Things are starting to go my way.

[rulesmith]

Well, the corals I bought too early fit in my 55 gal tank, once I took out 2/3 of my softies and mostly gave them to twins. I am down to just one leak on my big tank, which I think can be fixed today. I might even get to add salt tonight, yeah!!!. Should have my first light this week. Finally making some real progress.

[mothra]

cool cool.

Have you filled the big tank up all the way? You probably have, but if not make sure to do that and leak check again before you add salt.

Who has the corals you bought? How did they look?

[rulesmith]

All the new corals fit in my 55 once I took most of my softies to Twins. We are doing one last check later tonight I hope, or maybe tommorow. We think, oh we hope we have beat the last of the leaks.

[mothra]

Stopping those leaks can be frustrating some times. Just make sure you fill it all the way up, that little bit of pressure on the bulkheads can be enough to start one leaking.

What all did you take to Twins?

[rulesmith]

I took a lot of star polups(how do you spell that?) and some zoos, a colt coral, lots of mushrooms. few pieces of nice rocks that I will miss, they had the corals on them. Try to post pic of old tank here, see if this works, most of this ended up at twins.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/70216t1-thumb.JPG

[rulesmith]

trying again, want to learn to post pics here.http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/70216t1-thumb.JPG

[rulesmith]

one more time with feeling

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/70216t1.JPG

[rulesmith]

Really starting to make progress now. One light up and running. (thank you Jesus) Rock and sand in the tank, and some other misc. stuff. Next big steps are auto topoff and adding in the other tunze. Then we will work on getting the calcium and kalk reactors going.

[Jesus]

Soo, how does it look?


jesus

[rulesmith]

anybody know what this is?http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/70216worm2-thumb.JPG

[rulesmith]

lol try again, will get this photo thing down somday

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/70216worm2.JPG http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/70216worm2.JPG

[rulesmith]

Here is a pic of the tank starting to come along.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/70216fullreefpic.jpg

[rulesmith]

one more time with feeling.http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/70216fullreefpic.jpg

[Jesus]

Wow, that looks really nice. Looks like the light covers front to back really good. Those 3 Lumenarc fits perfectly. With that 15k xm bulb looks really bright. Are yo going to run the other two with 250s or keep them all 400?





jesus

[mothra]

Looks good!

[Jesus]

Anymore progress? Wondering if you have fired the other light yet.

jesus

[rulesmith]

I was out of town last week, but we got a little more done. I went with 250's for the left and right. The light seems to blend, without any huge differences.

I put in some chormis. I fianlly have the BK up and running as of today, so tank conditions should get better soon. Had lots of brown algae. Clean up crew went in last week, so they are working hard at it.

[Queezyviper]

Are the chromis schooling? I just came from Carter's and I noticed that danny put some chromis in the big reef tank but they weren't schooling...just scattered about the front of the tank in the same general area. You tank has great looking aquascaping....oh and where'd ya get the sand?

[rulesmith]

The chormis school whenever they feel threatened. If we put our hands in, or any sort of cleaning, the rest the time they school a little. I think once we have the tangs and such in there, they will school. We ended up getting the sand from Carter's. They had some in black bins. Cost a lot, but we like it. They had to weigh out a lot :) Thank you on the compliment. Jorja is almost satisfied wants to do some mods on the right hand side. I would take some more pics, but the brown algea does not look that good. :) The clean up crew has about 2/3 of it under control. I am getting good coffee looking skimate from the BK.

[mothra]

Julie,

Would you and Jorja like to 'borrow' a sea hare for a while? I borrowed one from Plankton to clean up all the algae I got after removing my sand, it has been cruising around in there for at least a month with not much to eat. Your tank could sustain it long term even w/o much visible algae.

[rulesmith]

sure, as long as you don't think my new coris wrasse will bother it.

[mothra]

I don't think it will bother it but I can't promise anything. None of my fish bother it, it's about the size of my palm... I think they're afraid of it. How are your nitrates? I doubt they are that high, but just wondering. Supposedly they are sensitive to nitrates.

If you still want it I can bring to the upcoming meeting.

[rulesmith]

nitrates are at 0. I had a lot of plants ready to go into the refugium. I was growing them in a seperate tank. Just let me know when and we will come get the fellow. thank you. I keep picking up things for the tank even though I tell myself I will not do it. We are going away to Europe for 3.5 weeks this summer so we are trying to just get everything easy for our house sitter, but I keep seeing things I want. We all know how it is.

[mothra]

Are you going to be at the meeting? If so I will bring it then, otherwise I can drop it off in the evening (chance to sneek a peek at your tank!) or you can always come by our place and pick it up.

[rulesmith]

I will be at the meeting, but would sort of like it before if possiable, glad to have you over any time. As long as you do not make fun of the state of the house, it should have a under contstruction sign on it :)

[mothra]

No worries, we're going through the same right now with nursery and bathroom remodel :) I got your PM, I'll give you a call.

[rulesmith]

I really want to go to the sacramento event this weekend, but I know I would just get into trouble, buy more then I should.

Hopefully good one next year.

[Aquarist Guru]

The tanks great, is this the 500 gallon one in your sig that you speak of? It's hard to know just how big it is with the picture.

That and I'm very new to the hobby.

I have grandure dreams already of a custome tank in my house. I've already started putting plans together and my 80 gallon hasn't yet finished a thurough cycle yet.

[rulesmith]

It is a 360 display tank and when all done 500 total water volume. Right now it is 450 with the sump. I am going to be connecting my 55 to the new system.

[rulesmith]

Well, a little update. The 54 gallon tank is now set up with the system. Everything seems to be working well. I have the canopy and the skin for the stand on as well. Heat went up a bit, played around with the fans to get it in line.

Question of the day, what temperature do you keep your tanks at?

[mothra]

I keep mine at 79-81º. It's 80 most of the time, I'd need a chiller to run it any cooler.

[rulesmith]

I run mine from 79 to 81 also, but I was reading recommended temps of 72-78 and wondered if that was one of my problems. I always thought that 79 to 81 range was fine, so just curious what other people around here are running, and if they are having any success or problems. It would be easy to lower for the winter, but then we have those summers.

[Jesus]

I run mine at 77-79. Corals and fish likes it better. Bacteria likes hot water.


jesus

[rulesmith]

how do you keep it that low?

[Jesus]

Chiller and some fans. My chiller runs only 3 times during the hot summer. I also have the light turn on during the night.


jesus

[rulesmith]

was afraid you would say chiller, might have to break down and get one.

[plankton]

I'm in the market for a chiller too. Found some good deals but have not purchased one...yet.

Scott

[rulesmith]

considering where we all live, maybe we should see about a group deal this winter, I imagine better prices in the winter.