Shiva

[cuttlechris]

everything is cool.

 

[cuttlechris]

It's been a real pickle trying to keep all of my frags in the same location, let alone intact. Octopodes are so inconsiderate . I recently changed the water. I'll get some new pics soon.

 

[DWhatley]

Neither OhToo nor Octane appreciated tank cleaning day. Both would watch as I straightened stuff up (I moved more than they did while cleaning the substrate) and would come out and put a warning arm on my hand to express that it was time for me to leave. That is my side of the story anyway . OhToo was particularly unhappy when I insisted on replanting the turtle grass in my desired location ... eventually I moved it to a spot he found more suitable and it stayed planted.

 

[cuttlechris]

pic update

 

[cuttlechris]

it's the attack of the killer ROCKTOPUS!!! ^

 

[cuttlechris]

the last two pics are before and after shots.

 

[marinerules]

You have some reallly nice pictures of your octopus


kewl keep up updated

 

[cuttlechris]

The water temp hit an all time high of 83.5 today. I'm worried that this will be an issue. I didn't even run the halides. I leave the sump on to help cool and crack the window next to it to vent air but still i can't keep the below the low 80's for long. Any insight would help.

 

[DWhatley]

If you have an open sump, you can bring the temperature down by several degrees with a fan blowing over the water surface (I have experiemented with several "desk" fans and find the largest of these work pretty well - look for one that will hang or fit in your environment, harder to find right now but your local hardware, Home Depot, Lowes, etc or eBay will have something suitable - the muffin fans just don't have enough air movement for the cooling you need). This will carry away heat (and water - you will have to top-off more). I have achieved temperatures a few degrees below ambient on a regular basis just blowing over a tiny sump. If the tank top is screened rather than solid, a fan there will help take heat away from the lighting and also give some evaporative cooling (if you have a sump go there first). I would leave the halides off completely and move anything that needs light to another tank if there is one available. I won't use halides because of the heat (I do have one but it has to penetrate a 4 foot tank and is lower wattage than most). It will be nice when the LED's are cheap enough to eliminate halides altogether.

 

[cuttlechris]

I think my thermometer might be messed up. It's a digital coralife, not the best. I'll cute down halide and lighting hours; look into a fan and an RO/DI ice cube top off system.

 

[DWhatley]

I keep frozen bottles of RO water (purchased and sealed) in the freezer but they don't do anywhere near the job the fan does. However, I only use the frozen water when there is a power outage so they are really fighting more than the fan has to.

We just tossed two of the Coralife's this week because the readings were way off. I like them a lot but they are not sealed and a saltwater environment doesn't let them last long. I decided to pickup some of the stick ons as an additional check but they don't register as well with the acrylics and are not as accurate.

 

[cuttlechris]

I have a cool pic or two an update. Just in case anyone wanted to know, i've never had a set schedule for lighting. I don't have any timers so i control all pumps in the tank except for powerheads. My softies are great, my hard corals are barely hangin in there. Shiva seems pretty stoked. Out on the glass on the wee hours of the morning on occasion. Timid yet curious. I even contemplated running an opposite lighting schedule (lights out in day, on at night) to see what would happen.

 

[cuttlechris]

blah...

 

[cuttlechris]

more pics

 

[cuttlechris]

Did i say a pic or two?