Myka's 69 SPS Tank 2015

[reefmutt]

Well that gives me hope. My SSC grows very, very slow, so I don't want it buried anywhere. If I put it in the center of the tank down low it would get "medium" light as far as my tank goes. What's "medium light" in PAR to you? 250-300??

I can't help you with the par.. Never tested my tank.. But yeah, that sounds about right.. I'm sure dr Biggles will appear soon like the little Aussie coral nymph he is and give us some answers..

 

[cromegu]

Hi Mindy,

Your corals are beautiful and your display so clean, btw I keep my nitrates between 5-10 ppm and looked better coloration in my sps,

Please more pictures

 

[BigJohnny]

I was actually just about to ask you what your par is on the sand bed and top of your rock structure. Do you have any measurements?

 

[Myka]

I can't help you with the par.. Never tested my tank.. But yeah, that sounds about right.. I'm sure dr Biggles will appear soon like the little Aussie coral nymph he is and give us some answers..

You should Matt! It is quite interesting. There are areas in my tank that are mucher higher than I thought, and areas quite the opposite too.

Hi Mindy,

Your corals are beautiful and your display so clean, btw I keep my nitrates between 5-10 ppm and looked better coloration in my sps,

Please more pictures

Thanks. I wish there was more nitrate in the tank. It's currently the highest it's been on its own without dosing, and it's still sitting under 0.25 ppm.

I was actually just about to ask you what your par is on the sand bed and top of your rock structure. Do you have any measurements?

I do have PAR measurements. The top of the rock structure is actually not the highest PAR in the tank because the structure is placed near the back of the tank and it catches the back portion of the light fixture. However, I did shift the fixture back about an inch after doing the PAR measurements, though the eurobracing is there. The center of the rear bulb is direct above the edge of the eurobracing now.

That said, with both channels at 100% before I shifted the fixture, the top of the structure on the right-hand side was 300. The highest PAR in the tank was halfway down the structure, which was/is the middle of the light fixture, and it was 350-375 there. Sandbed was 310. With the shift of the fixture, maybe the right-hand rock structure is now 325?? If I need a spot of 250 PAR I need to place the coral near the edges of the tank/light fixture.

With all that said, my fixture is not running at 100% right now. I'm still building up after the mini-crash. Most of the tank right now is sitting between 260-300 PAR.

 

[Scotty freddy]

Tanks looking good Mindy your colours are looking great! I'll be keeping an eye on your progress

 

[Myka]

I'm just tossing around some ideas here, and looking for some feedback. As you guys know, my original plan was to use the 6-bulb ATI T5 fixture and run a couple ReefBrite blue strips down the front and back of the fixture and then run more Coral+ bulbs for higher PAR. I was just thinking though, I could buy 2 or 3 AI Primes and run them down the middle and buy a 2-bulb and a 4-bulb LET Miro-4 T5 retrofit kits and run 3 bulbs along the front and 3 bulbs along the back. They wouldn't be dimmable, but I'd have the Prime obviously dimmable and then 3 channels for the T5s. I could fairly easily craft up a brushed aluminum casing for all the lights. Heck I might even be able to find an old dead 8-bulb T5 fixture that I could retrofit everything into.

Tanks looking good Mindy your colours are looking great! I'll be keeping an eye on your progress

Thanks Scotty. Newer corals have quite good color, but the ones that were around for the mini-crash in September still aren't back to where they were pre-crash.

 

[mhucasey]

I'm just tossing around some ideas here, and looking for some feedback. As you guys know, my original plan was to use the 6-bulb ATI T5 fixture and run a couple ReefBrite blue strips down the front and back of the fixture and then run more Coral+ bulbs for higher PAR. I was just thinking though, I could buy 2 or 3 AI Primes and run them down the middle and buy a 2-bulb and a 4-bulb LET Miro-4 T5 retrofit kits and run 3 bulbs along the front and 3 bulbs along the back. They wouldn't be dimmable, but I'd have the Prime obviously dimmable and then 3 channels for the T5s. I could fairly easily craft up a brushed aluminum casing for all the lights. Heck I might even be able to find an old dead 8-bulb T5 fixture that I could retrofit everything into.



Thanks Scotty. Newer corals have quite good color, but the ones that were around for the mini-crash in September still aren't back to where they were pre-crash.

Why do you think you need that much light?

 

[reefmutt]

I'm just tossing around some ideas here, and looking for some feedback. As you guys know, my original plan was to use the 6-bulb ATI T5 fixture and run a couple ReefBrite blue strips down the front and back of the fixture and then run more Coral+ bulbs for higher PAR. I was just thinking though, I could buy 2 or 3 AI Primes and run them down the middle and buy a 2-bulb and a 4-bulb LET Miro-4 T5 retrofit kits and run 3 bulbs along the front and 3 bulbs along the back. They wouldn't be dimmable, but I'd have the Prime obviously dimmable and then 3 channels for the T5s. I could fairly easily craft up a brushed aluminum casing for all the lights. Heck I might even be able to find an old dead 8-bulb T5 fixture that I could retrofit everything into

I very seriously considered doing the exact same thing.. But I think I'd need two strips of primes to get proper coverage.. Didn't feel like buying another 3-5 primes.
I bet with 3 primes and 6 t5 you could have some pretty serious light.. 8 tubes is probably overkill.. Maybe even 6.. But you don't have to run them all the time..

 

[Myka]

Why do you think you need that much light?

I doubt they'd ever all be on full power. All I wanted the LED strips for was the pop of the blue LEDs. I don't want LED as primary light though. Also, with just the 6-bulb ATI, my the PAR doesn't hit 400 anywhere in my tank (well, not anywhere on the rocks). I just figured since it would cost me less to buy 2 Primes than 2 ReefBrite strips and I would get more flexibility with both the dimming of the Primes and all all the different channels that it would make more sense. Plus I'd have 6 bulbs of T5 that I could work with too for various different bulbs. Although I was starting to think that I probably only needed one ReefBrite Tech strip and just mount it at the front since I have my ATI fixture positioned more towards the back of the tank anyway so I get better light on the top of my rock structures which are positioned towards the back of the tank. Primes + T5 seem kinda like the best of both worlds.

I very seriously considered doing the exact same thing.. But I think I'd need two strips of primes to get proper coverage.. Didn't feel like buying another 3-5 primes.
I bet with 3 primes and 6 t5 you could have some pretty serious light.. 8 tubes is probably overkill.. Maybe even 6.. But you don't have to run them all the time..

Yeah, that's getting pretty pricey! :lol:

 

[mhucasey]

I doubt they'd ever all be on full power. All I wanted the LED strips for was the pop of the blue LEDs. I don't want LED as primary light though. Also, with just the 6-bulb ATI, my the PAR doesn't hit 400 anywhere in my tank (well, not anywhere on the rocks). I just figured since it would cost me less to buy 2 Primes than 2 ReefBrite strips and I would get more flexibility with both the dimming of the Primes and all all the different channels that it would make more sense. Plus I'd have 6 bulbs of T5 that I could work with too for various different bulbs. Although I was starting to think that I probably only needed one ReefBrite Tech strip and just mount it at the front since I have my ATI fixture positioned more towards the back of the tank anyway so I get better light on the top of my rock structures which are positioned towards the back of the tank. Primes + T5 seem kinda like the best of both worlds.


Yeah, that's getting pretty pricey! :lol:

I'm baffled by that low par. What wattage bulbs, how high off the water, and what is the tank footprint? I get 500+ par easily below any of the fixtures high up in the tank and 300 or so on the bottom

 

[Myka]

I'm baffled by that low par. What wattage bulbs, how high off the water, and what is the tank footprint? I get 500+ par easily below any of the fixtures high up in the tank and 300 or so on the bottom

39w bulbs, 5" off the water. The display is 36 x 21 x 21". There is a eurobrace on the tank too. The rocks are high in the back and low in the front. PAR is 900 mmol/m2/sec at the surface, and 310 on the sand in the center of the tank. The highest portion of rock is only 1" off the back of the tank (and under the eurobrace). So most of the usable rock space is only about 5" off the sand. I designed it this way so that there is lots of room for growth and for layering the corals. It was not designed with PAR in mind. Haha!

I have the rest of the measurements above in post #504.

 

[mhucasey]

39w bulbs, 5" off the water. The display is 36 x 21 x 21". There is a eurobrace on the tank too. The rocks are high in the back and low in the front. PAR is 900 mmol/m2/sec at the surface, and 310 on the sand in the center of the tank. The highest portion of rock is only 1" off the back of the tank (and under the eurobrace). So most of the usable rock space is only about 5" off the sand. I designed it this way so that there is lots of room for growth and for layering the corals. It was not designed with PAR in mind. Haha!

I have the rest of the measurements above in post #504.

Possibilities I can come up with is that the eurobrace is blocking a lot of light, you have defective ballasts or bulbs, or you are over or under cooling. I have two 6 bulb sunpowers and the par under them when they were 11 inches off the water at the bottom was as high as yours is at the top of your rocks. The water depth is 14 inches in my tank, so 25 inches between bulbs and measuring spot.

 

[mhucasey]

I just looked again and noticed your sunpower is dimmable- yes? I bet the ballasts are the issue. I've seen dimmable sunpowers that for some reason don't properly drive the bulbs at 100%

 

[Myka]

Possibilities I can come up with is that the eurobrace is blocking a lot of light, you have defective ballasts or bulbs, or you are over or under cooling. I have two 6 bulb sunpowers and the par under them when they were 11 inches off the water at the bottom was as high as yours is at the top of your rocks. The water depth is 14 inches in my tank, so 25 inches between bulbs and measuring spot.

I just looked again and noticed your sunpower is dimmable- yes? I bet the ballasts are the issue. I've seen dimmable sunpowers that for some reason don't properly drive the bulbs at 100%

You're probably not meaning to, but you're definitely talking me into doing this retrofit with Primes and T5s. [emoji38] My water depth is significantly more than yours though, and the total height from fixture to sand is about the same as yours, but mine has more water to go through, and I'm getting 310 on the sand. So maybe we aren't that far off after all. I think it's more to do with how my rocks are set up than anything. The eurobrace only protrudes between one bulb and the water. I'll take some pics, might be easier to understand then.

 

[Indigo85]

You have realy great frags! The colors are beautyfull!!!

Gr. Jeroen

 

[bobssecrtsn]

I have the same setup as you, Literally! What bulb combo are you using? im at 5" from the surface, 16" from the top of my rocks and 23" on the bottom glass. So far The tank has been up for a month, my SCC is coloring up nicely, as well as all my reds.


I hope I'm in the same ballpark as your par as well!

 

[Myka]

All this increase PAR talk...I moved the Garf Bonsai and a smooth-skin "deepwater" Acro to the sand and I'm finally getting some color to them. With less PAR. Hmmm. I thought the Garf was more of a 300-400 mmol/m2/sec type of an Acro. Since my lights aren't at 100% yet (still working back up since the mini-crash), I bet it's only getting 200 mmol/m2/sec right now.

The bacteria/algae has not gotten any better since last weekend, but it hasn't gotten any worse either. I have continued to hold Sponge Power dosing, and actually the only thing going into the tank right now is fish food and kalkwasser. Oldschool basics FTW! I haven't dosed Coral Snow in the last week either (kinda forgot). I'll do that again when I remember.

Polyp extension and color is the best it's been since the mini-crash, and I'm starting to see obvious growth too. Nothing to be impressed over, but it's a start!

I ordered a couple maricultured Acros; an A desalwii (hoping for the same color type as in my avatar), and an A speciosa from my LFS. I'm hoping to see those in the next couple weeks. I'm waiting on a new motor block and magnet mounts for the gen 1 Gyre that is making a racket in my livingroom!

You have realy great frags! The colors are beautyfull!!!

Gr. Jeroen

Thank you. It is coming along.

I have the same setup as you, Literally! What bulb combo are you using? im at 5" from the surface, 16" from the top of my rocks and 23" on the bottom glass. So far The tank has been up for a month, my SCC is coloring up nicely, as well as all my reds.


I hope I'm in the same ballpark as your par as well!

Are your rocks 16" from the glass or 16" from the light fixture? Your tank is 18" water depth? If that's the case, you have a few inches less water depth than me, so you should have more PAR than I do on the sand.

 

[markalot]

Last coral pics where fantastic, why change anything?

As for PAR, I believe the 36" fixtures are the limitation, the shorter bulbs just don't get as bright as the longer ones do. My 60" fixture is so darn bright I have to run it ridiculously high to prevent 500+ PAR readings on my highest structures.

Have you tried adjusting the fan speed to increase PAR? If the room is cool the fan might be over-cooling the bulbs.

What setting do you have your PAR meter on, Sun or Electric?

 

[mhucasey]

Last coral pics where fantastic, why change anything?

As for PAR, I believe the 36" fixtures are the limitation, the shorter bulbs just don't get as bright as the longer ones do. My 60" fixture is so darn bright I have to run it ridiculously high to prevent 500+ PAR readings on my highest structures.

Have you tried adjusting the fan speed to increase PAR? If the room is cool the fan might be over-cooling the bulbs.

What setting do you have your PAR meter on, Sun or Electric?

I think that the 36" bulbs being dimmer is a myth Mark.

 

[markalot]

I think that the 36" bulbs being dimmer is a myth Mark.

Hard for me to tell. I have 36" bulbs and a fixture and they seem to have issues, but the fixture is not properly cooled. The one thread I read on the subject did have a 36" ATI T5 and could not get the PAR performance that he could from the 48" version.

It may not be the bulbs per se but simply the length of the tubes.

In here somewhere: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1641235

around here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15114382&highlight=36#post15114382