Looking for some old-timers who left and came back in to the hobby

Originally Posted by Dez

I left in 2004 and just got back in this summer. Moved in '04, had kids and never did set up a tank during that time until now. It took me a little bit of getting used to everything again. I had kept all of my old equipment from 5 years ago (surprisingly not much of it was outdated). I spent a couple of months researching (mostly posting questions on here) to see what was new. T5's are new, so I jumped on that bandwagon in combination with my existing halides. I never knew about the zeovit system until now - giving that system a shot. I guess Beckett skimmers are a bit outdated now (but I'm still using one) - Bubble King skimmers are the rage now. It seems that a lot more people are using 2 part dosing that I remember from back then. Herbie Overflows were new to me when I came back in. All in all, these new things are good and I'm soo glad to be back into the hobby and being broke again .

Welcome back to the hobby!

I go on a few different forums and there are alot of people still using Beckett skimmers and some people that have used them before upgrade to newer versions of them. I would not say they were realy out dated just not the rage right now.

Bill

[props]

Thank everyone!! I feel warm and tingly already!! =o) Nothing better than starting new. I'm heading out to JLs this weekend hoping to get more insight of the tank I'll be setting up and equipment needed. As for what corals to keep I haven't decided yet. It'll probably mainly softies/lps to start. And I want an pink anenemoemoene for my two daughters. =o)
I'll post more later.

Oh how are the Euroreef skimmers now a days ? or are the Bubble Kings the way to go ?

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by props

Thank everyone!! I feel warm and tingly already!! =o) Nothing better than starting new. I'm heading out to JLs this weekend hoping to get more insight of the tank I'll be setting up and equipment needed. As for what corals to keep I haven't decided yet. It'll probably mainly softies/lps to start. And I want an pink anenemoemoene for my two daughters. =o)
I'll post more later.

Oh how are the Euroreef skimmers now a days ? or are the Bubble Kings the way to go ?

Euroreefs still rock, unless you've won the lottery, then go with a BK

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by christyf5

Euroreefs still rock, unless you've won the lottery, then go with a BK

+1, if you have the money to spend then go with the bubble king but I love my Euroreef and for what I payed for it its more than worth it.
Levi

[StirCrazy]

hey welcome back, not much has changed, you still want MH for the best lighting, T5 HO (is no T5VHO) has replaced VHO and PC. (about 50% more output than a PC)

skimmer have gotten better, you can actualy spend 200ish and get a diecent skimmer for up to 100 gal tank.

the other stuff, just like anything else depends on the fad at the time.


Steve

[Canadian]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

hey welcome back, not much has changed, you still want MH for the best lighting, T5 HO (is no T5VHO) has replaced VHO and PC. (about 50% more output than a PC)

I know you like to say this but what is it based on? Your measurements of a Tek fixture in Safari way back when? For reference, I measured the PAR of my 6x24W ATI Sunpower fixture with 8 month old lamps in a 24x24x20 tank and found the following measurements:

At the surface: ~ 600-700 μmol m-2 s-1
Mid tank: ~ 400 μmol m-2 s-1
Bottom of the tank: ~ 200 μmol m-2 s-1

Please tell me how that supports the contention that "you still want MH for the best lighting" and the statement, "50% more output than a PC". From what I've seen of reported PAR values in numerous tanks, there are a lot of MH setups that would have a difficult time getting a PAR reading of 200 μmol m-2 s-1 20" below the surface (the old lamps notwithstanding). Also keep in mind these are values with fewer than 150W of light and mind the fact that shorter T5 lamps are known to produce considerably less PAR than longer lamps.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Canadian

I know you like to say this but what is it based on? Your measurements of a Tek fixture in Safari way back when? For reference, I measured the PAR of my 6x24W ATI Sunpower fixture with 8 month old lamps in a 24x24x20 tank and found the following measurements:

At the surface: ~ 600-700 μmol m-2 s-1
Mid tank: ~ 400 μmol m-2 s-1
Bottom of the tank: ~ 200 μmol m-2 s-1

.

your own measurments confirm it.. I had 600 with the cheep bulbs and 720 with my ABs at the bottom of a 24" deep tank plus 6" air so for a distance of 30" so at the bottom my MH were putting out over 3X what your lights are.

you don't need to get defencive of the T5's though as they do have a place, they replaced PC, VHO ect and do a exalent job of it and offer more color combanations which is great. but for the pure punch power you can't beat MH.

another problem that comes to light is the numbers the T5 people like to use to compare are old sanjay tests and such were the MH were tested with out reflectors. test your T5 with out reflectors and tell me what happens. the same thing happened when 150watt DE first came out on the market, which led to claimes of being better than 400 watt SE set ups. the 150 bulbs were being tested with optimum reflextors against numbers that werre derived from black box testing.

to show how much reflectors can skew things, there is now way I should have had a higher PAR level with my 250 watt SE AB's than 400 watt SE's but I never found a 400 that could beat mine. but that is cuze I used computer generated reflector patterens designed for office lighting and made my own reflectors out of 98% silvernickel plated material which is the highest you could get at that time. the 400 Iwasaki was on a home made pollished aluminum reflector.

I have so standoffs and a good T5 ballast so I will get some bulbs and if I get my MH this week I will do some "no reflector testing" just have to figure out how to eliminate the reflector in a 150 watt DE. I can do it in my garage so I can set up exact distances from the center of the bulb. heck I can even go longer distances if I want to see the drop off values. won't be till after christmas though.. going to be busy with a new puppy next weekend for a while.

how are you liking your new meter and which one did you end up getting?

Steve