Learning/rebuilding from my epic fail
- Thread starter reefmutt
- Start date
reefmutt
Active member
Well, I did a little 150w mh comparing, lately..
Looking at which mh was the most blue and of the three I have looked at, it's almost a 3 way tie. I've looked at the xm 20k, the Radium blue and the Giesemann megachrome blue. They are almost identical to one another..
If I had to choose, I'd say the giesemann bulb is the most blue, but only by a slight margin. looking right at the glass of the bulb as it is lit, can you see a slight difference, looking at the tank under the bulbs it would be almost impossible to notice a difference..
Unfortunately, I don't have a par meter so I can't measure that..
I'm not going to spend any more money on bulbs, so I will go with what I have.. Probably the giesemanns.. Good German made bulb.. Never had a faulty one..
As for t5, I will probably run 4 gieseman actinic plus or Ati blue plus.. As far as I'm concerned, they are identical. And them one pure actinic..
I've ordered the Faune Marin royal blue ultra, just to see what they look like.. Don't know much about them..
Tonight I will test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to see how the tank is progressing.. It's still cloudy but the snails I have added are cleaning the tank like crazy right now.. Even the 2 blue t5s that I am running are causing a small amount of algae to grow..
Looking at which mh was the most blue and of the three I have looked at, it's almost a 3 way tie. I've looked at the xm 20k, the Radium blue and the Giesemann megachrome blue. They are almost identical to one another..
If I had to choose, I'd say the giesemann bulb is the most blue, but only by a slight margin. looking right at the glass of the bulb as it is lit, can you see a slight difference, looking at the tank under the bulbs it would be almost impossible to notice a difference..
Unfortunately, I don't have a par meter so I can't measure that..
I'm not going to spend any more money on bulbs, so I will go with what I have.. Probably the giesemanns.. Good German made bulb.. Never had a faulty one..
As for t5, I will probably run 4 gieseman actinic plus or Ati blue plus.. As far as I'm concerned, they are identical. And them one pure actinic..
I've ordered the Faune Marin royal blue ultra, just to see what they look like.. Don't know much about them..
Tonight I will test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to see how the tank is progressing.. It's still cloudy but the snails I have added are cleaning the tank like crazy right now.. Even the 2 blue t5s that I am running are causing a small amount of algae to grow..
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
I've found the Phoenix 14K to be the bluer than Radium20K 150w. The 250w and 4002 Radiums are a different story.
The Phoenix 14K also has a stronge 420nm (or thereabouts) spike that fluoresces/pops some corals a little extra.
I've read very good reports about the FM Ultra Blue T5 tube...but so far havent managed to locate one. Let us know how it compares.
trueblackpercula
New member
I used the mega chrome bulb years ago and it was a really nice bulb until I used the 14k Aquaconnect bulb. Have you tried all lights on over the tank yet? I ask because the mitras are really bright and have lots of blue and the t5 sound nice as well but to add halides that are blue? well this is going to be some serious lighting cant wait to see what they can do,
reefmutt
Active member
i was told that the phoenix starts out more blue, but once it burns in, it whitens up considerably..
for some reason, 150w de bulbs seem to not get that blue.. anyways, as Micheal points out, i will have an abundance of blue, so I'm probably just fine..
mike, i haven't really lit everything up because the tank is cloudy and there is no coral in it to see how it will look...... soon.....
trueblackpercula
New member
I don't think you will need the metal halides but still looking forward to seeing it ��
trueblackpercula
New member
I don't even no where to send you to get one as they are not comon. It was the best mh bulb I ever used.
biggles
Premium Member
C'mon Matt, soon was a couple of days ago mate........ you're up to no good i reckon.......
jroovers
New member
I think you'll be just fine too. I just got a Phoenix 14k 250w DE bulb, I'll let you know how it goes, but I think all the bulbs you mentioned are good and at some point it gets like splitting hairs trying to compared them.
Looking forward to a photo update
reefmutt
Active member
Well, first, Happy New Year, Biggles.
And to everybody else!
I've been out of town for the past week. Before that, the tank had basically just finished its cycle. Basically, I connected the frag system to the main tank - got the whole system running and walked out the door. I'll be back home tonight so see how everything looks.
I've decided to run the radium mh bulbs and I have 2 Giesemann pure actnics and 3 giesemann actinic+ for T5. One of the pure actinics will run while the leds are on- which will be from 7 am to 11pm. For about 3 hours in the morning and evening, the leds will be at a very low intensity, just enough to see the corals. For the 10 remaining hours, I will ramp the LEDs up and down for daylight hours. The other t5bulbs will only turn on with the mh. I plan to run the mh for 3 two hour intervals during the daylight period.
Basically, the LEDs will run the longest and I will supplement them with a little pure actinic and the rest of the t5/mh will do periodic blasting during the bright hours.
Of note, over the past few weeks, while dosing my mixture of carbons and no3, I warxhed my p basically disappear completely as my n went up to around 5ppm. So I started reducing the amount I was adding until I stopped completely. At the time I left, I was only running my aio pellets with a little ecobak+ mixed in. My levels were: n 4ppm and p .03.
These levels may have gone down over the past week as my mom has been adding food but not as much as I was adding. And with the 200 gallons of new water on the system, things have probably changed a little.
Also!... Over this time I have been increasing my dsb and added some cheato to grow out..
The plan is to rely on the dsb and reverse daylight fuge along with a relatively small amount of the currently running biopellets as nutrient control..
I've got a few drags that I have collected over the past few weeks and I will begin placing them this weekend.
In the coming weeks, assuming the tank is doing ok, I will ramp up the acquisitions department and get this baby humming along!
Lately, I have been taking a little break from RC while the tank was cycling... Got a little hooked on Instagram.. But if and when the reef begins to thrive, I'm sure my focus will shift back to it.
I'm sure I will have more updates in the coming days.
And to everybody else!
I've been out of town for the past week. Before that, the tank had basically just finished its cycle. Basically, I connected the frag system to the main tank - got the whole system running and walked out the door. I'll be back home tonight so see how everything looks.
I've decided to run the radium mh bulbs and I have 2 Giesemann pure actnics and 3 giesemann actinic+ for T5. One of the pure actinics will run while the leds are on- which will be from 7 am to 11pm. For about 3 hours in the morning and evening, the leds will be at a very low intensity, just enough to see the corals. For the 10 remaining hours, I will ramp the LEDs up and down for daylight hours. The other t5bulbs will only turn on with the mh. I plan to run the mh for 3 two hour intervals during the daylight period.
Basically, the LEDs will run the longest and I will supplement them with a little pure actinic and the rest of the t5/mh will do periodic blasting during the bright hours.
Of note, over the past few weeks, while dosing my mixture of carbons and no3, I warxhed my p basically disappear completely as my n went up to around 5ppm. So I started reducing the amount I was adding until I stopped completely. At the time I left, I was only running my aio pellets with a little ecobak+ mixed in. My levels were: n 4ppm and p .03.
These levels may have gone down over the past week as my mom has been adding food but not as much as I was adding. And with the 200 gallons of new water on the system, things have probably changed a little.
Also!... Over this time I have been increasing my dsb and added some cheato to grow out..
The plan is to rely on the dsb and reverse daylight fuge along with a relatively small amount of the currently running biopellets as nutrient control..
I've got a few drags that I have collected over the past few weeks and I will begin placing them this weekend.
In the coming weeks, assuming the tank is doing ok, I will ramp up the acquisitions department and get this baby humming along!
Lately, I have been taking a little break from RC while the tank was cycling... Got a little hooked on Instagram.. But if and when the reef begins to thrive, I'm sure my focus will shift back to it.
I'm sure I will have more updates in the coming days.
renevilleneuve
New member
Thanks for the update,happy and conscious new year. I would avoid raising our expectations of an eventual update,your record needs improvement. Xxx
reefmutt
Active member
Biggles, forgot to mention that so far I love the gyres. I am running them at about 60% and they have still blown a large area clear in the middle of my tank. I love the options for controlling them. I have them both on 20 second pulse mode and I have them off set in terms of timing so one blows for a while and slows and then the other blows. At times they both blow together and other times only one is blowing. It gives solid and somewhat randomized flow patterns. I have mounted them close to the front of the tank, at the top but have added an extra magnet under only one side of the magnet clip so that they are not exactly perpendicular with the side panels. They both blow towards the opposite back corners of the tank. But the flow still hits in the centre to a large degree. When they are pumping individually, the flow hits the back corners but when they are blowing simultaneously, the flow swirls downward in the middle of the tank. I am also running two tunze 6095s blowing across the gyres at the front pane of glass. They are also controlled to cycle on and off to further randomize the flow patterns. I find the gyres to be easily as quiet as the 6095s right now.
The Quebec rep also told me that maxspect is giving replacement arms for the magnet holders on the gyres, which are rubberized to reduce vibration. This should make them even more quiet.
I may replace my tunzes with two more in the future because they are so low profile.. I was considering mounting two on my Mocean rotating return devices in a horizontal orientation. Just have to figure out how to mount them securely.. That could be pretty nifty to have a pair rotating back and forth across the whole span of the tank..
The Quebec rep also told me that maxspect is giving replacement arms for the magnet holders on the gyres, which are rubberized to reduce vibration. This should make them even more quiet.
I may replace my tunzes with two more in the future because they are so low profile.. I was considering mounting two on my Mocean rotating return devices in a horizontal orientation. Just have to figure out how to mount them securely.. That could be pretty nifty to have a pair rotating back and forth across the whole span of the tank..
biggles
Premium Member
Hey Matt, hope you have a great year ahead too buddy
Sounds like everything is going well mate, your acros will love you long time for that lighting choice........ :smokin:
If you ever want to try a different T5 setup to run with the radiums give 4 x B+ tubes a try. I tried actinics just as i ran in the old days and lost pop on the colors compared to the B+ tubes. The much higher par also helps fill in all those nooks and crannies the halides may not quite reach. Just something to think about down the track if you aren't totally impressed with the actinics.
I run the 400W radium, 4 x B+, 1 x C+ and a 81W RB and 410nm LED light bar and see nice results. I think Richard might be running all B+ tubes with his radium from memory and he has beautiful colors and much better growth than me.
I have no idea what instagram is, i thought telegrams were a thing of the past..........
Thanks heaps for the detailed summary of the pumps performance so far Matt. :beer: I'm really pleased to hear about the vibration noise level being no worse than a 6095 and the fix will probably quieten them down even more hopefully. The idea of mounting them on rotating arms would be absolutely over the top insane flow but you know me, i say go for it ! :thumbsup: Someone has to push the SPS envelope Matt and i'd rather it be you not me when it comes to that particular 'speriment' :facepalm:
Is your camera broken Matt..................:wave:
Sounds like everything is going well mate, your acros will love you long time for that lighting choice........ :smokin:
If you ever want to try a different T5 setup to run with the radiums give 4 x B+ tubes a try. I tried actinics just as i ran in the old days and lost pop on the colors compared to the B+ tubes. The much higher par also helps fill in all those nooks and crannies the halides may not quite reach. Just something to think about down the track if you aren't totally impressed with the actinics.
I run the 400W radium, 4 x B+, 1 x C+ and a 81W RB and 410nm LED light bar and see nice results. I think Richard might be running all B+ tubes with his radium from memory and he has beautiful colors and much better growth than me.
I have no idea what instagram is, i thought telegrams were a thing of the past..........
Thanks heaps for the detailed summary of the pumps performance so far Matt. :beer: I'm really pleased to hear about the vibration noise level being no worse than a 6095 and the fix will probably quieten them down even more hopefully. The idea of mounting them on rotating arms would be absolutely over the top insane flow but you know me, i say go for it ! :thumbsup: Someone has to push the SPS envelope Matt and i'd rather it be you not me when it comes to that particular 'speriment' :facepalm:
Is your camera broken Matt..................:wave:
renevilleneuve
New member
Love the Comedy mixed in with reef passion,Biggles.
reefmutt
Active member
Camera isn't broken, just haven't been home..
Got back tonight to find red bugs. I thought I had killed them by doing a strong dip before I left but obviously they are tough little monsters. Nothing seems to kill them but interceptor and I guess that Bayer stuff that we can't get in Canada.
I will get my hands on some interceptor tomorrow and deal with them once and for all.
I assume that the bugs crawl into the polyps of the Acro during a dip and therefor get well protected from chemicals... Really not sure.
Also came home and realized that I wasnt 100% happy with one section of scape.. Will deal with that tomorrow as well.. I should have some frags in the tank by Sunday.
I'll will put my fish in the dt this weekend, as well. That'll be fun..
I have a dwarf golden angel, two female Lamark Angels (hoping/assuming one will change sex) a mini purple tang, 8 blue streak cardinals, an old possum wrasse and a copperband butterfly.
Biggles, I may go all blue for the t5.. They definitely have much more pop and par than the pure actinic but I do like the look of a pure actinic in the mix.. We shall see..
Got back tonight to find red bugs. I thought I had killed them by doing a strong dip before I left but obviously they are tough little monsters. Nothing seems to kill them but interceptor and I guess that Bayer stuff that we can't get in Canada.
I will get my hands on some interceptor tomorrow and deal with them once and for all.
I assume that the bugs crawl into the polyps of the Acro during a dip and therefor get well protected from chemicals... Really not sure.
Also came home and realized that I wasnt 100% happy with one section of scape.. Will deal with that tomorrow as well.. I should have some frags in the tank by Sunday.
I'll will put my fish in the dt this weekend, as well. That'll be fun..
I have a dwarf golden angel, two female Lamark Angels (hoping/assuming one will change sex) a mini purple tang, 8 blue streak cardinals, an old possum wrasse and a copperband butterfly.
Biggles, I may go all blue for the t5.. They definitely have much more pop and par than the pure actinic but I do like the look of a pure actinic in the mix.. We shall see..
