Reefnjunkies 400 gallon inwall
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rideit6578
Active Member
Oh man, your tank looks awesome. The tank looked great as the 75 and 150 and now the 400 looks so good.
OP
OP
I see what I can frag :xd: Also, I may have another clam or two you may be interested in
Thanks, it is starting to take on the look I'm wanting, still tweaking things tho, but thanks again for the compliment
I've done a few trades with Shaun stuff he had for stuff I have but the only noticeable pieces is that banana lokani, I did get the palmers from him but its still a frag. We are a pretty tight knot group here and those who appreciate the SPS seem to trade amongst ourselves pretty regularly.
OP
OP
The tank has been doing great, I have actually been removing some of the colonies and selling them off locally since I have no room, and lots of newer " designer corals " that are going to need a place to grow out- pieces like;
Jose Candle light
PC Rainbow
PC Superman Table
what the heck MOP
SWOTR
About 6 Rommel Pieces
3 Reef Raft Canada pieces
Thats just off the top off my head :rofl:
I'm thinking of redoing the right side of the tank which would also limit the rock work-
I'm planning on posting up some pice later so I have a "before look" in the event I do as I am thinking
frags
Community Member
Tank is amazing I just read your whole thread. Im about 6 months into my SPS tank and I would love to know what you do or feel needs to be done to keep your sps and have the great colors. Besides the basics flow and light do you use carbon or gfo how do u maintain your alk and calcium and what level you keep your alk
at? How much and often do u do Water changes? Do you feed heavy?
at? How much and often do u do Water changes? Do you feed heavy?
OP
OP
Thank you very much-Wasn't trying to be a snob, I unsubscribed somehow by accident
In my opinion its all about stability, primarily KH. I have had nitrates as high as .25 and phosphates at .20 and my acros don't look at all different, you actually would never know. Granted those are not params I target but when a skimmer pump shaft busts and it take 2 weeks to replace, things get ugly-LOL
In the past year I have tried bio pellets (mainly to bring the PO4 and NO3 down after the broken shaft) which worked great on the NO3 but didn't do anything for PO4 so to speak. I had a recirculating reactor built which IMO if you are going to run BP that's the best type of reactor to have, its not crucial but its the best (IMO) I quite the BP reactor mainly due to all the "bio snot" that built up in the return line and it just didn't "seem right" to me, but everything looked good! It also was not reducing the PO4 which was the other reason I wanted to try it.
This pushed into have a Sulpher Denitrator built, I figured if I am going to have to go back to a GFO reactor I may as well use a denitrator and I can feed buckets of food to my fish (just kidding of course, I feed heavily anyway). I keep the story short and just say after about 3 months I scraped the denitrator and am just back to the basics I've always used and have had great success with;
Awesome skimmer (SWC Extreme 250-1A)
GFO reactor (Which is myAquamaxx bio pellet reactor converted :wink
I actually do run carbon now but that's a first in about 4.5 years, (I've been doing it for about 5 weeks now)
I still have a bag of Purigen in my filter sock
I use a GEO 624 Ca RX which I run 24/7 with the effluent at 6.40 and my apex programmed to shut it off it it drops below 6.38. My rate of effluent is about 5 mls per second (LOL) and my bubble count is about 6-8 per second-At these settings my KH stays rock solid at 8.24
Calcium runs at 550
Magnesium at 1450
PH runs between 7.65 at the lowest at night to maybe 7.98 during the day, in the summer when I have fresh air coming in I wil hit highs of almost 8.2:tongue:
I don't dose, I do about 50 gallon water changes every month, or try to-I'm terrible about that :mmph:
My Nitrate is 0.0, maybe 0.0001 :becky: the test sample is 100% clear 9using salifert, its to low for the Lamont kit
PO4 is .03 ( I run the Reef Interest PO4x4 phosphate media-have been for about 2 months)
My lighting is now(and has been for about 9 months, maybe longer) the D120's from Ocean Revive (who is a sponsor here :rockon
I run their Artic SO units over my SPS Frag tank and I run T5 over my acan/chalice frag tank.I've ran LEDS for 2.5 years :amen: and have NEVER had a single regret.
Sorry for the long post but I have not made an update in SO LONG.
Feel free to ask away, I have no secrets
OP
OP
Well I had to work with the macro again today and had to take more pics of my acans-this is not all of them but I'm hoping to work a trade or group buy for another growout
I hope it all comes together-Thanks again for looking;
I hope it all comes together-Thanks again for looking;
frags
Community Member
Thanks for the info... I had a few more questions do you skim wet or dry and do you feed your corals besides what they get from fish poo? Also why did u add carbon if you never used it in thr past?
Sent from my SCH-R530U using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my SCH-R530U using Tapatalk 2
OP
OP
Thank you, my wife says I spend a lot of time in "the tank room"
I guess I would say skim dry since the bubbles are not going over the top of the collection cup neck, granted I have the swabbie from Avast that cleans the neck 4 times a day so there is zero build up on the neck and the skimmer is running at 100% efficiency, another reason I believe my NO3 is zero. I have the drain tube from the collection cup going into a 5 ballon bucket that I have a pressure switch also from Avast that once triggered (meaning the bucket is full) my Apex will turn of my skimmer pump so it does not flood the garage (had that happen at least 3 times before I finally pulled my head out and bought the switch) and send me a page so I know its time to empty.
I added carbon because I had a situation that I believe was a result of Chaeto decomposing or doing "something" that was causing me to loose SPS to STN and had my acans melting. I'm sure it was the Chaeto but it was one of the "newest" things I had going on. You see I had a friend who was rebuilding his tank and I was housing all his stuff, the chaeto was part of that. Well it grew and grew and trimmed and trimmed and then I suspect it just grew to much and I didn't stay on top off it. I lost a good amount of frags, a few colonies and a lots of heads on my acans.
I've never ran a fuge, I thought it may be a good addition but I removed the chaeto, added the carbon, did a 150 gallon water change and after about 14 days things stopped dying and now I am back to the sweet loving reef I have known.
I have no intention to ever try anything "new" again, what I am doing now, I had been doing for years and things have been great, when its time for the carbon to be replaced I doubt I will.
Hope that helps-Never a short answer with me-:cry:
and now for some more eye candy....
Kawicivic
Well-Known Member
I checked out your thread after seeing your post in Battlecorals thread - very nice looking.
Why did you choose to go with OR LEDs? Looks like you had DIY fixtures previously? Also, why did you choose to go with new fixtures so soon? Tech junkie or did you have issues?
You said you don't give short answers... I would really appreciate any opinion on LEDs as I keep going back and forth. It is time for me to replace bulbs again and between my main tank and my frag tank I probably have close to $300 in t5s to buy... I'm seriously considering looking into LEDs. I like the ID of DIY but to "do it right" it seems like i could buy OR or Reef breeders or Apollo or any other chinese fixtures for less. My concern is I need them to last longer than 2-3 years for it to be "worth it." My growth and color are great with T5s (as are yours) so I am really only interested in the electrical savings and joy of not having to replace bulbs every year (I should do it about every 9 months but I stretch them as longa s I can).
Why did you choose to go with OR LEDs? Looks like you had DIY fixtures previously? Also, why did you choose to go with new fixtures so soon? Tech junkie or did you have issues?
You said you don't give short answers... I would really appreciate any opinion on LEDs as I keep going back and forth. It is time for me to replace bulbs again and between my main tank and my frag tank I probably have close to $300 in t5s to buy... I'm seriously considering looking into LEDs. I like the ID of DIY but to "do it right" it seems like i could buy OR or Reef breeders or Apollo or any other chinese fixtures for less. My concern is I need them to last longer than 2-3 years for it to be "worth it." My growth and color are great with T5s (as are yours) so I am really only interested in the electrical savings and joy of not having to replace bulbs every year (I should do it about every 9 months but I stretch them as longa s I can).
OP
OP
Thanks for the compliment, the tank has gone through some changes and I need to do better at updating but to your questions.......
When I was building my 400 I had all the intention of going MH and VHO, to the point I had been acquiring all the components over time. I had the 1 HP chiller, all new reflectors everything basically and I started looking at LEDs only because I started crunching numbers on how much electricity and overall cost. LEDs where not real popular at the time.
I ran across a thread that the person actually tracked the progress over the course of about a year I believe, the tank was in China or Taiwan if I recall. Anyway not to go to far off topic, his tank was SPS dominate which I knew mine would be and he was using the Maxpect G2 I think it was. I spent a lot of time trying to find them and fish street was the only option and shipping was RIDICULOUS. It was at that point I started researching DIY and ran across Bill at Reefledlights.com. I went with him because he had everything I needed in the config I needed, I wanted the larger heatsink and ordering direct from heatsinkusa wasn't a cost effective option.
I built one of his 48 bulb units and added the high noon option of 12 extra bulbs for a total of 60 3- watters on a 8.5x24 inch HS. Back then it was like an ala carte type menu, you picked a basic fixture and added to it what you wanted, I think his site is much different now. I placed that DIY over one half of my temp 150 tank I had while I was building the 400. The other half had my 250 Radium MH and I ran them side by side for I believe close to 6 months. I like the look of the LED better than the radium, the corals grew just as fine and really it was perfect, so I ordered a second kit and replaced the 250 Radium and from there its been all LED for me.
I tried it, they worked and worked well I might add, made me assume that all those threads were people were trashing LEDs where people that tried to go cheap, or didnt use the right combo, honestly its a mystery still. Here I grow SPS with mad colors and they grow well and then I read all these threads were people say LEDs dont work.
Anyway that is what made me take the leap and over time I would occasionally have to replace a LED, back then they didnt have splash shields, heck they didnt even have color options I don't think, it was 3 version of white and Royal Blue thats it, this was very new. So an occasional burnt LED, a fried driver here and there (from heat-my fault, not a design flaw) and the PIA of pulling the fixtures down, trouble shooting which bulb went bad, determining which driver was bad (at this point I had 6 DIY units) etc was irritating to say the least.
Then all of a sudden enter Evergrow, my local club sees that initial group buy that was happening on another forum and they decide to do it.
After doing LEDs for about a year and a half I can tell on paper if everything I see is correct they should perform well. Granted they are not Cree LEDs, they aren't Meanwell drivers, they don't have heatsinks (actually this group buy they did get them to do heatsinks) but seem to have the correct color combo and at ONE THIRD the cost it took to build a single DIY unit.
Going back 5 years, I had used an Odyssey fixture over my 75 gallon tank with Phoenix bulbs so I was not scared by the Chinese build as I knew that fixture worked just fine. The person that started that group but here locally ended up spinning off into Ocean Revive which is not only local to me but now a sponsor here. At one point another driver blew and I had the choice, by a 35.00 driver or add another 100.00+ and get a whole fixture to see how they do.
I bought the D120 fixture, swapped out a few LEDs since I didn't care for a 3.5k LED bulbs it came with and was literally amazed. It was at that point I sold a few chalices to fund the jump and began swapping out all my DIY for the D120s which I presently use over my display and have never had an issue. I think its got to be coming close to a year I think, I'm not certain, but long enough to know they work and work well-my tank is proof enough for me.
Thats my opinion anyway.
Ocean Revive went on to develop his current Arctic SO which I wanted to try, it was sleek looking, less bulbs and they were more spread out which I thought was a good idea so the coverage was a little better. I knew from my DIY days the D120s would be par monsters with 55 bulbs on such a small footprint, I had 60 bulbs on my DIY and that was nearly twice the size. I run my D120s around 50 percent blue and slightly less on whites.
So if you are still following the brief summary/recap;
I switched because I got tired of initially replacing bulbs that burned out due to water-(no cover shields, my fault for not adding them) replacing burnt drivers and (I wasn't over drinking them, they all were dialed in at 1.2 amps running 2 parallel strings of 12)
A Chinese fixture was finally produced that I felt would work, (and it has proven to do so) at a cost that was one third the price.
I sold a nice chalice pack to fund the whole transition which if I had not done I would not have dumped another grand after dumping 2.5k in DIY :cry:
And if I had to start all over knowing what I know now, I would buy all ArticSO units from Ocean Revive vs the D120 from him or Evergrow or whomever. I'm not sure but he was doing some insane deal on them, ridiculously low, I have told him many times, "you are selling these WAY to cheap for what they can do.......
DIY is great but Im sorry to say at a price point of a 3:1 ratio.........:sad:
Way to much information I presume but there it is, the what, the why, and the where I am now and what I would recommend
Chapter 2
Good luck with which ever direction you go. There will always be those die hard T5 and MH users which is fine, denial is not just a river in Egypt.
I will add I do use T5 for my acans, the nice rainbow acans HATE LED and morph, I tried for over a year tweaking this and that but gave up finding the perfect combo, I know its possible but I built a 6 bulb T5 unit just for my acans and that has been only ~3 months ago and they are coloring back up nicely.
PS, I have 4 DIY fixtures I'd sell real cheap, the other 2 I had I sold
OP
OP
A few pics of what the D120s produce;
A few pics of what the D120s produce;
I love the D120's and think it is the best light for that price bracket and a better light than many of the higher brackets. Your corals look great!
Kawicivic
Well-Known Member
I would quote that post but it's too long to quote it!
With that being said, it was exactly what I was looking for. I am still lost on why anyone would pay so much money and then end up only running them at 50%. This is a selling point of the DIY fixtures - I understand the efficiency factor but it's the cost factor and marketing of this feature that confuses me. As a business person, anytime you are paying more for something and then not taking an advantage of it, there is an opportunity for improvement. I appreciate the honest feedback on the maintenance as well. I could not deal with that - I travel for work and need to know that my equipment is rock solid. (I'm curious though...shoot me a pm with a price... Maybe I want to dabble with them over my frag tank. What a hobby!? Lol). I. Keep looking at the Chinese fixtures because they are cheaper and people are still not using them at 100% so I feel that they have plenty of power. I like the idea of them being more spread out as well. I had to go back and edit this section to reword it - hopefully it's a little better now. I didn't intend to bash either fixture.
One follow up - do you believe that LEDs will truly live up to their quoted lifespan? Not to say that I wouldn't end up upgrading before that, but I don't want to be forced to upgrade all my lights again in two years.
Thanks again for taking the time to write that post. I appreciate all the info.
With that being said, it was exactly what I was looking for. I am still lost on why anyone would pay so much money and then end up only running them at 50%. This is a selling point of the DIY fixtures - I understand the efficiency factor but it's the cost factor and marketing of this feature that confuses me. As a business person, anytime you are paying more for something and then not taking an advantage of it, there is an opportunity for improvement. I appreciate the honest feedback on the maintenance as well. I could not deal with that - I travel for work and need to know that my equipment is rock solid. (I'm curious though...shoot me a pm with a price... Maybe I want to dabble with them over my frag tank. What a hobby!? Lol). I. Keep looking at the Chinese fixtures because they are cheaper and people are still not using them at 100% so I feel that they have plenty of power. I like the idea of them being more spread out as well. I had to go back and edit this section to reword it - hopefully it's a little better now. I didn't intend to bash either fixture.
One follow up - do you believe that LEDs will truly live up to their quoted lifespan? Not to say that I wouldn't end up upgrading before that, but I don't want to be forced to upgrade all my lights again in two years.
Thanks again for taking the time to write that post. I appreciate all the info.
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OP
OP
I honestly would put it like this, knowing what I do now and having the experiance I have with the D120s, the Artic SO and the DIY (even learning form my mistakes so they would not happen again) I would choose the Artics if I was to do it all over again. Thats the short answer and I won't expound on all the whys, some is listed above.
I do run Artics higher than 50 percent since the have 48 bulbs not 55 and the fixture is slightly larger.
Another thing worth mentioning since you mention running the chinese at a lower percentage-On the DIY units the 3 watt Crees I think are being under driven as well-its been a long time but if memory serves they are running at about 75 percent, you actually adjust the meanwell driver to 750mA which means they are running at about 2+ watts. I had mine running in parallel where I had the drivers set ay 1.2 amps but then that splits that 2 so each series of 12 was only running at 600mA.
IF I UNDERSTOOD all that voltage/amperage stuff.
I have 2-10x30 inch heatsinks each with 72 3-watt Crees at a 2:1 ratio, I'm into each one nearly 700.00 (the 10x30 HS is a special order for heatsinkUSA)
I can buy 4 artics for the price of one of those units. If they last 2 years the money I would spend in bulbs is close to the same so I figure at that rate anything past 2.5 years is paying me back, not to mention the reduction in electricity-no chiller, pump to run that chiller, bulbs, etc etc .....
I'll stop before I make this another short story :frusty:
IMO, buy the Artics, you'll be pleased
I do run Artics higher than 50 percent since the have 48 bulbs not 55 and the fixture is slightly larger.
Another thing worth mentioning since you mention running the chinese at a lower percentage-On the DIY units the 3 watt Crees I think are being under driven as well-its been a long time but if memory serves they are running at about 75 percent, you actually adjust the meanwell driver to 750mA which means they are running at about 2+ watts. I had mine running in parallel where I had the drivers set ay 1.2 amps but then that splits that 2 so each series of 12 was only running at 600mA.
IF I UNDERSTOOD all that voltage/amperage stuff.
I have 2-10x30 inch heatsinks each with 72 3-watt Crees at a 2:1 ratio, I'm into each one nearly 700.00 (the 10x30 HS is a special order for heatsinkUSA)
I can buy 4 artics for the price of one of those units. If they last 2 years the money I would spend in bulbs is close to the same so I figure at that rate anything past 2.5 years is paying me back, not to mention the reduction in electricity-no chiller, pump to run that chiller, bulbs, etc etc .....
I'll stop before I make this another short story :frusty:
IMO, buy the Artics, you'll be pleased
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