40 gal w/sump

[Just_Greg]

but this doesnt explain why TWO fish have jumped???

i was simply pointing out that even fish one would never expect to jump can, and do jump, much less a "known" jumper.

[KYLE.801]

Some new pics...  The birdsnest has grown a ton in the last little bit you can compare it to the picture on the 18th page of this topic.



Some amor of gods, I couldnt really get a good pic of them.



This is my wrasse, he is very entertaining to watch

[Bergy]

oh, i can see the new growth... and definatly a purple birds nest... that will just get nicer and nicer as it fills out


and yup,   aogs are one of the nicer lookin zoas

[KYLE.801]

Well tonight was the first time that I messed around with the tank for sometime....  Besides regular maintenance, I  really haven't done much.  I was following a thread on my local forum and saw a guy who put a 250 watt metal halide over his sump(maybe too much??) I cant remember how big the sump but its pretty big and the display tank is 120 gal.  Way sweet so it got me thinking about the light I have on my sump which is just a little dinky thing. 

I know you dont need anything major just enough light for your macro to grow.....I remembered I had that extra 175 watt metal halide ballast and bulbs so tonight I rigged it up over my sump and took the pos light out.  I'd have to say it was pretty fun rigging it all up and took me probably and hour and a half.  Right now I have a 14k bulb which is what I have in my display tank.  I really like how much more light there is now over the sump.  Not only that but if I need to do any work on anything in the stand this light makes it so much easier to see everything!! anyways thought id share.

Tonight Ill be keeping my eye on temp but the sump light comes on when the display light goes off so I shouldnt notice too much of a change but we'll see!

 I hope everyone is doing well!

[Bergy]

i think temp will be the b iggest issue

but other then that, i would prefer jsut the bare minimum for lighting.. i like the critters that come out in the dark/shade...


you might also see bigger pH swings too with bigger lighting.. hmmm.  i wonder about that???

part of me says yea, but part says it shoudnt matter...  daytime is daytime...

isnt it?

[psykokid]

well, if he has it on a reverse light cycle it should help keep the ph more in check , especially if you have macro algae in there. Get a warmer kelvin bulb (6500 K or 10000K) and you will get better growth of your macro. I had a common cool white strip light over my sump forever, macro would never grow. I got a cheapie 18W power compact yellow as all hell bulb and my macro has taken off.. I have the cheapie macro fuge light on a reverse light cycle and I kept that strip light to light up under the tank when i need more light than the fuge light gives off.

[KYLE.801]

The light I had before wasnt producing much growth out of the algae.  Ill definitely take your advise and get a hold of a 6500k or 10000k bulb.  And the only difference I notice was the temp did go up 1 degree. 

Another topic a few days ago I realized I hadnt seen my peppermint shrimp for awhile I even dropped a few fish food pellets during the night and nothing so I was pretty sure he was a goner.  I probably had him for 9-10 months and I heard generally they dont live past a year not sure but anyways I didnt worry too much about it.  I saw some aiptasia growing so I got the pep that I had left in my nano and put him in my 40 gal and he ate the aiptasia that I saw which is great!! but guess what?! yep I cant find him now and that was only last night that I put him in my 40 gal.  I checked parameters and everything is good except calcium is low and so is alkalinity at 9 which still isnt too bad and not sure if it would effect the shrimp or not...

I thought maybe it just didnt acclimate but with these peps I really didnt have any problems with them acclimating and the one I put in my 40 gal yesterday Ive only had for 4-5 months.  Maybe something ate him?  I read that wrasses will go after shrimp but I never saw my wrasse show any interest in them at all. 

Ill just have to try another one in a few weeks when the aiptasia starts coming back I guess.  It just sucks not knowing what did it in but I know that happens with this hobby.....

[psykokid]

I usually get 6 ghost shrimp from the LFS when i go as feeders for my leaf fish. He usually gets about half of the net. What he doesnt catch my sixline, my flame hawk and my clown hunt down..  Nothing gets wasted. So yes, in short a wrasse will munch the hell out of some shrimp if given the opportunity..

[KYLE.801]

Wow I really am terrible and keeping this updated with pics.  All my sps is doing great and my montipora is growing back from whatever happened a few months ago.  For some reason higher end zoas dont really do to good in my tank but everything else is doing great.   I know I always say this but im committing myself to get some pics up by this weekend. 

I still only have one little talbot damsel.  Ive thought about adding more fish since it has been quite awhile since everything else died off from ich.  If I have time this weekend im going to go to the hardware store and buy some mesh or something that I can use to cover my tank cause I'd like to get a firefish and a wrasse again. 

[Learner]

You changed your name!!! wondered who was posting in your place...lol

More fish? it'll be nice to see some pic's of what you get.
Pleased all is well in your tank.

[KYLE.801]

hahaha Kylej didnt really make any sense since technically it should be J Kyle since I go by my middle name. 

I still havent decided about adding more fish.  I'd def like to see some more life in my tank fish wise so I'll probably start putting some more in within the next few weeks but I got to make sure I get a screen for the top or have the back of the canopy sealed off nice with some sort of mesh. 

[KYLE.801]

Feeling pretty good about things.  I got some temporary mesh up on the back of my canopy.  Last week a guy was taking down his tank and letting things go for way cheap and I got a firefish from him for 5 bucks!  Then this week my lfs was having a sale so I picked up a banggai cardinal fish for 9 bucks today.  I also ordered a Reefkeeper lite off ebay for 109.00.  Oh and I replaced my mh bulb today, it was a year old which is wayyyyy to old. The new bulb made such a huge difference.  I wasnt expecting it, my tank looks so much brighter now.  Ive changed my timer for the mh bulb for acclimation.  This week ill have it set for 4 hours/day and slowly go up from there. 

[psykokid]

sounds good, no post some new photos. :)

[KYLE.801]

[Learner]

Nice pic's Kyle, the cardinal is nice.
 
Is that a hermit in the 2nd picture? Or am I having a Verrry blonde moment.

;0)