400 gallon project

[Delphinus]

Dropping to 6 hours a day though is ... well, I don't know. I've seen those suggestions before too, but to me the problem is .. I'll never see my tank during the daytime hours then, except for maybe on weekends. It's not really something that appeals to me, don't know how others feel on the subject though, maybe I'm alone on this

Short of throwing the daytime cycle so far off the regular daytime at least .. I guess that's an option but then the problem is sunlight from the windows will interfere with your "daytime."

Maybe just enough white lights to give aesthetic appeal but not the most intense for the actual photosynthesis.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Dropping to 6 hours a day though is ... well, I don't know. I've seen those suggestions before too, but to me the problem is .. I'll never see my tank during the daytime hours then, except for maybe on weekends. It's not really something that appeals to me, don't know how others feel on the subject though, maybe I'm alone on this

Short of throwing the daytime cycle so far off the regular daytime at least .. I guess that's an option but then the problem is sunlight from the windows will interfere with your "daytime."

Maybe just enough white lights to give aesthetic appeal but not the most intense for the actual photosynthesis.

When I lived in Florida, I knew many people who run their tanks at night because of heat in the day. They would have lights on around 5-6pm and off in the middle of the night.

For me, I have my lights on at 3pm to 9pm. There certainly is a decent amount of light from windows on the tank before 3pm and it allows me to view the fish nicely.

I work from home though, so 6 hours is more than enough time for me to view the tank. My fiance enjoys the tank too and usually gets home around 6, so she also gets a good 3 hours of lights on.

Certainly not for everyone. Just thought it was worth mentioning since bulb life is also an issue.

Just in case anyone wants to read:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1582958

And the TOTM that convinced me to try a shorter photoperiod. He talks about how too much light causes coral growth to slow and color to fade.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-01/totm/index.php

[untamed]

If you are one of those who check the video camera frequently, you've probably noticed that Nick (the Lookdown) isn't in the tank anymore.

It was time for him to move on. He had become so large that he was taking runs at the smaller fish and it was only a matter time before he inhaled one. That would have been fine with me, except that I am completely dependent on the gobies to keep the sand bed under control. I can't live without the gobies, so Nick had to go.

Since he will NOT swim under any rockwork, he was quite easy to catch. I simply spooked him in the direction of the trap and Chris dropped the trap door. Total time...maybe 3 minutes. He wasn't very happy and let us know with a few loud grunts.

JL has agreed to sell him on my behalf. I do hope he finds a good home. He deserves it. He lived in the tank for about 1 year. If you have an aggressive fish-only tank, I would highly recommend these fish.

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by untamed

If you are one of those who check the video camera frequently, you've probably noticed that Nick (the Lookdown) isn't in the tank anymore.

Funny you should mention that.. I was just watching it about 15 mins ago...

Sorry to hear about Nick.. but if it's for the benefit of the tank, I guess it's just something that needs to be done.

[reeferious]

saw that specimen at j@l, absolutely splendid looking like a slab of pure silver.

[untamed]

With little fanfare, the tank had it's 2nd anniversary recently. Unfortunately, it seems that I've spent more time lately hauling OUT giant pieces of dead/dying coral than anything else.

I look back and it really doesn't feel like the tank has progressed anywhere for over 6 months now. Every tank parameter that I can check seems fine and I've even made progress on raising my average pH considerably. The mystery is that some coral continues to do very well, while others just stop all growing and decline slowly. Without growth, any damaged area on the coral eventually spreads and the coral dies. Flesh between polyps thins and dies and the very last part to go is actually the individual polyps themselves.

I'm experimenting with various dips. Since some of the coral is thriving, I'm pretty sure now that there isn't anything with water conditions that I can improve.

So...I'm really in the process of removing every coral that isn't healthy and just ditching it. This has resulted in removal some colonies that I have had for 10 years or more.

Meanwhile, the fish are quite happy and continue to grow. If you've skipped all the blah..blah so far, here are some fish pictures!

"Freckles" is just plain huge!


"Ripple" has finally turned into a real Atlantic BLUE tang and is now significantly larger than the Achilles Tang.


"Lance" has also grown considerably and is now probably the 2nd largest fish in the tank.
(spots you might notice are algae on the glass in front of him)


"Moe" Getting more fancy every day, although somebody shortened his bottom tail streamer recently...

[marie]

I had the same problem with my corals last year, and coincidentally it was right at the 20th month to 2yr mark.
The only thing I could think of was the inteceptor treatment I did but I will probably never know for sure

[JDigital]

What type of tang is "Lance"?

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by untamed

With little fanfare, the tank had it's 2nd anniversary recently.

"Freckles" is just plain huge!


"Ripple" has finally turned into a real Atlantic BLUE tang and is now significantly larger than the Achilles Tang.


"Lance" has also grown considerably and is now probably the 2nd largest fish in the tank.
(spots you might notice are algae on the glass in front of him)


"Moe" Getting more fancy every day, although somebody shortened his bottom tail streamer recently...

Congratulations on the anniversary! Awesome pictures, thanks for sharing.

[untamed]

I just like this photo. I suppose it would have been better if the feeding clips weren't there, but cropping them out seem to ruin the shot.