Learning/rebuilding from my epic fail

reefmutt said:
Sounds pretty complicated..
Click to expand...

You lost me right after 'Glad you like it'.......... :uhoh3:

I put a bag of phosguard in the sump a week ago Matt so don't be thinking i'm not up with cutting edge reef stuff buddy, old farts like me take a while to come around but we do watch and learn from you young blokes ;)

An hour after putting it in the sump i fished the instructions out of the bin and read them just to make sure my instinctual approach to the phosguard method of use was correct, apart from missing the 1 min tap water rinse which 'activates' it i had absolutely nailed the rest of the process - place bag in water. :thumbsup:

I like that light rig Matt, i run halide, T5 & LED all together and it gives you the best of all worlds really. What 150W bulbs will run mate.
 
stick with me, biggles. The old and blind leading the old and blind..:) Please bring your humor along with you whenever you visit :) it is always appreciated..
If I could get away with using a bit of phosguard in my sump, I would jump at the opportunity.. When my old system was running, I was using a dual chamber fluidized reactor with both chambers holding about 750 ml of RowaPhos. I would change one out every other week! I was going through literally tons of RowaPhos to keep my p at .15...
Once I started carbon dosing and using cano3 to maintain n, my p dropped to .03 without the need for any RowaPhos.
I didn't choose that method out of the blue.. It's the only method that works for me.. Over time, I will try to revert back to dsbs and cheato for nutrient control but for now, I'm sticking to what is working for me..
I have 20 xm bulbs. Again, I'm going blue.. I may change the t5 to something a little less blue... We'll see when the system is all up..
 
Love the light! I myself have thought about doing that exact same thing, but with my Radions. An pics of the other side to see how it's all attached? Only thing holding me back is making it look clean since my light is suspended over my tank (no canopy). Thanks!
 
Matt, glad you've started a journal. Your old tank was AMAZING! :beer: That would be my dream reef! Will be following your tank journal very keenly.

I like your lighting system. The combo should work out fine. I dont know about the Mitras, but I have seen VERY good SPS colours in my buddies tanks who use at least a Gen 2 Pro. I stopped following the GHL Mitras thread a while back...just wasnt seeing enough good results/colourful SPS photos posted there...nor have I come across anyone in the UK using this light and having good success (ie similar level of success I've seen in Radion lit tanks).

Your old tank signifies that you are clearly an SPS veteran of high calibre. Look forward to this build.
 
That's a great light. I expect that you will get some great coloration in your tank. Your old tank was amazing too. Well worth the effort for sure!.......................Jim
 
rovster said:
Love the light! I myself have thought about doing that exact same thing, but with my Radions. An pics of the other side to see how it's all attached? Only thing holding me back is making it look clean since my light is suspended over my tank (no canopy). Thanks!
Click to expand...

It ain't pretty enough to be hanging out in the open, that's for sure.
The leds and mh are attached to a set of aluminum 'L' rods which are perpendicular to the L brackets on the back wall and the t5 fixtures are hanging seperately from the L brackets that are attached to the back wall. My fixture is hidden so it's not too pretty..



There is one dual t5 fixtur that hangs behind and one in front..
 
sahin said:
Matt, glad you've started a journal. Your old tank was AMAZING! :beer: That would be my dream reef! Will be following your tank journal very keenly.

I like your lighting system. The combo should work out fine. I dont know about the Mitras, but I have seen VERY good SPS colours in my buddies tanks who use at least a Gen 2 Pro. I stopped following the GHL Mitras thread a while back...just wasnt seeing enough good results/colourful SPS photos posted there...nor have I come across anyone in the UK using this light and having good success (ie similar level of success I've seen in Radion lit tanks).

Your old tank signifies that you are clearly an SPS veteran of high calibre. Look forward to this build.
Click to expand...

Hey Sahin! Welcome!! Thanks for the compliments on my old tank..
I hope I can replicate the results I had with that tank, on purpose this time instead of by accident, like I did then..
I own a pair of radion pro g2 which I run over one of my frag tanks and I have found that either light is as capable of colouring up the corals.. The difference, I think is that the mitras is more powerful, and have more leds in the white spectrum and these leds are more capable of frying or stressing acros. I think one has to be more careful using the mitras because of this.. This is why my white leds probably won't get much over 30% in my light recipe.. Those white LEDs... They are tricky..
So.. The cycle has begun.. This is all my old rock (all dead).. I added some live rock from my system today as seed..
 
Love the light setup, personally I would add two coral+ or similar bulbs in the t5s just to change a little of the spectrums. It shouldn't kill your blues either. I can't wait to see them burning! I love the xm 20k but I thought I remembered the par being low. Doesn't the xm brand have some 22k bulbs or something now? Which ballasts are you running the t5s and halides with?
 
I will look at the coral plus.. Was also thinking of the giesemann lagoon blue..
Could be right about the par, but I'm not that concerned.
I'm leaning toward deep waters anyways..
Not sure about the 22k.
If I'm not mistaken (the ballasts have been around for several years, now) they are early generation electronic ice cap ballasts.. I'll verify tonight when I get home..
Ok. Another attempt at posting some of the good stuff..




Still makes me all warm and fuzzy..
 
reefmutt said:
I am using all three carbon (or 4 if you include the pellets) sources to cultivate as many different types of bacteria as possible. It is my understanding that each type of carbon; acetic acid, sugar and alcohol get consumed by different types of bacteria...
Click to expand...

Hi mate,

This is an interesting idea. Where did you develop your understanding? Would you please share your source or provide citation to scientific literature?

I am not suggesting that you are wrong. I simply want to know more about how different bacteria utilise different carbon sources differently. I read extensively. However, I have not read about the affect of different carbon sources on bacteria strains.

Keep up the good work.

PS. If you used Luminarc mini reflectors you could get a lot better efficiency from your DE MH bulbs. Having said that I am not sure if they could be accommodated due to their shape, but they are arguably the best reflectors in my opinion.
 
Great looking SPS. What lighting were you using? Not sure if I'm happy with my Mitras, seems so many extreme SPS tanks run MH or T5 or a combination of them.
 
DiscusHeckel said:
Hi mate,

This is an interesting idea. Where did you develop your understanding? Would you please share your source or provide citation to scientific literature?

I am not suggesting that you are wrong. I simply want to know more about how different bacteria utilise different carbon sources differently. I read extensively. However, I have not read about the affect of different carbon sources on bacteria strains.

Keep up the good work.

PS. If you used Luminarc mini reflectors you could get a lot better efficiency from your DE MH bulbs. Having said that I am not sure if they could be accommodated due to their shape, but they are arguably the best reflectors in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I am not sure where I read about multiple strains, it may have been in the 'dosing nitrate to reduce phosphate' thread in the advanced forum. If you are a reader, I highly recomend you read this thread. It is so packed with information. I promise you will be happy you did..
However, I did a Google search for vsv dosing and came up with this..
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13829200#post13829200
I seriously considered those (the minis) reflectors because I'm sure you are right when you say they are the best.. I had these reflectors already, and wanting to save a few $, I decided against buying the luminarcs. I may buy them in the future. They are an inch wider than the ones I'm currently using.
Thanks for following!
 
M007 said:
Great looking SPS. What lighting were you using? Not sure if I'm happy with my Mitras, seems so many extreme SPS tanks run MH or T5 or a combination of them.
Click to expand...

So happy you asked :)
On that tank, I was basically heating my entire house with the lighting i was using..
Because the tank was 42 inches from back to front, I ran two banks of three 250 de bulbs. I also had 3 80w t5 in front, 3 between and 3 behind the mh banks. Also, for kicks, I added 4x70 w mh in between the 250s -in line with them.. Sort of as a deep blue addition... I didn't see them very much. They weren't very bright..
But that was one bright tank. I don't think all that light was really necessary..
 
reefmutt said:
If you are a reader, I highly recomend you read this thread. It is so packed with information. I promise you will be happy you did.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I am familiar with that thread and I even made some contributions to it.

Regarding nitrate dosing, I have been advised by Tom (tmz) that this was not appropriate in my tank. Even though you may get no measurable nitrate readings, it is still possible that your tank may not be nitrogen limited. I guess one needs to look at very carefully various biomarks, such as the growth rate of macro algae, film algae on glass, etc. I still get less than 0.2 ppm nitrate readings using Salifert, but my chaeto grows vigorously. So, I do not dose a nitrogen source, e.g. NaNO3.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

U
New build
Replies
3
Views
227
griss
griss
E
Long time Reefer looking to start anew.
Replies
12
Views
142
FOX-FACE fanboy….
FOX-FACE fanboy….
Easygoing1
PFO Aquatics SOLARIS Rebuild And Questions
Replies
8
Views
326
oreo57
oreo57
D
Automated/bluetooth/wifi alert systems
Replies
7
Views
92
Dustin07
D
C
Well pump and R/O system
Replies
12
Views
364
zappa
Z
Back
Top