Reef tank enthusiasts...

[VaBusa]

I need to buy some new metal halides and usually go through my contact guy in Richmond, but I'm thinking I can find much better pricing via the web...

Got some questions if anyone here can help...I want the halides that give off the bluish hues, not yellows/greens...and what wattage? I've been buying 175 watt, but did some research last night and found that for my size tank, I might want to consider closer to 400 watts...

 

[Lazerblade]

Love the new signature. Brings lots of stuff to mind.

 

[VaBusa]

Come on Paul...not YOU too?!

And, only I can thread-jack...now move it unless you want to help me with the tank questions I have...

 

[bigdr]

Light wattage depends on the depth of your tank and what corals you keep..

Been keeping reef tanks for years..

Gotta go to work now .. will answer any questions you have..

 

[VaBusa]

I've been keeping one for years too, but I'm too dependent on another guy telling me what I need...I like him, but he's very pricey...I know I can buy cheaper stuff from the web...

Tank is 24" high (120 gallons), so after doing some reading last night online I find that perhaps the wattage I've been buying isn't really enough. Seems that 175 watts is for tanks 18" high and lower...might explain why some of my corals don't thrive...others do, but I'm hoping more wattage won't upset those that are content and help those that are not...

Thanks bigdr...we'll talk later...

 

[lot boy]

my wife knows more about this and ill have her post up when she closes shop-
we have a 72 inch and 48 inch coralife compact florescent on a 150 gallon (just sitting on the glass top) with timers keeping the day/night in check. The corals that need more light we try to stack on the upper shelf of the live rock ect...
It really all depends on what corals you are trying to keep as to what your lighting needs are.
Do you supliment your tank? For invertebrates i recomend "kent marine chromamax and zoomax"-- its just phytoplankton and zooplankton concentrate--- my tank respopndsd well to it.
Imulating a reef system in a glass box is a chalenge -but thats what makes it fun -its never an exact science. What works for one may not for another which is why every tank is as individual as a snow flake

Post some pics i love to see em

i see if the wife will throw a few up when she posts--
i do know this much you are right about online shopping- prices cant be beat --not good for the pet store buisness when online sells cheaper than we can get it for

 

[VaBusa]

I was hoping it was YOU that had the tank...couldn't remember...you had the leak a while back, correct? Guessing you got that new tank up?

I'll look for a link to my pics of the tank...posted 'em up before...

Corals like Candy Cane and hammer corals thrive in my tank...pagoda died off over time, as do other corals like it...so, I'm thinking it's the strength of the lighting that I might need to up a bit...

 

[VaBusa]

Link to tank pics...I still have the tangs and the clowns...all of the corals, but some are dying off...mushrooms are everywhere, Candy Cane has been broken in to several pieces because it won't stop growing!

 

[lot boy]

nice pics =i could look at em all day

i tried a tang once but couldnt find one that didnt pick at corals . Just goes to show you what works for one doesnt another

have you ever gotten a bat fish to feed? heh me either lol

just lost one this week after about a month of trying to get him to eat

i do however have a manderin dragonet that seems to be doing prettty well , ill get some pics up tonight about 8 or so --cause right now im gonna ride WOOOHOOO its about 60+ degrees

 

[tonyy1]

right up my alley I have/had a 120 Gallon tank and a 40 Gallon long Sump, thanks to Hurricane Rita I lost everything when I was without power for weeks. but to answer your question about places to go I get all my supplies from a few places on the web.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/

http://www.liveaquaria.com/FFExpress/
and
http://www.reefgeek.com/

I can get my powerheads (802's) in the stores here for about 50 bucks, but only 25 at Thatpetplace, but the shipping on the heavy stuff gets a lil pricey. I havd a standing order of a 5 gallon bucket of Salt and the Bahama Sand got pricey for shipping too, but well worth a look through. I'll get the link (lost in all my aquarium favorites) to the info about lighting amount.
Tony

 

[Wag]

We used to always use IceCap ballasts and VHO lights. Cuts the heat a little and increases the lighting with fewer bulbs. Don't know where to find blue bulbs any more but we also would mix a blue with a white or yellow, depending on the corals we were keeping.

Nice tank, btw!

I seem to recall that a slight (2 or 3 degree) increase in temperature over a short period of time (one degree per day) and then a return to normal over the same time period would induce fish to eat. However, it reduces oxygen in the tank at the same time and can cause havoc in your other flora and fauna. Been a while. I may have it backwards anyway!

Haven't had a tank in years. You're making me want one again!

--Wag--

I seem to recall that

 

[tonyy1]

here you go VABusa
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/lighting/l/aa031300b.htm

 

[VaBusa]

Thanks guys...

Tony, that link is pretty much what I read elsewhere on the web last night...seems I've been lighting my tank with way too little wattage for a long time now...

What do they call the bluish halides compared to the yellowish ones? I don't want the yellow in my tank...just the blues...and I have halides AND compacts, so it's been a bit of a balance from some different lighting...

I can't believe I've been trusting I had the correct lights all this time...

 

[VaBusa]

nice pics =i could look at em all day

   i tried a tang once but couldnt find one that didnt pick at corals . Just goes to show you what works for one  doesnt another

  have you ever gotten a bat fish to feed?  heh me either lol  

  just lost one this week after about a month of trying to get him to eat  

 i do however have a manderin dragonet that seems to be doing prettty well , ill get some pics up tonight about 8 or so --cause right now im gonna ride  WOOOHOOO its about 60+ degrees

Nope...never had a batfish...don't get sea horses either! You have to net them every day, don't let 'em out of the water a single bit, then feed 'em live brine shrimp...it's a big pain...

 

[VaBusa]

And Tony...sorry to hear about losing all of that stuff! I'd be horrified...when Isabel blew through VA a few years back, we had no choice but to get a generator...the tank would not have survived otherwise...it's hard to let $$$ just sit and rot when the power goes out...

 

[tonyy1]

yeah it was Isab..... I can't bring myself to say her name anymore, but we were forced to leave, Mandatory evacuations, and the wife wouldn't let me bring the 40 gallon in the car.
I told her my son could sit in her lap, but the car tires would have bottomed out

.

 

[tonyy1]

Here you go VA,
Do I need to supplement my metal halide lighting with actinics?
Although it has been proven that light in the blue end of the spectrum is beneficial to corals, the decision for actinics usually comes down to aesthetics. Bulbs in the 5500K - 6500K range are considered to be on the yellow side, and should be supplemented with actinics. 10,000K bulbs can stand alone but most aquarists will use actinic supplemental lighting. Any bulb above 10,000K can most likely stand alone without needing the use of actinics.

an excerpt from

http://www.aquarium-lighting-guide.com/metal-halide

 

[VaBusa]

The compacts are actinic...I cut 'em on 1 hr before the halides and they stay on 1 hr after as well...mood lighting for the fish

I've got 10,000K bulbs now, but I had some a few years back that were very yellow...I hated 'em and didn't want to repeat that same mistake. The corals looked washed out. I just liked the blue tint more...but I'm thinking I'll up the wattage this go 'round...I've been paying $96 per halide and those are just 175W...

Thanks for the link...looking at it now...

So, did you ever put the tank back up Tony?

 

[tonyy1]

nope, that was before mini me (look real close at the avatar & you'll see him). he's been the recipient of the extra income, and then I got bike fever, and have been saving for my "other" baby. But I'll have her up and running sooner hopefully this winter, the summer belongs to me and the bike.
Me and that tank go waaaaaaaaay back, I purchased her from a "friend" who I worked with who failed to mention that it was sitting on her porch in the elements for about 4 months but she cleaned it really good when I picked it up so I didn't know. after about 1 week of setup it came apart at the seams all the seals seemed to let out at once, my apartment complex was not happy in the least, and neither was I after I had to pay for the damages to the hard wood floors. So I worked her bought new braces top and bottom and a couple bottles of silicone and went to work on her, took about 2 days to re glue her back together, and then build a sturdier stand, neighbors really loved me then power saw, and an empty hardwood floored room, seemed to reverberate everywhere. but I've had her for about 6 years now, and no leaks, but she has been empty since Isabel. The wife threatens to give her away one day, lol ....... she'll go before the tank

 

[lot boy]

nice pics =i could look at em all day

   i tried a tang once but couldnt find one that didnt pick at corals . Just goes to show you what works for one  doesnt another

  have you ever gotten a bat fish to feed?  heh me either lol  

  just lost one this week after about a month of trying to get him to eat  

 i do however have a manderin dragonet that seems to be doing prettty well , ill get some pics up tonight about 8 or so --cause right now im gonna ride  WOOOHOOO its about 60+ degrees

Nope...never had a batfish...don't get sea horses either!  You have to net them every day, don't let 'em out of the water a single bit, then feed 'em live brine shrimp...it's a big pain...

ahh yes we killed a few sea horses too...you can take a horse to food but you cant make em eat

i dont mean to threadjack but i have never used metal halides are they prefered over HO compacts? i always thought they were about the same but i havent looked into a whole lot.