Motivated or what--The rebuild of the 300

[CutthroatKid]

That's good. Cause I bet he would taste good at the meeting. Upper-class fillet right there...
Parrothead, be careful. Compliments are nice, but we still have to live in the same valley as him.

[Steve McKay]

The photos were worth the wait, there great. But I still have some.

[charlie]

The photos were worth the wait, there great. But I still have some.

I still have some photos man.

Steve, do you think you see what I am talking about with corals getting larger and flow considerations?

[charlie]

Looked at all the pics, wow, Junior is looking awesome, now I gotta go have a cigarette, just to awesome

Charlie, you are "the man"

No where near bein the man parrot, just taking what I can, and enjoying every last minute

[Steve McKay]

I still have some photos man.

Steve, do you think you see what I am talking about with corals getting larger and flow considerations?

Don't insult the little intelligence I have. Yes I understand. I took the K2 out, I didn't throw it away. Thanks for bringing up the subject though, in time it will be something I will have to deal with. When the time comes I probably won't put the other K2 back in, I'll just switch to K3's. I like having just two circulation pumps. But I'll have to take into account that more smaller pumps give you more options in flow patterns.

[charlie]

If even you could hide the smaller ones behind the rockwork!!! At least the korallias are aimable.

[Steve McKay]

If even you could hide the smaller ones behind the rockwork!!! At least the korallias are aimable.

As far as looks I don't care if the pumps are visible, just so long as they get the job done. My tank isn't big enough to hide them anyway, the rockwork isn't high enough. Having less pumps lets my see things better and there's less pumps to clean. I'm turning my old wet/dry filter into a fuge, I figure it's about time I had one.

[charlie]

Sure as hell is better than having the chaeto in the display Steve, JMHO

[charlie]

On a side note, Vaughn and I finally got the lumateks and XM's up last evening. Each ballast draws only 3.3 amps. My old PFO HQI ballast drew 9 by itself. It will be interesting to see what the next 2 months are like as far as my power bill goes. I am only going to run each hood 4 hours for the first week, and gradually increase the times beyond that to get things acclimated to the new 20K XM bulbs. Timing on the 3 hoods for the first week will be:
1PM-5PM
2PM-6PM
3PM-7PM

I will increase 1/2 hour on each side the second week and 1/2 hour on each side the 3rd week, and then tweak it a little bit after that when I see how things are doing. At first glance yesterday, I think I am really going to like the new bulbs, and I will try to get a pic up later today to show a before and after.

[Parrothead]

cool, I will wait patiently as I have no popcorn left

[Steve McKay]

Sure as hell is better than having the chaeto in the display Steve, JMHO

Your definitely right about that. At first I didn't think it would be a bad idea if I put it in the back behind the rocks. But it continually has small pieces separating from the main mass, it collects on the K2's where it dies and would lead to more nitrates (yes I'm always concerned about water parameters) so that's when I started thinking about a fuge. At first I thought about a hang on fuge, but there expensive. Then I thought about my wet/dry and the pump I already have, with that in mind all I really needed were a few plumbing parts and I'll have a full size fuge. Not only will it be beneficial as a fuge alone it will add more water volume.

[charlie]

We learn by our mistakes man. You notice I didn't say much when you put it in your tank???

[Steve McKay]

We learn by our mistakes man. You notice I didn't say much when you put it in your tank???

You should have said something, I'm open to constructive criticism no problem there. But thanks for letting me figure that out for myself sometimes it's better to see the mistake yourself.

[zhenya]

Great pix Charlie.
Good luck with those new bulbs, I think your schedule will work perfectly.

Can you tell me why you decided to go with these bulbs? I probably missed where you said it as I missed good amount of pages.

[charlie]

You should have said something, I'm open to constructive criticism no problem there. But thanks for letting me figure that out for myself sometimes it's better to see the mistake yourself.

Steve........................I now know better to shut up sometimes, makes my life easier:eek3::eek3::eek3:

Great pix Charlie.
Good luck with those new bulbs, I think your schedule will work perfectly.

Can you tell me why you decided to go with these bulbs? I probably missed where you said it as I missed good amount of pages.

Gene, first off, I love your new avatar

As far as the decision to go with the XM 20K, I just have heard alot of good things, and personally seen these bulbs on a tank in Seattle that puts mine to shame. I am going to really interested to see what they do after their burn in period, right now is way too early to tell what color they are going to be. I think it is gonna be real interesting how the electronic ballasts drive these things. Barrier Reef, a store in Seattle is extremely happy with the ballasts!!!!
The end result is that I am only going to be running them a total of 6 hours each, spread from noon until 8PM. We shall see I guess.
When we fired them all up last nite after the install, I about giggled myself to death my friend, I think these are gonna be REAL NICE

[zhenya]

Gene, first off, I love your new avatar

I felt that it was very appropriate after the last noreaster we had... :eek3:

I think those bulbs will be really nice once they burn in. 250 watt version was really terrible when I tried them few years back ( if you remember), I am sure 400w is totally different beasts.
I saw IceCap's 20K bulbs and thought they were pretty nice as well but I am sure XM's are quite good, too.

[charlie]

Gene, right now it is a wait and see project. I am hoping these are nice!!!!!!

I know the price was right

[charlie]

Comparison time. The first pic was from yesterday, and the last 2 are from today with the new bulbs and ballasts. The difference is slight, as I went from 14K bulbs to the 20K XM's, what do you think?

[zhenya]

There is certainly difference there, Charlie, but don't forget those bulbs are not burned in yet.
I figure in a week or so, when you'll have them almost at the full burning time, you could take another set of pictures to compare.
I mean tank looks fine with either bulbs, it's just personal preference it seems.
I just ordered 10K bulbs because my 14K Phoenix bulbs don't cut it in the PAR department. This time I went with the Ushios, hopefully their 10K's in the 150w DE will provide better punch. I'm not sure but I have to try. If it fails I will have to go back to 250 watters which I don't want to use at all. Electricity here is redicilously high. With this 150w bulbs, no chiller, my bill is over $500.

[charlie]

Yeah Gene, at the rate I am going to break them in, it might be a good 3 weeks before they get to where they are gonna be. I figure it is gonna take me 3 weeks to get to the photperiod I want.