Cubed & Squared

[biggles]

Hopefully the change in spectrum with prompt the results you deserve mate - fingers crossed
With regards to the T5 unit i would go with 4 x B+, 1 x pink and 1 x pure actinic. I think that would be a good mix of high PAR and good color spectrum. Or 3 x B+ and use one of your whites as well. Interested to see how that change works out for you :thumbsup: I don't think you can miss with the T5's, they're awesome lighting systems except for the lack of shimmer which i can't do without. :thumbsup:

 

[Bello]

Gotta love the shimmer :spin3: . Thankfully, since this is the frag tank, its absence won't bother me much. Now where's my extra blue t5's :headwally:

I'll transfer some frags in tomorrow and see how it goes. Should be interesting at the very least.

 

[biggles]

I suspect the colors will improve under the right T5 combo. I don't suppose you'd consider adding a couple of double 24" T5 battens front and back of the LED unit on the left side tank....... that's my favorite

 

[Acronic]

Cool set up

 

[REEF SMAC]

I really like what you've done with this setup so far. Great job.:thumbsup:

I looking forward to seeing this grow out.

 

[Bello]

Cool set up

Thanks The sps on your thread are making me drool!!!

I really like what you've done with this setup so far. Great job.:thumbsup:

I looking forward to seeing this grow out.

Thanks . Hopefully, I'll keep things stable and see it grow out

I suspect the colors will improve under the right T5 combo. I don't suppose you'd consider adding a couple of double 24" T5 battens front and back of the LED unit on the left side tank....... that's my favorite

Let me get frustrated enough, and I will :lol: At the moment the plan is too add 2 x 3w reds per fixture, and see if it makes any real difference. Snapped some pics of the "PINKS". Let me know what you think.

 

[biggles]

I see what you mean with the muted colors on those corals , even with the blue hue from the lights you can still see the faded appearance. Good thing is the colors are still there, they aren't browning out so it's purely a matter of stimulating the pigments to increase their numbers. With no browning i'm fairly certain your water is spot on or close to it but the light spectrum is lacking. I'm no expert so i'm just giving you my opinion and hopefully the added reds will go some way to improving the SPS colors in your tank mate. :thumbsup:

 

[Bello]

I'll take these colours over the brownies any day

Growth on the frags are bit slower than I'd like, but I'd hate to lose any of them, so I'm ok for the moment. It'll take me about 3 weeks to put in those reds though, since I want Luxeon Rebel Deep Red's

 

[biggles]

It goes without saying that you're going to post some pics of this LED bulb changing procedure so those of us stuck in the radium dark ages can learn.........

Not that i'm preparing for reef war or anything Bello but i ordered one of these to replace my crappy bat wing dull aluminum lined reflector today............ my tank is moving to DEFCON 3........:smokin:

 

[Bello]

Whoa... finally the bat wing exits!!! This looks pretty sweet!! What unit is it? Isn't equipment pretty pricey in Aus?

I'm not impressed with my amateur DIY,

 

[biggles]

I bought it off ebay today for $62- plus $32- shipping from Hong Kong so all up $94- I have 25cm or 10" space between the double T5 batons and blue LED bars and the new reflector is 44cm long x 24.5cm wide x 17cm high - sweet !

I've never been the OCD type so as long as it works and does the job i'm happy. Let's hope you can get a better response from the SPS with a bit of LED trial and error. I should point out that John Travolta in white disco pants would not look out of place in that shot..........:lol2:

 

[Bello]

That's a pretty good deal, would love to see the entire rig when it's done :thumbsup:

I'll take pics of the led's when I'm adding the luxeon Red's and far as Mr. Travolta is concerned, believe you me, I made sooo much fun of my friend when he was doing this.....now just busy chewing on crow :lol:. Looks borderline ridiculous, but lets see

 

[biggles]

I'm seriously considering just buying one of these units rather than messing about with DIY LED's - need to organise more flow and a pump controller first when money permits.

http://www.reefbreeders.com/bridgelux_value.html

Looks to have a good spread of the important spectrum that our corals seem to require for both healthy growth and nice display colors.

 

[Bello]

I just used PhotoShop for the first time, I can see the potential for abuse . I tried to tweak the pics to be as accurate as possible, but it got irritating real quick! It'd be easier if I just wanted to show off....dishonestly :angryfire:

So no pics, but to describe my lighting on the Acro tank, I'd say its a crisp white, with a slight blue tint. The pinks and greens are accurate, i.e. pinks don't look purple etc. The blues are pale (not sure if water conditions, lighting or ..... ).

Looking at the Reefbreeders fix, for that price, it looks worth it. My DIY rig is similar but uses more variations of bulbs. Maybe I didn't catch it right, but they claim "8 different color spectrums", but I count 5 different bulbs.

In any case those are the primary 5 that I use on my fixture too, (apart from the reds, which will be boosted soon), so for that price, looks pretty good!

This should make you laugh, 70% of my led's are from Victoria :lol:

 

[biggles]

In PS use the curves tool and simply select the white balance eye dropper, pick something that should be white to your eyes and click on it - you can then use the RGB colors to fine tune it to exactly match what you see and then save that curve and load it onto any future pics taken under the same lighting - you only have to do it once - not every time for every pic

Your light sounds the same as mine, very crisp white with a tiny hint of blue. My radium is driven at 330W which is why i replace bulbs every 6 months. I noticed that creative counting on the color spectrums. 6 is when you have your head under water, 7 is standing on your head and 8 is with the power off lol.

I don't think it's right that you're purchasing LED's from my state what with the impending battle looming and all..........:lol2:

 

[Bello]

I'm using PS Lightroom...same thing? I just tried doing it again, aaargh!!! Wanted to show you what I see, I'll try again when I have some more time and a lot more patience!

Creative counting :lol:. Still looks like its worth a try though :thumbsup:

Here's the unedited pics...




And as you can guess, Dory hasn't been munching on any purple pills :lol:

 

[biggles]

I'm not sure about Lightroom mate, it will be under your color adjustments menu - curves.
Love your placement of those colonies Bello, nothing looks quite as cool as an acro colony tabling out over a sand bed and you're going to end up with a large suspended SPS shelf of color overhanging a white sand bed - it's going to look awesome in 12 months :thumbsup:
What is that short stubby branched green acro at the very front of your rock work, looks cool. Those black cukes aren't the most decorative inhabitants lol.
I've had a yellow, blue and purple tang at different times, hard not to like those fish. Your yellow looks very healthy as do the rest, what do you feed the fish each day mate ?
I think an MP40 and a 6095 in each tank would give you great control and the best of both worlds. With those two pumps i'm sure you could keep both mounted on the back glass and still have great flow - just saying........
Hope you get a handle on adjusting the pics as i know it looks heaps better than the blue washed out hue your getting atm buddy

 

[Bello]

Grrr... Gonna work on the software again . And thanks for throwing in some temptation with the 6095, and helping me spend more MONEY!!...Honestly though, I'll need to to see if the resale value is worth the effort.

I've got 4 tabling acro colonies at the moment, and you're right about them looking lovely over the sandbed, especially with top-down shots. I do need to get some nice stags though. How about throwing a frag of your gorgeous blue stag into a bottle and leaving it on the beach, and let the Gods decide if I deserve that stag or not :lol?

The stubby acro is a A. Humilis I believe. Theoretically, strong flow and light living sps, shallow water. I like where it is at the moment, but will probably have to rethink placement if it has to thrive.

Tangs are fed half cube mysis twice a week, and ocean nutrition flakes daily. No matter how common they are, still love them for color and algae eating qualities . Plus they eat each other's poo...maybe that's the health secret :lol:

Everyone who ever sees my tank, has to be grossed out by the cuke turds :lol:. Had them for about 3 years now and they do keep my sand spotless ....Valuable tools for the lazy reefer

 

[biggles]

Totally agree about the resale aspect mate, don't even think about it unless you can get a very good resale price on the 40's. Lol - blue stag in a bottle, it's only been a week and no color changes so far but i seriously don't expect it to hold the beautiful color entirely as wild stuff does all sorts of weird things when suddenly plonked into a tank.
Looks like Humilis to me too, i had one once and it liked to be nuked with light and flow, hopefully yours does well.
I need someone to invent a fish nappy so i can stop my clown defecating all over my SPS........:facepalm:
I had a cuke once and it did do a great job cleaning the sand but in the end it's ugliness saw it returned to the LFS lol. How about some top downs when you work out the color tweaks on your pics - really want to see those tables over the sand. :thumbsup:

 

[trueblackpercula]

It goes without saying that you're going to post some pics of this LED bulb changing procedure so those of us stuck in the radium dark ages can learn.........

Not that i'm preparing for reef war or anything Bello but i ordered one of these to replace my crappy bat wing dull aluminum lined reflector today............ my tank is moving to DEFCON 3........:smokin:

Looks good