SchnitzelReef
Active member
Well after 5 years of having a tiny fuge in my sump, I decided to shut it down. The past year or so my chaeto has had almost no growth. I've come to the conclusion that the corals are now out competing the algae for nutrients. I debated doing this a few years ago, but I always worried I would throw off some balance having the fuge. Once I realized the chaeto was slowly dying off, it was time to ditch it.
I bought a G4 Radion XR15 Pro with Ecotechs RMS tank mount. At first I was going to make a diy mount, but the RMS mount was super simple to setup and looks great. Right now I have the light on a custom program that is similar to my lighting schedule on the tank. Heavy blues in the morning, ramps up to AB+ schedule, and then ramps down to heavy blues again. I'm running the intensity at 80% peak.
For flow I'm using a Tunze 6045 non controllable pump. I might add an MP10 and ditch the Tunze all together. Gunna see how the flow is once I fill it up with frags. Not sure the mp10 will work with the thickness on my sump, so I might have to go to an mp40. That will be way overkill, but I figured I would keep it turned down. Only reason I would switch to a Vortech pump is because I like being able to have different flow patterns through out the day. I already have the reeflink, so why not.
John at advanced acrylics is building me a black frag rack that will fit perfectly in the area. That way I can use every inch to put frags.
I currently have frag racks on the side of my tank where I hold frags for people or new frags that I purchase. I've realized that they don't get much light being on the side of the tank, and corals don't end up looking that good. Part of the problem is the euro bracing shades the frag racks.
I'm anxious to see how the corals do under LEDs. Ive had Radions on my tank before and I was not happy with them. I believe the problem was I didnt have enough for my size tank. The XR15 pro is more than enough light for the area I have it in, so this should be a fair test to see Radion vs T5. Also this little area will allow me to buy new corlas. I haven't been buying anything new lately because I don't have room in my tank. If you couldn't tell from this lengthy post, I'm pretty excited. Its like I got a new tank to play with. Hahah.
I'll keep this thread updated with pics from the frag area.
Please excuse the dirty sump. I never cleaned the acrylic because it was just a fuge, but i spent some time yesterday and scraped all the coralline algae and cleaned up all the dirty acrylic.
I bought a G4 Radion XR15 Pro with Ecotechs RMS tank mount. At first I was going to make a diy mount, but the RMS mount was super simple to setup and looks great. Right now I have the light on a custom program that is similar to my lighting schedule on the tank. Heavy blues in the morning, ramps up to AB+ schedule, and then ramps down to heavy blues again. I'm running the intensity at 80% peak.
For flow I'm using a Tunze 6045 non controllable pump. I might add an MP10 and ditch the Tunze all together. Gunna see how the flow is once I fill it up with frags. Not sure the mp10 will work with the thickness on my sump, so I might have to go to an mp40. That will be way overkill, but I figured I would keep it turned down. Only reason I would switch to a Vortech pump is because I like being able to have different flow patterns through out the day. I already have the reeflink, so why not.
John at advanced acrylics is building me a black frag rack that will fit perfectly in the area. That way I can use every inch to put frags.
I currently have frag racks on the side of my tank where I hold frags for people or new frags that I purchase. I've realized that they don't get much light being on the side of the tank, and corals don't end up looking that good. Part of the problem is the euro bracing shades the frag racks.
I'm anxious to see how the corals do under LEDs. Ive had Radions on my tank before and I was not happy with them. I believe the problem was I didnt have enough for my size tank. The XR15 pro is more than enough light for the area I have it in, so this should be a fair test to see Radion vs T5. Also this little area will allow me to buy new corlas. I haven't been buying anything new lately because I don't have room in my tank. If you couldn't tell from this lengthy post, I'm pretty excited. Its like I got a new tank to play with. Hahah.
I'll keep this thread updated with pics from the frag area.
Please excuse the dirty sump. I never cleaned the acrylic because it was just a fuge, but i spent some time yesterday and scraped all the coralline algae and cleaned up all the dirty acrylic.
