5 week old 54 gallon new setup/ web pics

[coopersx]

This tank is 5 weeks old. The rock cycled in 6 days. I am finished adding to it for now. The rock on the top was added a few days ago and was already cured but looks white. The ligting is underpowered for the depth and size of this tank but may suffice untill I upgrade. I hope to have good coraline algae growth in 6 mo-1yr...hopefully sooner. I'll have to wait and see. Here are pics I took after it cycled through a severe 2 week Diatom bloom. The rock was dark rust brown and now the diatom has allmost died off on its own....I'll have to see if my recent water change causes it to come back. Anyway I took these pics before the next cycle of red or green algae appears. I sure hope not.
Take care, Wayne
http://www.wayne-cooper.com/photo_gallery24.htm

 

[jdragunas]

how much lighting do you have in the tank? I like the way you have your LR setup. It cycled pretty quickly too! How big is your tang? I'd watch out for the tang police...

 

[fishieness]

i love the lr set up!
....*sniff**sniff*wait... you smell that? its the tang police headed by snipe with his little yellow tang in a hat and badge. hahaha
looks great though

 

[coopersx]

The lighting is minisclue...2- 65 watt power compacts. It is the Current USA Orbit power compact. 1 daylight and 1 actinic blue. The invertabrates are high on the tank. The tang is the smallest the store had and I purchased him and the 5 turbo snails as soon as the diatom bloom appeared. It only took 48 hrs for the rock and glass to turn dark brown. I did not add anything to the tank after the outbreak (except fish food) and now 2 weeks later it is gone. I replaced 3 gallons of water yesterday so I will need to see if that is the cause of the Diatom. It also could have been the substrate that I had just added about the same time. The tank cycled for 3 weeks with just fish and no substrate. I really had no intention of getting a tang until the diatom (although the Tang may not feed on diatom) The rock has a good 5 " or so of swiiming room behind it with plenty of room up front but will have to see wait and see how fast this thing grows. The stomach was severly pinched at time of purchase but he is in good shape now. I clip a piece of seewead on the glass each day for him. If the invertabrates die I will stick to my original plan. FOWLR and try my best to get good Coraline algae growth on the rock. The tang is pretty big but was sold as "small" by the dealer...they had larger.
Take Care, Wayne

 

[coopersx]

Almost forgot . The cycleing was a shock for me. It made me think there was nothing on the rock alive...therefore nothing to die off The dealer had 5 tanks full of rock and I picked out the most porous pieces (lighter and cheaper) and they were pretty clean and all had some coraline on them. Scrubbed them in salt water mix then placed in the tank ...no substrate. If you could have seen this tank one week ago. Even the substrate was brown. It turned white on its own. I cleaned the Glass yesetrday, vacumed the substrate and then a small water change.
Take care, Wayne

 

[jdragunas]

my only concern is your anemone. They need about 4 watts per gallon of lighting. With an actinic light, that means you're only running 65 watts during the day, which is only a little over 1 watt per gallon. The anemone looks pretty washed out. I'd keep an eye on him.

 

[fishieness]

an anenome needs more than 4 watts per gallon. Except a tube anenome. $ watts per gallon of metal halid would be good, but may not be suitibale with only 4 watts per gallon of PC. But you dont even have that....
Why would the actinic not count as how much light he has? They still have PAR and LUX.

 

[jdragunas]

If i'm not mistaken, the actinic are only on in the morning and evening, right? or are they on all day?

 

[mikegray]

on about a hour before daylight bulbs and on Throughout the day. but usually are on 1 hour longer than daylights... so there on all day.. usually.

 

[fishieness]

yeah... actinics are on all day, but are only on by themselves a bit before and a bit after your 10000k lights. However, i have the jebo lighting and it only has one switch for both lights and one plug too. So i jsut run both all the time and everything doesnt seem to mind

 

[jdragunas]

Ohhhh... you see, i don't have the power compact yet. Just the crappy lighting that came with the tank, with the best available bulbs for it. I was told that you turn on the actinic for an hour, then turn on the 10,000K all day, but you turn off the actinic while the 10000k are on.... Hmmm, seems i've been misinformed!!! Grrrr . lol! I'll get to the bottom of this!!!
I'm planning on getting jebo, but the one i was looking at had 2 timers, and 3 power cords. It's 4X65 watts, and has the lunar lights too. I can't wait to get it, cause then i can finally get some anemone's and corals and whatnot!

<---- this guy's crazy...

 

[fishieness]

haha it is quite all right. since you dont have the pc and any corals to go with it, no harm was done right?

 

[jdragunas]

right-o!

- i've decided to put this guy in every one of my posts... makes it interesting!

 

[fishieness]

you found a jebo with 3 powercords and two timers?!! Are they the jebo or the odyssea? The odyssea's are pretty much the same thing, jsut jebo's new name.
i have the 36 inch odyssea 2X96 watts

 

[jdragunas]

Ummm... It said it was a Jebo Odyssea... It was on that great auction site. I searched for "48 power compact" and it came up. I just searched for it again, and it was not there anymore, but i did find an Orbit Sunpaq 48" 4X65 w/ lunar lights, 3 cords and 2 switches. It's a lot more pricey than the Jebo/odyssea i saw (not sure which one it was).

 

[jdragunas]

It was odyssea... They were auctioning it for $49.99! I lost tho...

 

[cmiles]

i bought a jebo 4x 65 260 watts total with lunar lights last night on that great auction site and i believe it said that it has 3 power cords. what exactly are the lunar lights for though. i am new to this is my first upgrade, i want to use them correctly when i get them.
by the way i have a 55 gallon

 

[coopersx]

Hi all. Sorry I missed these posts. I was told that the blue actinic is counted in the total wattage per gallon...Though I have also been told what you state...65 watt of full spectrum only = about 1 watt per gallon.The Condylatic Anemone was totally white with no color in its tips at the time of purchase. It appeared to be the healthiest in the tank though the others were more colorfull. his was the one I purchased.
After placing in my tank he has stayed at the bottom of the tank for almost 3 weeks and has moved towards the top just yesterday. I am suprised it stayed down so long. His tips have started to turn a lime green shortly after purchase. All Tenticles are still in excellent condition and appear healthy. I am unsure what to look for as far as the washed out coloring goes or the implications this may have towards it health. His footing looks a consistant healthy pink all the way around. Ohter then the slight green tips the tenticles are still as white as the the time of purchase. I am unsure how long these things will last under such conditions. I am suprised it stayed at the bottom of the tank for so long. (3weeks old now) Now that he has moved away from the substrate he has replaced the rock that my cleaner shrimp was living in. I am worried the cleaner shrimp may one day become lunch. I hope it is smart enough to stay away.
Sincerly, Wayne

 

[jacknjill]

your anenome looks very bleached

 

[coopersx]

Hi all. Sorry I missed these posts. I was told that the blue actinic is counted in the total wattage per gallon...Though I have also been told what you state...65 watt of full spectrum only = about 1 watt per gallon.The Condylatic Anemone was totally white with no color in its tips at the time of purchase. It appeared to be the healthiest in the tank though the others were more colorfull. his was the one I purchased.
After placing in my tank he has stayed at the bottom of the tank for almost 3 weeks and has moved towards the top just yesterday. I am suprised it stayed down so long. His tips have started to turn a lime green shortly after purchase. All Tenticles are still in excellent condition and appear healthy. I am unsure what to look for as far as the washed out coloring goes or the implications this may have towards it health. His footing looks a consistant healthy pink all the way around. Ohter then the slight green tips the tenticles are still as white as the the time of purchase. I am unsure how long these things will last under such conditions. I am suprised it stayed at the bottom of the tank for so long. (3weeks old now) Now that he has moved away from the substrate he has replaced the rock that my cleaner shrimp was living in. I am worried the cleaner shrimp may one day become lunch. I hope it is smart enough to stay away.
Sincerly, Wayne