Yikes! I guess I better raise mine up. I've been thinking they are much too close at 6" lol

18" from the bulb, not the glass of the fixture. 15" from the actual fixture.
Do you have a heat problem at 6"?

Rarely, maybe once or twice a year will my APEX shut the lights down because the tank gets to warm. It has to be above 27/28c outside for a few consecutive days before the basement starts to warm up to the level that the lights push the tank over the edge.

I was more concerned with bleaching and such.. I'm running 2 IC 10k's and 1 IC 14k

I don't have much for SPS in this tank, mostly LPS and softies. Several of the fish like to sample SPS polyps so I moved them to the 90g. The SPS did do well under these lights though. I read somewhere that 12" is a good rule of thumb for 400W halides over a 24" tank, depending of course on the bulb and the corals.

I have a 30" deep tank, with the halides at 6" above the water surface I can grow SPS on the sand, they actually do better down there. If I were to raise the lighting about 12" I should be able to grow SPS effectively down to about 15" below the water surface or right about where the tops of my lower piles of rock work sits, which gives me the bottom half of the rock work for lower light coral.

Thoughts? I guess it doesn't hurt to try it out.

Yeah, I think if you were to raise them up some you would have good intensity for SPS from the middle of the tank up and could keep lower-light corals on the bottom.

I hope you know that if it doesn't go well I'll be looking for a scape goat....

It'll be ok; besides I live a long way away. hehe.

Been a pretty busy summer this year and I just realized tonight that I haven't done any water testing for 9 weeks! :eek:

The results?



............drum roll please.............














(225g) Ca: 420 Alk: 9dKH Mg: 1330
(90g) Ca: 425 Alk: 8dKH Mg: 1320

Damn near perfect numbers! Sometimes I really love this hobby :biggrin: On the other hand if it's so damn easy why aren't I having to prune the corals every day?

Yeah I was just thinking tonight while I was staring at some pieces with poor PE (never happens) that I should check params. Been a month or more for me...

parameters?.......whats a parameter???:mrgreen:

This October marks my 4th full year in SW, and I just realized I have six fish that have been with me since day one. Huh! PJ Cardinal, Coral Beauty, Foxface, SF Tang, Yellow Watchman Goby, and an Ocellaris Clown. While the Tang and Foxface have moved to the bigger tank the other four are still in their original 90g home.

I'd like to hear other longevity stories from yous guys. I'm sure there are some of you who have been in the hobby a lot longer than me with some fishy friends who are downright ancient.

Comgrats Lance on your 4 year milestone. that is awesome that you still have fish youve had from the beginning. I have a regal tang that Ive had since 2004 and a royal gramma since 2006. Sadly a couple of years ago my other my long term fish, scopas tang (2002) and powder blue tang (2008) were wiped out in my uv bulb incident. I also lost a melanuruus wrasse that I had had since 2007 from popeye last year, :( damn this post was sadder than i intended, sorry.

I hear you. Sorry to bring up sad memories. "Old Purple" really is getting up there isn't he? I remember reading a post awhile back where Doug has/had a Clownfish for a long time. Can't remember how many years but I was impressed. I want to hear about other senior citizen fish. I know Marie has a couple of old timers. Maybe I'll start a thread on it.

Yeah you should :biggrin: I love hearing success stories like that. Its also neat to see "aged" fish

(Bad News; Good News; More Bad News; Some more Good News; and some more Bad News) :sad:



I haven't been on here in nearly a month due to health issues: I was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery on Oct. 17th. The surgery went well but unfortunately they found more tumours, which were scraped and sent off for analysis. After three weeks of waiting, the results just came in: Tumours are non-invasive. I am now officially cancer free! :whoo:
I am still several weeks away from going back to work, but ahead of schedule on the Old "mend-o-meter".

Not nearly as serious, but never-the-less disturbing, is how badly the tanks suffered while I was gone. The 90g was hit the worst: the pumps running the GFO reactor and the skimmer packed it in at some point. Combined with no skimmer or GFO, the tank was badly overfed and the nitrates and phosphates went through the roof. Algae and red slime kinda went wild and Aiptasia boomed with all the excess nutrients. Yesterday I showed my wife how to do a large water change and I got the skimmer and reactor back on line. Also went on an Aiptasia hunt and the tank is looking better now. Unfortunately most of my SPS did not survive. :cry:
The big tank fared better. After a large water change the nitrates and phosphates are back to acceptable levels.
All-in-all, it's been a pretty shitty month but I still feel like one hell of a lucky bastard!

Holy hell Lance, sorry to hear, hopefully you make a full recovery, going thru the whole cancer thing with the mother inlaw right now, things don't look too good for her though, I am off again just had surgery on my elbow but if you need 1 good hand with anything give me a call, best of luck to ya.

Sorry to hear about the mother in-law Dave. :sad: Keeping my fingers crossed for her.
That elbow is sure causing you grief eh? Second surgery now?
Thanks for the offer, but we're ok. Joan makes a great reefer. (When I'm standing over her giving directions that is.) :mrgreen:

No only one surgery, couldn't work the way it was but it is feeling much better now, still be a few months before I'm back to work though. Give me a call when your ready to restock your corals I have some stuff to part with.

That's great news lance we've both been thinking of you hoping things would turn out ok! Tank shmank we know you can fix that up no prob ;) welcome back bro!

Yikes, roller coaster. Here's hoping things continue an upward trend. Good luck!

Cancer is so awful (step dad has it and has made it past the 5 month mark when the doctors thought he'd only live a few weeks maybe months) so glad to hear your recovering and cancer free. I'm sure your tank will perk up in no time and look good again :biggrin:

That's quite the ride you went on Lance, I'm very happy to hear you're Cancer free. Hope your recovery is speedy.

Jeebus Lance!! Thats scary! Glad to hear you're doing ok! The tanks will rebound with time I'm sure (mine always seem to and I've put them through a lot!). I've got tons of SPS ready for you whenever you are if you need/want them (although I'm sure Marie can get you stocked up as well :wink:).

Thanks everyone.
This might be a good time to do a major overhaul with this tank. I'm thinking once I'm up and about again I will take out most of the rock, remove what nasties there are and re-scape it.

well I got the impression that you were a feisty bugger.....if anyone could beat it you would.....glad to hear both you and the tanks are on the up swing....and really happy your back here:biggrin:

OMG, I skip a few threads and you had CANCER!!!

Glad things are looking up for both you & Dave. Hopefully 2012 will be a better year. One thing about health scares is that it helps put things in perspective.

Cheers guys.

Anthony

Oh My Lance! I stumbled upon this and was like what the heck, I am so glad all is well now...what a shock. Glad you are back now as everyone has been so low key around here. That is a lie...actually it has been boring. :surprise:
We need you back on Canreef adding all your wisdom and expertise. :wink:

Haha! Just spat some coffee on my computer screen when I read this one.
Thanks Leah for your little white lies. :mrgreen:

Thanks Anthony.
Yeah 2011 kinda sucked. I've been poked, prodded, sliced & diced more in the last 6 months then in my entire life. Never spent a day in hospital before this. This ordeal certainly has made me appreciate friends and family.

Little video of my humongous nem. (click on the pic)


http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/o...h_MVI_2616.jpg

Nice nem Lance. I've been busy and away and such and havnt been on here much and it appears I've missed out on alot. Glad to hear your alright now and you know of course that anything I have you are more than welcome to have a frag of. God know I owe you a frag or 2 by now ;)

That thing has some serious reach Lance... great job growing that badass so big!

I never thought I'd see this day: I have become bored with two reef tanks! Time for a drastic change I think.

Ever since my bout with the "big C" and my being laid up, the 90g really suffered and I lost most of the SPS. Now that I'm healthy again, I've got the tank back on track but I seem to lack the interest to stock up the SPS again. I find I'm enjoying the 225g with it's big fish and big LPS. So, I think I need a change with this tank. Keep the 225g as is and do something else with the 90.

Any suggestions?

I've even contemplated converting it to freshwater and going with discus or SA or CA cichlids. Holy Crap! I can't believe I just said that. :redface:

Wth Lance, first Marie now you! Next thing you know I'll be filling the 750 with goldfish! Must be something in the water around here.

I was thinking about editing your post so you didn't actually just say that! :razz:

Yea, I saw Marie's thread yesterday. I was actually going to post this two weeks ago but I thought I should give it a little more time in case I changed my mind.



It's kinda like swearing isn't it?

LOL, it is like swearing. After 5 minutes of Discus you know you'd be wanting to go back to saltwater anyways :razz:

I think theres more than a few of us that are feeling the need for change. I'm just too lazy to do it and like you, have no idea what I want to change to. I'll probably just buy a new fish and call it a day :razz:

That's just it. I'll always have the big tank, I just don't know what I want with this tank.

Fill it with clowns and nems, always entertaining.