30 cube

First off I would like to tank MJB for building me an absolutely awesome tank! I have been slacking on posting up a build thread for awhile now, and has been running for about 3 months. After a bit of an interesting day in the tank, I have finally been spurred into posting about this tank. I will use this thread to post up some pics of the tank for all to see at some point...

I have both good and bad news, we'll start with the bad.

I had a bicolor pseudochromis that was always fond of pestering my cleaner shrimp. As a result of this my cleaner has made his daytime home between my two koralia 750's up in the corner of my tank. The pseudo has more or less left him alone up there, but does occasionally check him out. today I fed the fish and everyone ate just fine as usual. after most of the food was gone the pseudo decided he would go up and take a look at the cleaner. he eased up to one of the 750's at which point it started in reverse and sucked him through the front. By the time I could get the wavemaker in stand-by my other fish were eating pieces. /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/crazy.gif



The good news is my bta that ive had for about 2-3 weeks started to split this evening and now looks like it has almost completed the split! This is the first anemone split I've had. I kept a ritteri in one of my old tanks, and it grew huge, easily over 1.5 feet across. It was beautiful but never split, although I really wouldn't expect that species to anyway.

I also have a question for some of the LED gurus that I know lurk around these parts. I have a 100 watt multichip led I built with what is rated as a 30K chip (who knows what it actually is equivelent to). I also have a 100W dimmable driver that is running it. My question is if there is a way to wire in 2 20W actinic chips off the same driver, or if I would need to pick up an additional dedicated driver. I do understand the total wattage demands would be greater than what my diver is capable of providing, however I am currenly running the 100W chip at somewhere around 30-40%.



Thanks!!

 

Sorry about the first round of this, I was getting some weird fromat on my copy and paste from Word.



Updates:

Photos can be found here, I'll post more up as I get time.


http://s1327.beta.photobucket.com/user/rbp4135/library/

My Monti Spongodes has continued to loose color from the pictures, I have dimmed my led's back a bit until I receive the PAR meter. I have also mooved it off to the side in a lower light area. I picked up a Hanna phosphate checker and ran 2 tests, both yielding 0.00ppm for phosphates, this was a bit of a surprise as I have some cyano, but that’s not unheard of for a system running bio pellets. My nitrates have also been undetectable on an API kit. I am thinking I may need to start feeding more until I pick up some level of measurable nutrients.

Vortech MP10 also came in today and is running at 90% on reef crest. I was impressed with the quality on the pumps, and mine is as quiet as can be.

 

Still scratching my head on the lack of color in my montipora, PE on my spongeodes is also not what it was for the first few weeks I had it.

Perams
ALK: 9 (API)
CAL: 480 (API)
PH: 8.2 (Milwaukee)
p04: 0.0 (Hanna)
N03: 0.0 (API)

I am using reef crystals, which have a high ALK and I have read that biopellets are best run with NSW alk levels of around 7. I am thinking of switching over to Tropic Marin or perhaps red sea to see if a lower ALK would help. I have also read that RC tends to be below NSW concentrations of potassium, which I have started supplementing in the form of potassium sulfate.

Anyone have any bright ideas?

 

IaJim, Thanks for the reply.

It's running around 30%, I thought It may have been to low at first and ramped it up, but that appeared to make things worse and I believe I definitely did burn the M. spongeodes. I have lowered it back to around 30%. Im in line for the par-meter to see what i'm actually putting out. I was also concerned It could be a spectral issue with the chip I am using as LED usually has a pretty narrow spectrum band. I am supplementing with 20 watt of t-5 but am concerned it may not be enough. I ordered 1 20 watt royal blue at 445 & 455 nm to supplement along with a 20 W hybrid that has 445 & 455 nm and 1 row of 10K in an attempt diversify my spectrum, in retrospect I should have made one of those a 420NM. Once the 20W leds are up and running I plan on pulling the T-5.

Its worth noting in this same tank my RBTA is doing very well, and has split once already. I also have a duncan that started with 1 big head and 1 small head, it now has around 6+ small heads in the last few weeks. I am a bit perplexed to say the least.


I should probably also look at feeding the coral with something such as oyster feast or getting more fish.

Current stock is:

1 McCoskers Flasher Wrasse

1 Tank Raised Percula

1 cleaner shrimp

2 narssirius snails, 3 asternia snails, few nerite snails, 3 hermits.

 

Picked up some red sea salt at IA sea-scapes today, hopefully the lower ALK will resolve my issues.