KrazyKuch's & Michika's 180Gal Tank Build - Page 17

michika · #**161** 06-23-2008, 04:11 PM

UPS tells me my lighting packages should arrive to me by the end of the week. I got out our Workhorse ballasts so they are in easy reach. Now we just need the package to show up.

I also adjusted our lights, since I'm out later and later now due to sports we've move the MH schedule to 12pm-8pm. How should I adjust this schedule once we have the T5s online? I'm hoping for maybe a total of 12 or 14 hours of light, but I'm not sure if that is appropriate for my SPS. I've never run T5s before. Lighting will be 2x 250w MH, 8x 24w T5s.

Can I run my MH for 6-8 hours and then my T5s for the rest of the time? Is this going to be too much light?

I'm hoping for something along the lines of:
9am-12pm T5s
12pm-8pm MH
8pm- 11pm T5s

Yesterday we were at the Calgary Zoo for a Behind the Scenes with the Giraffes. The stingray exhibit still isn't open. We headed to the butterfly conservatory, and then had to head home. I would love to spend a whole day there, but the good days for us to go, aren't so good for Kevin job-wise.

We fed two of the four giraffes at the zoo, Mardi and her son George. The other two didn't come over to see us while we were there.

Mardi

George

A random photo from inside the aviary where the butterfly conservatory is housed.

Parker · #**162** 06-23-2008, 04:53 PM

I'm sorry to have passed my bad luck as of late to you!

Delphinus · #**163** 06-23-2008, 04:59 PM

I've always just kept my lighting to a max of 12 hours. In the tropics it's more or less a steady 12 hours year-round, I'm sure there is some seasonal fluctuation but to me it just seems "better" that if you have a, say, "summer peak" of 14 hours daylight that you should correspondingly have a "winter peak" of 10 hours. Have I any studies to back up my opinion? None whatsoever! Just a subjective opinion on my part. I avoid the issue altogether by saying "Ok, my tanks are exactly on the equator and have 12 hours daylight total year-round."

I run my lights from 10:30 to 22:30. I've often thought about shifting this a little later for the sake of being able to see my tanks longer in the evening since I'm usually up to 12 or 1 anyhow but for me it's just easier to coincide the tank lights with real daylight. (For example on days where I don't work then it becomes weird that I can't see the tanks before noon. But also light comes in through the windows and stuff so daylight will always be brighter than non-daylight no matter what I have the timers set at, so might as well set them close to the real thing and just deal with it...)

michika · #**164** 06-23-2008, 05:30 PM

Well some good news today is that everything is still alive and pretty!

I like how you think Tony!

Der_Iron_Chef · #**165** 06-23-2008, 06:10 PM

FWIW, I lived 6 degrees from the equator, and it was daylight for 12 hours (7:30-ish to 7:30-ish) every day of the year!

I run my lighting from 11-11...with an hour of lights out from 3:30-4:30 in the afternoon.

Delphinus · #**166** 06-23-2008, 06:15 PM

You're living your life totally upside-down compared to me. I want to retire away from Calgary and live 6 degrees from the equator (I'll even be happy with 7!!), not first live there and then retire to Calgary.

Interesting idea about the lights off for an hour. What's your reckoning behind that one, a storm? Just a break for things to keep things from overheating? (All of the above? / Insert other reasons here? / etc.?)

michika · #**167** 06-23-2008, 06:29 PM

I'm really curious too!

I shut my lights off a couple times a month early, or just don't turn them on at all. I do it to simulate darker days, and it seemed to have a response in my little 24g cube. I hope it works as well here in the 180g.

Der_Iron_Chef · #**168** 06-23-2008, 07:06 PM

Hah! 6 degrees from the equator is WAY too hot and humid for me to permanently settle down. Heck, last night in Calgary was way too hot for me. *sigh*

I followed a thread on Zeovit.com where several people gave their systems an hour of dark during the day to disrupt the photosynthetic cycle of the algaes growing in their tanks (this will be in ridiculous layman's terms, but apparently photosynthesis begins after so much time in light, and by turning the lights off, you're re-starting that process...or something). I thought it was interesting, so I did it. Why not?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus

You're living your life totally upside-down compared to me. I want to retire away from Calgary and live 6 degrees from the equator (I'll even be happy with 7!!), not first live there and then retire to Calgary.

Interesting idea about the lights off for an hour. What's your reckoning behind that one, a storm? Just a break for things to keep things from overheating? (All of the above? / Insert other reasons here? / etc.?)

michika · #**169** 06-23-2008, 07:28 PM

Nice idea! I think I may want to do something like that when my T5s arrive.

So the tank has been running since May 11th, technically its had water in it since then. We have been topping up, but have not yet performed a water change. I try not to do a water change in the first month of setting up a new tank or transfering new livestock from one system to another. It just seems to help things along better. I do however change the water sooner if the chemistry tells me to.

Anyways so these are my pre water change numbers for today. I'm guessing that the total water volume right now is 200g.
Temp 79
SG 1.025
pH 8.1
Nitrate 35! Thursday was 19
Ca 345, Thursday was 400
dKH 6 Thursday was 8
Mg 1260, 1280 on Thursday

I've adjusted the kalk. reactor by adjusting the mixing pump and re-filling it with kalk. powder. I feel kind of dumb because I'm still on auto pilot and dosed the levels I used to do for my 28g long.

Ca reactor is going online ASAP. I'll dose with a powder when I do the water change while we wait for the reactor's plumbing glue to dry. Mg is okay, a few points lower then I want, so I will probably dose for it as well.

Off to do the tanks first water change! I have 55g of water to swap out!

michika · #**170** 06-24-2008, 04:50 PM

Something is wrong in my tank.

The lights just came on and my imperator angel is dead. Crabs haven't gotten to it yet, so it was a recent death. No cutes, sores, or wounds on the corpse. Imperator ate yesterday, and everything was normal. What should i be looking at to try and determine a COD? I could already see some of the colours fading when I pulled it out.

Ozonizer should be here any day now, and I hope that day is sooner then later. I'm not adding any more fish to this system until its here and running. I'm seriously debating not adding anymore fish at all until I've passed the 6 month mark with the ones I have. Maybe just some additional clean up crew members.