chrishayes
New member
Im going to pick up the reflectors for the stunner strips today. I will post some pics and a review once I get them on and its dark out. Cant tell much with the light coming in the windows...
45 Galllon Cube. My dream tank...only smaller!
- Thread starter chrishayes
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chrishayes
New member
Oh, I forgot to mention PH. After graphing it with my laptop via the RKL it stays around 8.11 as an average through the 8am-9pm range and drops to an average of 8.06 between 9pm and 8am so the reverse photoperiod of the fuge is definately working to stabilize the PH. Not bad I dont think considering my NC28's PH was always below 8 and swung from 7.7 to 8 day to night. Now that was in the winter along with the tank being a closed top vs the open top now but the air is always on here since the tank was setup...This is also with only 3 hours a day of halide lighting so I expect the number to climb a bit once its on a full 6-8 hours. Also I havent calibrated the probe since before taking the old tank down. Ill do that also when I have time.
chrishayes
New member
So, ive once again been made a believer in a product I had no faith in! Way to go Ecoxotic! These reflectors actually work! They more focus the light rather than increase its brightness, but its effective ill give em that. See for yourself. Sorry about the daytime photos, have a sick kid so thats the time I got...
The reflectors
before
left side no reflector, right side with reflector
The reflectors
before
left side no reflector, right side with reflector
chrishayes
New member
Both on
You can see the reflection on the wall how they work. They are narrowing the spread considerably and its hard to see in photos but the light is now in two focused beams but it is brighter in the areas it hits obviously. Once the whole fixture is lowered another 2" there wont be much if any spill over the sides now. $18 well spent.
You can see the reflection on the wall how they work. They are narrowing the spread considerably and its hard to see in photos but the light is now in two focused beams but it is brighter in the areas it hits obviously. Once the whole fixture is lowered another 2" there wont be much if any spill over the sides now. $18 well spent.
chrishayes
New member
Yeah they work quite well honestly. Once it was dark I was able to really tell how much more light they got IN the tank. I would almost buy the "doubles brightness" the manufacturer claims. The nicest part about them is that they cut the glare from the sides. I mean the fixture is right at eye level so its nearly impossible to NOT look at it. Its blinding without these reflectors. My biggest gripe is quality and fit. They are not in any way worth more than $7 material wise and they dont fit real tight to the strip so there is some light leakage. I wish they wouldve made them a little nicer and made them 15-20$ each. It wouldnt dicourage most folks from buying them I dont think.
About the alk, the answer is it depends. In the near future ill be running out of reefcrystals salt and going IO so there might be a change there. Also I plan t run kalk as long as I can as it is so much simpler to keep a balanced system
with rather than constantly tweaking and testing and tweaking and testing. I assume as soon as the corals get over the stress from moving and start to lay down any base at all ill tip over the kalks ability to keep up.
When using kalk, I dont chase a number at all. As long as im not losing more to evap than the cal demand of the tank it will find its own level without my help.
When its not enough I will test over several days after a waterchange and no cal/alk additions to get a feel for what the IO is gonna produce then ill start dialing my dosing pumps in to match it. There is no reason to fight your salt!
Now if the need arises to dose carbon ill be forced to drop it to7-8 just from past experience.
Hows the prodibo workin out for ya? whyd u start using it?
Reef_Noob
New member
Yep those reflectors do seem like cash well spent. Corals gonna look great.
My alk I'm maintaining it at 8 dkh as recommended by Prodibio.
Iv started adding Prodibio Bioclean since last week. Dosing will be biweekly. I am adding Prodibio aiming for an ULNS. So far I was adding Bacterya (Equo) and Bioptim (Prodibio) it helped cycle my tank pretty fast and keeping the customary algae blooms well in control. The parameters remained stable. The Bioclean addition should further clear up the tank. Il updating on that. Now it's too early to say. To be honest my tank was effectively running without a skimmer, coz the built in skimmer was quite underpowered for this system.
Iv posted some questions on my thread pls do take a look and waiting for ur suggestions.
chrishayes
New member
I placed most of my coral last night so ill take some pictures when the lights are on this afternoon.
Reef Noob wouldnt you already say you have a ULNS being just set up? I know mine is. Im feeding heavily to keep the macros growing and the corals happy and ive not added any carbon source. Im sure over time that will change once the system starts to store more nutrients. Maybe its due to the majority of my rock being basically dry rock thats been cooked with other cooked rock.
Reef Noob wouldnt you already say you have a ULNS being just set up? I know mine is. Im feeding heavily to keep the macros growing and the corals happy and ive not added any carbon source. Im sure over time that will change once the system starts to store more nutrients. Maybe its due to the majority of my rock being basically dry rock thats been cooked with other cooked rock.
chrishayes
New member
Lol, I just saw the little squat lobster in the fuge! I tried looking for him to move him into the display a few weeks ago but he was mia. Havent seen him since I chucked him in the fuge! Hes alive and well! Cool little guy, he was grazing on one of the rocks so im not sure hes a pod hunter...soon as he saw me he was gone! Dont recon ill be catching this guy anytime soon.
chrishayes
New member
Ok, so dont hate on me for the poor photo quality. Its really bright out right now plus im an idiot and wore a flourecent green shirt! doh. Oh well, it at least shows the layout well enough. Just a couple of the corals were left unattached because I wasnt happy with them anywhere yet. There is a biannual frag swap here Sept 17th where I plan to pick up some choice pieces hopefully to fill out the tank. Boy, I really didnt gain much space with this upgrade. Really the only space I gained was by removing a bunch of rocks covered in zoas and fragging a lot of the corals.
I used a mix of waterweld and gel glue to attach the corals to the rocks. I put glue on the coral itself then smoosh waterweld against that, then glue again on the waterweld and on to the rocks.
Showing water movement at the surface. Wish I had the internet connection to post HD video. Oh well.
I used a mix of waterweld and gel glue to attach the corals to the rocks. I put glue on the coral itself then smoosh waterweld against that, then glue again on the waterweld and on to the rocks.
Showing water movement at the surface. Wish I had the internet connection to post HD video. Oh well.
chrishayes
New member
This tenuis has the craziest PE, cant wait for its color to return!
chrishayes
New member
chrishayes
New member
FTS
chrishayes
New member
I have tried every possible flow setup in this tank and nothing works as well as what I had from the start...My MP10 is NOT strong enough to float this tank itself with the return only. I thought that one of the mjs and the mp10 on the same side would be perfect but it wasnt. It blew sand really bad and was too strong at the point where the water would come down the glass and curl over the sand. This kept everything down low from opening and left very little flow at the top. It was nice to have the whole water column swirl from top to bottom in a gyre basically because this is the only way I can get the particulates over the calfo overflow.
If the flow is caotic it causes the particulates to just continually mix in the water cause where it goes over the overflow is such a thin layer...its great for surface skimming but not really great to get the waste up and out to the skimmer. Plus the more caotic the flow at the surface, the more it creates air bubbles from the water sloshing over the top. This gets sucked down the full siphon channel and you have to hear it purge the air out in the sump. Grr. Its not loud but its not what I wanted with this system.
Anyone have tips for flow in a 24" cube or a flow type that works best for cubes in general? Like I said the two mj1200 mods at opposite corners pointed up and towards the center provides the best flow to the corals but its just a bit too strong and blows sand. The Mp10 is nearly useless as it stands. It wont creat a wave at all and has a tough time even reaching all the way to the other side of the tank. I think it would work if I put it on the right side blowing into the main rock structure but this defeats the look im going for. Dont want a pump hanging in the middle of one of the two main viewing panels. Help! lol
If the flow is caotic it causes the particulates to just continually mix in the water cause where it goes over the overflow is such a thin layer...its great for surface skimming but not really great to get the waste up and out to the skimmer. Plus the more caotic the flow at the surface, the more it creates air bubbles from the water sloshing over the top. This gets sucked down the full siphon channel and you have to hear it purge the air out in the sump. Grr. Its not loud but its not what I wanted with this system.
Anyone have tips for flow in a 24" cube or a flow type that works best for cubes in general? Like I said the two mj1200 mods at opposite corners pointed up and towards the center provides the best flow to the corals but its just a bit too strong and blows sand. The Mp10 is nearly useless as it stands. It wont creat a wave at all and has a tough time even reaching all the way to the other side of the tank. I think it would work if I put it on the right side blowing into the main rock structure but this defeats the look im going for. Dont want a pump hanging in the middle of one of the two main viewing panels. Help! lol
chrishayes
New member
I think ive got it now! I just put the mj up in the far right hand corner pointed towards the surface and back to the left front corner. This intersects well with the flow from the mp10 which I put in lagoon 100%. When its at a low speed the flow is calmer but still caotic then once it ramps to full speed things get real caotic and strong without any direct flow hitting any one spot nor moving sand considerably. Well see how it goes longterm...
And yes I have 500gph from the return split in two locline wide nozzles, one mp10 and two mj1200 mods to use as intank flow. I cant use the two mjs with the mp10, its just too much but the mp10 is not enough alone nor is the mj. Two mjs is too much for the sand but perfect for the corals. Two mp10s would be great but Im not willing to shill out another $250 when a $25 mj is plenty good with the mp10 creating the random flow. I think this is gonna work well! Ill letcha know
And yes I have 500gph from the return split in two locline wide nozzles, one mp10 and two mj1200 mods to use as intank flow. I cant use the two mjs with the mp10, its just too much but the mp10 is not enough alone nor is the mj. Two mjs is too much for the sand but perfect for the corals. Two mp10s would be great but Im not willing to shill out another $250 when a $25 mj is plenty good with the mp10 creating the random flow. I think this is gonna work well! Ill letcha know
Reef_Noob
New member
Hiya Chris,,,,,Ummmm regarding my system not sure if its already an ULNS...but i am pretty confident its on its way. It only be proven by good voral colouration and coral growth i guess...
I am trying my hand at maintaining an ULNS setup....but that only time will tell
Things can change a lot when more and more livestock is added into my system and how my system will cope no one can predict accurately. But its gonna be a learning curve for me and its always exciting to try something new
REEF SMAC
New member
figuring out the right flow is not an easy task at all, right? :headwallblue:
Its trial and error till the perfect combination is achieved.
And i guess you have figured out the best flow combination for ur tank
^^Pretty much sums it up.
As soon as stuff starts growing and filling in, you'll probably be changing it some more. Your sand will start sticking together from biofilm or whatever, and will blow around less eventually. I mixed some crushed coral in with my sand and that seemed to help too. Before you know it you will have that MP10 running wide open and be shopping for another one.
chrishayes
New member
Thanks Reefsmac. Itll be a process...
