My experience is that they mow through algae better than the other snails I've had, but they grow too big then fall over and can't right themselves. I seem to lose about 1-3 a month that way :? I need to get a better hood or something so I can flip them back rightside up when it happens...
Yeah that was not fun to come home too. On the plus side only one fish died due to the cold. The MH light warmed up the tank enough during the day I guess. Next time I think I'll tape a big sign over the thermostat.
Its easy to get rid of them. Just go on vacation and forget to tell someone not to turn off the heater for the house. When the house drops to 30 degrees even the best heaters in the tank don't seem to stand a chance. :( :( :( :((
I have also been playing around with LEDs just for fun. Nothing on the 900 LED scale though. That scale is too expensive for goofing around with. I did make some smaller 15, 40, and 100 LED setups. The 40 is nice as a backup when the power fails or its a hot day inside. The soft corals have...
Still way too expensive for me. I do like the idea of LEDs over MH though. I tried a cheeseball setup with 50 leds (not high output ones) about a year ago. It wasn't bright enough for my main, but worked very nicely on a 10 gallon nano. There was no heat except on the ac adaptor. The...
I have been keeping fish for about 11 years now. I've fluctuated between 1 and 8 tanks set up at any one point and had to move at least half a dozen times. Water spills at some point (Like when my blue linka managed to squeeze through the grate in my overflow and set up house in the drain...
I built a 4 ft one like that before. It had an ABS body with pvcs for the smaller pipes. It worked well and I think the cost was only around $50. I had 2 6" limewood diffusers. It worked well but was not very attractive. Since it sat in my living room I eventually changed over to a skimmer...
Welcome to Reefs.org. I am currently running a 400watt XM 15K bulb for my 55 gallon. It has been working great. I have LPS and softies in it. You'll have to hear from others if that will support SPS and clams. The height of the tank is generally more important than the volume of it. If you...
How many feet of pipe did you run out in the trench? How ddep was it? I'm curious about this, but wouldn't want to ge through the effort if I need to lay 100 feet or more. Do you have it zigzag through the ground or just have straight shots? Thanks.
Hellolights is a great company. I just got some more bulbs from them. Ordered on Tuesday and they arrived on Friday. If only all companies could work like that ;)
I have the XM 20K bulbs and they look nice. I did just order some 15K XM bulbs though also. Like people have said before, the color is a personal preference.
I have a 55 gallon reef tank which houses a royal dottyback along with the LPS corals. I tried to add some damsels for more movement in the tank and the dottyback made short work of them. What other fish would be safe (read as able to fend off the dotty back)?
Like Pitpat said. Many fish are very aggressive against conspecifics. They end up "attacking" themselves in the mirror until the become stressed. This makes them more prone to problems. I've seen this happen before even when an accidental mirror like substance is used on the back.
I ordered the $150 MH from hellolights with the XM bulb. It works great. I've also ordered from MD live with good results. IPSF got me what I ordered, but everything was ultra-tiny and I think the LFS is a better deal than them. Overall I've had positive experiences with online orders, but...