MikMcgyver's 125 Build

[LionFish]

Or save some cash and go elcheap'o I know newport loves his light and my ballasts came in today, the light got delayed due to the storm, I will have a Full review on the elcheap'o light !!!...

Love the rock Mik,

 

[reeffreak]

Keep the pics coming Mik.
The Marshall Island live rock looks great,nice shape and aquascaping.

 

[MikMcgyver]

Did some more fine tuning today on my skimmer, finally pulling all the crud up to the top of the skimmer, had to adjust the tube up a bit to get the bubble to come a bit higher up. Starting to get a bit more froth then foam. Really dry..

Water cleared up really fast, but of course I had to fiddle with the rocks, make sure sand was everywhere under and not on the rocks. I snapped a couple of pics....

Question, one of my return lines sounds like there is air trapped in it, kind of a gurgling sound, how can I get it to stop doing that? Also in the same return line, every so often a blast of micro bubbles comes out of the diverter. Is that from the sump or just the same trapped air I asked about earlier?

Btw, almost no micro bubbles in the return area of the sump, fiddled with the sponge down there a bit and they stopped flowing over all together.

 

[yote]

Try stopping the return line up for a second and see if that will flush the bubbles out.

 

[yote]

Tanks looking good to.

 

[fishbait]

shoot. if you can get the mh pendants for free then I think I would go with them. as far as supplementing with t-5's, some people don't mess with it. if you run a higher k rating bulb such as a 14-20k bulb, then supplemental lighting really isn't necessary unless you are really wanting to do a dawn to dusk effect.

 

[MikMcgyver]

I think the look with just actinics on is sweet, the blue, blue/purple, blue/pink look is what in goin after...

 

[reeffreak]

I like the aquascaping.

Nothing is better than free so go for it.Just add some T5 retros if you want some added splash from actinics.I recommend Icecap retros btw.

 

[MikMcgyver]

More pics of the tank with the rock and water cycling, got my lights in today, just no legs for it. They shipped the wrong ones in the box, my LFS has some comin in tommorrow, will get em then. Made some temp legs to get me by....

Didnt realize how green the rock was till I turned on the lights. Is this normal for cycling dead rock? Looks like someone pee'd in the tank...

 

[Bifferwine]

Hehehe, think you posted enough pics of your makeshift light legs?? I still don't quite understand how you made them!! ;)

 

[MikMcgyver]

Didnt want the water to splash on em when they were setting right on top of the tank. I tend to make everything overly complicated...

 

[reeffreak]

It looks so beautiful Mik...hmmmm,maybe I should of gone with acrylic.
I was wondering why so green also.Those rocks don't have any coralline so diatoms are going to show up well on them.Maybe just run the lights a couple of hours while its cycling will help.

 

[MikMcgyver]

Will it matter if I leave them on all the time? Or just start my regular 12 on/12off cycle with the lights...?

 

[Bifferwine]

If you leave the lights on all the time, you are going to have algae heaven in your tank.

 

[reeffreak]

I definitely wouldn't run them 24/7.I wouldn't run them 12 hours either.You don't have anything that needs that long of a photo period.Six hours or less is what I would do until the cycle is over.

 

[MikMcgyver]

Thanks guys, your input is appreciated... Does my tank look light on rock? its about 130 or so pounds... Maybe 30-40 more?

 

[reeffreak]

To me it looks perfect.Don't forget later on when you add corals some will be attached to rocks.

 

[MikMcgyver]

I will be adding a few pounds (10-20) in a week or so with heavy coraline on it just to jump start the growth of it...

 

[fishbait]

that looks great mik! that tank is going to be beautiful when you get it stocked. I have a major case of tank envy right now!

 

[MikMcgyver]

Umm, this is wierd.... Am I growing kryptonite?

Apperantly this is algae floating in the tank, too small to see the particles but green enough to make the tank glow a bit.... Anyone seen this before?