motortrendz
New member
ok so it all started(again) abt 2 months ago with a 40 breeder that was used in my 220g system as a refugium. i built a stand, basic but taller than normal for easy viewing.
i bought a tek 6 bulb t5 light, and used a combo of ati, and coralife bulbes, front to back i used super white, 460 atinic, 420 atinic, fiji purple, 420 atinic and 460. it gives the perfect color of white/blue that i live with a hint of purple/red
i had a 55g tank laying around so i desided to make that my sump, i use a 7in filter sock as my primary filter, which dumps into the first chamber where my skimmer is (htc-250 with a mag7 driving it) i have a bulk reef suply dual chamber reactor with carbon and phosban, also use a chemi-pure pad.
second chamber i have a mix of black fuge mud and ultra fine sand with chaeto that grows like wild fire..i have a small hydor in ther bc the water flow is weak and i was getting a film build up on top, so i use that to break surface tension for good 02 exchange.
lastr chaber is my ATO for my air/water/ice 75gpd unit and my return pump, mag 18 which is too much and i have it throttled down but its what i have.
off the return i run my chiller(1/13th hp) bc i had issues keeping the tank below 84 degrees, sometimes it got up to 88/89 crazy!!
everything is controled by my RKL, my heater is set to come on at 76.5 off at 77 and my chiller is set to come on at 77.7 and off at 77.. tank lighting comes on in 2 stages starting at 10am, so it gets normal sunrise from the light coming in thru the windows and skylights(not direct) then at 10am the first set of lights come on, 2 bulbs a 460 and my fiji purple it gives a great sunrise/dusk lighing. At 1030 am the rest of the lights come on. at 7pm the main lighting goes off and leaves the 2 bulbs for dusk for 45 min.. then that goes off giving me the moonlight leds till 6am.
i have a wavemaker running 4 hydors (2, 450s. 2,800s) on a reef patern and i have an 800 on constant across the front of the reef.. the return doesnt offer any flow except to maintain the drainage of abt 400gph
i really believe the sucess in this system compared to all the others is the consistency of lighting, water temp and parameters. i have intense growth of sps(some doubling is size, yes in only 2mo) the health of the fish, and inverts.
my only issue is every once in a while i get a red slime algae on the hydors, i clean it off and it is fine for a while but slowly comes back.. cant win every battle, but my coraline encrusting on everything, rock, glass, cords and anything plastic.. looks great..
my parameters are as follows;
salinity.. 1.024
cal ...500
alk ...3.3 meq/l
amonia..0
nitrites..0
nitrates.0
ph ..8.4 during the day
mag ..1350
i use reef crystals, and all brightwell aquatics.
now for the fun part.. the pics.. enjoy..
in the begining.. theyre backwards..
http://s1046.photobucket.com/albums.../?action=view¤t=IMG_20101020_175450.jpg
i bought a tek 6 bulb t5 light, and used a combo of ati, and coralife bulbes, front to back i used super white, 460 atinic, 420 atinic, fiji purple, 420 atinic and 460. it gives the perfect color of white/blue that i live with a hint of purple/red
i had a 55g tank laying around so i desided to make that my sump, i use a 7in filter sock as my primary filter, which dumps into the first chamber where my skimmer is (htc-250 with a mag7 driving it) i have a bulk reef suply dual chamber reactor with carbon and phosban, also use a chemi-pure pad.
second chamber i have a mix of black fuge mud and ultra fine sand with chaeto that grows like wild fire..i have a small hydor in ther bc the water flow is weak and i was getting a film build up on top, so i use that to break surface tension for good 02 exchange.
lastr chaber is my ATO for my air/water/ice 75gpd unit and my return pump, mag 18 which is too much and i have it throttled down but its what i have.
off the return i run my chiller(1/13th hp) bc i had issues keeping the tank below 84 degrees, sometimes it got up to 88/89 crazy!!
everything is controled by my RKL, my heater is set to come on at 76.5 off at 77 and my chiller is set to come on at 77.7 and off at 77.. tank lighting comes on in 2 stages starting at 10am, so it gets normal sunrise from the light coming in thru the windows and skylights(not direct) then at 10am the first set of lights come on, 2 bulbs a 460 and my fiji purple it gives a great sunrise/dusk lighing. At 1030 am the rest of the lights come on. at 7pm the main lighting goes off and leaves the 2 bulbs for dusk for 45 min.. then that goes off giving me the moonlight leds till 6am.
i have a wavemaker running 4 hydors (2, 450s. 2,800s) on a reef patern and i have an 800 on constant across the front of the reef.. the return doesnt offer any flow except to maintain the drainage of abt 400gph
i really believe the sucess in this system compared to all the others is the consistency of lighting, water temp and parameters. i have intense growth of sps(some doubling is size, yes in only 2mo) the health of the fish, and inverts.
my only issue is every once in a while i get a red slime algae on the hydors, i clean it off and it is fine for a while but slowly comes back.. cant win every battle, but my coraline encrusting on everything, rock, glass, cords and anything plastic.. looks great..
my parameters are as follows;
salinity.. 1.024
cal ...500
alk ...3.3 meq/l
amonia..0
nitrites..0
nitrates.0
ph ..8.4 during the day
mag ..1350
i use reef crystals, and all brightwell aquatics.
now for the fun part.. the pics.. enjoy..
in the begining.. theyre backwards..
http://s1046.photobucket.com/albums.../?action=view¤t=IMG_20101020_175450.jpg
