JBNY's 270 Ver2.0

[stonecold]

Lighting
MH/T5/LED

Beautiful looking setup!

Few questions:

1. Regarding your T5 and LED, how are they arrange? May I safely assume as such? Front to back: LED, Purple +, Blue +, MH, Blue +, Purple +, LED?

2. In this pic, are all of the bulbs on?

3. Let's say, we swap out 1 of the Purple + for a Coral +, what do you think the difference(s) will be? Brighter, dimmer?

Thanking you in advance for your precious time.

 

[ReefWreak]

Joe, thanks for posting the whole ecosystem rundown. Really awesome to see it all together, and the steps you've taken to keep consistency and stability. It's also great to see the ARID reactor in action. I see it all the time on MR, but I haven't seen results. Glad it's working so well for you.

 

[SneekaPeek]

Awesome setup. I'm so glad I stopped in today to check out your v2 system. Keep up the diligent and hard work. No matter any faults or roller coaster rides within the system, just know you have one of the most beautiful systems I have ever seen especially how purple your rock is....If only my rock could become that increasingly purple haha. Feeling grateful to see the well planned and well thought out reef tank.

 

[JB NY]

Beautiful looking setup!

Few questions:

1. Regarding your T5 and LED, how are they arrange? May I safely assume as such? Front to back: LED, Purple +, Blue +, MH, Blue +, Purple +, LED?

2. In this pic, are all of the bulbs on?

3. Let's say, we swap out 1 of the Purple + for a Coral +, what do you think the difference(s) will be? Brighter, dimmer?

Thanking you in advance for your precious time.

1) From front to back: LED, KZ Fiji Purple, ATI B+, MH, KZ Fiji Purple, ATI B+, LED

2) All are on except the LED at the back of the tank. The look is pretty much the same though.

3) I am using KZ FP bulbs for the purple. They are very similar to each other but still it's not a Purple +. But I have swapped a KZ FP for a C+ and the results were that the tank visually looks equally as bright.

Right now I would say the tank has a slight purple tinge to it that I like a little better than if I were running C+ bulbs instead of the KZ. If you look at the pics of my tank now on the first page I was running 2 B+ and 2 C+ bulbs instead of the KZ bulbs at that time, those are almost spot on for what the tank looks like with C+ bulbs instead of the KZ bulbs.

I have been trying combinations of T5 to help me get the tank to visually look the way I want it for a few months. The Radiums make the tank too blue for my personal tastes so I am looking for some combo of T5 to make a a little less blue. Right now I have a lot of bulbs I have been playing with, Giesemann Actinic+, True Actinic, Mid-Day, ATI Blue+, Coral+, and KZ Fiji Purple. Right now I am pretty happy with the combo, but I will probably play with it a little more.

Joe, thanks for posting the whole ecosystem rundown. Really awesome to see it all together, and the steps you've taken to keep consistency and stability. It's also great to see the ARID reactor in action. I see it all the time on MR, but I haven't seen results. Glad it's working so well for you.

Thanks, it's a bit a battle to get everything just the way I want it. I always talk about stability but I sometime make dumb changes just to try something out and mess with the stability once in a while.

For me the ARID has worked out well. I wanted to get back to using chaeto in the tank and when I spoke to Tristan at the last MH frag swap, it was the exact thing I was looking for. It helps that I have known Randy at Pratt for years, as well as a few other people, who have one on a tank so I was able to get some honest feedback before I got it.

 

[stonecold]

I am using KZ FP bulbs for the purple. They are very similar to each other but still it's not a Purple +. But I have swapped a KZ FP for a C+ and the results were that the tank visually looks equally as bright.

Thank you. Don't know what I was thinking by typing Purple + repeatedly. :facepalm:

 

[maxxII]

I've been using an ARID reactor since mid April, (thanks to JB's reference and responses to my questions, and subsequent phone calls and emails to Tristan at Pax-Bellum as well), and I couldnt be happier. It does exactly what it is designed and reputed to do...reduce PO4 and NO3 in the system and reduce algae growth in the display.

I have a smaller reactor than JB does (I have the E18 vs the C30) because I have a smaller system. I'm also still in the process of dialing mine in with regard to dosing NO3, but I couldnt be happier with this thing.

I dont feel that it's a magic bullet that can solve NO3 and PO4 issues for every tank, but it definitely worked and is continuing to work for me.

 

[JB NY]

Awesome setup. I'm so glad I stopped in today to check out your v2 system. Keep up the diligent and hard work. No matter any faults or roller coaster rides within the system, just know you have one of the most beautiful systems I have ever seen especially how purple your rock is....If only my rock could become that increasingly purple haha. Feeling grateful to see the well planned and well thought out reef tank.

Thanks very much! The rock for some reason this time is incredibly purple, my dad still can not believe it is the same rock that went in the tank completely white.

 

[JB NY]

Joe, you may need a couple more coral shots on the thread.... For comparison sake..... You know, for down the road. No pressure.

Yes I know we need some more pictures to keep this thread looking good, I will not be able to take any new ones of tiny frags for a few days lol. I'll be home late for the next two and then I am going to Reef-A-Palooza NY for the weekend, so here are a few more shots from my V1 tank that I will share with you.

All these guys were grown from little frags.

I don't remember what this one's name was, but the color combinations were awesome, it was in the front of the tank and for some reason I had a hard time getting the thing to get in focus.

This one while not super colorful, I always loved how it looked from the top.

Despite being at the bottom of the tank always kept this very light color.

Shot of this guy from the side.

 

[mhucasey]

Yes I know we need some more pictures to keep this thread looking good, I will not be able to take any new ones of tiny frags for a few days lol. I'll be home late for the next two and then I am going to Reef-A-Palooza NY for the weekend, so here are a few more shots from my V1 tank that I will share with you.

All these guys were grown from little frags.

I don't remember what this one's name was, but the color combinations were awesome, it was in the front of the tank and for some reason I had a hard time getting the thing to get in focus.

This one while not super colorful, I always loved how it looked from the top.

Despite being at the bottom of the tank always kept this very light color.

Shot of this guy from the side.

Gorgeous...thats a speciosa in the second to last shot, yes?

 

[westreef]

Hi Joe,
I understand you are using Marco rocks and your buddy did the cycling of the rocks for you.
I am also in the process of restarting my tank with Marco rocks due to tank clashes. Do you have more info of how your friend did the curing/cycling of the rocks? Your resulting rocks are so good looking.

 

[boostedvq]

It's an amazing tank you have. Sorry if my laziness skipped over the following,

However what are your tank dimensions?

Do you dose or use a calcium reactor?

Finally, what is your lighting? I thought I saw a t5/mh hybrid over the tank, but see mention of leds? Did you make a DIY led? What lighting schedule do you utilize?

 

[markalot]

Great equipment write up Joe, I really appreciate the detail.

 

[JB NY]

Gorgeous...thats a speciosa in the second to last shot, yes?

Thanks, While looking at these shots I found that I seem to have misplaced a huge chunk of picture from back then. They are probably on some other drive or laptop so I will have to go searching.

yes, I think that coral is a speciosa.

Hi Joe,
I understand you are using Marco rocks and your buddy did the cycling of the rocks for you.
I am also in the process of restarting my tank with Marco rocks due to tank clashes. Do you have more info of how your friend did the curing/cycling of the rocks? Your resulting rocks are so good looking.

So by my buddy, I mean Joe Yaiullo who is the curator over at the Long Island Aquarium, and by curing the rock I meant we dumped it in the sump of the aquarium's 20,000 gallon reef tank for 4 months until it was biologically active and then transported it to my house in Rubbermaid garbage cans filled with water.

I know lots of people are doing some crazy stuff with their rock, but honestly we just dumped it in a sump and came back 4 months later and pulled it out.

But remember that the rocks have been in my tank for almost 3 years. I do feel that the rocks look much better now than they did about 7 months ago. The main reason IMO is adding the Gyre to the tank, the second I turned it on, the current blew detritus from all over the place.

I am still a fan of blowing off the rocks with a turkey baster once a week. Before I had the gyre pump in the tank, I would blow a ton of detritus and debris off the rocks. Now when I do it hardly anything comes off. So I really think the extra flow has really helped to make my rocks look better.

It's an amazing tank you have. Sorry if my laziness skipped over the following,

However what are your tank dimensions?

Do you dose or use a calcium reactor?

Finally, what is your lighting? I thought I saw a t5/mh hybrid over the tank, but see mention of leds? Did you make a DIY led? What lighting schedule do you utilize?

Thanks! most of that info is one page back, see link to the exact post below.

The tank is 72x36x24.

I have an MTC ProCal Calcium reactor

Lighting info and schedule is in this post
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=23830508&postcount=34

Great equipment write up Joe, I really appreciate the detail.

Your welcome Mark. I am sure I left out something so if you have any questions later on just ask.

 

[reefmutt]

Nice detail! Thanks.
That pale green speciosa was awesome, as were the corals in the first shot.
Did many/any of your corals get fragged and grown in other tanks? Are you able to source any of your old corals?
Man o man, I want Joe Yaiullo as a good friend as well!!
Couple questions: why strontium dosing? Wouldn't a ca reactor be delivering that? I've never paid much attention to sr. Thoughts?
Which aminos do you use, what dosage and did you always use them?
What setting do you run the gyres on? I have two as well on either side of my tank and I looooove them. I put them on alternating flow and try to alternating the timing on them so that the flow goes across the tank in one direction for 2 minutes and then the pump reverses and the other begins its two minute blow across, in the other direction. When they are properly timed the full tank turn over is amazing.. However, for some mysterious electronic reason, the controllers tend to synchronize over time. I have to keep resetting the gyres.
The gyres rep said that I could change the impeller on one gyre, run it in reverse and then once they synchronize they will be perfectly alternating... Haven't tried this yet..
I wish I could go to R.A.P and bring frags over the border... That would be awesome..
Enjoy, and doesn't need to be said but ... Pics of new frags will be expected!

 

[JB NY]

Nice detail! Thanks.
That pale green speciosa was awesome, as were the corals in the first shot.
Did many/any of your corals get fragged and grown in other tanks? Are you able to source any of your old corals?
Man o man, I want Joe Yaiullo as a good friend as well!!
Couple questions: why strontium dosing? Wouldn't a ca reactor be delivering that? I've never paid much attention to sr. Thoughts?
Which aminos do you use, what dosage and did you always use them?
What setting do you run the gyres on? I have two as well on either side of my tank and I looooove them. I put them on alternating flow and try to alternating the timing on them so that the flow goes across the tank in one direction for 2 minutes and then the pump reverses and the other begins its two minute blow across, in the other direction. When they are properly timed the full tank turn over is amazing.. However, for some mysterious electronic reason, the controllers tend to synchronize over time. I have to keep resetting the gyres.
The gyres rep said that I could change the impeller on one gyre, run it in reverse and then once they synchronize they will be perfectly alternating... Haven't tried this yet..
I wish I could go to R.A.P and bring frags over the border... That would be awesome..
Enjoy, and doesn't need to be said but ... Pics of new frags will be expected!

Ha well you can be friends with him too, you just have to give decent sized frags for him to be able to use in his reef tank, no one inch frags on plugs I mean.

Here are two corals I gave a while back.

I'm not messing around with the size of my frags.

Here is another, I gave him, can't find the pic in his tank though.

It's all about the frags my friend :beer:

Strontium
So anyway, here is why I dose strontium. I intally started way back in 2002.

I started dosing strontium because after 16 months my reef had little coralline algae growing.

I started dosing in 8/2002

Here is my tank 10/2002 after two months of strontium additions.

That was the only change I made at the time. I did test for strontium, using the seachem test kit, it was always between 10-12. I read the debates and most of the users of strontium were basically like, use it for a while and you be the judge. So that's what I did. I felt it prudent to test if I was going to dose, and my strontium levels were never high in any tests. I don't test anymore though.

I am dosing Kent's Strontium, a little under the recommended amount. I used to use Seachem Strontium but I can't get it locally anymore so I use the Kents. But I think the Seachem works better.

Amino Acids
I use Salifert Amino acids. I think I have been using them since 2003 or so. I have been a big proponent of amino acids well before zeovit starting marketing it and then everyone else started marketing their own product too. Salifert is one of the first to market it and was what I started with, it's always worked for me so I have stuck with it. I tried the TLF amino acids a couple of months ago because so many people were using it now, but it kept giving my tank dinoflagellates so I stopped using it (sorry Julian if you read this).

I use the recommend dosage of 80ml a week for a 400 gallon system.

Gyre
So for the Gyres, I just answered a PM about them so I have a long response ready to go.

I have two and have them set to alternate, one side on at 40% every 6 minutes. Every two hours they both come on for 5 minutes. So it creates a strong gyre flow on each side and then every two hours I have very turbulent flow. I use an Apex to do this. The apex gyre controller is not out yet but I got pretty creative without it.

I use two virtual outlets, one alternate ON/OFF every six minutes the other every 2 hours have it on for 5 minutes. Have the gyres programmed so one is on when the first Virtual outlet is On, and off when off, the other gyre off when on and on when off. Then have the both set to be on if the second virtual outlet is on. That way you can alternate the two gyre but have them both on when the 2nd virtual outlet is on.

here are my programs, the first two are the virtual outlets.

#Gyre_Random
Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/005:00/120:00 Then ON
If FeedA 000 Then OFF

#Gyre_CONTROL
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
OSC 000:00/006:00/006:00 Then ON

#XF150_LEFT
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Outlet Gyre_CONTROL = OFF Then ON
If Outlet Gyre_Random = ON Then ON
If FeedA 000 Then OFF

#XF150_RIGHT
Fallback ON
Set ON
If Outlet Gyre_CONTROL = OFF Then OFF
If Outlet Gyre_Random = ON Then ON
If FeedA 000 Then OFF

RAP should be fun wish you could be there. Hopefully I end of with some sweet frags from it. Of course I will post pics.

 

[ksed]

Just found your thread Joe. Tank is looking great and will definitely be following closely. :wavehand:
Will you be at MACNA?

Kevin B.

 

[JB NY]

Hey Kevin, Thanks for checking in, yeah I am planning on going to MACNA. We'll have to have a drink :beer:

 

[ksed]

Sounds good.:thumbsup:

 

[mhucasey]

Joe, earlier when discussing the ARID reactor you said you had identified a Boron deficiency that resulted in brittle Chaeto. Were there other signs in your tank of Boron deficiency?

Good info on Strontium BTW. I've had very sluggish coraline algae growth since I switched over from one tank to the two-tank system, even with slightly elevated Magnesium. I used to dose strontium in the Calcium Chloride of my two part. I just realized I haven't been adding it since the switchover!:facepalm:

 

[DSMpunk]

Dosing strontium clearly irradiates hippo tangs. That thing is glowing.

Your tank has always motivated me to keep SPS. Good luck with the new one!