Who's Into Saltwater?

[callsign4223]

Not too bad, tired. Stayed up till 3 playing games. My wrist was so cramped up I could barely push the keys down on the keyboard at first. All the critters make it?

 

[Tony]

Yup, everything is doing great so far. Tank finally heated up and the skimmer finally stopped over skimming. It's looking up.

 

[murankar]

hat was one hell of a process to go through. Looking a lot better than yesterday since things are settling down.

 

[Tony]

Yup. I'm trying to figure out just how fast to do the time lapse that I'm going to post up of the setup.

 

[murankar]

7 to 10 minutes seems logical. most time lapses I see are about that long.

 

[Tony]

I had it up to 7 minutes, and it just seemed too slow. The total time is about 2:50:00, or almost 3 hours from the time I started recording. You know, when people were not starring at a wall lmao.

I'm thinking about trying to get it somewhere around 4 minutes and call it good. Might to some editing to slow it down where some interesting things happened lol.

 

[Tony]

Just posted a blog with the tank in the background. Go check it out!

 

[Tony]

I just checked the shipping info on the filters and rock that I ordered, and was shocked at what I saw. I surely hope it's not right...

The shipment is stating it's only 12lbs. However, I ordered 25lbs of live rock, a new filter canister, Multiple new filters and some other stuff. Now, just with the new rock, it puts it at more than double what they are showing. I surely hope UPS has the weight wrong on that package. If I don't get my rock, I"m going to be mad lol. But I can assure you this, I'm not driving all the way up to Mn. just to get it lmao. It's cold here adn colder there, and Tony's don't do well in teh cold lmao.

 

[murankar]

Think maybe a partial shipment?

 

[Tony]

I sure hope not. I looked at the invoice, and every quantity ordered was the quantity shipped. it might be something them and UPS since they ship a LOT of stuff through them to keep the cost down. Either that, or it's mail fraud lmao.

 

[callsign4223]

Gonna pick your brain real quick. What do you think about the new AI Hydra lights? They are the same price as the Sols you are using, but they have 4 fewer LEDS and a bigger mix of colors. There is an upgrade kit for the Sols to change them to Hydras. I haven't been able to find a direct comparison online.

 

[Tony]

I have never been a fan of red and green lights in a reef aquarium. But, people seem to love the lights. For $720+ for the upgrade for my lights (I would need 4 of them), I will stick with my SOL's lol. Why, you thinking about going AI LED's?

 

[callsign4223]

They are the cheapest good ones so ya, either that or t5.

 

[Tony]

I would pick LED's over T5's, but T5's are cheaper and can sustain hard corals. Over that 110, you will need 6 of them though. Remember, those tanks are deep, and you need a lot of light.

 

[callsign4223]

That's kinda what I'm worried about with the LEDs is them reaching the bottom.

Maybe just put all the coral in the top half

 

[Tony]

Don't worry about that. My lights that you saw on my tank are only at 75% intensity. I would however put at least 3 of them above your tank. You cna get by with two, but your hard corals will need to be right under the lights and not off to the sides. Trust me, get two of the SOL's or whatever and you will be set. Remember, the ones you are lookign at only have 4 pucks whereas mine have 8. So I get a little wider light distribution.

 

[callsign4223]

You mean the hydras only have 4? I thought they had 5 in one row instead of 4 in two rows.

 

[Tony]

Nope, only 4. Half of each of my lights.

 

[callsign4223]

What about swapping the 80 degree lenses for some 50 degree ones? Too much spotlighting you think?

 

[Tony]

I was going to mention the 50º lenses, but if you do that, you will need to run 4 of those lights. If I had 50º lenses, I would have to run 4 on my tank. The coverage is not that wide and you would need more lights to make up for the coverage.