Tswifty's Custom 40g Rimless Build Thread

[Tswifty]

Originally Posted by kudora

i just picked up a lumen max elite last week for my 40 breeder, going to switch to MH from t5s on that tank. i must have missed most of the items /cry i didnt know about it till late tonight.

Nice, I'm going to test out the tank with just one pendant to see what type of coverage I get, but since my tank is pretty much packed end to end, I'm guessing I will need to use both to get the PAR values I'm shooting for.

Originally Posted by salali

What would you suggest for my new 90gal T5 or Lumen Max Elite? I do not know how T5 works for SPS and clams. I was reading a thread that says Lumen Max Elite is better but still do not know.

Both would be good options. A good T5 setup is every bit as good as a MH setup. I ran a 6 bulb IceCap retrofit kit over my 90g tank, and I know a number of people following this thread also run T5 lit reef tanks. It's pretty much just up to personal preference. I know I would like to make a switch back to T5's, but am looking at ATI fixtures... and that's not in the budget right now.

[Mike de Leon]

Nice tank you have there.
How are you doing with your wrasse? Do you have a screen top to prevent him from jumping? I am contemplating Leopard wrasse for my rimless. Tank dimension is 60 X 28 X 22. ths

[bruster9000]

Originally Posted by Tswifty

The drain fix didn't do anything... still loud as ever... and now I have a hole in the pipe.

I also decided to finally hang the second pendant. I hate the way everything looks above the tank right now, but I'm still locked in an argument about hanging the canopy. I have VHO's to add as well, but won't be able to add them until I get the canopy over the tank... somehow...

Anyway... here are the pics...

what bulbs are you using in these pics?

[Tswifty]

Originally Posted by Mike de Leon

Nice tank you have there.
How are you doing with your wrasse? Do you have a screen top to prevent him from jumping? I am contemplating Leopard wrasse for my rimless. Tank dimension is 60 X 28 X 22. ths

Thank You. No I do not have a top on the tank. I think it would take away from the look of the tank, so I just keep my fingers crossed. Luckily my external overflow has caught the majority of my jumpers thus far. It's a gamble with most fish when it comes to a rimless tank. I lost one of my Grade A Picasso Clownfish a while back, and hadn't heard of Clownfish really ever jumping.

Originally Posted by bruster9000

what bulbs are you using in these pics?

250w Pheonix 14k (DE)

I really like the look of them a lot. I may give the XM 20k (DE) a shot in the future just to see the difference though.

[Tswifty]

So I'm skimmerless again. I came back this morning to the Sicce Pump malfunctioning again. So I pulled it and am going to give it a 24hr Vinegar soak, then a thorough cleaning and see if it helps.

Since the skimmer isn't working, I won't be dosing Vodka today. I love these delightful little hiccups.

Keith offered to help me out and is sending me his extra Sicce pump to use until I can figure out what is wrong with my pump. Hopefully I can get this resolved soon, and don't regret going with lighting instead of a new skimmer.

[salali]

Hope you will fix your pump soon. Vinegar is a good idea.

for the light I am going with ATI SunPower T5 they are the best. I do not know if you have other suggestions. Your lights looks cool.

[Tswifty]

I really like the ATI fixtures, you won't be disappointed. There is a T5 Q&A thread somewhere, I would ask in there about bulb combinations.

I really like SunnyX's T5 lit tank. I believe he runs a 50/50 mix of ATI Blue Plus and ATI Aqua Blue Special. He's using a 7 bulb Aquatinics fixture, so he also throws a AquaScience 22k in there as well.

Here's his site:

http://www.rimlessreef.com/

[salali]

This is a good website. Appreciate your help man.

[Tswifty]

After the 24hr soak in the 100% vinegar solution, I was able to get the skimmer pump working again. I'm really confused to what the issue here may be. So to make sure I had all my bases covered, I also thoroughly cleaned the skimmer section... so now I'm sure nothing can clog the pump. Keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well.

[Tswifty]

Some pieces I am especially proud of right now. I nearly lost both of these. and they were almost completely bleached out at one point. However, their health, growth and color has been rapidly improving over the past 2 or 3 weeks. I'm attributing it to the Amino Acid dosing, because the most noticeable improvement came a week or so after I increased the weekly dosage.

[Tswifty]

Almost nighttime on the reef:

[kc350twin]

Hey T, What is you fish stock list? I scanned a bunch of pages and didn't see it.


Kc3

[klondike4001]

1 page back

Originally Posted by Tswifty

Here's my current fish list for anyone who was wondering:

4 Green Chromis
3 Bartlett Anthias
2 Yasha Hase White Ray Shrimpgobies
1 Eibli Mimic Tang
1 Bangaii Cardinal
1 Mystery Wrasse
1 Midas Blenny

[kc350twin]

Thanks. Yeah I started to skip a bunch, then straight to the end.

[kc350twin]

Duh. That's what I get for scanning. Thank you...

[Tswifty]

New Reflectors are here:

[Tswifty]

Before I can hang the pendants, I would like to get my hands on a PAR meter so I can get some current readings, and also check to see if 1 pendant will cover the tank adequately. The Lumen Max Elites are considerably larger than the PFO Mini Pendants, and from just holding one over the tank, it looks like it may be able to get the job done. Although the resulting PAR readings will be the true indicator.

Also, I need to see how it's recommended to hook up the reflectors to the PFO ballast, as the quick disconnects don't match up.

[IridescentLily]

Oh my. :-o. Look at your tank!
It's truly gorgeous. It looks like that algae is a thing of the past, you did it! :-)

[Tswifty]

Took some pics of my ORA Joe the Coral and ORA Red planet today. The Joe the Coral has been growing and coloring up a lot later. My Red Planet still sucks though, and just keeps on encrusting away.

[Taqpol]

That is a crazy amount of encrustation on the red planet. Mine has been growing a lot like that, but I think the encrusted part of mine is finally starting to throw up two-three new branches.

Also like you it was the first coral i had that started lightening up under the MB7/vodka dosing.

[Tswifty]

Originally Posted by IridescentLily

Oh my. :-o. Look at your tank!
It's truly gorgeous. It looks like that algae is a thing of the past, you did it! :-)

Thanks... it's getting there. It looks like I'm going through some cycles, as the death of one algae seems to bring on the birth of another. Hoepfully it'll be all cycled out soon.

Originally Posted by Taqpol

That is a crazy amount of encrustation on the red planet. Mine has been growing a lot like that, but I think the encrusted part of mine is finally starting to throw up two-three new branches.

Also like you it was the first coral i had that started lightening up under the MB7/vodka dosing.

Yeah hopefully it does something soon. It's about out of room to encrust and has almost wrapped completely around the piece of branch rock it's on. It's prob 3 or 4" in diameter if you unrolled it off the rock.

Mine is probably never going to have the green base. Where it's mounted in the tank will always be a high light area. So maybe if it ever decides to go vertical I'll be able to frag a piece and move some of it lower in the tank.

[eros]

Mine did the same thing for a long time but I recently started to get some vertical growth and it's looking good.

Originally Posted by Tswifty

Took some pics of my ORA Joe the Coral and ORA Red planet today. The Joe the Coral has been growing and coloring up a lot later. My Red Planet still sucks though, and just keeps on encrusting away.

[Tswifty]

This is off topic, but my buddy just got the new Call of Duty game for XBox360. I'm absolutely terrible, because I can't remember the last time I plaed video games. Anyway, my name is TSwifty8 on there. I don't know how you connect with people to play and stuff, but hit me up if you wanna play a match or two.

[C3gear]

I'll send you a request next time i'm on

[john90009]

hah my red planet does the same thing it encrusted over most the rock and its finding its way towards a pink lemonade. all differnt amount of flows and he never wants to shoot up- he makes stubs---- then encrusts more and more : /