MadReefer

I totally understand and I hope you can find it local.

It's on sale for $45. And they guarantee it for 30 days. http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=747+2662+2753&pcatid=2753 But hopefully you can find it local.

That would be nice but there is not room for any more lighting. If I had more money to spend I would have built my own canopy and done a 150/250 MH with a couple of T5s. The moon lights are bright and at night, when all light is off in the room, I can see very well into the tank. When other lights are on in the room, I can see pretty good everything in the tank.

Okay, I'll cut the time down to 6 hours to start? or 5? Final timing for 9 hours? Would it be good to add just half an hour a week? The first 3.5 hours was no change in temp over the PC fixture. But I am watching that close as well.

I just bought an odyssea 250 watt hqi light to replace a 96 watt PC light on my 20 gallon. It came with a 15,000K bulb. This is my first MH. I changed lights in the afternoon and then I ran the MH for 3.5 hours yesterday and everything seemed to like it. There are LEDs but no other lights on the tank now. I have heard that these ballasts are under powered. I was thinking about running the light for 7 hours and then adding a half hour every few days until I was up to 10-11 hours. I was just going to watch it very close, but I would really appreciate any suggestions on timing. Thanks.

40b is not very deep and there is a lot of room to work with. I would use 6-8 39watt T5s.

Long post. I like your style of reef keeping. =)

I don't see the pic. I've always wanted some of these. Here are some nice looking ones for $250- http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+8&ddid=54777

No one else has comments? Am I destined to fail? Do you like or dislike what I have going?

As long as I don't know if I get to keep my tanks, I don't want to trade. But I could sell a few polyps for a few bucks if you want to pick them up. If you want me to drop them off, it's a few bucks more and I have no idea when I'll be up your way next.

You could cover the bucket with wood. That is, if you are afraid of the ghetto look. This is my fish room, so few see it. But at my old place it was in my front room, I don't give a s***. It helps keep my fish and corals happy. My whole setup wreaks of cheapness in this world of expensive toys,, but I love all the life I am able to keep alive and happy.

I like the new tank. Nice work.

Simply, the mangroves are a nutrient export, like a algae filter. But they don't function the same. Chaeto takes out nutrients faster and easier than mangroves. That is why most say mangroves are just for the look. But my look is getto most would say; I'm fine with that. I find that mangroves like dirtier water than most give them, and they want more light than most want to give them, so most people don't have any luck with mangroves,, but I really like them. They surely take out nutrients. I just put all my skimmate for over a week from my sixty into my forty and the mangrove are most likely the thing taking that out of the water. But sure, they have help from the chaeto in the fuge.

I have a lot of news. First off I have a new bulb in my 29 gallon. It is a 10,000K so it looks a bit different. I added a new lighting system to my 20 gallon. It is a cheap ebay MH that most would say is worthless, but I find it to be worth it so far. It is a 250watt with moon lights. Mainly I felt that my clams needed more light. I moved my duncan. Maybe someone can tell me what to look for as an early sign of coral bleaching as I break in the new light. My 60 gallon is still doing great. My yellow eyed kole tang has fattened up some. Although it seems afraid of me and I don't know why. I bring the food. For the 40 gallon, I have been adding skimmate to give it excess nutrients for a quicker cycle. The mangroves that are attached seemed to have liked this a lot and have gone a darker green. I did have some hair algae growing but then with a few snails added it is gone. There is still not much in it.

Would this work for you? http://ballastwise.com/item.asp?PID=129&FID=17&level=1

I like Aqua Serene 2836 W 11th Ave

Really nice tank! I like the macro, as well as all the diversity, in the display. I also don't think hermits are needed.

Thanks for the info. I am considering setting up a system to raise the fry and to raise all the food for the fry, but for now I am just curious.

Okay, so they could lay eggs in a week or a year. Would it help to isolate them from other fish? Right now there is a cardinal in there that likes to hang out by the xenia and the female always chases it away.

And then the raise in alk and cal would stabilize pH higher.

I realize the calcium reactor will drop pH, otherwise it would not work, but I thought that the low pH should not reach the display. I know my refugiums would take that CO2.

I don't push my tanks that hard, although I think they hit 8.4 from time to time. Maybe a calcium reactor is needed. Anyway, someone else will have the answer.