plack

Later on if it gets too low and you decide to add salt. PLEASE do this very slowly daily bump it up .02 or less or you will harm things. :-) Paul

I am glad is is doing well and yes an 8 bulb T-5 will be much better. Very good light upgrade !! It may turn brown and that will be great !! :-) Paul

How about scroll coral ! By the way your reef lighting is also considered low light! I looked at a thread were you have in the picture is the white anenome you show still alive as anenome's need lots of light!! I sent you a link for you to scroll through ! Not trying to put you down But I want the anenome to live !! I started with a sebay 5 years ago and I still have it !! Enjoy :-) Paul

Reminds me of STN . I have had happen after adding to much kalk/buffer causing an alk spike. I just fragged dipped in iodine and remounted in less light and it grew back in some cases. Sorry to see that unfortunately on such a nice coral good luck. :-) Paul

Reefing is sompthing we love and hard to give a rational for otherwise I feel !! Corserning the economy--after a new presidential candidates first year things could suddenly look good. Consider the stock market where fears and rumors of disasters drive the market WORSE than if the disaster actually happened and the full price calculated and dealt with at the time the product was sold !! If you look for doom you can get to the y2K /911 conspiracy end of the spectrum where you wonder why civilization has not blown itself up !!! Not to get too religious But I believe god is in control and I try to choose to try to think posative even though I have depression !! I am in an occupation dealing with aerospace type work- so my job outlook seems bleak if viewed that way yet it seems to be going ok maybe even picking up non-boeing speed !! :-) Paul

I love the action shot's. You always hear about it, but I have never gotten to see it in person. These are some of the best photo's of chemical warefare I have see yet !! Nice photo Job !! :-) Paul

I'm Glad to hear all is well ! Your first post said "Also have had a few frags brown out on me" Thats why I thought as I did ! I also have a clown gony that may end up in another nano some day for similar reasons ( bit's the tips off--but then they start to grow where he bit them so far .) :-) Paul

Ok so I am new here but as I read this thread it occured to me that it could just be light shock from changing from t-5's to halides as everything was fine until.... IF !!! thats the case then any healthy but un attractive brown acro's may change color in a few months and you may not be able to do anything about it at all. Time will tell that !!! :-) Paul

As far as T-5 Vrs Halides I can tell you that it does make a difference on the top of the tank not so much on the bottom !! I used a meter and measured Vho actinic's new T-5's New and old and various Halides. The thing that surprised me was near the bottom of a tank say beyond 18" T-5's Lost less intensity and stayed more consistent even when they got old. Now halides near the top portion are significantly brighter IF they are DE and say 10K. I have 3 250 DE and 2 VHO on my 180 AGA. I may swap the vho over to t-5 some day but for now it's good, just takes more electricity. You could go for a Wave 2k or a tunze wave box! If your buget allows it ? :-) Paul

HI, I am 44 and have been a reefer for almost 5 years. It Started by getting a sebay ( I still have it !) and a moroon clown (Ditto!). I then learned they needed more light than a P.C. And now have had a standard 180 AGA with all the reactors and filters. It took me a while to used to making my salt match reef levels without prec. But I feel I've got most things down for the most part and Made most of the common mistakes. I'm not saying I can't learn anything Just that I feel very well rounded in the basics. My reef is allot of small 2-3" sps a few colonies and about 8 fish: Here are picture's from a year ago before a few equipment malfunctions and terribly Dificult Family situations caused allot of it to STN and I did not bother to frag it off as I was unable to take care of it for a few weeks due to family. Things are slowly turning back and things that were just staying there and not growing are now growing !! :-) Paul

I have had one SE 10K Reeflux on a hamilton magnetic Probe start ballast with no issues for 6 months. I also Have got one DE 10 K Reeflux and one 20K coralvue non-reeflux on pfo hqi ballasts no problems. I take it you have tried a spare buld to see if it fires for a week solidly ? I bought some wierd brand off e-bay once. It lasted 2 weeks then it stopped firing constantly. Verry Irritating- But this hoby is not easy or cheap and if youve been in it for a few years you 'll notice no-one is free of problems long term. It seems sompthing's always happening to someone somewhere regardless of experience levels!! Good luck :-) Paul