FarmerTy

I have a dendro frag that needs to be rescued from me. I don't have the time to feed the little guy and he would do best under someone else's care. $10. Attached is an older pic of it since I am not home currently. The large head is the only one that is still there. He is healthy but could be fatter (meaning more regular feedings).

I need to clear space on my frag rack. I have several neon green fungia plates that need to go. They are about 2-3" in diameter when fully inflated. Here is a pic of the larger one I keep in my main tank. They are of the same parent. Asking $25 a plate. Thanks.

Hi have a 150-watt metal halide fixture with a unknown used 14k bulb in it. First $80 cash in hand or paypal will get it. Pictures are below. There is a UV shield glass cover that goes over the bulb that is not shown in the picture but is included. Thanks.

Kevin, How old is your tank? How long have you been keeping a coral tank? I ask mainly to see the level of experience you have with being able to spot changes in your system before anything catastrophic occurs. I think a majority of the people who responded in your post I would consider expert reefers who have been through a multitude of years of reef keeping and have tried most systems out there as far as how to set up their tank. They are using more advanced techniques than the average hobbyists. IMHO, I think the safe route to go is to start with a skimmer. Think of it as your safety net. If you shut it off for awhile and nothing goes bad in your tank, you can live without it. I can run my tank fine without a skimmer but I have it there just in case something dies and I don't notice in time, or the solid carbon dosing system dumps tons of bacteria in my tank without me realizing. Its just backup for me but I feel is needed. My girlfriend may accidentally dump a ton of food into the tank and it makes me feel better knowing the skimmer will keep things in check for the most part, until I can address the issue if I am out of town. Again, just my 2 cents to take what's useful from it if anything at all. Haha. Hopefully I didn't offend anybody in the post so far, I actually think I complemented you guys for being "expert reefers". :-)

I guess I should participate as well. I have a 3 250-watt setup with lumenarc reflectors and run 14k plusrite bulbs. I also run super actinic VHOs for supplementation. The halides run for 5hrs/day and the VHOs for 10hrs/day. The reflectors are roughly 24" off the sandbed.

Haha, thanks Pat. Didn't even notice that. Everyone, round up or down please as it most fits. haha. Tim brought up a another good piece of information: 1) How far from bottom of tank to fixture.

Forgive me since this is my first time setting up a poll. But I was wondering for those using metal halides and keep predominantly SPS tanks, how many hours a day do you run them for? If possible, I would prefer to keep answers to tanks that are predominantly SPS. Thanks! Be nice to know: 1) What does your light setup include (i.e. 400-watt, 250-watt, DE or SE, supplemental actinic)? 2) A pic of your tank would be great to gauge the amount of SPS you have and the coloration. 3) The hours for your supplemental lighting. Any input is greatly appreciated. I am a scientist by nature and by profession so I do enjoy observing other setups and collecting as much information as I can about them. Thanks! -Ty

I'm in the same boat Wesreyn. I bought the BRS 2-part and manually dose for now. I do it weekly. It's worked so well in fact since I haven't had any ill effects on coral with the larger doses weekly versus daily that I may not ever add the dosing pumps. I know we are all trying to have as stable as possible water parameters but I really haven't been sold on the "must have it exactly 450ppm 365 days/year or the coral will not be happy and die on me" mentality. Plus, it's another thing that can fail on me and kill everything in my tank. I'm happy with only my circulation/return pumps, lights, and heater being the only thing that can do that for now in my tank. I travel a lot and I need that tank to run as simple as possible for my girlfriend to look after while I'm gone. Sorry to wander from the topic. 2-part BRS dosing for Ca, Alk, and Mg. Easy to use, easy to mix, and have ready to dose weekly. -Ty

I'd say $30 base rate plus mileage for tanks larger than 100 gallons, and $20 base rate plus mileage for less than 100 gallons. This would more than likely be a one time service since our lighting changes minimally once you set it up for the most part. I'll probably have this same metal halide/VHO setup on my tank until it's time to get a new one or they are giving away LEDs. I might pay for another session just to see how much my bulbs lose intensity over time. For those that are interested in a nice output of data and willing to pay more, you can graph the results and do a nice overlay of results on a photo of the tank itself for an additional $5-$10. For the cost conscious, they can sit there with a sheet of paper and just write down their own results while you move the meter around. Just ideas...

I'd be happy to pay for this service if the price is right. If you except coral for payment, you may have a really stocked tank by the time you make a couple of rounds.

I'm not going to speak for the world but I agree it depends on application. I used to change my water every week with my nanocube (12-gallon), every 2 weeks with my 65-gallon, and then moved to monthly with my 125-gallon. In the last 8 months, I have done one water change. The difference now though is I dose calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, and sometimes iodine. I don't dose a single thing that I don't have a test kit for. The other reason I don't do water changes anymore is because I do solid carbon dosing with biopellets in a reactor. It keeps my nitrates and phosphates low and I plumb the output hose directly into the skimmer (IME is pivotal, otherwise you'll get a cyano bloom). So, for me and my application, I feel water changes are unnecessary with the dosing and the biopellets. I use it only to remove the physical accumulation of "crud" in my sump and the 2 times a year I do that, the hope is it replenishes the trace elements that I do not dose or monitor as well, I have a mixed reef tank, with more of an emphasis on SPS and zoas, though my SPS colonies are all small right now since they were all little frags I've collected over the year (thank you fellow reefers). Fish population-wise, I have a large desjardini sailfin tang (6"), blue hippo tang (5"), yellow tang (4"), lawnmower blenny, clownfish, midas blenny, and 3 chromis. I feed every day flakes and seaweed, and 2 days a week they get the good frozen mix. I hope the info helps. Good luck! -Ty

2nd that

Thanks Tim. I've always appreciated your input and advice.

Great experiment idea. Looking forward to the pictures Richard.

Just looking for a 250-watt mogul with reflector to hook up to my ballast. Let me know if you have one and how much. Thanks. -Ty

Using the 14k with a lot of actinic supplementation. Looks about perfect for me. The 14k's were brighter and I liked that as the 20k's seemed a lot dimmer to me. If I didn't have a lot of actinic supplementation, I'd go 20k all the way though.

Ahhh, thanks guys and thanks Prof for the link.

So I would need to modify the sockets to fit the larger 250-watt bulb? Just trying to figure out if I just need to go ahead and buy a new pendant or if my existing one will work. Thanks for everyone's input so far. -Ty

I have a 150-watt HQI setup. Can I just swap out the ballast and bulb for 250-watt and use the same existing setup? I googled it but haven't found anything definitive. Thanks! -Ty

I'll take the Coralvue ballast. Pm'ed. -Ty

I have 3-4 heads of hammer coral I'd trade for the lawnmower blenny. LMK if interested.

Pham, Does the light fixture come with ballasts for the VHOs and metal halides? 3 ballasts? If so, what brand. Thanks! -Ty

The light will be back on tomorrow evening in the sump where the clown is right now. I will have her snap a pic and send to you. Don't want her messing with turning on the light right now and forgetting to turn it off and frying all my frags in my sump. Cute little bugger. Just didn't play nice with my other clown.

Located North Central Austin, Braker/Metric area. I'll try to get the girlfriend to snap a pic since I'm outta town right now.