120 gallon journal - picture Feb 27

[kwirky]

Almost a month since the last update, so I figured I'd do a quick run-over of all the stuff in the past month.

I lost that elegance. Albert said he lost all his in the store too. Was kind of a bummer.

I cut back the photoperiod of my T5 10k bulbs. I run the aquablue +'s for 12 hours, and the 10000k's for 6 hours. The softies and the branching euphillia have reacted well to it. Pink coraline's starting to show up. I don't know if increasing the photoperiod of the 10k's would bring in deeper and darker coraline, or if it would just bleach it.

I want more liverock, and I think that'll be the next major thing I get for the tank, along with either a blenny or a goby.

The two adolescent cinnamon clowns are out of quarantine, and in the display tank for their second day. They're timid, as expected to be, and being weened off of Spectrum Grow to mysis shrimp because I can't feed the tiny sinking pellets in the reef tank. Man fish go crazy for that new life spectrum. Too bad it dissapears in the rockwork before the fish can eat it : \

I've been having an algae problem again. Weird, super soft wavy algae growing on the glass of the tank. I think it's because of the trouble I was having with my skimmer. Solved the skimmer problem by removing the sponge bubble catcher. It was affecting the dialing of the skimmer, causing the collection cup to overflow suddenly 10 hours after I'd dial in the skimmer.

Found a hitchiker crab in the liverock that looks like the emerald crabs, behaves like the emerald crabs, yet green. I've watched him a fair bit, and he keeps to himself, just picking at invisible stuff on the rock. Innocent until proven guilty. I'll leave him alone unless he keeps growing (2" across already).

Nobody's had interest in buying the 150W HQI light, so I think I'm going to keep it until I have the chance to start up a second reef tank.

I've been humming and hawing over starting a second tank, but I keep telling myself "NO! concentrate on the one you have! any money spent on another tank is money lost for stuff like dosing pumps, etc!" I really want an array of dosing pumps after X-Mas

I've been trying to figure out a way to convert my 33 gallon freshwater tank to another reef tank WITHOUT buying anything much more. I have two 33 gallon long tanks, one in display shape, one good for a sump. I also have a DE 150W PFO HQI light needing a reflector/socket. Great light, but not for something 3 feet long.

Anyone know of a SUPER cheap way to light a small tank? I was thinking of supplementing it with a single 96W PC light, but that would be like another $140. And I still need a reflector and bulb clips for the tank. Anyone have a good source for DE bulb clips? They're like $10 in the states, but $20 up here. I was thinking of making the reflector by butchering a worklight or two for theirs. We have some extras in the garage.