400 gallon project

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Glad to hear you figured it out!


There is a big thread on RC about how quickly PAR levels drop off and with what bulbs. I think it was pretty much determined that the biggest drop was after a few months and then the next year was pretty minimal.

I would have to go back and read (too lazy) but in the first 3 months, most bulbs dropped to like 70% and then a year later were around 65%. Or somewhere around those numbers anyways. One guy tested for 1.5 years and was still at 60% of the original output and stayed there until the burned out.

[untamed]

Originally Posted by JDigital

So what are you thinking Brad... every 9 months for replacement bulbs now? maybe even 6?

What is your lighting schedule like?

Originally Posted by fkshiu

Brad and the other purchasers of the PAR meter will be keeping a close eye on our PAR levels over time to determine how quickly PAR levels drop off. It will probably vary somewhat depending on bulb and ballast combos.

I sure hope I don't need to replace those bulbs every 6 months...they cost $600 a set! Based on this past experience, I'm guessing that my current situation will result in new bulbs every 10 months. The PAR meter will help, but I'll also be a bit wiser than before about recognizing the symptoms.

My lighting cycle is such that the bulbs are running 9 hrs per day. Just this moment, I realize that I increased the lighting hours/day in the 2nd year of the tank. That might explain why my first bulbs seem to make it to 1 year without problem, while this set didn't...I ran this set 11% longer.

[sohal tang]

INcredible set up....

May I ask what depth you went for your sand bed and what type of substrate you used?


Thanks,

Tim

[untamed]

Originally Posted by sohal tang

INcredible set up....

May I ask what depth you went for your sand bed and what type of substrate you used?


Thanks,

Tim

The sand bed is intended to be decorative and is only 1" to 2" deep. It is crushed coral that came from Florida and is the substrate that naturally surrounds the live rock in that area.

[ALBERTA REEF]

Love the bar beside the tank. Nice tought.

[untamed]

When I returned from two weeks holiday, the tank had moved in a few ways.

1) Things got too hot (hitting 85 degrees F a few times). It turns out this was primarily because someone accidently shut off my ventilation fan. That won't happen again.

2) Salinity got a bit lower than I would prefer...measuring 1.020 when I got back.

Overall, I lost another 3 or 4 coral colonies...and browned out a few others. One of the gobies hasn't yet been seen, but that isn't entirely unusual. We'll see.

So...some rapid salinity adjustment, a water change, and getting the fan turned back on seems to have returned the tank to as normal as normal has been for the past while.

Here's the interesting part...the events seem to have triggered a massive spawning. My urchins spawned last night and.... for the first time in 12 years, my carpet anemone spawned at the same time. This turned the tank so milky you could barely see into it and I was very concerned that the tank couldn't take it. By next morning, all was fine aside from a slight unusual smell and a LOT of skimate.

While spawning, the anemone changes shape distinctly....stretching itself as high as possible and forming a "cup" shape. It seems my anemone is a male...or..it was this time.

[Snappy]

That is pretty cool!

[christyf5]

Wow, neato! So is your anemone male because it made that funny shape?

[isaac1]

amazing tank, with all that plumbing you could redo your house!!!

[untamed]

I thought I would shock everyone by providing an update! Things in the tank are going well. I should actually be back in the frag business again soon. All I did to fix things was change my water change procedure. Now, I vacuum the sand bed every week and discard 50 gallons on vacuum water during the 50 gal change.