

[Hypertek99]

Yeah Turbo give them more light. My tank is much brighter than yours but my lights are also closer to the water. My 20K's are definately brighter than the 12K's i was using. They like the really bright light to color up.

 

[J. Montgomery]

but it think both of ya'll (you too josh), should move the PD's up higher in the light. come to think of it. everyone who says they have them brown out have them in too much shade.

Well . . . I still would call mine purple in color. I don't feel like my pictures are quite capturing the true color since that region of the picture is underexposed, but . . .

I'll keep that in mind. I'm always up for ways to improve the tank.

I'll likely be moving the rocks around soon in preparation for the two clams I have coming from the RRC meeting/raffle and a Rose Bubble Tip Anemone clone. I'm psyched about those!

 

[turbois300]

Well I moved the lights way down this weekend and we'll see how it goes. I looked at the bulb whe I was doing it and on the bulb it says MHT 12000K 250W. Anyone know what an MHT bulb is??? the light is about 6-7" off the water now as it was like 14+ so that should help. I rigged up a little fan even though it is an open top with the light suspended. That thing gets hot so .... Temp seems to be pegged at 77-78 deg. Although It seems to evap like a mo fo now that the light is closer. I'm tired of adding water every day already. Need to rig an ato.

 

[J. Montgomery]

I already posted this over at RC, but I figured I'd share here as well.

After thinking some things over recently about adding more light, but trying to save money, I decided to add a 250W (XM 20k) light to my canopy where I already had 2 x 175W (Ushio 14k). The tank is a 55 gallon.

2 x 175W Lights Only:

1 x 250W Light Only:

All 600W Combined:

I'm using these four 4" fans to keep things cool:

 

[turbois300]

Nice set up J. I imagine that should do the trick for lighting!!!! How do you have your fans wired??? Me likes!! My bulb was about the height of yours but now it is down where the lower fan centers are. Hopefully that will help me some with coloration. Nice tank mang. Any more shots of the setup??

 

[turbois300]

Also how do you like the XM 20K? Looks nice to me. Is it super bright?

 

[J. Montgomery]

The fans are wired to a variable voltage power transformer (I bought it at Wal-Mart) that allows the fans to be plugged into an outlet as well as lowering the voltage sent to the fans. As the fans spin slower, they run quieter.

I'm thinking about starting a Member's Tank thread with more details on setup and livestock.

I like the XM 20k bulb, it's not REALLY bright but it really highlights the coral colors. I couldn't really picture myself using it exclusively since I think growth would be sacrificed, but it looks awesome as a "dawn to dusk" semi-actinic look.

 

[turbois300]

Yeah definately do a Tank thread and thanks for the info on the fans. I want to do a similar set up but wasn't sure how to power it.. Yeah I think I'm going with the 20K radium or the 14K hamilton//// I keep bouncing baack and forth.. we'll see when the time comes for ordering