Moshs New Tank Build

[moshuk2007]

Thanx im glad the mushrooms pulled through, ill get some more pics when the pom pomcrab and peppermint shrimp come out. Everything is healthy and doing well and the parameters are perfect. Next one on the agenda is lights.

 

[Piggy]

Tanks looking good. I need to get another shrimp.

 

[fishbait]

lookin' good man!

 

[Doc]

great start, glad your shrimp is doing well. I particularly enjoyed the quote on the wall from "The Crow".

-Dr Marco :sfish:

 

[moshuk2007]

Thanks its one of my favourite films

 

[yote]

Thats a cool pic of the clowns and shrimp.
Great looking tank.

 

[moshuk2007]

Thanks the clowns and shrimp get on really well. Its just a shame the peppermint shrimp and the pom pom crab dont come out much only for feeding.

Heres a question for everybody. At the moment im running two T5 bulbs one white and one marine blue but there only 30w each. ive looked on the net and found 80w ones if i changed to these what sort of things could i put in?

 

[reeffreak]

You can't change out your 30 watters with 80.The ballast won't fire them up.
Those 80w bulbs are for overdriven ballasts.

 

[moshuk2007]

Thats what i thought. just thought id ask im actually looking into a new canopy with 4 54w so that would give me about 5w per gallon so what sort of corals would i be able to keep?

thanks again

 

[Doc]

many will do fine with 5 watts / gallon. all soft corals will do great and many LPS. some of the more demanding will not do so well. You will not be able to keep any SPS or clams and you may have a difficult with with an anemone.

-Dr Marco :sfish:

 

[moshuk2007]

OK ive been looking into a pendant with metal halides and t5s. Does this have to be the same length as the tank or can i be slightly shorter. The one im looking at will give me about 8w per gallon.

Also havent seen my peppermint shrimp in 3 days should i be worried?

 

[Bifferwine]

It can be shorter. My lights are a foot shorter than my tank.

Peppermints are nocturnal. Have you tried looking for it at night?

 

[Doc]

not yet. if they are gone for more than a week I would be a bit more concerned.

-Dr Marco :sfish:

 

[moshuk2007]

Thanks for the advice i will have a look for it later

 

[Alexander]

peppermints are very unpredictable and do as they please. I have 8 of them. some of them come around in the front of the tank at daytime and there were some smaller ones I had that I maybe saw 1 or 2 times in about a 2 month period (even at night) once they got a little bigger and comfortable with the tank they came out more, but still I don't see all of them all 2 often. strangely I do have a couple that are attention hogs and come out all the time and clean my hand if placed close to them. as far as the pom pom, I wouldn't count on seeing it all too often. I had one in my 36 that I saw maybe weekly or bi weekly for a few minutes and now that its in my 180 I haven't once seen it except for the initial introduction. sadly he only had one "pom pom" when I got him and apparently that one didn't stay healthy so he has no more. but they are such beautiful crabs that I view it as totally worth the purchase when you can find them. they seem to be scarce availability so I will always swoop them up when I can because the moments I do see them are worth it.

by the way.... the tanks lookin good!

 

[moshuk2007]

The pom pom comes out for feeding but thats about it, i just asked about the peppermint because that used to stick its head out also at feeding time. will do some more pics tomorrow.

 

[Alexander]

yeah some of mine scurry across the sand at feeding, then somedays the hang back and probably just scavenge later.

 

[moshuk2007]

Just another quick question how do you hang the pendant lighting? does it just fasten to the ceiling joists?

Thanks