Amp's 25g Cube Seagrass build REDUX

This may have been the death knell for this tank, folks. My brand new halide fixture wouldn't accept the same bulb I took out of it and it sheared the end of the bulb off and cracked the ceramic holder. I'm awaiting the supplier's response to get my money back. Depending on what it is, I may have to abandon the tank and hobby altogether for now. I can't afford to pay for another fixture right now. The seagrass may not make it in the amount of time it'd take to get a new light, anyway. I'm debating whether or not I should even bother. I may place everything up for sale tomorrow. We'll see.
 
Well, after seriously contemplating quitting outright, I found a great price on the Hamilton Cayman Sun reflector/bulb/ballast combo (this time it's mogul, not DE :)), which I then proceeded to order. These fixtures are very nice and the reflectivity is top notch. In the few tests with PAR I've seen, they outperform LumenMax III reflectors by nearly 30% using the same lamp and ballast. This is definitely a bit extra overkill, but I think the seagrass, etc. should react favorably, especially after being in the dark for almost a week. Of course, I'll have to acclimate the few corals I have left. I ordered an XM 10K lamp for it, so I should be getting just about the max PAR I can for this particular setup and wattage, short of running an HQI ballast. Pics to come tomorrow after work.
 
Way to pull through. Sorry to hear about the fixture. Did you get the other one refunded?
 
No. The place I ordered it from won't accept returns if the box has been opened. So no go on that. I know I'll never order from them again. Luckily, I bought this fixture direct from Hamilton. This is also their deluxe fixture that includes blue LEDs, which they didn't advertise for the particular fixture I bought. Very, very nice. The reflector itself looks exactly like a LumenMax reflector, except this one is supposed to be even better. I can only imagine what it will be like with the XM 10K lamp I ordered. I'll have pics up tomorrow. This one puts the Aquamedic fixture to shame--not as sleek, though.

Had I not gotten a recent call for some basic, but tedious IT work, I wouldn't have had the cash to get another fixture. You can imagine the expression on my face after I got the call.
 
Wow, this thing puts off a lot of light, lol. Way more than the previous fixture. The spread is also a bit larger, but the intensity is clearly more. Very nice. I'll have to get pics of it up tomorrow. The power has been off and on here and the lights have already turned off for today.
 
I said I wouldn't actually have any macroalgae, but I think I've changed my mind when I saw some great, healthy specimens of Penicillus capitatus. I snagged one of these and I really like the look it adds. I'm holding off on pics, still, because all 4 sides are coated in a thick, bushy carpet of filamentous algae that has been staving off algae everywhere else. Minus the glass, the inside of the tank is spotless. I'll probably scrape the front as soon as I get my turf scrubber going.
 
Finally, a pic update. I think you guys will get a kick out of my makeshift algal turf "scrubber." :D There is zero algae anywhere else, unsurprisingly.

First, the scrubber on all 4 panes:
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Clowns loving their new home and freshly fed:
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New Penicillus I picked up, plus my old cucumber (going on 11 yrs):
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The healthy seagrass behind the turf (really taking off now):
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Once I'm able to modify some things a bit and get my scrubber going, I'm going to be leaving the algae on all 4 sides. I think I may leave the other three covered even with the scrubber. That should expand the nutrient cycling capacity considerably, along with the Ulva in the sump and display.
 
DoctaQ said:
thats neato amph, do you feed the cucumber?

that macro looks cool, and fish wont eat it right cuz its all calcified and whatnot?

if you get a lot of calcifying macros will you have to start dosing?
Click to expand...

Thanks. No, I don't feed anything purposefully to the cucumber. It has done well on just feeding on films on the sand for all this time in the various tanks I've housed it in. The only thing I can do for it is to feed the tank heavily and often, which I do.

The Penicillus is pretty resistant to being eaten by fish, but I don't have anything that would eat it, anyway. It is doing well, though, as the siphons that come from the stalk have already grown by about a cm or so in the couple of days I've had it. I already am dosing, but I'm just using half-strength kalkwasser in my auto top-off, so no real effort needed there. I have to refresh it about once per week, which takes all of 2 minutes. So far, I'm really happy with the progress and the halide and algae truly run this system. I don't think it would be nearly as successful without the intense light and subsequent heavy plant growth. I can't wait until the grass fills out even further. The original plantings have more than tripled in number. I went from a few sprigs in the original photos to probably 60-75 individual shoots. Edit: I've also been adding it since carbonate/bicarbonate is seagrasses' main source of carbon instead of CO2.

I also want to point out how stable this system already is. I accidentally dumped a very large amount of plankton in the tank last night--the pump top on the bottle clogged and I added way too much. Basically about 6-7 mL of the stuff got added and it didn't even put a dent in this system. Nothing is worse for the wear--the "scrubber" soaked any byproducts up and I gave all the little critters a big snack.
 
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Getting warmer

The tank is really starting to experience the heat. I looked today on my controller and it's currently running at 83-84 at the height of the photoperiod. A bit warmer than I anticipated, but tolerable. Luckily, nothing is worse for wear. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that my tank temperatures are slightly elevated from the start, averaging ~81-82 to start with. I'll just have to keep a close eye out to make sure it doesn't rise too much more.
 
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