Fist SW Upgrade: 55 to 90 gals

Nereaga

Hey Rychek,

Your clown looks like a misbar percula to me.

The Zoas you picked up are Radioactive Dragon Eyes! I have some aswell. Reef clubs are superb indeed! Cheap stuff is always good!

That stinks about your pics. Post em up when you get them back... looking forward to them...

Brad

Rychek

Snapfish is officially on my "black list." I pay them to develop my pictures then they have the gall to charge me for "Hi-res" pictures to download! They are high res because of my camera, not anything they've done! </rant>

Anyway, I've got my non-Hi-res pics (those that turned out at least) from snorkeling in Hawaii (Oahu to be precise). So, without further ado, the pics (these were taken in a lagoon at Ko Olina resort near Wainae):

Endangered Sea Turtle


Moorish Idol


Sea Monster


I have quite a few other pics from the lagoon, but they are so blue you can hardly see the fish.

Rychek

These pics were taken at Haunama Bay which is a State park/animal refuge. The water was more shallow than the lagoon at Ko Olina, so these pics acutally look good.

Hawkfish (my wife almost put her hand on this fish. I don't know how she missed it, it was nearly 6" long)


I don't remember what these are called


Butterfly fish (racoon?)


Achilles Tang

Rychek

In other news, I've added another sailfin blenny to my tank. No tank is complete without one.

Next month I hope to get my T-5 lighting setup enough to replace my PC lights with them. I've got a IceCap 660 ballast with heatsink and wiring harness and 3 pairs of endcaps and standoffs. All I need are bulbs, reflectors and a pair of endcaps and standoffs to complete the first stage. For next month I'm hoping to get the endcaps/standoffs and the bulbs. I can add the reflectors later.

Just for kicks, here is a pic of the Zoa eating crab that I evicted from my display to my fuge. He has since been evicted to the skimmer section of the sump due to eating ALL of my cheato while I was on vacation.


Once again my local reef club has come to my aid with two members donating a few handfuls of cheato to my cause. I've now got astrea stars and striped brittle stars to complement the white brittle stars I've already got. The pods and live brine shrimp were a nice addition too.

Rychek

Well, not much has changed in my tank lately. I've been working on my canopy (not sure if I've mentioned it before... been busy). It was given to me by the guy I purchased my IceCap 660 from. He custom built it, so I have to sand it down and stain it to match my stand. I'm hoping to get the last set of standoff/end caps I need as well as bulbs next month (only two more days before I can order). Then it's just a matter of finishing the canopy and installing the retro kit. I'm excited to get my new lights setup so I can see the colors the my current light washes out.

Shock

First off of course. everything looks great.

on the other side i am jealous of your hawaii adventure!!!! I have been to the cayman islands twice. I loved snorkeling and swimming with fish. so much fun, and it is what got me into saltwater. I am going back to the caribbean next summer, not sure what island yet though.

I am also learning to scuba dive right now. so next year i can dive and snorkel....just for a short story of that adventure.. I had a Navy Seal give me a crash course. so ya well after i went under the water, and learned how to take off my mask, and put it back on and clear the water out without surfaceing. he decided it was time for me to give him ALL my equipment, mask, weight belt, tank, fins, EVERYTHING and put it at the bottom of the pool 12 feet down, and told me to go get it, and not come back up until i had it all back on. that was intense. he said he had to free dive 80 feet, to put on his equipment while he was in the navy.. lol freaking crazy.

Rychek

Special Forces stuff is beyond intense. That's why I have a desk job. The Caribbean would be a cool place to snorkel/dive. Seeing fish in the wild makes the fish in my tank seem dinky though.

I ordered bulbs for my T5 retro kit a few minutes ago. I'm getting 4 48" T5 bulbs to go along with my IceCap 660. I went with the below bulbs:

2x ATI Blue Plus
1x ATI Aquablue
1x UVL Aquasun 10K

The tank will look fairly blue, but it should be really good for the corals I plan on getting later on this year.

Shock

Rychek, Ive got almost the same bulbs, except i have a UVL super actinic instead of aquablue. They where pretty blue at first, but now they are not as the bulbs have worn in. Looks great though, I take it your order of bulbs will be front to back blue+ aquablue aquasun blue+? Im telling you it will look awesome, my 55 gallon looks great, and yours being on the 660 and being pushed to what 84watts a bulb... ur tank will glow the colors will pop. be very very careful with bulbs... i broke one of mine first day

Rychek

I'll definitely be cautious with the bulbs. They are so small and fragile looking. I was going to go with the UVL Super Actinic, but thought it would be too blue when combined with 2 Blue Plus bulbs. It'll be a while before I get everything setup though. The Blue Plus bulbs were on back order and I have to finish sanding and staining the canopy. I'm excited for it though.

Shock

It will be worth the wait. its amazing how much light those things put out.