Well in my 2.5 gallon tank I am now into the nitrite--ate part of the curing after only 2 weeks. this 2.5gallon has a few pieces of tonga in it. ammonia is 0 but nitrites are .5ppm and nitrates are also .5ppm. there was ghost shrimp in this tank(4 to be exact) and 2 of them are still alive. they were in the tank when i put the rock in. kinda funny how the ghost shrimp survived. anyways on my 55 gallon the green water has disappeared and I have aquascaped the tank now. I basically made a mountain out of the backside of the tank and left the front and one side open(sand is in there of course). there is almost 70lbs of lr in this tank. I have not checked the nitrates and ites in this tank as the ammonia is still around 4ppm. yes 4 not .4 hehe. This is after 2 weeks. I just recently turned the lights back on on both tanks. so far I have not seen any life(with exception of ghost shrimp) in either tank. The ghost shrimp were a small experiment for me. I wanted to see how long I could keep fw ghost shrimp in saltwater. so far the 2 left have been in a 1.024 salinity with 72 degree water temp and a ph of 8.0(ph of ro water I use) for a month. be as this is the case I will probably start buying more ghost shrimp to feed the seahorses when my tank is finally ready for them. my next project is to figure out if I want vho or mh/pc lighting on this tank. I am leaning towards vho as I am not going to have any high light corals in this tank. on the other hand I may want clams in which case I would need the mh.
curing process
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Hi!
Remember me? We both have 55hex acrylic tanks that we plan to use as seahorse tanks.
I have 2 96w PC quad lights on my 55 hex. I got them from hellolights. They where about $100/each. I decided on these because I was a bit worried about MH causing heat issues and warping the acrylic tank. Also my house is really dry and I would have a lot of evaporation on such a small surface area.
I really wanted to put clams in the tank too, but I'm too worried about the seahorses getting their tales caught in a closing clam. I opted for the cheaper lighting because this summer I'll be setting up my 50g for clams and corals with the expensive MH lighting.
I'd say if you don't have space for another tank, can't afford another set-up, or whatever, then make sure you place the clams as close to the surface as you can. Hopefully the horses won't wander across them then.
Also I'd use VHO if I had clams in the hopes that it wouldn't warp the acrylic as much as MH. I could be wrong, but I think the clams would be alright under VHO. Though I think I remember reading somewhere that as far as wattage to heat output goes, MH is cooler than PC and VHO. PC I think it the hottest. Could be wrong. I have a bad memory.
HTH
Remember me? We both have 55hex acrylic tanks that we plan to use as seahorse tanks.
I have 2 96w PC quad lights on my 55 hex. I got them from hellolights. They where about $100/each. I decided on these because I was a bit worried about MH causing heat issues and warping the acrylic tank. Also my house is really dry and I would have a lot of evaporation on such a small surface area.
I really wanted to put clams in the tank too, but I'm too worried about the seahorses getting their tales caught in a closing clam. I opted for the cheaper lighting because this summer I'll be setting up my 50g for clams and corals with the expensive MH lighting.
I'd say if you don't have space for another tank, can't afford another set-up, or whatever, then make sure you place the clams as close to the surface as you can. Hopefully the horses won't wander across them then.
Also I'd use VHO if I had clams in the hopes that it wouldn't warp the acrylic as much as MH. I could be wrong, but I think the clams would be alright under VHO. Though I think I remember reading somewhere that as far as wattage to heat output goes, MH is cooler than PC and VHO. PC I think it the hottest. Could be wrong. I have a bad memory.
HTH
hehe yup I remember you =]. as for heat output im not sure. I have pc lighting on my 72 bowfront and the tank temp never varies from the 82 degree's it is set at. the lights wheather they are on or off the tank stays 82. I dont know much about vho or mh heat output so I will have to look into that.
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