RocketEngineer's 75g/125g Setup

[iwishtofish]

I see. I hope that this new approach makes a positive difference. I have heard so many success vs. horror stories that I honestly have no idea what to expect when I get back to my tank and the new LED fixture. How long did it take for your corals to start to show signs of serious distress? I got a report that my corals still looked ok after about 9 days under the LEDs; I'm hoping that doesn't change suddenly...

 

[RocketEngineer]

My LPS looked stressed for a while. Should that happen I recommend reducing the light as much as possible. I don't think mine every acclimated because the lowest setting was still too high. It took several weeks before the major damaged showed up.

I think part of the success vs horror stories is partly about tank depth vs LED wattage. The large systems 24"+ deep don't seem to have the same issues as those that are shallower. With the bigger systems, they are using the intensity of the LED to get lighting all the way to the sandbed and can move corals up and down to put them in a the lighting they prefer. Just like with MH where there are 250W and 400W bulbs, it may be that the 1W and 3W LEDs each work best for different situations. Since my LED fixture was all 3W LEDs and it appears that the BuildMyLED setup uses 1W LEDs, I may have proof of that theory soon enough.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Which one do you think would work better:
12000K

or

14000K

Opinions?

 

[footballdude2k3]

I like option 2 more because they are less intense, I have found in my readings that you usually want the white down because it is more intense, so having 2 less whites would be advantageous IMHO, with more blue, the colors will also pop more, but become harder to photograph.

 

[RocketEngineer]

footballdude2k3, you know I think you are on to something. My DIY fixture had 2:1 blue to white and I had to run the whites at a higher amperage to the blues to get the color I wanted. Fewer blues would have meant the whites were turned down and may have prevented the problems. At 7:5 for the 14000K, they are much more balanced on this fixture. The 12000K they are 6:7 which definitely puts it more into the white over blue realm. Either case they are fairly close 1:1 vs what I had.

Anyone else?

 

[Knd107]

Yeah, I prefer Option 2 also since I prefer more blue than white.

I've been dialing my whites back more and more lately. Corals seem to just like the royal blues with only a couple of hours of white.

Can you get rid of the green for something else like cyan? Or another UV?

 

[footballdude2k3]

I am pretty sure we just found out what went wrong with your old DIY set. They were a lot more blue because people in general like blue light more since it makes coral look different. You wanted a specific color so the whites were turned up brighter than they should have been, and you had corals start to bleach. It fits with everything that I have read. my LEDs are pretty close 1:1 blues:whites/colors, I have the blues at 75%, and the whites at about 50%, they are all 3W bulbs, and I get good color and fantastic growth.

 

[Knd107]

Mine are close to footballs, 1:1 blue to white at 45%:25% but my whites ramp off earlier then the blues.

I'm still messing with the coral placement and intensities tho. Maybe I should stop. Haha.

 

[RocketEngineer]

I am pretty sure we just found out what went wrong with your old DIY set. They were a lot more blue because people in general like blue light more since it makes coral look different. You wanted a specific color so the whites were turned up brighter than they should have been, and you had corals start to bleach. It fits with everything that I have read. my LEDs are pretty close 1:1 blues:whites/colors, I have the blues at 75%, and the whites at about 50%, they are all 3W bulbs, and I get good color and fantastic growth.

Mine are close to footballs, 1:1 blue to white at 45%:25% but my whites ramp off earlier then the blues.

I'm still messing with the coral placement and intensities tho. Maybe I should stop. Haha.

Ok, I missed something along the way when it came to ratios vs resultant color temperature. Even an engineer can make mistakes and I use the excuse of being an MechE not an EE. I was told 2:1 when I should have had 1:1 so I could dim to fine tune from there. If I DIY another LED I will reconsider the color combination but the old one is going to be sold for parts. Consider the lesson learned.

Knd107, if you don't move them all the time then they get used to where they are and grow better. If you keep changing stuff, they get all confused and that's never a good thing.

 

[footballdude2k3]

Ok, I missed something along the way when it came to ratios vs resultant color temperature. Even an engineer can make mistakes and I use the excuse of being an MechE not an EE. I was told 2:1 when I should have had 1:1 so I could dim to fine tune from there. If I DIY another LED I will reconsider the color combination but the old one is going to be sold for parts. Consider the lesson learned.

Knd107, if you don't move them all the time then they get used to where they are and grow better. If you keep changing stuff, they get all confused and that's never a good thing.

I think it has less to do with the ratio, and more to do with the amount of power, you turned up your whites to combat the effect of having so many more blues than whites, and I think that is where your problem came from. I am going to school for EE

 

[RocketEngineer]

footballdude2k3, if the number of blues wasn't as high, I wouldn't have needed to turn the whites up as much. Same idea different way of saying it. Then again MechEs and EEs always do have communications issues :lol2::lolspin:.

 

[footballdude2k3]

Lol, well if you wanna get technical

 

[RocketEngineer]

Second T5 retrofit kit is in the mail.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Last night I put the second T5 retrofit kit onto my new lighting frame. My only problem was knocking over my drill onto one of the bulbs and having it explode all over my table. :headwallblue: So this morning I drove around trying to find a pair of replacements so they would match. The first place only had T8, the second place only had 24" and 48", the third place had two in stock and only two. I'LL TAKE IT. Sometimes I'd rather be lucky than good.

At the moment, I have both T5s ready for when I get the LED. I'm spreading my spending out a little but hopefully in a few weeks I should be ready to order it.

Everything installed:


Turned On:


Not a bad way to start the weekend.

 

[iwishtofish]

That looks great! Sorry to hear about that bulb incident. So, the LEDs will mount in the center area of this frame?

 

[RocketEngineer]

Stuff happens. A little vacuuming and its all gone. Just ate up a couple hours this morning finding replacements.

Yeah, the LED will go down the middle. The middle is so wide to keep the T5s out of the way of the LED. The cross braces near the end will support the 60" fixture, the one in the middle is for ME so I can move the thing around. Have to have a handle somewhere.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Over the last few months with things going wrong (and continuing to go wrong) I have had a lot of time to consider what I want to change. Now that the new LED light has been ordered, I decided that today I would remove the big rock in the center of the tank, break it apart, and turn it into a second tower.

Before:


After:


FTS:

Sorry, the tank is still cloudy from disturbing the sand bed.

Overall I like the new look as the new configuration has more hiding places as well as spots for corals. Much more like a section of a reef rather than this bolder with a hole in it. Now I just have to work on getting all the super glue off my fingers.......

 

[iwishtofish]

I think that looks much improved!

 

[RocketEngineer]

It's amazing what you can do with a hammer, chisel, superglue and a few choice words as the glue fails to hold the rocks together but instead coats your fingers in rock paste. Ah, the joys of owning a reef aquarium.

 

[RocketEngineer]

Came home yesterday to find my yellow tang plastered to the MP40. Turned off the powerhead it floated away and swam under the rocks at the far end of the tank. Came home tonight and it's dead, nose in the rocks.:angryfire:

So the count is: 15 corals, one tomini tang, two clowns, and an anemone.