Dustins reef bowl
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Dtackett
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lol just remember the basic rules and youll be fine. only challenge for me is growing zoas lol. i would start it, but not add any coral for the first week and monitor it for swings so you can get it all adjusted. once you've got it all adjusted to where it needs to be, then toss in all the coral you want.
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Dtackett
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bub, i grew montipora digitata under a cfl/t5 combo i made but i cant grow zoas to save my life lol ive tried a dozen times under different setups.
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Dtackett
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yeah it makes me mad too because theyre my favorite coral lol supposed to be so simple... not for me but if i can get them to open and stay open i can feed the crap out of them and hopefully that will keep them going and alive.
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Dtackett
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Killerflash
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This is pretty cool, following!
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Dtackett
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ok so somewhat of an update plus pics of the light I forgot to post.
I tested my salinity today at about 8 am and its still sitting at 1.025 so it is unchanged since Friday night when it was setup. so much for daily top off right. considering the size of the hole in my "lid" I was expecting to have to top it off every day, or every other day. the zoas are starting to open up a bit. theyre still adjusting from the t5 to led but theyre really starting to look good. anyone got an ID on them? I think they are Gorilla Nips.
ok so I meant to post these pics of the light the other day. this is the light from 21ledusa.com
https://www.21ledusa.com/aquarium_led_30w_actinic_blue_p/par30fs.htm
so far im highly impressed with the quality and color of this light. its one of the only par30 lights ive found that has a good spectrum, dimmable, and has a built in fan. the fan is very quiet and the light feels sturdy. I took one of the lenses off so you can see the leds. this is a true 35 watt par30.
I tested my salinity today at about 8 am and its still sitting at 1.025 so it is unchanged since Friday night when it was setup. so much for daily top off right. considering the size of the hole in my "lid" I was expecting to have to top it off every day, or every other day. the zoas are starting to open up a bit. theyre still adjusting from the t5 to led but theyre really starting to look good. anyone got an ID on them? I think they are Gorilla Nips.
ok so I meant to post these pics of the light the other day. this is the light from 21ledusa.com
https://www.21ledusa.com/aquarium_led_30w_actinic_blue_p/par30fs.htm
so far im highly impressed with the quality and color of this light. its one of the only par30 lights ive found that has a good spectrum, dimmable, and has a built in fan. the fan is very quiet and the light feels sturdy. I took one of the lenses off so you can see the leds. this is a true 35 watt par30.
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Dtackett
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direct from the website for the light
"2x Natural White HIGH CRI >85
2x 10,000k Cool White HIGH CRI >85
423- 423 nm UV Purple just at one peak of Chlorophyll A
445- 445 nm Royal Blue (the perfect viewing color) at the happy medium of Chlorophyll A and B
465- 465 nm Light Aqua Blue just at one peak of Chlorophyll B
So as you can see, this is everything your coral needs and everything your eyes want!
This will give you incredible Par ratings with 16 CREE LEDs. It can provide over 120 PAR at 24 inches below water surface."
"2x Natural White HIGH CRI >85
2x 10,000k Cool White HIGH CRI >85
423- 423 nm UV Purple just at one peak of Chlorophyll A
445- 445 nm Royal Blue (the perfect viewing color) at the happy medium of Chlorophyll A and B
465- 465 nm Light Aqua Blue just at one peak of Chlorophyll B
So as you can see, this is everything your coral needs and everything your eyes want!
This will give you incredible Par ratings with 16 CREE LEDs. It can provide over 120 PAR at 24 inches below water surface."
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Dtackett
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update.
so it was a full 5 days before I had to top off. it took about half a cup of water to bring salinity back down. not bad considering my lid sucks lol. should have my new lid this week depending on if the guy had time. I live in a small town and we only have 1 glass worker who does everything for the town. my lid isn't high priority so not sure when it will be finished. if its not done I will have to figure something out that will work better until he finishes it.
so here are the zoas. theyre doing really well in this tank. took a few days but theyre finally starting to open up nice and full. still not 100% but its getting there.
so I added more coral too. I got a Duncan frag at a good price and it opened up the next day. I just picked it up on Tuesday, Wednesday it was open, but today its stayed closed all day. I think its still acclimating to the leds from the t5.
I also picked up a small acro frag as a test. I haven't decided if its going to make it or not. its difficult to give the acro the light and flow it needs without burning the zoas or duncans. it hasn't opened yet, but it also hasn't lost any color or shown any browning or bleaching so im giving it some time. hopefully it opens up, if not I may trade it to a buddy from a hairy mushroom.
random shot I took.
so far im happy with how this is turning out. the temp is remaining pretty stable at 76-77 (I lowered room temp a bit to bring the tank temp down a degree) salinity is stable, this is the first time ive been able to keep zoas alive so maybe this is the perfect tank for me. I will be going back to my lfs on sunday and will probably pick up a new zoa frag or something else. im debating on getting something with a bit of movement. something like cloves, or xenia, or maybe some big zoas. not sure yet. ill have to see what they have. with such limited space I have to be pretty careful about what I put in there. cant have the coral irritating the other coral.
so it was a full 5 days before I had to top off. it took about half a cup of water to bring salinity back down. not bad considering my lid sucks lol. should have my new lid this week depending on if the guy had time. I live in a small town and we only have 1 glass worker who does everything for the town. my lid isn't high priority so not sure when it will be finished. if its not done I will have to figure something out that will work better until he finishes it.
so here are the zoas. theyre doing really well in this tank. took a few days but theyre finally starting to open up nice and full. still not 100% but its getting there.
so I added more coral too. I got a Duncan frag at a good price and it opened up the next day. I just picked it up on Tuesday, Wednesday it was open, but today its stayed closed all day. I think its still acclimating to the leds from the t5.
I also picked up a small acro frag as a test. I haven't decided if its going to make it or not. its difficult to give the acro the light and flow it needs without burning the zoas or duncans. it hasn't opened yet, but it also hasn't lost any color or shown any browning or bleaching so im giving it some time. hopefully it opens up, if not I may trade it to a buddy from a hairy mushroom.
random shot I took.
so far im happy with how this is turning out. the temp is remaining pretty stable at 76-77 (I lowered room temp a bit to bring the tank temp down a degree) salinity is stable, this is the first time ive been able to keep zoas alive so maybe this is the perfect tank for me. I will be going back to my lfs on sunday and will probably pick up a new zoa frag or something else. im debating on getting something with a bit of movement. something like cloves, or xenia, or maybe some big zoas. not sure yet. ill have to see what they have. with such limited space I have to be pretty careful about what I put in there. cant have the coral irritating the other coral.
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Dtackett
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so I did my water change yesterday (little over a week after I started) and the tank is great. I need to pickup a bettamag to clean the inside of the glass. I added another zoa frag but no pics. everything seems to be opening great except for the acro (pretty sure its not going to make it) and my duncans aren't opening fully. they open daily but stay short. any thoughts on why they are staying short? I will try for a pic tomorrow to see if we can figure it out. im looking at small pumps to provide more water flow but I gotta be careful about how much heat they produce, was thinking of doing something like a CLS using a small external pump at around 30-90gph but not sure if I want to do that or not. at that point its becoming more complicated than it needs to be and defeating the purpose of this simple, cheap, easy to maintain tank.
