Timmy's 25

[tizapolgar]

I feel like I should contribute to the picture madness...especially since my wife just got me some new Current LEDs, which are very awesome. Before, I had a ^%W Coralife PC fixture and a 48W Current T5 with one 10k and one 460nm actinic. Now, I have a 96W Current T5 fixture with 2 10k and 2 460nm actinics, and 2 Current 460nm actinic Powerbrite LED fixtures.

Here are some befores and afters (and actually, these pictures don't do the actinic LEDs justice...I'm not really good at photography, at all). Everything is kind of pissed off in the after pictures because I'd been playing with the lights...:

Before:

After (with new T5 fixture and LEDs):

 

[ladypheesh]

wow great looking setup!!

 

[simpleman]

Your new lights made that fungia move! Joking. Looks good!

 

[tizapolgar]

Your new lights made that fungia move! Joking. Looks good!

Ha! Actually, it's a magic fungia skeleton covered in star polyps. They flap, and the skeleton floats...

...but not really :)

Thanks for the compliment, both of you!

What's funny is that the "after" pictures look like they have less intense lighting than the "before" pictures, but nothing could be further from the truth. I have no understanding of this whole camera filtering settings thing...my wife tried to explain it to me, but I think she's just going to have to take the pictures next time :mrgreen:

 

[Piggy]

I love the first pic. Your tank looks awesome.

 

[ladypheesh]

there are some good threads on here you can search for about photography, including how to use ISO and different things like that.

 

[reeffreak]

Looks terrific!
Very coralliney.

 

[Bifferwine]

I love your zoanthid colony. Beautiful tank.

 

[tizapolgar]

Thanks everyone, for the compliments!

The coralline - I have no idea why it grows. I've never added purple up or anything. In all of the SW tanks in our house...er...apartment (we have three. Tanks, not apartments.) it just grows like crazy. Same with the zoanthids - they just like me I guess.

The hammer in the front is the one that was eaten by a peppermint shrimp back when it was in my 10 gallon almost two years ago, when I was just starting out. It now has over ten heads on it. The small hammer behind it has five or six; I accidentally broke it off the "main" hammer when moving around some rock one day.

That anemone - I need advice for it, really. Sort of. It looked like a small BTA at the LFS, then after a week it settled on the sand as it is now...I THINK it's a long-tentacle, which is probably too much for my tank, but it's anchored in hard-core so I'm just going to roll with it. It eats, the clowns like it, and it's pretty. The trifecta of happiness...

I'd like to keep some more SPS, which is one reason I upgraded the T5s (not the main one, though...really I just like how T5s look, they use less power, and output more). My one SPS hasn't been doing so hot, though...I think that my previous lights - mostly PC - in this tank, wasn't nearly enough for it.

I think the LEDs will help, as well; though, the usefulness of LEDs in reef tanks hasn't been proven yet. I hypothesize that within 5 years they will overtake both T5s and metal halides as the light of choice...but we'll see. It depends a lot on how the technology develops. It's not there yet, unless you build LEDs for a living like the guy on the Reef Central thread (sorry...don't have the link).

Just for the record:

pH: 8.2
Alk: high (silly color coding...)
Ca: roundabouts 375 ppm, last I checked
Nitrates: undetected, which means <5ppm
Temp: 78-80

Okay...I'll stop the brag-fest. I like my tank :)

 

[daugherty]

yea that looks just like the long tentacle that i use to have.

 

[Bifferwine]

That's definitely not a BTA, I vote LTA also.

 

[tizapolgar]

I'm going with LTA, then.

Any advice as for its care? Its foot is anchored to the bottom of the tank through five inches of DSB, it always fully inflates during the day and usually stays partially inflated at night. It eats when I give it little bits of food...it doesn't seem to be struggling for light. It's color was good when I got it and it's remained the same.

I am a little concerned about its growth - I know they get huge. But at this point, there isn't much I can do about it! It seems anchored in and happy. So, if anyone has any words of wisdom, let me know. Like I said, I guess I'm just going to roll with and so long as it remains healthy.

 

[Bifferwine]

There's a trick for getting clams and anemones to release their foot -- they supposedly hate the feeling of metal. So you can take a butter knife and press it against its foot to get it to release it when/if you want to move it or get rid of it.

They don't require any different care than a BTA, they are considered one of the hardier types of anemones. If it takes food once in a while, great, but it looks healthy to me.

 

[tizapolgar]

Thanks for the help! It sounds like I'm on the right track with this guy then, other than sheepishly admitting that my tank is too small for him. But really, aren't ALL of our tanks, regardless of the size, too small for ANYTHING??

It ain't like we can remake the ocean :)