A Reefaholic's 1000+ Gallon Mixed Reef System Build

[Dustin1300]

Thanks for the great info. do you think that this ATS will elongate your water changes? at this point what do you think your water changes schedules will be in the future with the ATS stablish. thanks again.

+1 to what David said. Especially with reef tanks that contain lots of LPS/SPS. I will likely do ~20% water changes now using the LiterMeter throughout the month. Should nitrates start to incline, I can always increase that number but I don't expect to see that anytime soon since I'll have such a low bioload for a while. Right now that equates to 57 gallons/month so that's only one bucket of salt each 3 months. ~$50 in salt is a small investment compared to what we put in our reef tanks to ensure we keep trace elements supplied. I've very rarely seen nice tanks that do little to no water changes...99% of the beautiful tanks you see are due to good husbandry which includes regular water changes:fun4:

As I earlier outlined, the ATS is a supplementary filter in my system. If it helps keep that Nitrate number lower between water changes and saves me some GFO, then it will be good for my system longterm!

 

[Dustin1300]

I have my current frag lighting up in selling forums if any are interested. Great fixture that I've barely used and 1/2 retail.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2168809

 

[allsps40]

Very nice equipment room. Cant wait to see the final product.

 

[Tristan66]

Thanks againg for the great info.

 

[drummereef]

The frag tank looks sick! Who did the acrylic work?

 

[Dustin1300]

Very nice equipment room. Cant wait to see the final product.

Me neither! :bounce3:

Thanks againg for the great info.

No problem, really need to figure out what I'm going to do next....:facepalm:

The frag tank looks sick! Who did the acrylic work?

Picked it up from a local reefer for ~$300 or something last fall. Found it on the selling forums and had been sitting for ~6 months and I revived the thread and bought it that night because he was only 10 minutes away from my house. He did a great job building it and is made out of 3/8" acrylic and has additional support at all the seams. If I were to build it I likely would have built out of 1/2" cast acrylic but it did the job and the overflow baffle adds more support to it.

I can't claim I build that one as my 125 gallon sump was my first acrylic project but it went well:crazy1: (No leaks yet!)

 

[Dustin1300]

This afternoon while closely looking over all my corals in the frag QT noticed that I had some small white 5-6 'legged' creatures. After some research seems that they are hydroid jellyfish. From what everyone has said online it seems to be a non-pests and just something many see during the 'new tank phase'. I've never had them and could not get a shot but are just like pictured below. Anyone have any thoughts/opinions or disagree that they would be considered a pest?

As for the tank, did some cleaning up of the sump this afternoon and took the ATS offline temporarily. I'd like to work on a 3D ATS once I have some time and make it easier to clean/maintain and downsize to the newest recommendations. I'm probably going to play with sketchup, figure out a DIY LED fixture, and go at that at a later date.

 

[SPotter]

I have/had them too Dustin. My kids thought they were tiny snow flakes on the inside of my tank. They are disappearing little by little now.

 

[Dustin1300]

Orphek DIF-50 LED Fixture

Orphek DIF-50 LED Fixture

This afternoon I got a 14k Orphek DIF-50 fixture to give a spin on the frag tank.

Fixture has a 60 degree optic and I've currently got it set 12-13 inches above the water surface and can say I'm quite impressed. Below I took some pics showing the Metal Halides (Pheonix 250 Watt 14ks). Realize the MHs are two bulbs and without taking the fixture apart, I can only light two at a time but I can say this LED pendant seems to have just as much spread as a single 250 watt MH. They sell them as a replacement to a 250 watt MH and I believe it! Next week I'll be moving frags over to the main system as long as nothing unexpected happens.

Orphek Pendant (End View):

2 X MH (End View):

Orphek LED side view:

Another:

Orphek lit, 2 X MH lit, and 2 ATI Purple Plus T5s lit:

I had heard good things about the Orpheks and will have to see how things progress once coral are present. :thumbsup:

 

[Dustin1300]

I have/had them too Dustin. My kids thought they were tiny snow flakes on the inside of my tank. They are disappearing little by little now.

They say many fish will eat them sometimes too but not too concerned about them. I'm sure the population will disappear in a little while. Maybe in the frag tank the 2 X MP40s will provide enough flow that they won't be able to hold on.:lmao:

 

[drummereef]

The new Orphek pendant looks sick! Are the colors independently adjustable or is it a proprietary blend?

 

[SPotter]

do you have a par meter to do some comparison testing?

 

[Dustin1300]

The new Orphek pendant looks sick! Are the colors independently adjustable or is it a proprietary blend?

They are not independently adjustable and has OFF/ON currently. This is one of the older DIF50s they had and one row is UVs, one is REDs, and the rest are white/blues but will have to look at the chip later to make sure I'm being accurate with this. I think from what I understand they've changed up the multichips so that the LEDs are scattered now so the lens is not biased on any section unlike the fixture that's currently above the frag tank.

Diodes currently on the DIF 50/100 XPs have the following mix:
White
20,000k
Violet 430nm
410nm UV
640nm Red
660nm Red

Newest mix on the multi-chip LEDs are set up as follows:

 

[Dustin1300]

do you have a par meter to do some comparison testing?

No PAR meter currently but probably will try to pick up the club meter in the next couple of weeks to do some testing. I'd like to pick up another LED fixture in the next couple of weeks, possibly the ApolloReef one and then trying to build my own DIY fixture and comparing them all. I've got this really nice MH/T5 fixture but have not had any luck selling it yet.:headwalls:

 

[drummereef]

Cool, thanks for the info!

 

[Dustin1300]

I looked at the DIF 50 better tonight and looks like it's 10 rows of 5 LEDs.

5 rows of whites, 2 rows of blues, 1 row of reds, and 2 row of UVs.

Today I also put an order into Apollo for a SolarBlast dimable unit to give a trial run over the frag tank too I have my reasons for picking up the Apollo. While they don't have all the bells/whistles of some of the fixtures, once you've set everything I really don't see the point in many of the selling points of the other branded fixtures. It might have the same housing as some of the "chinese fixtures" but it has a one piece heatsink, dimable via the controller, mix of blue/white/UV Bridgelux LEDs, and Meanwell drivers.

I might just build a DIY fixture from ReefLEDLights.com too but not yet decided on the direction of that.

 

[Dustin1300]

Apollo Fixture In!

Apollo Fixture In!

I've got my single test Apollo Fixture in and of course I snapped a couple shots and took it apart, why not right?! I'm quite impressed with this fixture and how well the electronics are sealed off from the elements. I'll not yet light it until later because I've got to program my Apex for the sunset/sunrise but that should just take a little bit to program. I'll get more pictures and will likely write a review on the fixture at a later date. Joe from Apollo has been an AMAZING resource and very responsive and happy to answer any questions/concerns I have.

Package includes fixture, instructions, hanging kit, three cords; 1) Moonlights, 2) Blue/UVs, and 3) Whites. It then has the ethernet port so you can simply plug in the RJ45 from your controller to dim the two channels separately. I think I can get the right coloration I want with just the two channels and think the other LEDs are just a gimmick and provide no real benefit to our reefs. Time will tell with my testing as I think I might pick up a DIY kit from ReefLEDLights so I can make sure I'm correct on this and the unuseful spectrum provided by reds/greens/etc...

Solid aluminum heatsink and molex connectors on all fans/drivers. This is nice should a driver/fan go bad later.

Meanwell drivers and three fans (I think 60mm) and the fans are on full time when either LEDs are powered on:

LED cluster. 55 LEDs with lenses and a couple LEDs built into board for moonlights.

I'm trying to get a hold of a PAR meter to do testing on multiple fixtures soon:bounce3:

 

[drummereef]

Dude, you are the man! :thumbsup: A couple of local reefers use the Apollo fixtures and love them. Still wish the price would come down a little on these things or I'd bite.

 

[Dustin1300]

Dude, you are the man! :thumbsup: A couple of local reefers use the Apollo fixtures and love them. Still wish the price would come down a little on these things or I'd bite.

Thanks! :fun5:

I got the light programmed and currently doing a 5 hour photo period at 50% on blues and 40% on whites and ramping those both up/down for a two hour period. I love the coloration and spread of these lights, I'll try to get some pictures up today/tomorrow since I've got a four day weekend! Seems I get the right coloration I like by keeping the blues at a little higher of a percentage but I have a feeling I'll never go above 60-80% on these on my 18" high frag tank, just keeping close eye on frags now.

Local club member got back with me this morning and said PAR meter would be available next week if I wanted to grab it and seeing if it's available today so I can do some testing of the Orphek/Apollo over my four day weekend. I'll try to take really good pictures with PAR readings everywhere once I get meter and have the time to lay it all out.:dance:

 

[matthorvat]

This afternoon while closely looking over all my corals in the frag QT noticed that I had some small white 5-6 'legged' creatures. After some research seems that they are hydroid jellyfish. From what everyone has said online it seems to be a non-pests and just something many see during the 'new tank phase'. I've never had them and could not get a shot but are just like pictured below. Anyone have any thoughts/opinions or disagree that they would be considered a pest?

That's awesome! Four weeks tomorrow I've had my system circulating. I spotted the same things this morning. I also have micro white organisms darting all over my refug glass. Love the build. Has motivated me along with mine! Can't wait to see it when it's finished!