This lol.

Hey man. I left and started another tank a few years ago as well. I tried some of the new stuff, but in the end my 70gal sps ended up with all the same old stuff I used before. 400w radiums, pm bullet 2 skimmer, maxijet powerheads on an old red sea wave maker. I'm happy with the old stuff because it's tried tested and true. So many new and elaborate "methods" for keeping corals but in the end the animals are still the same. Worked before, works now.

Have fun setting up a new tank! Let me know if u want any frags ;)

Hey Mase

How's it going dude?? Still work for Shaw by any chance?? I did find a couple of 250watt hqi ballasts earlier. Pair that up with two more 400watters and it should be enough to cover a 6-8' tank.

dont know why you need that much lighting for fish only???

they must be paying you too much! lol

Ahahahahah whats happening Shao?? Headend Dept. does pay me very well lol Only issue is I'm stuck in an air condition room full of servers and other equipment all day long. The only time I see the sun is to and from work.

Doing well. Yes I'm still at shaw. Are you? I guess I haven't seen u around the office lately. That kind of lighting is perfect for sps! Whatever happened to that awesome pink table acro I gave u back in the day? Still alive I hope.

I report at the Burnaby Headend office and work downtown. I still drop by VTOC from time to time. How's the work load now for the TFRs?
I can't remember who's got the colony now but I know I have fragged that coral a bit. Chin Lee, Christy, Jason MCK and another person in Vancouver whose name I cant remember should have or have had a frag of that table. I think I might have even given a frag to Jamie Cross.

How about some tank pictures dude?

on another note. the drive motor/propeller on my wave box broke this morning. Left it running all night and the propeller snapped off from its base. =o(

I always love showing off my tanks and talking saltwater. You're welcome to come by. I'm in south Surrey / Cloverdale area.

Kelly

That's cause most people have switched to LED lights. I had the same unit for sale last year and it took 3 months before it sold. I paid $1600 for that light when I bought it new and got $400 for it, which sad to say, I was happy just to have been able to sell it at all.

How do these led light system perform?? Do they provide enough light/spectrum to keep corals happy?? Growth comparisons to mh?? Longevity?? Price??

IMO led lights don't look very good. Too much weird spotlighting and different colours scattered throughout the tank. Looks unnatural. There really is no substitute for good old MH.

I'll put up a pic of my "old school" tank later.

I find the corals take awhile to adjust to led lights but once they do they seem quite happy and the growth rate is great. That being said though we didn't cheep out on the led lights and went for radions which IMO spreads the light similar to MH. Cheep led lights or not using enough units will cause weird spotting. Doug aka fishytime (my boyfriend) runs 4 radions over his 30" wide 7' long tank. They are expensive around $700 a unit. But they cut down on monthly power costs and the bulbs are good for 50 thousand hrs.

Some info
http://http://ecotechmarine.com/products/radion/radion-xr30w/

http://http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/1/review

http://www.mrsaltwatertank.com/radion/

Thanks for the link. Very informative. Weird I keep going back to TomR's lighting setup lol. $700 a unit is quite a lot, seems like I have to get rid of my all my toys just to get back into this hobby.
Drove by OA Wendell's shop and it looks like its been shut down for few months. Crappy! . Looks like BigAls has also closed their doors. =o( So where do you even get tanks now a days?

I drive by OA a couple months back. It's a print house now. Noticed there were some aquariums stored in the facility.

Hey Jesse, Ya lots of changes have taken place. I'm just getting back myself.
I know there is a good supply of frags at Rogers now, That's just around the corner from you isn't it?

Good to see you back.

J

Jesse, any old gear you have still works the same as it always did. While LED might save money on bulb replacement, MH is still a better light source for SPS. LED has a lot of advantages, but no point throwing away perfectly good gear that still works. Your tank was always awesome with what you had, so you'd likely see the same results using it again :)

Yeah he's close by I might drop by tomorrow afternoon and see if he can custom build a tank for me. What happened to the old tank Jason? I remember you getting into the Zeovit system, how did that work out for you??

I'll swing by JL during my lunch tomorrow, would like to see these LED units. My gut tells me to stick with the MH lighting. A little worried with all of these stores closing, will be tough to get some corals, supplies, etc.. Even Hidden Reef is closed!! Wth!!

Found an old pic. This was before I moved the tank into the garage.
http://members.shaw.ca/jcaramat/tank%20pic.jpg

Very nice tank set up.

Just so you know there is nothing wrong with MH they still work great, for us the cost of yearly bulb replacement and the monthly power savings it just made more sense to go LED. It is a big initial cost but (for us, we totalled up the costs) and after 3 years the light pays for itself.

Radions are expensive but IMO one of the best ones available. I have heard good things about maxpect razor led which is cheeper $400-500 but I haven't used one.

http://www.maxspect.com/index.php?op...d=20&Itemid=21

Had the chance to browse the Buy Sell forum and it looks like corals that were almost impossible to get are readily available now. Also descent prices!! Anyone got a picture of a Purple Monster colony?? I brought some in years ago and was able to give away a few frags. I wonder if they're still around.

What are the most sought after corals now?

Another thing does anyone still have this coral? http://www.canreef.com/ftotm/may06/pan056.jpg

Hmm, that's a bit big, no? :)

Reefermadness (Darryl) has a PM colony in his threads, not aware of any other colonies.
There are tons of new sought after corals, most of which were not around a few years ago.

Like??

My bad, that's the only pic I could find. Courtesy of Sumpfinfishe =o)

People help me find a tank while the wife and I are still on the same page. Looking for a 240+ gallon tank preferably with these dimensions 72"Lx30"Wx28"H.

Oh, dozens. Red Planet was popular, pink lemonade, strawberry shortcake, pearlberry, wolverine, many others. I just finally got a purple monster after 12 years of waiting :)

Tell Rich to resize those suckers, will ya?? lol

Nice! Here's a recent shot of mine.

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/1...jan2013278.jpg

Hey jesse ...long time... glad to hear ur looking at getting back into the hobby again... when ur ready bring some bags to my place and I'll give u frags of whatever u want...
D

Hey Dano!!! How you been dude?? Still riding your bike?? We should go out for a spin, I need to take the gixxer out. I'll take you up on that offer once I get a new tank setup. Will be getting rid of some toys that goes bang, if anyone is intestered pm me. =o)

Nice tank Mase. How big is the tank??

Thanks. It's a 68 or 70 gal (i hear it called both but i don't know). 36x18x24h. It looks better from far than close up lol. I decided when I started this tank that I would be as lazy as possible to prevent burnout and it's worked. My last big tank lasted about 2 years before I shut it down because i got tired of all the maintenance. This tank has been up over 4 years and thanks to my laziness I get to keep enjoying it without ever getting tired. I break a lot of reefkeeping rules with this one. I call the tank "Survival of the Fittest."

A 240gal+ would be impressive. If I had a tank that big I'd keep a stingray with sps. I think you may have to special order a tank like that. Big Al's maybe? Now call Island Pets or something.

Anyone got any spare salt buckets you don't need anymore?? Looking for some donations please. I may have found my new tank, will find out in a couple of weeks. Just need buckets for preparations for things to come.
Thanks

Anyone know where I can buy some RO/DI water locally?? I have an RO unit on order but not sure if it'll be here by next week.
Need to premix 30-40gallon.

As soon as i read the title of this thread i HAD to read it. I've had the salt itch for awhile now......Its been a few years and to be honest i'm scared to jump back in. I started a 30 gallon cichlid tank for the kidlets thinking it may lessen the urges for salt. Total opposite though. What worries me though is i'd HAVE to go bigger than last time because of the ideas i have for the landscaping and thats not a good thing because the last tank was kind of a beast. Go big or go home right? LOL. Its cool to see that so many of you guys are still in it....last i heard a lot of people got out of it.

if you can figure out how to transport it, i usually have a rubbermaid garbage can full of RO ready to go... but i'm in north bby...

I have an ro/di set up & can run some for you, although its supposed to be 100gpd, I think it takes about 5 hrs for 5 gals, lol. Maybe I have the restrictor too low. No spare buckets though :(

I am somewhat committed on a 150gallon acrylic tank. But today took some toys out to the shooting range and I think I want more toys that go Bang. Then I logged on here, look at a couple of pictures and if someone buys all my toys I'd be happy to have a tank instead. Then I thought about the maintenance, setup cost, headaches, time spent looking for corals, etc and I don't want anymore tanks. lol
I have talked to a few people who has left the hobby and they're quite happy. I really like the idea of taking a holiday and not worrying a tank.
-sigh-