Slim profile lighting suggestions needed - Page 3

muck · #21 10-19-2005, 05:37 AM

wow Sam that looks sweeeeeettt!!!
Now we just need a pic of it on the tank..

Samw · #22 10-19-2005, 05:42 AM

Thanks guys. Hey Muck. Over the summer, I lost some clams and SPS. The fish, zoos, softies, anemones, shrimps, snails, crabs etc are still going strong. However, my tank doesn't seem to look as good as it once did. So, I'm going to restock some SPS and clams and then take a tank pic.

I'll keep my old lighting system too so I can take comparison pics in the future.

Next upgrade is an overhead refugium that I'm trying to plumb into the tank tank. It'll provide my system with 24/7 photoperiod which should keep my PH stable rather than fluctuating between 7.7 and 8.5 throughout the day and keep my O2 stable instead of fluctuating between 40%-130% saturation throughout the day/night.

Samw · #23 12-18-2005, 07:31 PM

OK, finally some pictures.

First, I've recently serviced my DO meter probe and so I was able to measure oxygen levels again in my 38G tank. As before, I found that when my halides are on, my DO is about 120%. If I shut off both the lights and Millenium venturi, 3 hours later, it drops to 37% (When I turn on my venturi at MED flow, the DO would go up to about 56%). However, in my similarly stocked 3.5G nano with PC lights and AquaC Remora, DO is 90% all the time. I think the difference is that 1 is heavily aerated while the other one isn't. PH is affected by CO2 http://www.kernsite.com/uwp/modules/pH/pH.htm so I think the low DO and wild PH swings in my tank was a main reason why I couldn't keep Acros.

I can't wait to run a good skimmer on my 38G again. I've had nothing but problems ever since I took out my Remora. I've stopped skimming for about year or more (skimmers are too noisy for my bedroom) and my tank has suffered. Things will stablize for sure once I plumb in my in-cabinet sump and start aerating and skimming properly again. In the meanwhile, leaving at least 1 MH lamp on 24/7 in my 38G has stablized the DO to at least 90% 24/7 and my Acros seem to be doing much better than before. I'll see how it goes once I'm skimming properly again and take more DO measurements.

Here are lighting comparison pics. I really don't like the MH-only look. I'm hoping to add PC supplementation again.

[2x150W DE IceCap 10K]

[250W SE AB 10K plus 55W 9325K]