I've had my 90g up and running for about 10 months. Softies will grow like weeds, no fish problems, but LPS has mixed results and SPS - well, as they say in Jersey, fuggeddaboudit.
I'm using all of the local assets, who are a great bunch of people, and I use several of my knowledgable LFS's. I can't get this right.
Here's my system:
90g total water volume
90g tank
35g refugium sump - copepods alive and well, uses filter socks (socks washed weekly in bleach, rinsed twice again, and reinstalled in a week), live sand, copious cheato
mag 12 return - 3 outlets
Reef Octo 160 Extreme skimmer
Neptune Apex running the system
Two MP40W ES units running reef crest mode at 70% max output
BRS reactor running GFO and carbon
60 lbs live rock
40 lbs live sand My LFS that I really trust sez I bought the wrong stuff, as it turns black and purple - crushed coral, not sand. Plan is to replace it with Fiji pink in about 2 weeks when he gets it in
I built a DIY LED system for my 90g. It is comprised of 80 3W Cree XR-E LED's; 36 cool white, 36 royal blue, and 8 red. The red is just for me to "pretend" that it's sunrise and sunset. It's info is posted in the DIY thread.
The LED's use 70 degree optics, and are mounted 15" above the water surface. PAR readings can be found in my build thread, but I seem to have more than enough light (avg 255 PAR on the bottom at full output). There is a clear acrylic splash shield in front of each set of LED's (two sets for the tank). The whites and the blues are both set up for 750-800mA current output on each controller for best efficiency and longest life.
I run a four hour ramp on the blues and whites beginning at 9:30AM. The ramp is from 10% to 60% white, 80% blue and runs the 60%/80% mix for full daylight from 1:30PM to 6:30PM. Then there is a four-hour ramp down to 10%. After that, the mains are off and the moonlight LED's are on until 9:30AM the next day. The reds are on a 30 minute ramp up to 40% and then 30 min back down twice a day to simulate sunrise and sunset. Today I scaled both blue and white back by 10 and 20% respectively, so now 50% white and 60% bue.
I'm bleaching corals or outright killing corals everywhere, even frags that came from under 400W MH's. I bleached a deepwater granulosa frag 3" from the sand bed in 2 days. If I was to crank these up to 100% output, it seems as though the substrate on the tank bottom would be smokin', and I'm not jokin'.:sad1:
Lighting Photoperiod - total 12 hours
Refugium lighting runs 6PM -3 AM - is a 35w full spectrum PC
My salt is Tropic Marin Reef Pro.
Water parameters:
Water is OK - RO/DI - zero TDS
Max temp swing - 79.3-79.7 deg daily
pH - 7.8 - 8
Salinity - 36 ppm
Sp Gr - 1.026
Amm - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - was at 10 ppm or more - working on getting this to zero by using vodka in extremely small amounts daily. Dosage is 0.8ml, and my nitrates are now down to around 1-2ppm. Have been dosing for 1 month and am very careful.
Phosphate - 0 -
Calcium - 450-490 dosed manually when necessary
Alk - 8.3 dKH rock steady, maintained by AM Reefdoser and Randy's Recipe 1.
Mag - 1350 -1400
Water changes 20 gal every two weeks
Every Monti or Acro placed in the tank browns out or greys out, and dies. 2-weeks to do an acro, but the monti's will start to grey in 2 days.
LPS's and softies as well as fish were thriving, but recently had full polyp bailout from a goldentod torch, green torch, 2 lobophyllia, and a superb dendro. Removed all leathers except one and all other soft corals due to toxin and chem warfare questions.
These corals that are dying are anywhere in the tank. Doesn't matter wheter they are high, or low, or what. We feed live DT's green stuff, oyster eggs, cyclopeeze, as well as the usual for the fish and inverts, and target feed where necessary.
Here's a clue that nobody else can figure out: I have two Bali green slimer acros, and they are holding their own. I bought and planted an ORA Red Planet, and it's doing great, even grown an inch in a month. When the acros start going, they die from the tips, and often the tips will turn brown and soft/mushy. I've pulled the frags and checked for AEFW, redbugs, etc. No pests. There's a club member here who has the precise same identical lighting setup. My hardware, software, optics, photoperiod, etc., is identical to his. His acros are growing like weeds. and he's running his LED's flat out at 100%of output.
Please help. Tank is 9-10 mos old and established. Coralline is growing, no algae blooms, small amount of cyano in the fuge, but this gets wiped out during the water change with a paper towel. This is getting hugely expensive. I'm ready to put a .40 cal hollow-point through it, before my wife puts one through me.
I'm at my wits end.
HELP!!!
TIA
Kev
I'm using all of the local assets, who are a great bunch of people, and I use several of my knowledgable LFS's. I can't get this right.
Here's my system:
90g total water volume
90g tank
35g refugium sump - copepods alive and well, uses filter socks (socks washed weekly in bleach, rinsed twice again, and reinstalled in a week), live sand, copious cheato
mag 12 return - 3 outlets
Reef Octo 160 Extreme skimmer
Neptune Apex running the system
Two MP40W ES units running reef crest mode at 70% max output
BRS reactor running GFO and carbon
60 lbs live rock
40 lbs live sand My LFS that I really trust sez I bought the wrong stuff, as it turns black and purple - crushed coral, not sand. Plan is to replace it with Fiji pink in about 2 weeks when he gets it in
I built a DIY LED system for my 90g. It is comprised of 80 3W Cree XR-E LED's; 36 cool white, 36 royal blue, and 8 red. The red is just for me to "pretend" that it's sunrise and sunset. It's info is posted in the DIY thread.
The LED's use 70 degree optics, and are mounted 15" above the water surface. PAR readings can be found in my build thread, but I seem to have more than enough light (avg 255 PAR on the bottom at full output). There is a clear acrylic splash shield in front of each set of LED's (two sets for the tank). The whites and the blues are both set up for 750-800mA current output on each controller for best efficiency and longest life.
I run a four hour ramp on the blues and whites beginning at 9:30AM. The ramp is from 10% to 60% white, 80% blue and runs the 60%/80% mix for full daylight from 1:30PM to 6:30PM. Then there is a four-hour ramp down to 10%. After that, the mains are off and the moonlight LED's are on until 9:30AM the next day. The reds are on a 30 minute ramp up to 40% and then 30 min back down twice a day to simulate sunrise and sunset. Today I scaled both blue and white back by 10 and 20% respectively, so now 50% white and 60% bue.
I'm bleaching corals or outright killing corals everywhere, even frags that came from under 400W MH's. I bleached a deepwater granulosa frag 3" from the sand bed in 2 days. If I was to crank these up to 100% output, it seems as though the substrate on the tank bottom would be smokin', and I'm not jokin'.:sad1:
Lighting Photoperiod - total 12 hours
Refugium lighting runs 6PM -3 AM - is a 35w full spectrum PC
My salt is Tropic Marin Reef Pro.
Water parameters:
Water is OK - RO/DI - zero TDS
Max temp swing - 79.3-79.7 deg daily
pH - 7.8 - 8
Salinity - 36 ppm
Sp Gr - 1.026
Amm - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - was at 10 ppm or more - working on getting this to zero by using vodka in extremely small amounts daily. Dosage is 0.8ml, and my nitrates are now down to around 1-2ppm. Have been dosing for 1 month and am very careful.
Phosphate - 0 -
Calcium - 450-490 dosed manually when necessary
Alk - 8.3 dKH rock steady, maintained by AM Reefdoser and Randy's Recipe 1.
Mag - 1350 -1400
Water changes 20 gal every two weeks
Every Monti or Acro placed in the tank browns out or greys out, and dies. 2-weeks to do an acro, but the monti's will start to grey in 2 days.
LPS's and softies as well as fish were thriving, but recently had full polyp bailout from a goldentod torch, green torch, 2 lobophyllia, and a superb dendro. Removed all leathers except one and all other soft corals due to toxin and chem warfare questions.
These corals that are dying are anywhere in the tank. Doesn't matter wheter they are high, or low, or what. We feed live DT's green stuff, oyster eggs, cyclopeeze, as well as the usual for the fish and inverts, and target feed where necessary.
Here's a clue that nobody else can figure out: I have two Bali green slimer acros, and they are holding their own. I bought and planted an ORA Red Planet, and it's doing great, even grown an inch in a month. When the acros start going, they die from the tips, and often the tips will turn brown and soft/mushy. I've pulled the frags and checked for AEFW, redbugs, etc. No pests. There's a club member here who has the precise same identical lighting setup. My hardware, software, optics, photoperiod, etc., is identical to his. His acros are growing like weeds. and he's running his LED's flat out at 100%of output.
Please help. Tank is 9-10 mos old and established. Coralline is growing, no algae blooms, small amount of cyano in the fuge, but this gets wiped out during the water change with a paper towel. This is getting hugely expensive. I'm ready to put a .40 cal hollow-point through it, before my wife puts one through me.
I'm at my wits end.
HELP!!!
TIA
Kev
Last edited:
