sfsuphysics
Active member
I never heat my water... but then again I have like a mag 9 inside of the water mixing it up... 
A Reefaholic's 1000+ Gallon Mixed Reef System Build
- Thread starter Dustin1300
- Start date
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
My RODI tank and mixing area is in my basement, plus I live in IA, so if I don't heat it...brrrr fishies
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Do you guys want an update with some pictures? :frog:
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
Tease
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
LED Lights!
LED Lights!
Ok, long time, no meaningful posts...Time to make a few updates over the next few days?
In my search for the right fixture, I mentioned at MACNA last year I was likely going with the Orphek Atlantiks. I had tested out the PR156 and was happy with the coloration and growth I was getting in comparison to the Apollo LEDs. After pulling the trigger on two for my frag system to test them out as my pilot as well as fully test out the PAR and distribution I'd have, I pulled the trigger a few weeks back and went ahead and ordered 6 for the 600. I've not yet built a nice rack to hang them by but did they are hung, programmed, and functional and blowing out some MAJOR PAR.
I love the fixture so far. The programming on the controller takes some getting used to but once I got going I could reprogram all the lights in just a few minutes. The four channels of control allows for granular enough control to get what color you want. I'll try to get a picture up this weekend of the PAR distribution in my tank but by angling the front three towards the back and having the back row level at 14-16" off the water surface, I've got 150-200 PAR on the whole sand bed and anywhere from 200-600 PAR in the whole tank. I don't have any doubts about issues with intensity and will use my grow out tank to acclimate corals to the light's intensity before going to DT. In my eyes, there is no other LED fixture out there that matches the Orphek Atlantik in price/performance in a large tank.
Enough babbling, everyone likes pictures! :dance:
First two I got as my test lights:
Because I have to inspect everything...
Inside board that controls the various channels and is powered by remote Meanwell Driver box.
LEDs. Unsure on brand but in all of Sanjay's test, Orphek's LEDs have the highest lumens/watt.
Wide angle lenses. With the narrower lenses you could penetrate some major depth. For anything less than 48" depth, I think these would be more than sufficient since my tank is 30" deep and I have lights mounted 14-16" off the water.
Lit up!
Over Frag Tank (That frag tank has many more corals now! :hmm2
:
LED Lights!
Ok, long time, no meaningful posts...Time to make a few updates over the next few days?
In my search for the right fixture, I mentioned at MACNA last year I was likely going with the Orphek Atlantiks. I had tested out the PR156 and was happy with the coloration and growth I was getting in comparison to the Apollo LEDs. After pulling the trigger on two for my frag system to test them out as my pilot as well as fully test out the PAR and distribution I'd have, I pulled the trigger a few weeks back and went ahead and ordered 6 for the 600. I've not yet built a nice rack to hang them by but did they are hung, programmed, and functional and blowing out some MAJOR PAR.
I love the fixture so far. The programming on the controller takes some getting used to but once I got going I could reprogram all the lights in just a few minutes. The four channels of control allows for granular enough control to get what color you want. I'll try to get a picture up this weekend of the PAR distribution in my tank but by angling the front three towards the back and having the back row level at 14-16" off the water surface, I've got 150-200 PAR on the whole sand bed and anywhere from 200-600 PAR in the whole tank. I don't have any doubts about issues with intensity and will use my grow out tank to acclimate corals to the light's intensity before going to DT. In my eyes, there is no other LED fixture out there that matches the Orphek Atlantik in price/performance in a large tank.
Enough babbling, everyone likes pictures! :dance:
First two I got as my test lights:
Because I have to inspect everything...
Inside board that controls the various channels and is powered by remote Meanwell Driver box.
LEDs. Unsure on brand but in all of Sanjay's test, Orphek's LEDs have the highest lumens/watt.
Wide angle lenses. With the narrower lenses you could penetrate some major depth. For anything less than 48" depth, I think these would be more than sufficient since my tank is 30" deep and I have lights mounted 14-16" off the water.
Lit up!
Over Frag Tank (That frag tank has many more corals now! :hmm2
:
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
LED Lights! <cont'd>
LED Lights! <cont'd>
PAR Test bed with grid laid out:
3D PAR Chart from lots of data points I took! When reading these remember this is the PAR at 30" of depth. Easily covers a ~36"X36" area.
Top Down:
LED Lights! <cont'd>
PAR Test bed with grid laid out:
3D PAR Chart from lots of data points I took! When reading these remember this is the PAR at 30" of depth. Easily covers a ~36"X36" area.
Top Down:
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Patience young reefer
Patience young reefer
Really, a tease?
Like I stated earlier, got 6 Orphek Atlantiks for the DT and have my temporary light rack. Going to build one with rollers and clean up rat's nest of wires so I can roll the lights back off the DT when I do heavy cleaning/maintenance.
6 Lights, Drivers, Extension Cables, and Controller.
Hanging the lights. Don't mind the heaters/piping in the DT. They are there because the system is not all tied together. But good news....I just received the Sea Swirls last night so awaiting a couple PVC pieces from US Plastic along with some other goodies to tie the return from sump into the Sea Swirls!
Light is on. See the rat's nest on right side...It's driving me crazy! I don't want to invest a couple hours into running wires if I know I'm just going to tear them down to put new light rack in place!
Tank Lit!
Patience young reefer
Really, a tease?
Like I stated earlier, got 6 Orphek Atlantiks for the DT and have my temporary light rack. Going to build one with rollers and clean up rat's nest of wires so I can roll the lights back off the DT when I do heavy cleaning/maintenance.
6 Lights, Drivers, Extension Cables, and Controller.
Hanging the lights. Don't mind the heaters/piping in the DT. They are there because the system is not all tied together. But good news....I just received the Sea Swirls last night so awaiting a couple PVC pieces from US Plastic along with some other goodies to tie the return from sump into the Sea Swirls!
Light is on. See the rat's nest on right side...It's driving me crazy! I don't want to invest a couple hours into running wires if I know I'm just going to tear them down to put new light rack in place!
Tank Lit!
david00061
New member
getting lights out of the way for maintenance is a must. And setting it up so one person can do it is a great idea.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
468 LEDs in total! Thanks on the aquascaping too. The refraction of light really throws off the depth and when viewing from front makes my 4 foot deep tank look only 3 feet deep. I think the next big tank will need to be 6'X8' footprint at least. The Oregon Reef is my favorite reef of all time!
Agreed. I'm just ready to get tank running and in the next month once everything is running well and params are all good, I'll draw up and build a light system to easily glide all the lights back! Much like your system really except I don't have a canopy. Where'd you get the rollers and rails for the ceiling?
david00061
New member
Tractor supply store
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Man those lights are bright. Keep on pimpin on D.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Thanks David. I'll have to see what they have in stock locally so I can wrap my head around how I want to do things. Might just stick with wood because I really don't care much about dealing with metal!
Thanks. Cannot wait to throw some coral in as there is a ridge right in the front and center that has a straight line that is DRIVING ME CRAZY. Nature does not have straight lines so it just does not look right, I'll feel better once a coral is covering it up.
I love them thus far. Hopefully I can find some more time tonight to post some more pictures. My fish room currently looks like a storm hit it....Things are everywhere!
guserto4
New member
I missed the timing with the comments towards the chromis... BUT for what it's worth IMHO switch them out to Black Axil Chromis- I understand they are FAR more peaceful than the blue/green chromis and have a very similar look. I intend on doing a school of them in my tank as soon as I close on my house (57 days!!!) and finally get to upgrade to a bigger tank!
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Lucky enough, I am not putting order on fish until Monday. Decided to go with different vendor on fish for many reasons. Have you had experience with both?
Dustin,
Fantastic build and documention. Been following for a while but thought I'd drop a note.
Why did you decide against the chromis? My thought is that they need a certain number of bigger fish and a certain size school to avoid picking each other off and that the numbers we typically do are too low (<20). I was curious what would happen with 50. I'm actually thinking about doing a school of 30 in my own tank. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Fantastic build and documention. Been following for a while but thought I'd drop a note.
Why did you decide against the chromis? My thought is that they need a certain number of bigger fish and a certain size school to avoid picking each other off and that the numbers we typically do are too low (<20). I was curious what would happen with 50. I'm actually thinking about doing a school of 30 in my own tank. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Thanks, think I'll be pleased with the LEDs, cannot wait until the tank is completely up and running and full of some fish! That's exactly the site I was looking at before, thanks!
Glad to have you and along for the ride! I know I don't get nearly as many replies as I get hits so sometimes wonder if people just come in and leave because of boredom.:fun5:
In regards to the Chromis, I've not decided to get rid of them and still plan to order 30-50. I'm going to do some further research on either the blue/greens or the black axil as earlier recommended. As you've mentioned, bigger fish are a good thing to have with them as they tend to keep them from picking one another off. On the flip side, the large number of fish should also help keep the bigger fish moving around and active. What size aquarium do you have that'll have the 30?
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