Joe's 75 Rimless SPS - Updated Pics

[terahz]

Very nice Joe, I think your tank is much more impressive in person than the photos show.

Congrats on the new camera. Make sure you shoot RAW (the D5000 is a bit soft in jpeg) and if you use auto ISO set the max limit to something like 800 or 1600. I hope the Cosina 100mm works well. When you get it I can stop by with my camera+macro to compare.

 

[RTMA]

Very nice Joe, I think your tank is much more impressive in person than the photos show.

Thanks for the kind words.

Congrats on the new camera. Make sure you shoot RAW (the D5000 is a bit soft in jpeg) and if you use auto ISO set the max limit to something like 800 or 1600. I hope the Cosina 100mm works well. When you get it I can stop by with my camera+macro to compare.

Thanks! I didn't know you were into the photography stuff, I definitely would have picked your brain! I would love to have you take some pics and show me the ropes. The 300 page manual is making my head hurt. lol

 

[RTMA]

LED build is taking shape. Ordered 25 XPG Cool Whites & 31 XPE Royal Blues on 10mm Squares from Cutter. Also ordered the Carclo Frosted White Medium Optics to try out. Also will be ordering the Frosted White Wides also. I'm hoping the 24 per 24" x 18" is sufficient with the optics, I'd like to mount them higher then my halides currently are for a true rimless look. If I find the color is not as blue as I'd like I could always add two rows of regular blues from Deal Extreme angled towards the tank.

Purchased Heatsinks from Ebay. Two 7 5/16" x 13 5/16" Black Anodized. Paid roughly $35, so I think I got a better deal then Heatsink USA, which would have been about 100 dollars. We'll see how they work out.

I plan on building the drivers in the diy driver build, but I still need to work out the details.


**Update** LED proof of concept -
The Nano results are looking very good. I took a few frags of SPS from my 75 and placed them in my nano (5 Cree XR-E R2 (WG) Whites (Deal Extreme) & 3 Cree XRE Royal Blue & 3 Cree Blue (Deal Extreme)

Results
ORA Purple Plasma - Frag has colored up remarkably. The mother is a lighter shade of purple, almost a greenish tint with Dark polyps. The Frag has turned a deep purple with white polyps.
ORA Orange Digi - Coloring has remained mostly the same but it is growing as fast as my mother colony under 10K Ushios. Does grow fast, with a noticeable turn of branches towards the horizontal plane.
ORA Borealis - Growth is also good, coloring has turned towards a darker forest green, opposed to the light green of the mother colony. Looks to be a slow grower so far, as both have not grown that quickly.

Zoas - Are growing better under the leds. The colors are seemingly better with the blue / royal blue combination vs the blue plus + fiji purple with T5s in the 75.
Rastas have gone from 1+baby to over to about 5 polyps in two months. PPEs have added 3 heads also. Acans look amazing and show great polyp extension. Hard to feed in nano tho.

 

[scolley]

LED build is taking shape. Ordered 25 XPG Cool Whites & 31 XPE Royal Blues on 10mm Squares from Cutter...

...Purchased Heatsinks from Ebay. Two 7 5/16" x 13 5/16" Black Anodized.

So how are you planning on laying that out Joe? Two blocks - hung short end to short end - with 28 LEDs each?

Thanks. I am definitely amused and interested.

 

[RTMA]

So how are you planning on laying that out Joe? Two blocks - hung short end to short end - with 28 LEDs each?

Thanks. I am definitely amused and interested.

24 each heatsink. I order 6 extra blues in case the xpgs washed them out in the 50:50 ratio. I was also having thoughts of an angled actinic bar. So enough for the 24:24 with a few blues to play around with and an extra xpg just in case one arrives DOA.

The whole wildcard here is the Carclo optics. The frosted medium is supposed to be 18.5 degrees, so the fixture I think will have to be pretty high. That is what I want, but the other option was the 24.5 Wide optics. I'll have to play around with that and how I want to connect them. I was thinking a simple aluminum angle box, maybe powder coated, in which the two heatsinks could be moved closer or farther depending on output & coral placement. Much like the original soundwave build.

 

[scolley]

I do not know what the original soundwave build is. But I'm sure you'll be posting pics or letting nearby reefers to come by and see it. So I'm really interested in seeing how this progresses.

Thanks. And good luck!

 

[RTMA]

I do not know what the original soundwave build is. But I'm sure you'll be posting pics or letting nearby reefers to come by and see it. So I'm really interested in seeing how this progresses.

Thanks. And good luck!

If you haven't seen this thread, take a look. Its got tons and tons of great info in it.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1587273

I think this thread has split 3 times already.

 

[scolley]

If you haven't seen this thread, take a look. Its got tons and tons of great info in it.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1587273

I think this thread has split 3 times already.

Yup. Thanks. Saw that. Waiting for the Cliff Notes. That's why I'm following your progress instead. Only so many hours I can spend on reef stuff each week. And mega-threads can be time-sinks.

 

[RTMA]

Removed the Chaeto in favor of Macrofeast - Tumbling Red Gracilia should be pretty good at nutrient export & provide a phosphate free food for my tangs. My only worry is that the 36 watt twist CFL puts out enough light for it to grow.

 

[RTMA]

Update - I found what looked to be some sort of sea lettuce (thin leafy green macro) on the beach near Calf Pasture. After checking it for eggs (some had some type of eggs attached), I rinsed in R/O and fed it to my yellow tang. He didn't attack it like he does the nori or gracillia, but he definitely ate it as well as my hippo. I wonder if anyone else had tried this. Probably won't do this again, but I found it pretty interesting.

 

[Carriegiesler]

RTMA- Do you have a full tank shot? I am interested in seeing where you placed your Vortech?

 

[RTMA]

RTMA- Do you have a full tank shot? I am interested in seeing where you placed your Vortech?

Somewhere. It's on the left side about 3/4 of the way up in the middle. Cable is run up to the fixture mount and back across to the right side. I'll see if I can find a pic.

 

[RTMA]

Somewhere. It's on the left side about 3/4 of the way up in the middle. Cable is run up to the fixture mount and back across to the right side. I'll see if I can find a pic.

Here:

 

[Carriegiesler]

Thanks, I just got my MP40w the other day and currently trying it out on the tank to see which setting works best.


Nice tank setup. The rockwork looks very nice.

 

[RTMA]

I use the lagoon mode on my MP20. It seems to make a stronger current then the reef crest.

I keep saying I'll upgrade to a 40W, but hasn't happened yet. Corals seem to like the chaotic flow the Koralia 750 creates opposite the MP20.

Good luck with your 40 and thanks for the compliments.

 

[RTMA]

After about 9 months, my diamond goby decided to go carpet surfing. I think I have learned my lesson with these jumpers.

Also as an update the LED project is still progressing, awaiting some more LEDS from cutter, which should be here in the next few days.

Moved my Acans & Fungia from the Nano into the 75 along with most of the Zoas. I think once the LED fixture is complete, I will break down the Nano, as it lacks the automation I love so much on the 75.

I also purchased another BRS reactor for the NP Biopellets I want to try. I'd like to see if this could reduce the Phosphate as well as the GFO with the added benefit of removing Nitrate in a single reactor.

 

[scolley]

After about 9 months, my diamond goby decided to go carpet surfing. I think I have learned my lesson with these jumpers.

That is a bummer Joe. Expecially for the goby.

I DO love open top tanks like yours. But the occasional surf is one of the downfalls. I've already lost a number of fish for the same reason on my 29g. It's definitely harder to find suitable fish that aren't inclined to make the occasional leap.

Sorry bud. I liked that fish. :-(

 

[Obi-dad]

My fire goby just took a leap of faith that didn't pan out so well for him. The worst part is I have a full canopy with only a small space on one side with a fan blowing in to combat the heat and most of the year I have a screen covering the opening, but removed the screen a couple weeks ago to maximize the airflow...and the goby found that opening. Dang.

 

[scolley]

...and the goby found that opening. Dang.

Greg, either that goby was already doing a lot of jumping, and you just never found out until you removed the screen. Or that was a rare jump coupled with some really lousy luck... particularly for the goby.

Sorry for going slightly off topic Joe... but all my reef tank jumpers have been at night. Could it be that your goby was an avid jumper Greg, but you just didn't know it because he kept his shenanigans nocturnal? Or better put... did you find in on the floor in the morning?

 

[Shard]

Any updates on the LED fixture? What kind of PAR values are you getting in comparison to the MH fixture you had over the tank? Have you noticed any difference in coral coloration since the change?