250G's Return to SPS
- Thread starter 250G
- Start date
Flagswipe
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Dec is busy of course but I look forward to showing off my "stuff"!
I love everything about the Illumina except for the fact that I havent been very successful up until recently. I had a 5' 200 that I eventually sold over my DT but couldnt make SPS happy, lost a bunch. Went back to ATI T5 as I know for sure it works. Then thru a new 24" 260 over my work tank ( a system 70Elos 30w x 24 deep x 24 tall) and proceeded to kill everything in there. Back to 250 on the work tank
Took the 24" 260 and put it over my Frag tank with test corals and started 30 30 30 and have ramped up slowly to 60 80 80 and everything is fine but colour takes a long time to develop.
So its a love hate thing. Im going to wait another six months for more technology to catch up LED wise before I try again over my DT. I cant take that again !
I love everything about the Illumina except for the fact that I havent been very successful up until recently. I had a 5' 200 that I eventually sold over my DT but couldnt make SPS happy, lost a bunch. Went back to ATI T5 as I know for sure it works. Then thru a new 24" 260 over my work tank ( a system 70Elos 30w x 24 deep x 24 tall) and proceeded to kill everything in there. Back to 250 on the work tank
Took the 24" 260 and put it over my Frag tank with test corals and started 30 30 30 and have ramped up slowly to 60 80 80 and everything is fine but colour takes a long time to develop.
So its a love hate thing. Im going to wait another six months for more technology to catch up LED wise before I try again over my DT. I cant take that again !
250G
New member
Thanks Tim - going to TRY and keep the sickness in check. I am limited in size with the tank.....that being said all my old live rock is already drilled to facilitate pegging corals.
Thinking the week after Christmas if you are around.
Yikes - that light really had such an impact on your work tank? Seems pretty extreme but I have never owned one....I would suspect serious bleaching but death is pretty bad!
Perhaps I will have the distinct advantage of all new frags being introduced to the lighting from my 260 as this is a new tank??? Start them on the bottom and move them up approach. I hear a lot of stories about people having troubles when the attempt to swap out lighting with LED, guess I will see shortly.
I should be installing my LED over the 55G tonight, I will post some pics. Dave
welcome back to the sickness dave. lookin' forward to your build...
Thinking the week after Christmas if you are around.
Yikes - that light really had such an impact on your work tank? Seems pretty extreme but I have never owned one....I would suspect serious bleaching but death is pretty bad!
Perhaps I will have the distinct advantage of all new frags being introduced to the lighting from my 260 as this is a new tank??? Start them on the bottom and move them up approach. I hear a lot of stories about people having troubles when the attempt to swap out lighting with LED, guess I will see shortly.
I should be installing my LED over the 55G tonight, I will post some pics. Dave
Dec is busy of course but I look forward to showing off my "stuff"!
I love everything about the Illumina except for the fact that I havent been very successful up until recently. I had a 5' 200 that I eventually sold over my DT but couldnt make SPS happy, lost a bunch. Went back to ATI T5 as I know for sure it works. Then thru a new 24" 260 over my work tank ( a system 70Elos 30w x 24 deep x 24 tall) and proceeded to kill everything in there. Back to 250 on the work tank
Took the 24" 260 and put it over my Frag tank with test corals and started 30 30 30 and have ramped up slowly to 60 80 80 and everything is fine but colour takes a long time to develop.
So its a love hate thing. Im going to wait another six months for more technology to catch up LED wise before I try again over my DT. I cant take that again !
chrishayes
New member
Formally, Im Chris, nice to meet you! Just wanted to say good luck with your build, we are all excited to see it progress it seems! lol cant wait for pics.
250G
New member
Recognize some old friends in those pictures! Outstanding set-up, like the staggered frag racks with solid mounts to avoid touching. That coraline looks thick! Saw one of your other pics of the fuscia aka red dragon, you have grown that out nice.
I have 7 - I purchased them all at the same time. They stay pretty tight now that I have intoduced some other fish. I would have purchased the whole school if there were more, they don't take up much space and they tend to ship poorly. I was lucky and have not lost any.
Not sure about that - Dwayne has both the knowledge, commitment and equipment, the rest is up to the coral.
SO..............
I have done some work. Yesterday I removed the unsightly T5 fixture and installed my 36" Illumina 260. All I can say is WOW. The light is BRIGHT, and the spectrum is very nice. I will need to learn how to tweek the setting, and the blue seems a little off at actinic time. Are you suposed to use the blue or royal blue for actinics night time viewing...
Also - the quality of the fixture and the ease to set-up pleased me, then again for the price I pretty much expected perfection:
The T5's to the LED:
With the light on:
I also had a productive day at the LFS. Picked up a 2" black tang and 4 bartlett anthias. Nice when you get your hands on a black tang the same size or smaller than your anthias! He will mannage in the 55 till I get the 90.
Even picked up a couple SPS colonies today, one aquaculture stag and one wild mille, for $30 each how could I go wrong. If they don't stuggle I will feel much better when it comes time for some frags.
Here are a few shots from the frag tank under Ilumina
Taken under 20k time, 20 80 80 just before lights out.
Dwayne
I have 7 - I purchased them all at the same time. They stay pretty tight now that I have intoduced some other fish. I would have purchased the whole school if there were more, they don't take up much space and they tend to ship poorly. I was lucky and have not lost any.
Not sure about that - Dwayne has both the knowledge, commitment and equipment, the rest is up to the coral.
SO..............
I have done some work. Yesterday I removed the unsightly T5 fixture and installed my 36" Illumina 260. All I can say is WOW. The light is BRIGHT, and the spectrum is very nice. I will need to learn how to tweek the setting, and the blue seems a little off at actinic time. Are you suposed to use the blue or royal blue for actinics night time viewing...
Also - the quality of the fixture and the ease to set-up pleased me, then again for the price I pretty much expected perfection:
The T5's to the LED:
With the light on:
I also had a productive day at the LFS. Picked up a 2" black tang and 4 bartlett anthias. Nice when you get your hands on a black tang the same size or smaller than your anthias! He will mannage in the 55 till I get the 90.
Even picked up a couple SPS colonies today, one aquaculture stag and one wild mille, for $30 each how could I go wrong. If they don't stuggle I will feel much better when it comes time for some frags.
chessmanmark
New member
Good luck with the new build. I hope you able to achieve the level of success you had in the past.
250G
New member
I saw that reflection - perhaps Alex can give the SPS a motivational speech about the importance of ABC, in this case Always Be Colorful, not to be confused with Always Be Closing 
Yup - $30, a classic blue base with green coralite stag and one wild mille ( blue tips and possible a pink base). They had a surprising amount of SPS there for $30...was I not going the frag route I could have easily bought many more. $28 bartletts!
Royal blue is what I suspected and am using, the pop is a littly more crazy that I am accustom with VHO actinic or T5 actinic!
Thanks, and ya me to. I have plans to get some of my old stock back and hopefully some new ones so I am optomistic. 9 months from now I look forward to seeing what the tank looks like.
I will need to do a little research on the red pads - they sound intriguing, and if they don't please me I could always remove them. Once I get a wide variety of colors in the tank I will consider it. Red supplements primarily highlights the reds, blues and pinks correct?
Yup - $30, a classic blue base with green coralite stag and one wild mille ( blue tips and possible a pink base). They had a surprising amount of SPS there for $30...was I not going the frag route I could have easily bought many more. $28 bartletts!
Royal blue is what I suspected and am using, the pop is a littly more crazy that I am accustom with VHO actinic or T5 actinic!
Thanks, and ya me to. I have plans to get some of my old stock back and hopefully some new ones so I am optomistic. 9 months from now I look forward to seeing what the tank looks like.
I will need to do a little research on the red pads - they sound intriguing, and if they don't please me I could always remove them. Once I get a wide variety of colors in the tank I will consider it. Red supplements primarily highlights the reds, blues and pinks correct?
250G
New member
funny you mention pictures.....used my camera today for the first time in a couple years.......forget how to use it and the manual is no where in site. Perhaps a reason to get myself a new one....I was already researching it, 2x's the MP and 3x's the zoom now for the same price! Should make for some better pics when the time comes.
