Myka's 69 SPS Tank 2015

[Myka]

I'm a firm believer in multiple point sources of light to reduce shadowing, I'd advise two mh over one.
My tank is 26 inches deep and I run 3x 150w. (Plus 6 t5) Granted a couple corals appear to be wanting more intensity but most are quite happy with the light. For your situation, I'd go with 2 mh bulbs instead of one and I think 400w is overkill.
I know it won't be easy to find a single fixture that will fit your tank and have 2 mh inside but there's my 2 cents.
But Mindy what don't you like about the ATI? Aside from the lack of MH shimmer..
Looking forward to the new frag pics!

Matt, I totally agree with you on the multiple light sources. I just can't justify 2 MH bulbs for several reasons. :lol: I'm not even sure if there is a 36" dual MH fixture on the market from a good manufacturer.

It's not that I don't like the ATI, it's that I miss MH. MH just looks more natural. Maybe it's partly the shimmer, but to me it seems like it has more depth or something. The coverage/shadowing is much better. I like the ATI as long as my daylight is white enough. I get tire of the blue T5 look. With MH, even 20K looks awesome. Blue T5s just look kinda flat...or something. I also think that MH is somehow "gentler" on corals, like they can handle getting blasted by MH PAR better than T5 PAR. I don't know, this is all anecdotal and mostly aesthetic. :facepalm:

Thanks for the QT explanation. I'm tagging this.

You're welcome.

 

[plyle02]

Keep us updated Mindy, I would love to see a 400watter over that reef, especially if it was a SE Radium

 

[rockworm]

The Hamilton Cebu Sun series has a 36" dual MH + 4 T5HO. They are available in 175w, 250w and 400w. Jl Aquatics has them listed.

 

[reefmutt]

Cebu sun sounds interesting..
I agree 100% on the mh.
It just looks better.. Esthetically, it is just more pleasing to the eye and more natural looking.
It's why I still have mh over my tank even though I am seeing some better colours in my frag tank inter full t5...

 

[Myka]

Keep us updated Mindy, I would love to see a 400watter over that reef, especially if it was a SE Radium

Me too! I'm just not sure how to get the spread across 36"! :hmm5:

The Hamilton Cebu Sun series has a 36" dual MH + 4 T5HO. They are available in 175w, 250w and 400w. Jl Aquatics has them listed.

Yeah, I thought Hamilton had something, but I don't consider Hamilton to be a good brand. The reflectors are "meh", it comes with crappy Hamilton bulbs which you pay for haha, and the fixture itself is ugly as all get up too.

Maybe I should fabricate something... I was thinking about a Lumenarc III mini. Maybe I could fit it inside some other MH fixture to make it look good. Hmm...

Cebu sun sounds interesting..
I agree 100% on the mh.
It just looks better.. Esthetically, it is just more pleasing to the eye and more natural looking.
It's why I still have mh over my tank even though I am seeing some better colours in my frag tank inter full t5...

You think it's the T5 doing it or something else though?

 

[markalot]

I've only seen MH over a reef tank once, at a LFS, and I miss it. I am secretly scheming to at least come up with a plan to run MH over my tank but I know so little about it. I have a center brace and another reefer here, Palting, has proven you can melt that brace by placing a 250 overhead. This means I need possibly 6 150's or a combination of 2, 250s and 2 150's.

Blah blah blah for another thread at some point.

If you switch to MH I can't wait to see it!

 

[rockworm]

Myka, if you are thinking of a diy, I have a couple Lumenbright Mini's that will be available in a few weeks. You will still need ballasts and bulbs, but the lamp mount comes with them. The only issue is some small corrode areas inside, but they still pack a serious punch. I get 190 par at 28" with 250 radiums.

 

[reefmutt]

You think it's the T5 doing it or something else though?

The tank is attached to my main system. It's all the same water..
Not sure what else it could be...
The photoperiod is slightly shorter.. I have been trying to reduce my photoperiod on my dt.. Also, no leds on the frag tank..

 

[Myka]

I've only seen MH over a reef tank once, at a LFS, and I miss it. I am secretly scheming to at least come up with a plan to run MH over my tank but I know so little about it. I have a center brace and another reefer here, Palting, has proven you can melt that brace by placing a 250 overhead. This means I need possibly 6 150's or a combination of 2, 250s and 2 150's.

Blah blah blah for another thread at some point.

If you switch to MH I can't wait to see it!

Hahaha, yes you can cook some plastic with halides! Most tanks it is possible to remove the center or modify it (replace with glass). Two halides produce a lot of heat though. I ran (2) 250w Phoenix SE bulbs over my 90-gallon SPS tank and in the summer even with central AC and fans on the sump the tank regularly ran at 86F during the day. The corals did very well at this temperature, but it makes the "safe zone" very, very tiny!

Myka, if you are thinking of a diy, I have a couple Lumenbright Mini's that will be available in a few weeks. You will still need ballasts and bulbs, but the lamp mount comes with them. The only issue is some small corrode areas inside, but they still pack a serious punch. I get 190 par at 28" with 250 radiums.

Hi there, thanks for the offer! I actually found a vendor clearing out one remaining Lumenbright Mini and a 400w Vertex ballast for 50% off, so if I pull the trigger I'll probably go with that. I'm leaning more towards (1) 400w than (2) 250w. I think I have enough lower light corals that I can fill in the dimmer edges, I just don't want it to visually look like a spotlight. So I'm still on the fence. :hmm5:

The tank is attached to my main system. It's all the same water..
Not sure what else it could be...
The photoperiod is slightly shorter.. I have been trying to reduce my photoperiod on my dt.. Also, no leds on the frag tank..

Hmm...maybe it's the LEDs? Dem's da devil.



Ok, who's ready for a photo dump???

 

[rockworm]

Start the dump.

 

[Myka]

Let's start with some comparison photos...sequential photos.



January
End of April - results of KNO3 dosing disaster
Today, May 13th - just shy of 4 weeks into Aquaforest


Blue tipped green slimer:

Wild Aussie Tenuis:

Two tips surviving...

Acropora papillare ??

 

[Myka]

SSC (lineage unknown):

 

[Myka]

New frags!!!



Some green dude with blue tips, was $9.99, figured I'd throw it in haha...

Nice little freebie...

Royal blue Aussie Echinata:

gtareef's Blueberry Wine (with Reeftech Starburst Monti in the background):

I'm finally part of the OP crowd. I believe it is RR Canada lineage.

This is Fragbox Fantastic Acro (which browned out baaaad in shipping):

Here's the vendor photo of mother colony...hopefully I can replicate!

Oh, and then there's this guy. Not a real good choice for the conscience, but I'm curious if the amount of food provided by Aquaforest is enough to sustain this notoriously difficult Flame Scallop. It is the only NPS critter in the tank right now (besides "natural" sponges/tunicates). He's been in the tank for a couple weeks now. He's significantly more "fleshy" now than he was at the LFS.

 

[Myka]

Remember this guy?

He's the only one in the whole tank that I think looked better pre-Aquaforest. It made this color change very quickly in the last 3 weeks.

Remember this guy that I was sure has potential?

See? Told ya...! ...And he's only 2 weeks in my tank so far.

 

[mhucasey]

There are definite improvements in a lot of your acros since starting AF. I have a millie that was blue but has gone to a whitish brown color since switching. Just about everything else has improved though.

 

[Myka]

There are definite improvements in a lot of your acros since starting AF. I have a millie that was blue but has gone to a whitish brown color since switching. Just about everything else has improved though.

Yes, still not back to the level I was at in January though. Stupid KNO3 dosing... :mad2: Interesting the positive changes in the corals, and then there is "that one" that looks terrible. It's obvious in the photos that polyp extension is significantly improved though, even in comparison to the January photos that may have better color. I posted the most dramatic examples in the time lapse photos.

Time to go do a complete testing of the tank...I wonder what N and P are at these days...???

 

[plyle02]

Nice transitions, I love how fuzzy your corals now look The colors will come, and glad to see things getting dialed in for you I think we all have a few stubborn corals that want to do their own thing, no matter how well you care for them, lol... Look forward to the test results.
Cheers

 

[Myka]

Nice transitions, I love how fuzzy your corals now look The colors will come, and glad to see things getting dialed in for you I think we all have a few stubborn corals that want to do their own thing, no matter how well you care for them, lol... Look forward to the test results.
Cheers

Thanks Perry. Hopefully there will be a color explosion soon.




Today's test results:

S 35 ppt
Ca 425 ppm (Salifert)
Alk 7.7 dKH (S), 7.7 dKH (Hanna)
Mg 1400 ppm (Red Sea Pro)
K 460+ ppm ?? (S)
NO3 <1 ppm (S), 0.5 ppm (RSP)
PO4 3 ppb (H ULR)

The potassium I'm not sure if it's accurate. I'm not specifically adding any potassium other than whatever may be in Component 1+2+3+. I've only used the test kit a few times, and found it very easy to use - got the same answer 3 times. That was 420 ppm on Apr 14th (I was using AF salt at this point, but this was before I started the full AF program). I tested K twice today. The first time I screwed up and added 1 mL reagent 2 instead of 0.5 mL. So I got to 35 drops and I was like...uh??? So I retested, noticed my error, and the second time I got the color change possibly as early as the 3rd drop (470 ppm), but definitely by the 4th drop (460 ppm). I found the color change hard to see because I wasn't expecting it so quick. I'll retest sometime this weekend when the vials are all cleaned up.

So the big three are a bit high. Alk has risen 0.5 dKH in a week, so I'll suspend Components dosing for 24 hours and retest, then drop the doser a sniff.

 

[watchguy123]

Are you aiming for 7dKh. I got mine to around 7.3 and got nervous and let it creep up a bit. Love that blueberry wine by the way, something metallic about the coloring, like a 50's hot rod.

 

[Myka]

Are you aiming for 7dKh. I got mine to around 7.3 and got nervous and let it creep up a bit. Love that blueberry wine by the way, something metallic about the coloring, like a 50's hot rod.

I aim for 7.2-7.5 dKH. I have a few pieces of flubber in the tank and find they are more prone to Brown Jelly Disease if alk gets around 7.0 dKH.

Yeah, the Blueberry Wine has a metallic sheen to the blue. It's pretty sweet. I hear it takes it's time settling in, so I imagine it might brown out on me.