My 280g Custom upgrade.....

[SPotter]

thats awesome Rodney!!!! How many did you put on your tank and what intensity are you running them at? My biggest issue with my light is I believe it is too strong so I have be careful with the intensity settings. Once I get the rocks set back up the way I want them and move the coral back in, I am going to keep a photo journal of the corals and make sure that I record what my light settings are for each entry. From what I remember I think it was when I crossed over the 75% power level that I started having problems. Im not quite ready to give up on the lights I have just yet part of that is because I would definitely lose a lot of money if I was to try and sell them. You are very familiar with how much they cost so that would be a very tough decision.

 

[Rotknee]

I'm running three of them on my tank in high output mode (comparable to 340w MH lamps). Truth be told, I agree with you. You have TOTM hardware with your current hardware. T5's and LED's give you the best of both worlds.

 

[SPotter]

I'm running three of them on my tank in high output mode (comparable to 340w MH lamps). Truth be told, I agree with you. You have TOTM hardware with your current hardware. T5's and LED's give you the best of both worlds.

If only my T5's were dimmable like I thought they would be

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

I was very happy with the decision as the lights exceeded my expectations. Here are a couple of pics with my red planet. Note the pics are 30 days worth of growth.

November 27, 2012

Current (December 28, 2012)

I am looking forward to see what these lights can do long term.

That's some serious growth for only 30 days.

 

[Rotknee]

That's some serious growth for only 30 days.

I was surprised at the difference given the type of coral. It's growing like a birdsnest. I'm curious to see how much growth I have over the next 30 days.

Steve, what did you end up feeding the baby Bangai's? My babies only lasted for four days. I was out of town when the male released them. My wife sent pics and they were hiding underneath my Haddoni. I was hoping to keep a couple but of the few that lived all are M-I-A now.

 

[SPotter]

I was surprised at the difference given the type of coral. It's growing like a birdsnest. I'm curious to see how much growth I have over the next 30 days.

Steve, what did you end up feeding the baby Bangai's? My babies only lasted for four days. I was out of town when the male released them. My wife sent pics and they were hiding underneath my Haddoni. I was hoping to keep a couple but of the few that lived all are M-I-A now.

I fed frozen baby brine shrimp, cyclopeeze and added a few drops brightwell amino/omega huffa to it. the two survivors from the first batch are getting big. The 7 I spotted last week havent been seen since I stirred the tank up.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

 

[danfeig]

Steve:

Thanks for the update and recent pics. I've been wondering when you'd get around to updating us.

Keep your head up! We all go through these challenges. One day you are pulling your hair out. The next day you'll have a beer in your hand, feet up on a chair, enjoying your tank.

SPS can be pretty finicky. They want great water conditions! It will come.

One suggestion on the detritus would be to gravel vac your tank and attach the hose to a filter sock in your sump. This way you are essentially recycling the water without doing a water change. That was a lot of detritus! I'd probably also do water changes every 5 days or so until things got back to normal.

Have you checked your RO and top off water to verify they are good? I don't recall what type of reactor you are using. You mentioned that you are burning through a lot of GFO... have you tried changing brands of GFO to see if another works better for you. Just a couple thoughts...

Anyways, hang in their Chief! Things will turn the corner.

 

[SPotter]

Steve:
One suggestion on the detritus would be to gravel vac your tank and attach the hose to a filter sock in your sump. This way you are essentially recycling the water without doing a water change. That was a lot of detritus! I'd probably also do water changes every 5 days or so until things got back to normal.

Have you checked your RO and top off water to verify they are good? I don't recall what type of reactor you are using. You mentioned that you are burning through a lot of GFO... have you tried changing brands of GFO to see if another works better for you. Just a couple thoughts...

Anyways, hang in their Chief! Things will turn the corner.

Hey Dan...I made my wife watch your video last night and she was amazed by your tank and how beautiful it is. Of course her very first comment was..."why doesn't our tank look like that???" LOL

I will definitely be gravel vacuuming more frequently and will work on recycling the water as you suggested. I have checked my RO and top off water as well as my mixing container and everything comes out normal. For GFO I am using a Nextreef MR1 media reactor and use BRS high capacity gfo and based on their calculator I run a little over 3 cups at a time. I just got my 10 micron filter socks yesterday so I will start up the Lanthanum Chloride dosing again. I am really hoping that I can beat this without having to pull my rocks and cook them over again.

 

[Mike S]

Steve I've been vacuuming my gravel into a filter sock for several months and I think it makes a difference. I do it weekly while I'm doing a water change and you won't believe the crud that builds up. I have mainly wrasses and anthias so I feed several times a day. I also blast my rocks with a turkey baster to get the detritus in suspension so that it gets caught in my filter socks.

 

[SPotter]

Steve I've been vacuuming my gravel into a filter sock for several months and I think it makes a difference. I do it weekly while I'm doing a water change and you won't believe the crud that builds up. I have mainly wrasses and anthias so I feed several times a day. I also blast my rocks with a turkey baster to get the detritus in suspension so that it gets caught in my filter socks.

Thanks for the input Mike. There is definitely room for improvement with my husbandry. So in addition to the journal I have started, I will be setting up calendar reminders so I have something other than my brain to keep track of when its time to do certain maintenances. Perfect example.....I hadn't cleaned the internal overflow box on my frag tank in a while. I saw some snails hanging out in there last night and knocked the return line pipe loose. Oh my lord there was more stink in that small box than the two buckets of sand I removed. I have over looked certain parts of my system and their maintenance requirements. This has been an interesting (and expensive :headwally year but I feel good about the direction things are headed in.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Steve,
I've been following along since I ordered my new tank.
Sandy did a job on alot of reefers.
One thing I was told when the old 220 was running by Bob Stark (ESV) check the phosphate levels in your sand bed.
Well it was 2x what it was in the water column measured with a photometer.
Vinny

 

[SPotter]

Steve,
I've been following along since I ordered my new tank.
Sandy did a job on alot of reefers.
One thing I was told when the old 220 was running by Bob Stark (ESV) check the phosphate levels in your sand bed.
Well it was 2x what it was in the water column measured with a photometer.
Vinny

Never thought to do that. I will definitely try that out later today or tomorrow when I do another gravel vacuum and water change.

 

[nightOwl]

Steve,
As others have said just hang in there buddy. The hobby can be a pain in the behind but the rewards are priceless. Not everyone can have something as peaceful as a piece of the reef in their homes. I am sure things will bounce back just take your time and do like you said...monitor and track as you go along. I use my build thread as a second journal of sorts, but also have a planner for each year I have had my tanks. I could give you some real horor stories of losses over the last 8 years and trust me it happens to the best of us. Some losses are more expensive than others, but just try to take something positive from it and move on. Besides you have too many people following your thread to stop now buddy .

 

[coralreefdoc]

You stop now and Im going to sic the infinite pest jaa1456 on you to deal with :lol:

Seriously. Keep it going, Steve ! You're an asset to our/this community, buddy

 

[SPotter]

Steve,
As others have said just hang in there buddy. The hobby can be a pain in the behind but the rewards are priceless. Not everyone can have something as peaceful as a piece of the reef in their homes. I am sure things will bounce back just take your time and do like you said...monitor and track as you go along. I use my build thread as a second journal of sorts, but also have a planner for each year I have had my tanks. I could give you some real horor stories of losses over the last 8 years and trust me it happens to the best of us. Some losses are more expensive than others, but just try to take something positive from it and move on. Besides you have too many people following your thread to stop now buddy .

Thanks Henry....things will click for me sooner or later

You stop now and Im going to sic the infinite pest jaa1456 on you to deal with :lol:

Seriously. Keep it going, Steve ! You're an asset to our/this community, buddy

CRD...I am laughing too hard to even come up with something witty for this. :lmao:

 

[CHSUB]

steve its been a tough road with your tank but i'm hopeful it will work out. i've been following your thread for a long time and i believe you are pushing to hard and not letting your tank mature. i think you should go back to the basics. forget about to clean a tank, that's impossible, especially with your fishload. no3 at 25 ppm is deadly to most sps's and the ones that do survive will look terrible. reworking your rock is a great idea. if you have larger amounts of detritus in your rocks you must have many dead spots. doing pillars will improve this 100%. when i blow my pillars with a turkey baster barely anything comes out. get your no3 and po4 as low as possible and keep them there, zero on both should be your goal. i too have found the lights to cause problems at full intensity. i now run a 10 hour photo period(vs the 12 hour bali program) with 240 minutes sunset/sunrise at 75% and 50% whites and the coral colors are improving.

 

[JohnnyB in SD]

thanks for the encouragement. Here are some pictures.....

I have a significant fish population like you. Keeping SPS with such a bioload is a real challenge. It can be done, but I find it to be real expensive and labor intensive. I recently concluded I like fish more than sps. In agreement with what you mentioned earlier, I've been moving more towards LPS and easy sps, if any at all. It's taken a considerable amount of stress & effort out of the equation.
I don't know much about your lights, but it seems to me that you should stabilize everything else before thinking about giving up on them. They are just one of many variables.
I have found that the ease of maintenance and improved water quality without a sandbed makes it not worth having one. I sure don't miss it for appearance or any other reason.
Best of luck with whatever you decide. I'm glad to see you looking forward. Thanks so much for sharing your journey, it is greatly appreciated and of real value to many.

 

[SPotter]

steve its been a tough road with your tank but i'm hopeful it will work out. i've been following your thread for a long time and i believe you are pushing to hard and not letting your tank mature. i think you should go back to the basics. forget about to clean a tank, that's impossible, especially with your fishload. no3 at 25 ppm is deadly to most sps's and the ones that do survive will look terrible. reworking your rock is a great idea. if you have larger amounts of detritus in your rocks you must have many dead spots. doing pillars will improve this 100%. when i blow my pillars with a turkey baster barely anything comes out. get your no3 and po4 as low as possible and keep them there, zero on both should be your goal. i too have found the lights to cause problems at full intensity. i now run a 10 hour photo period(vs the 12 hour bali program) with 240 minutes sunset/sunrise at 75% and 50% whites and the coral colors are improving.

Did you get the new software and firmware for the light? Huge improvements to it and I am running a similar light schedule to you. I am using one of their preset K temps @ 20k with 65% intensity, 10hr photo period with 240 minute sunrise/sunset.

I have a significant fish population like you. Keeping SPS with such a bioload is a real challenge. It can be done, but I find it to be real expensive and labor intensive. I recently concluded I like fish more than sps. In agreement with what you mentioned earlier, I've been moving more towards LPS and easy sps, if any at all. It's taken a considerable amount of stress & effort out of the equation.
I don't know much about your lights, but it seems to me that you should stabilize everything else before thinking about giving up on them. They are just one of many variables.
I have found that the ease of maintenance and improved water quality without a sandbed makes it not worth having one. I sure don't miss it for appearance or any other reason.
Best of luck with whatever you decide. I'm glad to see you looking forward. Thanks so much for sharing your journey, it is greatly appreciated and of real value to many.

Hey Johnny, Happy Holidays to you and your family. Thanks for adding some input here. I have definitely been my own worst enemy here with rushing things and doing too many things at once. I have my no3 below 2ppm right now. RedSea kit says .25ppm and I am saying 2ppm on Salifert. PO4 was .04ppm this morning and my gfo reactor output is reading .01ppm. I am going to take it one day at a time and go from there.

Aquascape Update
I decided against the pillars for now. Given the size of the rock that I have...majority larger than basketballs....it would be a lot of work right now to drill, cut and shape. Theres very little substrate under them and plenty of gaps for me to get in there with a baster or powerhead to blast the detritus out of them. There's enough room behind them for me to get back there with the vacuum and I have a tunze on the back panel now that will be focused on flow behind the rocks. If the rocks end up being my issue with PO4, I will either remove them a little at a time to re-cure and build pillars or I will order new, smaller pieces of rock that will be easier to work with. Once they have been cured, I will replace the old rock with the new rock. For now my focus is on getting the nutrients under control in a way that will have the least amount of stress on my system. Some cell phone pics....

QUESTION
I have a question for everyone that is using a Ca Reactor.....Its time for me to replace the media and wanted to know what brand and size media are you using?

 

[Dustin1300]

QUESTION
I have a question for everyone that is using a Ca Reactor.....Its time for me to replace the media and wanted to know what brand and size media are you using?

Sounds like your getting a good start for the upcoming new year!

From what I've read and researched TLF is the most liked CR Media:

http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/TLF-RB20.html

In addition to that media add this Zeo Mag to the top:

http://premiumaquatics.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PA&Product_Code=KZ-FM-ZM1KG&Category_Code=

That's my plan! :spin1:

 

[JohnnyB in SD]

Hey Steve,
Best wishes to you & your family as well. Glad to see you made it through that storm relatively ok. I really enjoy keeping up on what you're doing. In many ways it mirrors what's happening with me.
On good days, my tests come out in that range too, and it makes me smile. Then every once in a while, a nasty spike shows up. Not sure if it's associated with ATS harvesting / GFO replacement schedule, or something else. Until I can keep it consistent for many weeks or months.......

I use CaribSea Extra Coarse ARM, but have difficulties keeping Mg levels up even with extra dosing. But my makeup water lacks magnesium, which doesn't help.
Dustin, that link doesn't work for me, are you referring to Brightwell NeoMag?