obstinate.org

So I found some cool dudes on craigslist that wanted to do some trades. I traded some nice pink pulsing Xenia for a huge two-head purple-tipped green frogspawn, and a 4-headed green candy-cane and a few mushroom frags. The guy I met had a 20k 250w DE halide that he wasn’t going to ever use. I went ahead and installed it today. I am not sure that I like the look, with the actinic supplementation the tank is VERY VERY blue! I am going to leave it in for a few days and see how the color looks then.

Much to my delight and surprise the new halide lighting fixture that I ordered on Wednesday arrived yesterday. Last night I set it up on the mounts. It was only on for a few hours but WOW what an amazing difference. The unit has a great fit-and-finish and the 14k Metal Halide bulb looks fantastic with the true 192W of true atinic CF.

I will take some pictures in the next few days and post some before / after shots.

One of the big reasons that I waned this light was so I could house some clams. They are the best looking thing in reef tanks I think. After my system gets used to the additional light (I am expecting an algae bloom) I think I will pick one up.

I have had my current (192W CF 50/50) lighting fixture for about a year. I need to replace the bulbs. In looking into getting new bulbs I decided that I should just get a new, more powerful fixture. I selected a fixture with the following specs:

• 1x 250W Metal Halide 14k
• 2x 96W CF Actinic

I am thinking I am going to hang it from the celling with some wire. The fixture is not designed for this but I think I can rig it up to hang from the fan vents in the top. It also has standard mounting brackets which I may use.

Now with the Halide lighting I can keep things like Clams and SPS, which I could not keep with the CF alone.

Additionally, I am going to attempt to get my reef on real parameters. This means actually testing various settings and adjusting things based off it. I have a feeling that I have a few things awry. Some of my coral do GREAT and others do AWFUL, examples: My Torch, Bubble, an Xenia do GREAT. However, Zoonathids slowly whither and die, as do Gonaporia. Muchrooms do OK but don’t seem to grow as much as they should. I suspect a Phosphate or trace problem.  To put this into perspective, I have never tested. Like not even ONCE any parameter in my aquarium other than salinity.  I don’t do any dosing other than weekly 10% water changes with real saltwater from Catalina.

I am going to pick up a test kit at the LFS today so that I can hopefully get the problem(s) identified before the new light arrives in a few days.