Floridiot's 157 Nano build
- Thread starter Floridiot
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Floridiot
Member
jnb, the orange monti I got from you grows like a weed. Definitely the fastest growing SPS I've ever seen. I definitely won't need any more. All my montis are growing rapidly. The acros much slower, but that is to be expected. In October when my Iwasaki lamp is nearing its 1 year mark, I may consider upgrading to a Radium 400 on a HQI ballast. I certainly know I'd get much faster growth with the Radium. I'm more concerned about the dinos reappearing for now. If they don't come back, I'll definitely consider the Radium upgrade.
Floridiot
Member
Update time. I gave my tank its first water change since before Christmas last week. Everything I had read about eradicating dinos said to stop WCs which I did. Unfortunately I started getting some GHA growing. So I crossed my fingers last week and performed a 30 gallon WC. No Dinos! I'm now starting to think I've won the battle, but I'm not ready to celebrate just yet. I'm just going to continue along optimistically and see how things progress. I now plan on doing 30 gallon WCs each week for the next month, after which I will cut them back to once every three weeks (my original schedule).
I've replaced my rowaphos, but the small amount of GHA is still growing. My NO3 is showing about 3ppm, which may be enough to fuel the GHA growth. If the WCs do not eradicate the GHA, then I may need to replace the rowaphos again.
If all goes well over the next 2 months (GHA gone and no reappearance of dinos), I will be upgrading the MH to a 400 Watt Radium on an HQI ballast as per Rogger and Gasman's recommendations. The single 175 Iwasaki has provided me with nice color and decent growth, but I know these corals will grow so much faster under the additional light. I started reading Rogger's new tank build, and I remembered how impressive his corals looked under the 400 Radiums. I'm not as patient as I thought I was, and I'm ready to start really growing these corals.
I know I'm way overdue for some new pics, but I'm not a very good photographer. I have a friend whose promised to stop by, so I will post some pics whenever he does.
I've replaced my rowaphos, but the small amount of GHA is still growing. My NO3 is showing about 3ppm, which may be enough to fuel the GHA growth. If the WCs do not eradicate the GHA, then I may need to replace the rowaphos again.
If all goes well over the next 2 months (GHA gone and no reappearance of dinos), I will be upgrading the MH to a 400 Watt Radium on an HQI ballast as per Rogger and Gasman's recommendations. The single 175 Iwasaki has provided me with nice color and decent growth, but I know these corals will grow so much faster under the additional light. I started reading Rogger's new tank build, and I remembered how impressive his corals looked under the 400 Radiums. I'm not as patient as I thought I was, and I'm ready to start really growing these corals.
I know I'm way overdue for some new pics, but I'm not a very good photographer. I have a friend whose promised to stop by, so I will post some pics whenever he does.
tricky
New member
Stand & Tank
Stand & Tank
Beautiful setup! We have been talking with Karen at Exotic about building us a custom tank - still trying to figure out the details.
Love the stand. We were trying to find some real coquina stone when setting up the first tank, but never got around to it. What did you use for the stand materials? Very nice!
Terry (& Rick)
O-R-C-A Club Members
Orlando, FL
Stand & Tank
Beautiful setup! We have been talking with Karen at Exotic about building us a custom tank - still trying to figure out the details.
Love the stand. We were trying to find some real coquina stone when setting up the first tank, but never got around to it. What did you use for the stand materials? Very nice!
Terry (& Rick)
O-R-C-A Club Members
Orlando, FL
Floridiot
Member
OK. OK. Here's a few crappy pics from my 5 year old digital camera. I'll try to get my buddy Tom over to take some good pics in the next few weeks.
Full Tank Shot:
A Top-Down look with the pumps turned off. The orange monti cap on the left hand side is from a frag I got from jnb. The brain on the bottom has a bit of sand on it right now since I just got finished blowing off sediment from the rocks with a powerhead:
From bottom up, a greenish yellow monti cap with blue polyps from Rogger, an orange branching monti from RNegret, a piece of orange monti cap from RNegret, and a purple acro from Rogger:
This pic shows the same branching orange monti and purple acro from above, plus two additional monti caps (green and purple) both from RNegret, and a green acro (green slimer maybe?) from Rogger and another purple tipped acro in the very front also from Rogger:
This pic shows the same corals from above, plus in the left rear corner is a piece of Rogger's large blue-tipped stag from his last tank which has turned brown in my tank from one of the lights out periods. It has not yet regained any of its color. Also in the right front corner is a piece of a dark metallic green encrusting SPS I also received from Rogger:
Here's a pic of a pair of yellowish green acro frags I got from Rogger. He told me to mount them sticking out sideways, and they do love growing this way:
Here's a pic of a fluorescent green polyped toadstool leather I got from RNegret. The white mark is a large grain of sand which landed on it while I was blowing off the rocks in the tank:
jnb
Premium Member
lookin a lot more colorful now and nice white sand - after I saw your tank before, I shut down my outflow a bit and got my noise to the sump so quiet - I was fortunate to have the second backup overflow already in place for safety. hiiporay for Herbie. I am now growing some nice blue idaho monti.
Floridiot
Member
Now that I've pretty much decided on moving up to a 400W Halide, my next question is which bulb I should go with? I'm pretty much convinced I will go with an HQI ballast due to it being the most efficient. I'm just not sure on the lamp. Here's the three I've narrowed it down to:
20K Radium - This bulb looks a bit too blue for me, but it's ability to bring out the color in corals is undeniable. Not only does it make SPS color up, but it also provides a good amount of 'Pop' factor without supplementation. According to Sanjay's testing it will provide a PPFD of 147. This would equate to about 70% more light than the Iwasaki I'm currently using at a total power consumption of 471 watts.
XM 10000K - This bulb looks like the efficiency winner by far. Its color temperature will be a tad whiter than my current Iwasaki which has a slight tint of blue. According to Sanjay's testing it will provide a PPFD of 202. This would equate to about 135% more light than the Iwasaki I'm currently using at a total power consumption of 478 watts. This is the one that should really make the corals grow.
Coralvue Reeflux 10000K - This bulb is the most intriguing. It has a large spike at 452 nm which is typical of the “20000K†lamps but has additional peaks at 534, 588 and 670 nm which should help in “whitening†the appearance of the lamp (according to Sanjay's report). This lamp should provide 'Pop' factor similar to the radium, and at 170 PPFD it will provide almost double the amount of light of my current Iwasaki. This lamp unfortunately is the most power hungry at 535 watts consumption.
Decisions, decisons!
20K Radium - This bulb looks a bit too blue for me, but it's ability to bring out the color in corals is undeniable. Not only does it make SPS color up, but it also provides a good amount of 'Pop' factor without supplementation. According to Sanjay's testing it will provide a PPFD of 147. This would equate to about 70% more light than the Iwasaki I'm currently using at a total power consumption of 471 watts.
XM 10000K - This bulb looks like the efficiency winner by far. Its color temperature will be a tad whiter than my current Iwasaki which has a slight tint of blue. According to Sanjay's testing it will provide a PPFD of 202. This would equate to about 135% more light than the Iwasaki I'm currently using at a total power consumption of 478 watts. This is the one that should really make the corals grow.
Coralvue Reeflux 10000K - This bulb is the most intriguing. It has a large spike at 452 nm which is typical of the “20000K†lamps but has additional peaks at 534, 588 and 670 nm which should help in “whitening†the appearance of the lamp (according to Sanjay's report). This lamp should provide 'Pop' factor similar to the radium, and at 170 PPFD it will provide almost double the amount of light of my current Iwasaki. This lamp unfortunately is the most power hungry at 535 watts consumption.
Decisions, decisons!
Floridiot
Member
After 3 weekly water changes, my tank is looking much better. The GHA has stopped growing, the corals are coloring back up nicely, and so far - no more dinos.
I've finally purchased a PFO 400W HQI ballast from jthao here on RC. It should be here early next week. I also decided on the XM 10K lamp. My decision was based on efficiency vs. color for now. If all goes well, my next bulb may be a radium. This XM will put out 2.3 times the usable light than the Iwasaki I'm currently using. I'm definitely going to need to figure out how to keep from frying my corals during the transition.
In preparation for the increased lighting, I've done a few things. First, I rearranged several of my corals. I moved two of the monti caps + the orange monti digi down near the bottom of the tank. I also added 20 each nassarius, cerith, and trochus snails to help with any algae outbreak which may occur due to the increased lighting.
Last but not least, I'm making a fan enclosure similar to this Giesemann: Giesemann fan. My enclosure will hold 4ea 92mm computer fans: scythe fans. It will sit on the top rear edge of my tank and will blow air across the water surface towards the front. This should more than make up for the added heat from the larger MH lamp. I will post pics when it is complete.
I've finally purchased a PFO 400W HQI ballast from jthao here on RC. It should be here early next week. I also decided on the XM 10K lamp. My decision was based on efficiency vs. color for now. If all goes well, my next bulb may be a radium. This XM will put out 2.3 times the usable light than the Iwasaki I'm currently using. I'm definitely going to need to figure out how to keep from frying my corals during the transition.
In preparation for the increased lighting, I've done a few things. First, I rearranged several of my corals. I moved two of the monti caps + the orange monti digi down near the bottom of the tank. I also added 20 each nassarius, cerith, and trochus snails to help with any algae outbreak which may occur due to the increased lighting.
Last but not least, I'm making a fan enclosure similar to this Giesemann: Giesemann fan. My enclosure will hold 4ea 92mm computer fans: scythe fans. It will sit on the top rear edge of my tank and will blow air across the water surface towards the front. This should more than make up for the added heat from the larger MH lamp. I will post pics when it is complete.
Good choice on the XM10ks. They make every color pop. The thing that I hated about my 10k Reeflux when they were new (250w) was that blue glowed, but everything else was less than impressive. Oh well. You should be happy, and that'll be a TON of light.
Also, the Radiums should be WHITE with lots of color off the corals while on the PFO HQI ballast. Radiums are best driven on PFO HQI.
Also, the Radiums should be WHITE with lots of color off the corals while on the PFO HQI ballast. Radiums are best driven on PFO HQI.
Floridiot
Member
I already made the fan enclosure, and purchased the fans. These are extremely quiet (13db), and move about 25 cu/ft of air each. I'm pretty sure 100cu/ft of air should be plenty, since I'm blowing no air with the current lighting and am having no problems with heat. I painted the enclosure last night, and will be assembling the fans today. I'll post pics soon.
I do agree with you about the larger sized fans, but they now make some pretty impressive smaller ones which compete in the sound to air movement ratio of the larger fans from a few years ago.
Floridiot
Member
I'm glad to hear you like the XM 10Ks. I haven't read too many reviews on them, but I really like that their spectrum graph shows a big spike in the 420nm range. This is the spectrum that the URI VHO actinics use which are the best at making colors pop. This was also another reason I decided on the XM, but was not sure if the paper specs would actually translate into real world. I'm glad to hear that they do.
Most of the 20K bulbs have a spike in the 450nm range which causes blue to pop, but not much else in the way of colors. My 175W Iwasaki has the spike in the 450nm range, and I don't get a whole lot of pop factor, but I do get some.As far as the radiums, I saw Rogger's on his last tank, and they still looked blue to me. He uses HQI ballasts. I'd hate to see how blue they look under a standard ballast.
Floridiot
Member
As promised, here are a few pics of my fan case:
I fired them up and they are extremely quiet. I cannot hear anything coming from them at all. They definitely do push some air too. I have a feeling these are going to cause a significant increase in evaporation. I'm also pretty certain they will take care of any heat added by the 400W lamp.
The fan chassis was made out of a piece of 4" x 2" x 1/8" aluminum channel. I cut it 19" long. I cut two pieces of 3/8" thick aluminum and glued it into the ends of the channel with epoxy. I then drilled the holes, sanded it, and painted it. I mounted the fixture to the return pipe I have going across the rear of my tank. It is hard to tell from the pics, but it is also angled slightly downward towards the front of the tank. It doesn't look like much, but it does exactly what I'll need it to. I'll have it power on and off with the lights.
As far as the XM 10K vs Radium 20K spectrum graphs, I posted direct links to them below:
XM 10K / PFO HQI - This baby really spikes at 420nm.
Radium / PFO HQI - This one spikes at 450nm, without much else in the spectrum.
Here is also a link to the graph from my current Iwasaki 15K 175W lamp:
Iwasaki 15K 175w / Icecap - Also spikes at 450nm, but rounds out more than the radium which gives it a very white look.
I fired them up and they are extremely quiet. I cannot hear anything coming from them at all. They definitely do push some air too. I have a feeling these are going to cause a significant increase in evaporation. I'm also pretty certain they will take care of any heat added by the 400W lamp.
The fan chassis was made out of a piece of 4" x 2" x 1/8" aluminum channel. I cut it 19" long. I cut two pieces of 3/8" thick aluminum and glued it into the ends of the channel with epoxy. I then drilled the holes, sanded it, and painted it. I mounted the fixture to the return pipe I have going across the rear of my tank. It is hard to tell from the pics, but it is also angled slightly downward towards the front of the tank. It doesn't look like much, but it does exactly what I'll need it to. I'll have it power on and off with the lights.
As far as the XM 10K vs Radium 20K spectrum graphs, I posted direct links to them below:
XM 10K / PFO HQI - This baby really spikes at 420nm.
Radium / PFO HQI - This one spikes at 450nm, without much else in the spectrum.
Here is also a link to the graph from my current Iwasaki 15K 175W lamp:
Iwasaki 15K 175w / Icecap - Also spikes at 450nm, but rounds out more than the radium which gives it a very white look.
