Those lamps lose spectrum after 6-8 months, too, and not only do you get an immediate reaction then,
but you get an adverse reaction when you put in the new lamps. I think that's why people
replace perfectly good lamps before their time. Me personally, I'll chance it.
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You need to replace them every 6 months. If you don't your tank starts deteriorating, corals will be less happy and you'll start seeing more algea. Took me a long time to learn that one :-)
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My tank has decided to spring a leak. YAY!
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My lamps aren't even close to six months, so I'm good there. A guy can buy a lumen meter and save a fortune on bulbs, I really should get one. :-)
Sorry about the leak, Mark. I just did that not long ago. Sprung a leak three times before I gave up on that tank altogether. The last one was a monster. Water was shooting ten feet across the room. :-)
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everything will be moving into a 50 gallon tomorrow. Pictures during the process
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I sure don't envy you the chore. I have a great big red plastic stock tank that I can move all my stuff into now. It's a lot easier, for sure.
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got the light on top.

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four hours later and im done.

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I also moved my little maroon clown into this tank. My larger maroon clown was beating him up.
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Took me 2 hours to fall asleep last night...WHY? I'll tell you why. Woke up Sunday am and went to feed
the fish. Every story starts off this way, doesn't it. Anyway, my wavemaker came disconnected from the
glass and fell to the tank bottom where it spent the night blowing all the sand around. It looked like
winter wonderland, everything covered in sand. As I have said many times, why in the HELL did I start up
a tank again? It's because I forgot about stuff like this. Stuff like what to do when you leave for four days
or more. I had gotten so used to not worrying about that crap. After I paid off my truck, I was looking
forward to a year or so of money building up in the bank. I had stopped ordering cigars, I had no car note,
no fish tank, no cigarette habit. WTF happened?
Well it's easy. I went and got a tank.
Then I realized a little late what I was about to do. But hey, I could still put the tank in the closet. No harm no foul.
Then I ordered a light unit. Even then, I could have put it up in the closet. But NOOOoo. I had to order corals.
Then I had to get caught up in the online circus that is super selection, WYSIWYG and free shipping over 100 dollars.

All that crap and I need to get two tires on the front of the truck and until I do I am going to go slowly
crazy. I am not broke, just pissed. I should have thousands of dollars built up over the time I have been
out from under the car note. Instead, I have a new grill, a new fish tank, some Edicion Limitadas in bulk.
Need I freaking go on?
:-):-):-)
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Good story, Brad. I said it a little while ago, this fish tank is a great way to free myself of that cumbersome money. I think it's even better than cigars.
Every day is a new pain in the ass. I was looking at all the green stuff on my glass deciding whether to clean it again or just let it go. I'm honestly sick of messing with it. It even crossed my mind this weekend, for the first time in 14 years, to do away with it altogether.
I thought, "it's brand new stuff, I have a few thousand bucks in it, I should be able to get at least a hundred bucks for all of it. " :-)
Then I decided to just suffer on.
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Wow! You guys. I just spent close to $200 on new lamps for all my tanks. Once a year. Otherwise it's just food. Like I said before, I spend about four hours a week with my hands in the water but I could let it go natural for a few weeks and I would just end up with a lot more work to do later. Oh, and there's the electric bill.
Once the system gets stable it takes a lot to knock it out of balance. I don't attach anything on the inside of my tanks, I find a way to hang things like wavemakers. Still, a little sand all over everything just needs to be blown back off, maybe with the same wavemaker. Should be no damage.
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I remember when we all first realized our 5000 dollar computer was really a 2 thousand dollar computer
and that our 3000 dollar computer was really a 500 dollar computer. Same Deal.

As for the tank walls, I scrape the front only. I am combatting a flow (and thus a hair algae problem)
exacerbated by too much intense light per day. But I need to feed the fish when I leave the house at
6:30 am and I need time with them in the evening and turn it off at 6:30 pm, and I think that light,
coupled with too much coral food, coupled with flow issues led to the prob. Once I fixed the 'wave
maker that fell to earth' problem, I also fixed my flow issues while I was in there. So I should be good
for now. I love my tank, but like I said, I could stand to never have started it.
Ball and chain comes to mind, and it shouldn't.
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I remember thinking that before I made the decision to tear down my 125G.

Between the hours and hours of work per week on it, the increased electrical bill for all the goodies (chiller, MH & HO lighting, 2 large Iwaki pumps, etc), the normal reef tank issues like algae blooms, the cost of all the additives, and the minimal free time I had due to a new job, it only made sense in my case to get out of the hobby years ago.
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Brad, my problem is that I'm too insistant that it's perfect and crystal clear. If I'd just let it be, I'd be far better off.
It's a new tank and it's going to take time before it settles. I just added a bunch of new rock in January or February, too. I cured it for a couple weeks, but the deep die-back is going to take time to come out. That's where the water changes would help, and I don't change all that much.
If I did a 30 gallon (1/3) change, it'd help, I'm sure.
I just need to be patient and let it get settled in.
I'm finally happy with the way everything looks, so I can leave it be for awhile now. I'm going to give the glass a cleaning now and then let her be. Everything else is cleaned and in order, the brown algae is gone, and the green hair has slowed dramitically. I'm pleased with it's progress, for sure. :-)
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new baby I just picked up.
Now got to decide what color to stain it and lighting. Likely ging t5s
Already got a pair of chrysogasters my buddy has had at his shop for me for 1 year so those are my fish. No sump this time. After 2 water issus with a sump my wife has banned them from the home. Going to run 2 hang on skimmers. Will post progress picks. going to take a few weeks to move set up tank and move stuff.

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No idea how many gallons likely somewhere in the 40 range. Custom built tank and stand/ canopy.

24 x 24 x13 only 33ish gallons just going to run clowns and some Zoos and nems under t5s should be fine at only 13 inches deep.
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My nano is about half that and does fine with similar critters and cf lighting and a hang on skimmer.
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Well going to stain it tonight it appears. Wife picked the color she wants then threw me a curve. Apparently its going in the boys room. She wants more space in the living room. Look well atleast I am keeping a tank she wanted me to shut it down originally. Kind of excited.

Still debating white sandbed, black sandbed, or bare bottom. As others have experienced i have had issues with pumps and sandbeds. If I go sandbed its going to be very shallow.
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There is a type of "sand" that isnt super fine. Its about 1mm in diameter and it EXTREMELY east to care for. I love the stuff. Thats whats in my tank further up in on this page.
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Scott, this is how you ended up with my atlas for marine fish...:-)

I Did this couple of years ago (sold everyhing for peannuts), now I regret it, hang in there it will pass these ecosystems, they need you.
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