Nurse Smarty Pants' 30 gallon cube

[ufotofu]

Nice setup so far! You're right, X! That light is just about the same thing as my Outer Orbit - just packaged differently. Mine is working great so far! Looks like everything is coming together nicely. Are you two going to put any true corals in there? Clam(s)? The ricordea looks nice under those lights! I've been trying to find some, but I can't find any around here at a reasonable price.

I've thought about an SCWD on my tank, but I didn't know if they really worked (and lasted) ar not. Be interesting to see what results you get outta this one here.

Nice start, Nurse/X!

 

[mr_X]

thanks! yeah, i'm beginning to like her tank as much as mine.
the scwd device works well, but i don't know how it works after months of salt water runs through it. i imagine, since it's black, that algae will have a tough time growing in it's mechanics.
i chose the scwd because i need to utilize the space inside the tank sparingly, and i don't need powerheads in there, cluttering up things. it's not drilled, so we have an overflow, and an aqua-c hanging on the back already, and the 2 locline returns. it's crowded already.

as for corals, she doesn't like sps much. she does want a clam though, so we'll get one a few months down the line.
perhapse a pocilapora or a Seriatopora too 8)

 

[mr_X]

super duper, pro aquatic, bad to the bone, marine hydroponic, refugium lighting fixture has been implemented. :wink:
5.95 for the fixture and about the same for the 65k energy saver bulb. :lol:

i can't seem to get that remora to stop returning micro bubbles. the instructions said "it's normal for it to return bubbles for a couple weeks" and it's been a couple weeks.
i emailed aqua c, and they said it could be that the new tank is too clean for the skimmer- this sounds alittle funny to me, but, what do i know.... :?
NSP contributed the idea of using a filter sponge at the return. we did this , and it helped. however, aqua c stated that this might lead to overflowing the skimmer if it clogs. i wonder if weekly, even daily cleanings would eliminate this threat.
oh, i almost forgot- NSP's firefish couldn't stand the emotional pain of the new enviornment and decided to jump to his demise.

 

[mr_X]

NSP's new, and quite amusing addition to the cube- "Beeker" the yellow headed pearly jawfish.
he's had to photograph as of yet...i had to use the zoom from practically across the room. 8O

 

[mr_X]

and a tank shot- this is with 30 pounds of live rock. She will be adding another 12 pounds.
(and the pearly jawfish was haRd to photograph, not had :roll: )

 

[NurseSmartyPants]

Alas, my poor jawfish couldn't stay away from the overflow. Found him in the sump once, the overflow another time but when he swam into the overflow the second time, he wasn't so lucky. I found him dead, stuck to the filter. We had to get something to replace him and ended up with a psychadelic mandarin. Yes, I know the tank is new, but we've been dosing it with pods daily. Mr X came up with the idea to hatch and add baby brine shrimp to the water and plans to do the same with copepods. There's about 40 pounds of live rock in the tank, so we're hoping that the copepod population will grow such that the tank alone is able to support this fish's feedings in a few months. The mandarin looks like its doing fine so far but we'll have to wait for Mr X to bring over his camera to post pics.

 

[mr_X]

:wink:

we also cured the aqua c remora's micro bubble issue with a "prefilter box" sold to us by aqua c directly. it's a bit large for that small tank, but it's better than a zillion bubbles.

 

[mr_X]

nothing new except i broke down and ordered a XM 15k bulb from hellolights for 65 bucks shipped. will post pics as soon as it gets delivered.

all her zoos were not multiplying, instead they were just stretching upwards, appearing to be starving for light. their bases, or trunks, or stems...or whatever, are about an inch long 8O . i also bought her a T. Crocea for 24 bucks :wink: , and i didn't want to subject the little guy to that hoopty 3-5k bulb that came with her fixture :? , so he sits on my sandbed waiting patiently for his new home to be ready

 

[jgatmaitan]

Yeah, looks like the zoos were deprived on lighting. Just be careful when you switch the new light. Just watch out that you don't burn the zoos with the new light. Consider placing them low in the tank initially if any of them are high in the tank.

I've had some recent frag purchase where I placed the zoos up in my tank too soon and I think the lights were too much. This wasn't an issue when I had all VHOs but now that I have t5's, I've had a couple of frags just melt and disappear.

 

[mr_X]

thanks bro! hey...any frags ready yet?

 

[Bojangles]

Tank is lookin good. I like the aquascape for a cube! Did you really use calk on the sump? I guess i never thought about that, always just assumed it was toxic heh.

 

[mr_X]

thanks! it was marine caulk. no worries once it's dry :wink:

 

[mr_X]

a small update:
first we were quite tired of the yellow halide, so i ordered a Xm 15000k bulb from hellolights to replace it. i took some pics before and after to show the difference.
in hindsight, i think i would have been happier with the 10k bulb. i think the 15k is way too blue.
that aqua c remora is still putting microbubbles in the tank, and making it next to impossible to capture any decent shots. i was able to shot some of the corals closer to the glass, but the ones a few inches away came out terrible. i am going to order a custom sump and toss that remora down there. it takes up too much space with that prefilter box anyway. IMO that purchase was a mistake.

 

[mr_X]

now for the 15k-

 

[mr_X]

more-

 

[mr_X]

with the old lighting-

 

[mr_X]

i also opened up her ballast to check if there was any hints to who the manufacturer was. has anyone seen a ballast that looks like this before?

 

[mr_X]

and last but not least, she got a new zoo rock and birds nest frag from a local reefkeeper (thanks Jiggs!)
unfortunately i couldn't get a decent shot of the birds nest(which is doing well so far), but here is the zoo rock. some frag huh!

 

[bleedingthought]

I like the blue look much better! (But the PAR you lose with the 15k XM compared to the 10k is nothing to joke about!!!!)

Looking really good! 8)

 

[mr_X]

I like the blue look much better! (But the PAR you lose with the 15k XM compared to the 10k is nothing to joke about!!!!)

Looking really good! 8)

do you think the PAR was higher on that 2500k yellow bulb?