DivingTheWorld's Custom Leemar 80g Rimless Reef

[DivingTheWorld]

We got similar tanks i too have two XR15w, and i am having trouble finding the right light settings for my sps. yesterday i found this light par calculator http://www.aquaticlog.com/radion i started using as a reference to try to figure the right light schedule. I am not sure how accurate it is but at least it gives me an idea.

That's a very interesting page, thanks!

I'm definitely going to have to play with it. Based on my initial selections, I'm definitely WAY under PAR (too bad we're not talking about golf). I also still have the standard 80 degree lenses installed and I'm now thinking maybe I should install the 120 degree lenses for a full 24" light spread.

Using that site with 14k settings, at 100% brightness with 120 degree lenses, I can only have Acros down to a depth of 7". Then there is the fact that the site doesn't differentiate between XR30w Pro and XR15w Pro. So I have to assume they're talking XR30w Pro. So with ours would the PAR be 1/2 as much?

In any event, it's pretty clear that 55% isn't going to cut it and is likely causing the problems with my Acros. That said, I know of at least one reefer having luck growing Acros with running two of these at 100%, so at this point I don't think I'll need to upgrade to XR30w Pros. I hope...

 

[mustangs]

Pur is more important than par ratings, Pur= useful Light Energy Probably the most important factor, this is related to Par however many lamps can have reasonable PAR output but fail considerably in comparison when Pur is considered).
it is still worth noting that even our best man made lighting is still far inferior to sunlight. So short of placing our aquariums outdoors, all we can do is attempt to emulate at least the most useful aspects of sunlight energy that we can.
some sps can grow in deepwater with low light ....it really just depends on the species of corals and its specific needs. Imo its pretty much a crap shoot you just have to move pieces around till there happy. as far as killing unwanted algae and bryopsis take a toothbrush dip it in peroxide and scrub your frag plugs rinse them off with some tank water then follow that up with a dip in coralrx to kill any badies left behind, I use 3% peroxide even without diluting iv never killed a coral they look ****ed but always rebound, kills 99% of algae on contact by oxidization. sadly pretty much nothing eats bryopsis once its in your tank it seems only high concentrations of kent tech m for extended periods of time with a few days of lights out is the only thing that will kill it.

 

[sczlars]

I would be interested in your extra can of deck paint. Do you come to the south bay ever? I'm in Santa Cruz, but come up to campbell - sunnyvale on wednesdays. --Lars

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I would be interested in your extra can of deck paint. Do you come to the south bay ever? I'm in Santa Cruz, but come up to campbell - sunnyvale on wednesdays. --Lars

I'm afraid I used that on another project a while back.

 

[sczlars]

No worries I just remembered you said they have it at Home Depot.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Time for a few updates on the tank...

I'm continuing with my feeding/dosing schedule. I haven't really noticed a difference in coral colors, but a huge difference in PE. My dosing is as follows:

Once per week - 75ml Special Blend
Every 3 days - 15ml AcroPower
Every 3 days - 4 spoons Reef Chili

I bought some Reef Roids and might introduce those as well. So far I have seen no change in water quality, still running 2.5 Nitrates and 0.00 Phosphates. I haven't changed my GAC in about 1.5 months and considering taking that offline completely.

My "Frag Sump" is working out awesome. I've moved a bunch of frags down there and also re-fragged a bunch of my Zoas and Montis and they're all doing excellent. I was running the Kessil for 5 hours the past couple weeks and just upped it to 6 hours today. I'll see how the corals do, but don't plan to up it again for a while.

I've also made some big changes to my DT Radion lighting. Following my plan to increase max intensity by 5% weekly, I'm currently at 65%. Thanks to huge help from Kaman8, another RCer who is running a similar set up to mine, I changed around my entire lighting schedule, running less White, A LOT less Green and Red and adding a lot more variability. Here's what my new schedule looks like. The intensities will be adjusted up each week until I reach a max of 100% or the corals start showing signs of too much light.

Here's my new schedule:

 

[africangrey]

how is going with controlling of cyano bacteria, hope your new lighting schedule could curb their growth.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

how is going with controlling of cyano bacteria, hope your new lighting schedule could curb their growth.

Since dosing the Special Blend, I have seen a difference. I still have it and I still need to blow it off my rocks a couple times a week. That said, I have very little on my sand and none growing on my walls or Vortechs.

I'm still hesitant to use a harsh chemical like ChemiClean or Red Slime. I do think that the new light settings will help as there is a monstrous difference in Red and Green light and less White as well. Honestly I think the biggest thing is that my tank just needs to mature. It's still a new tank (only 6 months in).

 

[nashorn]

Time for a few updates on the tank...

I'm continuing with my feeding/dosing schedule. I haven't really noticed a difference in coral colors, but a huge difference in PE. My dosing is as follows:

Once per week - 75ml Special Blend
Every 3 days - 15ml AcroPower
Every 3 days - 4 spoons Reef Chili

I bought some Reef Roids and might introduce those as well. So far I have seen no change in water quality, still running 2.5 Nitrates and 0.00 Phosphates. I haven't changed my GAC in about 1.5 months and considering taking that offline completely.

My "Frag Sump" is working out awesome. I've moved a bunch of frags down there and also re-fragged a bunch of my Zoas and Montis and they're all doing excellent. I was running the Kessil for 5 hours the past couple weeks and just upped it to 6 hours today. I'll see how the corals do, but don't plan to up it again for a while.

I've also made some big changes to my DT Radion lighting. Following my plan to increase max intensity by 5% weekly, I'm currently at 65%. Thanks to huge help from Kaman8, another RCer who is running a similar set up to mine, I changed around my entire lighting schedule, running less White, A LOT less Green and Red and adding a lot more variability. Here's what my new schedule looks like. The intensities will be adjusted up each week until I reach a max of 100% or the corals start showing signs of too much light.

I run two radion x30 but my sps faded at 100% . I currently only run 3 hrs at max of 60% ramp up and down like your schedule

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Time for a few updates on the tank...

I'm continuing with my feeding/dosing schedule. I haven't really noticed a difference in coral colors, but a huge difference in PE. My dosing is as follows:

Once per week - 75ml Special Blend
Every 3 days - 15ml AcroPower
Every 3 days - 4 spoons Reef Chili

I bought some Reef Roids and might introduce those as well. So far I have seen no change in water quality, still running 2.5 Nitrates and 0.00 Phosphates. I haven't changed my GAC in about 1.5 months and considering taking that offline completely.

My "Frag Sump" is working out awesome. I've moved a bunch of frags down there and also re-fragged a bunch of my Zoas and Montis and they're all doing excellent. I was running the Kessil for 5 hours the past couple weeks and just upped it to 6 hours today. I'll see how the corals do, but don't plan to up it again for a while.

I've also made some big changes to my DT Radion lighting. Following my plan to increase max intensity by 5% weekly, I'm currently at 65%. Thanks to huge help from Kaman8, another RCer who is running a similar set up to mine, I changed around my entire lighting schedule, running less White, A LOT less Green and Red and adding a lot more variability. Here's what my new schedule looks like. The intensities will be adjusted up each week until I reach a max of 100% or the corals start showing signs of too much light.

I run two radion x30 but my sps faded at 100% . I currently only run 3 hrs at max of 60% ramp up and down like your schedule

Hey Nashorn,

Yeah, I've been following your awesome tank. You gave me the idea for the AcroPower and Reef Chili/Reef Roids.

My theory on the lights is that most people with tanks our size (yours is a little smaller than mine) run dual XR30's. In retrospect, I wish I had bought two XR30s, but I have what I have and I'm going to give it the old college try. The two XR15s were suggested for my tank by EcoTech and I think had to do with them being brand new and they wanted to get them out there. Anyways...most people run dual XR30s and run them at 45-65% intensity. On my tank I'm essentially running half the PAR (half the pucks) with my dual XR15s. I think this is why I must run mine at a much higher intensity.

Now if I get to 100% and I still don't have enough light, I'm willing to swap them out for dual XR30s. I've spent way to much on this tank already to go cheapo and try to save a few bucks!

It may be totally coincidental but my Oregon Tort appears to be coloring up better and my Cali Tort is showing a bright green which it has only before shown a brown color. My true test will be a Purple Tipped Tabler and Bali Tricolor I have. The Bali Tricolor has a beautiful purple base but the vertical is white. On my Purple Tipped Tabler, the entire coral is a very light tan, almost white color. If those start coloring up I know I'm headed in the right direction.

Right now all my Montis look great and are growing. It's just my sticks I have trouble with.

 

[Crispy001]

Where'd you get the Oregon tort, and how much did it run you?

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Where'd you get the Oregon tort, and how much did it run you?

I got it as a fresh cut frag from Tim (tfp) for $60. I actual got several frags from Tim, but I was still sorting out my system and most of them didn't make it.

My 3 sps that really stuck through everything and are still looking good are the Oregon Tort (still light colored but starting to darken), Cali Tort (coloring up nice now), and a Shawn Bennett Yellow Tort (has never stopped looking good). I'm going to wait until I have my lighting sorted before adding any more SPS sticks.

 

[maddhugan]

building the stand was awesome

building the stand was awesome

I'm going to copy you and build the stand for my ADA 120 P tank.
awesome thread.
How is your tank now? got rid of that cyano?

I have a lot in my quarantine tank which is 72" x 20" x 18" which has Bean Animal overflow, so awesome flow in the tank but still I'm struggling with cyano for 7 months now.

Some one in one forum said that as long as one maintains the pH at 8.4 by and doses magnesium correctly. not sure how the pH is related to cyano outbreak but I'm planning on maintaining the pH at 8.4 and see what happens.

Any photos of your tank?

 

[maddhugan]

attaching the skin to the stand

attaching the skin to the stand

Here's an updated pic of the stand. All the skinning is complete. I still need to add some trim, then fill and sand, stain, etc. It's starting to look like a stand though!

How did you attach the skin to the stand?
looks awesome.
I will build one myself. Tired of looking for decent one on craigslist. Craigslist is the mecca for Junk.

 

[Azeya209]

That is indeed a sweet looking stand. I wish I had a talent for that.

 

[maddhugan]

That is indeed a sweet looking stand. I wish I had a talent for that.

Common Azeya, copy what the Diver did. That's the talent. lol
I would not have built it myself but after looking at how he did it, it shouldn't be that hard now.

As long as you have a table saw that cuts straight and a miter saw which cuts good. It should be fine.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I'm going to copy you and build the stand for my ADA 120 P tank.
awesome thread.
How is your tank now? got rid of that cyano?

I have a lot in my quarantine tank which is 72" x 20" x 18" which has Bean Animal overflow, so awesome flow in the tank but still I'm struggling with cyano for 7 months now.

Some one in one forum said that as long as one maintains the pH at 8.4 by and doses magnesium correctly. not sure how the pH is related to cyano outbreak but I'm planning on maintaining the pH at 8.4 and see what happens.

Any photos of your tank?

Hey, thanks.

My pH ranges from about 8.2 to just over 8.3. I keep Mag about 1400. I've tried everything from Special Blend, to lights out, to suctioning, etc. I keep Nitrates at 2.5 and Phosphates at 0.00 and I could NOT get rid of the cyano. I even tried turning down the green and red leds.

This past weekend I finally broke down and treated with Chemiclean. And I have to say, for all the warnings about how they would kill everything in my tank, they proved unfounded and the Cyano is gone. How long it will stay gone is anyone's guess, but for now, my tank is clean and I am a believer in Chemiclean.

I dosed 9 spoons for my 89g of water volume. I added an airstone to the sump, although the skimmer was kicking so much air that I doubt it was necessary. I ran my skimmer overflow back into the sump and turned it way down. It just overflowed for the 48 hours I ran it. After 48 hours, I did a 20g water change using my skimmer overflow to remove the water as I slowly turned it back up. Once that was complete, I ran Carbon for about 36 hours and added Polyfilters back to my sump. I also ran my overflow back to my autocollector and ended up skimming out another couple gallons. After the 36 hours my skimmer went back to normal and I shut the carbon down completely.

The only adverse effect of running the Chemiclean is I nicked my Oregon Tort and busted a little bit off the top. I hit it with a pitcher when I was carelessly pulling out some water (my fault). It seems to be recovering. Also, my Bali Tricolor has bleached a little. I thought at first it was STN'ing, but it's just bleached some and I hope the color will return after a week or so. Everything else went through perfectly!

 

[DivingTheWorld]

How did you attach the skin to the stand?
looks awesome.
I will build one myself. Tired of looking for decent one on craigslist. Craigslist is the mecca for Junk.

I used wood glue and a pneumatic nail gun. I swear, a pneumatic nail gun is one of the best inventions!

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Common Azeya, copy what the Diver did. That's the talent. lol
I would not have built it myself but after looking at how he did it, it shouldn't be that hard now.

As long as you have a table saw that cuts straight and a miter saw which cuts good. It should be fine.

My secret to accurate cuts was using the pre-cut boards from Home Depot and then cutting those with a compound miter saw. Those saws make perfect cuts. I don't have a table saw, but I did use a circular saw for the plywood top and bottom.

Honestly, the hardest part for me was the finish. Once stained, trying to get the satin finish to look nice took A LOT of trial and error. I am definitely not wood talented and this was my first attempt at woodworking. That's why it took me about 6 months to complete it. But I learned a lot along the way and I ended up with a stand that frankly money can't buy. No matter how much you pay for a stand, you can't have it built with the level of customization you can get by doing it yourself.

 

[saul831]

Wile you are talking about the stand... how did you make the doors? my wife has been nagging me to make them for my stand, but i don't have the necessary equipment to do it. any pointers? thank you