d2mini's "Essential Focus" Mixed Reef Build
- Thread starter d2mini
- Start date
tommyboynj
New member
Dennis. As always amazing photo skills. Looking forward to seeing this one grow out.
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SchnitzelReef
Active member
The stuff dreams are made of...
The stuff nightmares are made of...
That is a great shot of your tank. Someone tell Ecotech they need to put that on some advertisements.
d2mini
Premium Member
Beautiful home shot..
Pixar should have taken some ideas from a reef tank and put that decorator crab in Monsters Inc.
Thanks, everyone.
liverock
RC Sponsor
And let them know where everything in that tank came from..sans the corals......lol
That is one really cool deco crab......he knows he is in a D2mini tank....lol
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com :lolspin::lolspin::lolspin:
ReefCowboy
New member
Dennis,
Im sure you will be expecting some sort of success with this tank, as you have had with previous tanks. It will be a good chance to measure the triton method along with other params to compare growth, color to what you normally had gotten in past tanks.
Im sure your testing with the Radions will also be rewarding granted you have changed a few things from when you initially ran them in your cube.
How long, or better saying, what is the timeframe you will give the lighting system to show(granted other params are all in check, which they should be) itsef to be the permanent, viable system for the tank, or you dont consider ever changing from these leds,regardless of the results?
Im by no means being negative or making assumptions, just curious as ive read about your stand on leds from the past, and just like every reefer with large time and investment, you want growth and COLOR!
Im sure you will be expecting some sort of success with this tank, as you have had with previous tanks. It will be a good chance to measure the triton method along with other params to compare growth, color to what you normally had gotten in past tanks.
Im sure your testing with the Radions will also be rewarding granted you have changed a few things from when you initially ran them in your cube.
How long, or better saying, what is the timeframe you will give the lighting system to show(granted other params are all in check, which they should be) itsef to be the permanent, viable system for the tank, or you dont consider ever changing from these leds,regardless of the results?
Im by no means being negative or making assumptions, just curious as ive read about your stand on leds from the past, and just like every reefer with large time and investment, you want growth and COLOR!
d2mini
Premium Member
Thanks!
Minimum one year, especially with it being a new tank.
The tank really has to be stable and somewhat mature before I can start passing blame to lighting.
I gave it 2 years last time and I've already improved on two things that were hindering me before... Quantity of LEDs per square inch and increased mounting height for better spread. This weekend I'll have my hands on the Apogee MQ-500 so I can get some good PAR measurements and do some fine tuning. That will be the third improvement.
SchnitzelReef
Active member
Thanks!
Minimum one year, especially with it being a new tank.
The tank really has to be stable and somewhat mature before I can start passing blame to lighting.
I gave it 2 years last time and I've already improved on two things that were hindering me before... Quantity of LEDs per square inch and increased mounting height for better spread. This weekend I'll have my hands on the Apogee MQ-500 so I can get some good PAR measurements and do some fine tuning. That will be the third improvement.
Anxious to see what kind of par you will be getting. Are you running your radions at 100%? And what program are you running?
I recently sold my radions, because I wasn't happy with them. Color was pretty good, but growth was terrible. Before I sold them, a friend told me to try running all colors at 100%. I actually noticed a difference in the last 3 weeks before I took them down. Only down side was I also had a big increase in algae. Cyano was popping up everywhere. I switched to t5s, and now the cyano is gone.
Looking forward to see if you have better luck.
d2mini
Premium Member
Nah, i just uploaded the CoralLab AB+ schedule as-is which is around 25%.
Was pointless to make any adjustment without having the par meter.
Will be shooting for a range of around 150-300.
Plus the percentage really has no meaning when the height varies. Me running at 100% and you running at 100% could give completely different PAR numbers.
I'll be raising my lights for more spread and possibly a narrower range in PAR from sand bed to top of the rocks. Interested to see how the hanging height affects this.
drummerboyevil
New member
Wasn't the coral lab study hanging them like 24" from the water level?
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d2mini
Premium Member
Yes.
D2 what salt are you using? For my nano tank, it's always hard for me to align up fresh made saltwater and tank water alkalinity. I'm using red sea blue barrel, fresh made saltwater dkh is around 8.4(trying to keep mine around 7-7.5). If I change 5 gallon, sps got stressed and slime goes everywhere. Did you ever try to lower your fresh made saltwater alkalinity? Thanks
d2mini
Premium Member
Cloudburst2000
Active member
Great build! And that is my take on QT too. I do put everything into QT. I have a small tank where I put all coral frags, snails, macroalgae, etc. And yes, I quarantine my macroalagae too as I once had a huge outbreak of flatworms apparently due to adding macroalgae directly into my main tank. I quarantine EVERYTHING now. That tank is actually running all the time and sits in my LR. It is pretty to look at with coral frags, a bit of LR, macroalgae, etc. I put all that stuff in there in case they have ich hanging out on their shells waiting to attach to a fish or hosting some other type of pest. Everything stays in there at least a couple months before moving to the main tank. I NEVER put any fish into that QT as it would defeat the purpose of having it to try and ensure that any ich on rocks, snail shells, etc don't infect a fish. I have a completely separate QT set up for fish. It's not as pretty though so I hide it away in an unused spare room. It just has some pvc pipes in there for fish to hide inside.
While it is awesome that Ecotech partnered with you to experiment with the new Radions, I actually liked the look of the previous ATI lighting system more. It was more sleek-looking. I don't personally care for the looks of multiple light fixtures above a tank unless they are hidden inside a canopy. I prefer the look of a single lighting fixture over a rimless tank. It is just a sleeker look IMO.
And I agree that TBS is awesome. I had my two tanks crash at the end of last summer when my air conditioning went out while I was on vacation. My tanks are all nanos and had all been set up with TBS. They send you so many extras that it is awesome. I still have the rocks which unfortunately were involved in the crash so everything died off. I just within the last month or so started the QT back up and am rebuilding the other two tanks. I am going to talk with TBS about sending me just a small shipment of rocks or rubble so I can add some of the biodiversity back into the tanks that was killed off during the meltdown. I loved the biodiversity you get from their rocks. And for people who are complaining about price, my BIL set his tank up with base rock from BRS and cycled the tank and then ordered a smaller selection of rocks from TBS to add biodiversity into tank. You don't have to have all your rocks come from TBS if you don't want to or cannot afford it. You will add biodiversity into your tank by adding a smaller shipment of rocks from TBS. It is just more of a waiting game because your base rocks will take a while to become as biodiverse as the TBS rocks but it will eventually happen.
d2mini
Premium Member
New FTS below.
Also, note that fat gorgonian on the left next to my huge Turbinaria Cup Coral.
The tallest branch towards the left appears to have a missing chunk. It lost some flesh after the trip from TBS and transition into my tank. That 1" section was a bare branch/skeleton a few days ago. It's now fully covered in flesh again. Pretty cool! Watching to see if another branch is recovering as well. Been dosing Phyto daily.
Also, note that fat gorgonian on the left next to my huge Turbinaria Cup Coral.
The tallest branch towards the left appears to have a missing chunk. It lost some flesh after the trip from TBS and transition into my tank. That 1" section was a bare branch/skeleton a few days ago. It's now fully covered in flesh again. Pretty cool! Watching to see if another branch is recovering as well. Been dosing Phyto daily.
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