It's been just over two weeks since Skrappy *gave* me his setup and two boxes of extras. Of course, anything I have in my tanks that he wants a frag of when he starts up again is his (it's the very least I can do). Over the course of about six hours, we tore down and setup his system. The dude gave me his tank AND spent his day moving and setting it up - damn!
His main concern was that his livestock were goring to be taken care of and I'm happy to report that so far there have not been any casualties - all the livestock, including the corals, are alive and well!
Here is a few pics of the tank late on the first night after getting the basics up and running:
Since taking over the tank, I've added new sand, replaced the T5HO ballast in the fixture, got both the white and actinic T5HO lights going, cleaned up the glass over the two metal halide lights, made a few frag racks from the egg crate he gave me, changed the water several times (total of about 25 gallons), and slowly ramped up the lighting back to full strength (or close to it).
This is my most recent picture of the tank - from about 5 days after getting the tank setup - but it gives you a pretty good idea of the current setup:
I will add some new ones tomorrow when the lights are back on.
My 75 gallon tank has LEDs (a mixture of Skye, current pro modules, a marine orbit, and sone stunner strips). I can grow some sps (up high in the tank), LPS, zoas, etc, but I have to say the T5/metal halide combo (and a marine orbit for sunrise, sunset, and moon lighting) looks amazing! I may have to "upgrade" my 75 gallon tank lights to a similar T5/MH combo.
There are still things I need to do, like clean up some algae (the tank suffered a bit under the care of his ex), beef up the cleanup crew, maybe add some more live rock, but at this point I just want to let things continue to settle in and keep up the water changes.
Skrappy - you are one hell of a guy, and I am so glad we met. Hit me up when you are ready to get back in the hobby!
His main concern was that his livestock were goring to be taken care of and I'm happy to report that so far there have not been any casualties - all the livestock, including the corals, are alive and well!
Here is a few pics of the tank late on the first night after getting the basics up and running:
Since taking over the tank, I've added new sand, replaced the T5HO ballast in the fixture, got both the white and actinic T5HO lights going, cleaned up the glass over the two metal halide lights, made a few frag racks from the egg crate he gave me, changed the water several times (total of about 25 gallons), and slowly ramped up the lighting back to full strength (or close to it).
This is my most recent picture of the tank - from about 5 days after getting the tank setup - but it gives you a pretty good idea of the current setup:
I will add some new ones tomorrow when the lights are back on.
My 75 gallon tank has LEDs (a mixture of Skye, current pro modules, a marine orbit, and sone stunner strips). I can grow some sps (up high in the tank), LPS, zoas, etc, but I have to say the T5/metal halide combo (and a marine orbit for sunrise, sunset, and moon lighting) looks amazing! I may have to "upgrade" my 75 gallon tank lights to a similar T5/MH combo.
There are still things I need to do, like clean up some algae (the tank suffered a bit under the care of his ex), beef up the cleanup crew, maybe add some more live rock, but at this point I just want to let things continue to settle in and keep up the water changes.
Skrappy - you are one hell of a guy, and I am so glad we met. Hit me up when you are ready to get back in the hobby!
