here's your first look....

[RAYRAY]

so here is the new MH 150w 14k lighting. I still have some ajusting to do with it . I thik it might be to high but really wont be able to tell until I know how much it will heat the tank. I am only running the light for a couple hours at at time for now . SO CHECK IT OUT.

 

[BlueSi4]

Looks good, i think it might be a bit too high, seems that there's not too much light reaching the bottom of the tank, plus the light is illuminating your walls haha.

 

[ccCapt]

Yeah, I think it might be a bit too high. 10" above the water is fine. That looks like a little more.

 

[reeffreak]

It looks great!Time to fill it up with corals.

 

[bobby]

Looks great. I bet your future corals will love it!

 

[RAYRAY]

yeah, it is a little high, right now it is 12 inces above the water level , I want to see how much it heats up the tank 1st. tomorrow i will be lowering it down and changing the cables. i really dont like the way they look. I might also make the light hang front to back instead of side to side. I am running it about 4 hrs at a time for now.

 

[RAYRAY]

i am also going to redo the top surround of the tank. right now it is about 6 inches tall, I am going to make it 10 inches tall to keep more light down in the tank. So far so good as far as heat goes. It really hasn't affected it at all. I guess that's a good thing so I can lower the fixture about 3 inces or so.

 

[UnderwaterWorld]

that light looks great! Make sure you slowly increase the light

 

[Piggy]

Looks great. Time to get corals.

 

[RyanG]

New light looks great Ray. The new taller tank surround sounds like a good idea to catch the "extra light" itll hide your skimmer too! bonus

 

[Bifferwine]

I'm glad you finally got your new light in, Ray. It looks fantastic.

What corals are you thinking of adding first?

 

[RAYRAY]

thanks sarah,
not sure....I know I am going to wait about 3 weeks or so . that way I can keep a check on my parameters so they stay ok. right now everything seems to be ok
ammonia 0 nitrite 0 ph 8.2 nitrate 10 (trying to get it under 10)salinity 1.025
i will start testing for reef parameters soon. i want to get some zoos and mushrooms. i really like the brains and trumpet corals also the torches and frogspawns. i want something fairly hardy to start with. any suggestions??

 

[Bifferwine]

Don't be surprised if you get a bit of an algae bloom now. It often happens when you add new lights to a tank. It's normal but can take a while to fight off :(.

All the corals you mentioned are very hardy and good choices. I also really like fox corals. They can be harder to find at LFSs but are very hardy and pretty.

 

[RAYRAY]

yeah, thats what i am hearing about the algea. so i am going to start with four hours a day for about 2 weeks. then add an hour a week after that until i get to the 10 or 12 hours a day. I will check ut the fox coral. thank you!

 

[Kat]

your tank looks great, I love the rock on the left it looks like a little man.

 

[yote]

Alright,now that you got a great looking light hanging there.
Whens the first coral going in?

 

[RAYRAY]

couple weeks yote. wanna make sure everything stays stable !!!!
here is an update on the tank. re-did the light fixture by lowereing it about 3 inches. now I will get my friend to re-do the upper surround and all the light should stay in the tank!!! check it out !

 

[yote]

Looks great.Your gonna have a great reef bud.

 

[reeffreak]

Those two flat rocks would be great placement for some SPS frags.I can't wait to see some corals filling up the space up.

 

[RAYRAY]

So Far So Good With The Light. I Have Been Running It From 5 Pm To 9 Pm Since Saturday And Only Noticed A Small,small Amount Of Brown Algea On One Rock. I Will Keep This Cycle For A Couple Weeks To Be Safe Then Add An Hour A Week. Also Since I Lowered The Fixture My Temp Has Stayed The Same !! I Was Worried About It Heating Up The Tank So Thank Goodness It Hasn't. My Temp With The Lamp On Stays Right Around 78.6 And With The Light Off It Stays Right Around 77.8. That Should Be Good Right. I Have Been Coral Searching Also. So Many Choices !!! Cant Wait !