SC Aquariums 50 gallon PNP

[Philipgonzales3]

I feel ya.

Yeah if it was between tearing down the reef and letting the Royal Gramma die, I hate to say it, but I would have said cya to the Gramma! Lol.

 

[Why-Me]

@DiscGolfRob
If you don't live in arizona, texas, new mexico, california, florida get a heater appropriately sized for your aquarium. His likely works undersized because it barely needs to turn on and when it does it's only a degree change.
With winter or fall/spring anywhere else in the country you will need a sufficient heater.
I bought 2 150 watt Eheim Jager for my 50 cube.
Instead of switching/cycling back and forth between both heaters like some do; I'm just going to use one fulltime and the other in there as backup in case the fulltime one fails.

 

[Hemmdog]

@DiscGolfRob
If you don't live in arizona, texas, new mexico, california, florida get a heater appropriately sized for your aquarium. His likely works undersized because it barely needs to turn on and when it does it's only a degree change.
With winter or fall/spring anywhere else in the country you will need a sufficient heater.
I bought 2 150 watt Eheim Jager for my 50 cube.
Instead of switching/cycling back and forth between both heaters like some do; I'm just going to use one fulltime and the other in there as backup in case the fulltime one fails.

+1 even in these warm places it still drops at night. I had major heating difficulty this past winter in my condo we are in now, to many sliding glass doors, it gets super cold and quickly. I wonder how much better my tank would be doing if I would of gone finnex/ranco from the start. My neotherm was trash. I’d have massive temp swings, 74-79 in a matter of hours. I was running 300w neotherm(trash), 150w jager(decent), and had to also put a 200w jager in the display just to keep it stable at night. Things will be better this winter with a over powered titanium finnex (with no temp control) & ranco.

 

[DiscGolfRob]

@DiscGolfRob
If you don't live in arizona, texas, new mexico, california, florida get a heater appropriately sized for your aquarium. His likely works undersized because it barely needs to turn on and when it does it's only a degree change.
With winter or fall/spring anywhere else in the country you will need a sufficient heater.
I bought 2 150 watt Eheim Jager for my 50 cube.
Instead of switching/cycling back and forth between both heaters like some do; I'm just going to use one fulltime and the other in there as backup in case the fulltime one fails.

+1 even in these warm places it still drops at night. I had major heating difficulty this past winter in my condo we are in now, to many sliding glass doors, it gets super cold and quickly. I wonder how much better my tank would be doing if I would of gone finnex/ranco from the start. My neotherm was trash. I’d have massive temp swings, 74-79 in a matter of hours. I was running 300w neotherm(trash), 150w jager(decent), and had to also put a 200w jager in the display just to keep it stable at night. Things will be better this winter with a over powered titanium finnex (with no temp control) & ranco.

Perfect! This is exactly where my thinking was at, and this provides me with the confidence I was looking for. Thank you both!

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Water test Wednesday Results! Phosphate reading of 0 is a little concerning but I'll retest tomorrow. I think it may have been a fluke due to the water being a little cloudy with selcon and what not. Bunch of reef pics to come soon. Stay tuned folks!

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Ok ladies and gents, just a few pics. Sorry I only took a couple. On thus glorious day my tank is 4 months and 29 days old. I've had lots of ups and down, trials, tribulations, and triumphs..oh wait mostly only ups and triumphs but you guys get the point. This has been an awesome ride. Fingers crossed for more smooth sailing! Or should I say reefing?

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Also my LFS has a Swalesi basslet in stock. They said they had it for about 2 months and it's been eating well and is healthy.

What do you think @Why-Me @Hemmdog @Sod Buster?

Should I add it to the reef?

 

[Hemmdog]

Also my LFS has a Swalesi basslet in stock. They said they had it for about 2 months and it's been eating well and is healthy.

What do you think @Why-Me @Hemmdog @Sod Buster?

Should I add it to the reef?

Yea just don’t expect to see it much. They hide 99% of the time.

 

[Hemmdog]

Ok ladies and gents, just a few pics. Sorry I only took a couple. On thus glorious day my tank is 4 months and 29 days old. I've had lots of ups and down, trials, tribulations, and triumphs..oh wait mostly only ups and triumphs but you guys get the point. This has been an awesome ride. Fingers crossed for more smooth sailing! Or should I say reefing?

Wow!

 

[Why-Me]

I'd ask @eatbreakfast or someone with knowledge first because I believe the royal gramma is considered a basslet and two basslets in that 50 cube probably isn't a good idea?

 

[Philipgonzales3]

I'd ask @eatbreakfast or someone with knowledge first because I believe the royal gramma is considered a basslet and two basslets in that 50 cube probably isn't a good idea?

I already asked and he said that it SHOULD be OK with my stock list. No guarantees of course though.

 

[Why-Me]

Sweet
Go for it.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

Sweet
Go for it.

This was his exact reply. I asked about Swalesi basslet or Chalk Basslet with my current stock list and provided my tank info and what not. The second part was a reference to someone else's questions.

Either of those SHOULS work, though the gramma may chase them away from his cave.

They won't school or shoal. Each one will claim its own little territory. Any number will work between 1-8.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

My grow light showed up. Man oh man I have no idea how to hang this thing.


It did come with a hanging kit.



Can I just leave it on the front like this lol? I'm honestly not very confident in my abilities to hang this thing safely.



Maybe I need to drill holes through my stand and hang a rod going horizontally? Lol all my ideas seem very sketchy.

 

[mattzang]

lol well you can go the ghetto route like i did.. i just bought a shower curtain thing from homedepot, extended it in the cabinet and it's surprisingly sturdy. then just hung my fuge light from that

 

[Why-Me]

eyelet screws??

 

[Philipgonzales3]

lol well you can go the ghetto route like i did.. i just bought a shower curtain thing from homedepot, extended it in the cabinet and it's surprisingly sturdy. then just hung my fuge light from that

My that sounds easy. It was on the list of sketchy ideas I had. I'd be afraid it would fall though.

 

[Philipgonzales3]

eyelet screws??

Yeah maybe. Not sure where to screw them in at though.

 

[mattzang]

My that sounds easy. It was on the list of sketchy ideas I had. I'd be afraid it would fall though.

i was too, but i actually tried to remove it and i couldn't lol. pretty sure as long as the stand doesn't fall apart around it, it's good to go.

that said, i stumbled upon a gooseneck socket for par38 bulbs on amazon and that's probably the route i'd go now. between that giant light and a clip on fan in my sump, that thing is a super mess now

 

[Sod Buster]

You can pick up a chunk of black eggcrate, cut it size and set that on the sump, set the light on that.