Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Well.. we've had our larger tank up for 6 months now.. learned a lot more with this than I did with the nano.. like how much 5-10 gallons really is when it hits the carpets. Anemones can hurt you. How much I hate crabs and snails I am not big on gluing things down, so I spend a lot of time picking them back off the sand. It's all about patience.. Iwasaki 250's suck, they make your water look like cheap beer and piss. After 6 months, I still find new and amazing things.. I should have started this years ago.
Thanks so far for the help guys.. I still have lots of questions, I'm just not sure what they are yet

03-27-03


09-30-03


10-10-03 (Iwasaki is turned on , on left side obviously)

Looking good Brando-man!!!!

Hey is that a witches hat in the bottom of you tank


Really looking good... It is amazing what 6 months will do.

WOW, looking awesome Brandon!

Nice! The aquascaping looks much better in the second picture. That is one of the harder parts to assemble.

Amy that is the witch hat when it is little.. Your witch hat gets about twice that size in the afternoon now... I've moved it up a little and it seems to like that even more.

I know you guys said it got bigger.. but wowee.. it is a beast.

Thanks guys.. just re-found that picture recently.. is odd seeing how the sand used to be clean. Cant really see the corals / fish in the picture, but you can see it has colored up much more.

This is for amy.. Notice the witches hat size:

(updated at top also)

holy bat shorts...... crap it wasn't ever that big in the 75

Nice tank Brandon.

How do you like your iwasaki? It sure is bright in that pic and you can tell its yellowish. In real life mine is super bright white but pictures come out whitewashed. I'm trying to figure out how to correct it.

Jperkins.. Honestly I hate the Iwasakis. I bought 3 250's and am using only one of them above the sps frags.. the color is horrible.. I am only running one 160-watt vho acitinic supplement, and should be running much more I guess to balance it out. Seems like the Iwa 400's have better color than the 250's , maybe I got a bad bunch or am running them off the wrong ballast.. no clue.. but they wash everything out really badly.

I wish that I had went with 400 watt of a higher kelvin (is that right) or more blue bulb. I figure w/ 3 400's I'll be at 1200 watts. With the 3 iwa 250's I would be at 750, but need more vho (ie: 160/watts each) to balance them out. So it would probably even out.

Just my thoughts.... I know most people love 'em.

Super color...it is amazing what a few months and many dollars can do. Looking great.

Don't beat yourself up over it brandon because even the 400's would require supplementation, probably even moreso. For some reason I really like the 400 iwasakis because they render a truer look of shallow reef diving/snorkeling during daylight than any other bulb imo. I really like the sharp glitter lines and the brightwhite par.

I think most people love them mainly because they seem to hold their color better, cheaper (59 versus 99..you do the math) and have the best growth rates.

I do however like the 400's for placing corals...pretty much anywhere that isn't shaded is pretty bright down to the bottom.

edit: I wanted to add, they aren't that nice without good actinic supplementation though. I run 2 65watt sq pin PC's true actinic 03's on my 65 gallon with 400w iwasaki.