It IS all about the size!

Well, my little 4-gallon aquarium was not as healthy as I like. Unfortunately, due to the small volume of water, the parameters were just not as stable. Temperature, especially, was quite difficult to control and had a negative effect on the inhabitants.

So, back to the drawing board I go. I decided to go with a larger aquarium to achieve for greater stability.... here comes the CAD Lights low-iron glass 10-gallon. While I was at it, I decided that I'd upgrade the lighting as well. Back to the old trusty MaxSpect Razor: this time a Nano Razor. I really like the spectrum and the ease of programming on these so it was an easy choice. At 60W max power, it also provides enough light for whatever I may decide to keep down the  road.

The current inhabitants include a large rose bubble anemone and a valentini puffer. Pair of designer clowns will be coming soon :)

Fuzzy Wuzzies

Now that the tank is starting to mature, I'm finally ready for some fuzzy sticks. Most of these SPS come from tanks with different lighting (either metal halides or the sun, mari-cultured), so have lightened in color or have browned-out somewhat: as expected.  Hopefully,  they'll acclimate to my awesome AI Hydras soon and start coloring up: )

AI Hydra versus Vega

The long-awaited AI Hydra LED lights have finally arrived. Was able to borrow an AI Vega for comparison. The Hydra's LED mix has a wider spectrum with violet and UV LED's added while losing the  couple of higher-spectrum blue LED's and a couple of royal blues. Additionally,  the center white LED is a 3W on the Hydra versus 5W on the Vega. The lens on the Hydra is also textured for better color blending. There are numerous other differences as well... including a $100 cheaper price tag; which I definitely like.
From my understanding, the Vega better simulates a shallow reef being that it's brighter and has higher-spectrum LED's: which makes the it better for SPS tanks. The Hydra with it's violet and UV LED's better simulates a deeper reef and should work great for mix-reefs.
On to the review... I really like these new lights. Being one that LOVES blue-color lighting and fluorescing corals, I am really enjoying the addition of the deeper-spectrum LED's. They sure do a great job making the corals GLOW! The Vega's lens does give the light a sharper look, but I must say that I have a strong preference for the Hydra's LED mix. Both lights do cause a noticeable 'disco effect' on the sand bed
: even with the lights being about 11" above the water level. I think my strong surface agitation contributes quite a bit towards that issue. Personally, I don't really care for the red and green LED's: they will never be used at more than 25% and I think it further worsens the 'disco effect'. Instead of having white/red/green LED's, I would have preferred a simple mix of warm and cool white LED's (like what are on the MaxSpect Razors). It has only been a few days but so far the corals are responding very well and I am very happy with the new lights. Time will tell how they fair with the more sensitive acroporas.
The AI Rail Kit is a great idea, but poorly executed. The short legs included were fairly useless. With 3 fixtures over a 5-foot tank, I was getting A TON of shadowing and very poor coverage. I guess they don't really expect anyone to use the legs. Since I didn't want to hang the lights, I decided to fabricate a set of mounts to elevate the fixture by about 8". I am pretty happy with the way they turned out: aesthically and functionally.

Oldie but a goodie

Finally had time to set up my auto top off. Can't believe my 10+ year-old Ultralife float switch still works like a charm. No more adding water to the tank EVERYDAY...  yeah! The 10 gallon reservoir is hidden inside a Lane Chest along with all the stuff I can't inside the stand. An AquaLifter handles the duty of pumping the water from the reservoir to the sump.

Some have rose gardens...

I have flower beds..  Here's Christine's garden of flowerpot (goniopora) corals.. Regular target feedings of Reef-Roids and Goniopower are keeping them happy and growing.

My Growing Euphoria of Euphyllias...

The field of euphyllias is start to fill up nicely... frogspawn, hammers, anchors, torches.... love how they sway back and forth with the water. I would have to say that my favorite is the Australian Gold Torch: fortunately, their tentacles are not as long as other torch corals so they are less likely to sting nearby corals.

 



CoralChopping...

Chopped up a few zoas and palys today... I guess I should have grabbed my camera earlier... in a week or so, I'll have some nicely healed frags to trade : ) Here is how I'm "motivating" my mushroom to split so I can frag it. The rubber band works like a charm for mushrooms.