Staaan's Tank Problem! HELP SOUGHT!

[batt600]

Found out that I can actually split one Meanwell 60-48D to run two strings of 12 LEDs...

Cutting my initial cost for dimmable drivers in half.

In other words.. I'll only need 2 dimmable drivers instead of 4.

Now if only I can get gas prices to go down...

There one problem with that . You will have to run the strings in parallel . Thats not good because if one led blows it will raise the MA up high and blow all the led in that string. I was going to do the same till i read what will happen then just went with 4 driver instead of 2.

 

[Staaan]

Yeah that will happen unless you use a resistor/fuse. Then there are no problems.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Led's are best measured with a PUR meter, But the Problem is there has not been enough study to know what the Numbers you get actually mean.
So most are using PAR Meters and using those numbers compared to M/H lighting!
My Fixture Gets around 800 Par at the water surface and 500+ at 12" below the Surface and on the sand bed between 2-300 Par. And that is with the Lights 12" off the top of the tank @ 750 MA
Those numbers are Higher than my M/H and T5Ho's Combined and My SPS shows it!
They have never had better color since I switched to Led's JMHO
Bill

 

[batt600]

Led's are best measured with a PUR meter, But the Problem is there has not been enough study to know what the Numbers you get actually mean.
So most are using PAR Meters and using those numbers compared to M/H lighting!
My Fixture Gets around 800 Par at the water surface and 500+ at 12" below the Surface and on the sand bed between 2-300 Par. And that is with the Lights 12" off the top of the tank @ 750 MA
Those numbers are Higher than my M/H and T5Ho's Combined and My SPS shows it!
They have never had better color since I switched to Led's JMHO
Bill

What leds are you using XRE -XPG-XPE

Yeah that will happen unless you use a resistor/fuse. Then there are no problems.

Yeah but thats to much . The drivers are only $34 and you dont have to worry about fuses and resistor

 

[poolkeeper1]

Cree

Cree

What leds are you using XRE -XPG-XPE

I'm using a combo of 2 different blues and 2 whites at a 60/40 mix a total of 115 Led's at 750MA 3 hrs ramp up and down and 12 hrs total run time including Sunrise/Sunset. 1 1/2 up 9hrs on and 1 1/2 down total time.


Yeah but thats to much . The drivers are only $34 and you dont have to worry about fuses and resistor

 

[batt600]

Witch crees are you using XRE XPG OR XPE

 

[poolkeeper1]

A Mixture

A Mixture

Witch crees are you using XRE XPG OR XPE

Xpg, Xpe Not sure about the Xre's though! Cool White, Nutreal White, Royal Blue, Cool Blue and they all are marked XP if that helps. I am fairly new to all this and do not have the best electrical background in the world.
But these builds are not Rocket science once you get the general idea of how it all works!
Bill:wave:

 

[batt600]

Xpg, Xpe Not sure about the Xre's though! Cool White, Nutreal White, Royal Blue, Cool Blue and they all are marked XP if that helps. I am fairly new to all this and do not have the best electrical background in the world.
But these builds are not Rocket science once you get the general idea of how it all works!
Bill:wave:

Ok I ask because you should be getting way more par then that leds are par mosters that's why a lot of people only run them at 50%

 

[poolkeeper1]

Amount of PAR!

Amount of PAR!

Ok I ask because you should be getting way more par then that leds are par mosters that's why a lot of people only run them at 50%

According to a person who is very knowlegable in Led's those numbers are fine as the use of Par to measure Led's is not even the correct way to do this test. It really does not give you Valid Info, My Coral tells me more than any meter and they are doing Better than with any other Combo of lights I have ever had. As I said in a previous post Led's are measured in PUR and until you can figure what numbers are the best that info is IMO Useless!
Seeing is believing and the coral tell the best story by how they look and grow.
Bill:wave:

 

[DrHarryLopez]

According to a person who is very knowlegable in Led's those numbers are fine as the use of Par to measure Led's is not even the correct way to do this test. It really does not give you Valid Info, My Coral tells me more than any meter and they are doing Better than with any other Combo of lights I have ever had. As I said in a previous post Led's are measured in PUR and until you can figure what numbers are the best that info is IMO Useless!
Seeing is believing and the coral tell the best story by how they look and grow.
Bill:wave:

Wow Bill now I'm really scared of LED's. :spin1: Those LEDs really need dimmers or some type of shading system huh?

 

[Staaan]

Wow Bill now I'm really scared of LED's. :spin1: Those LEDs really need dimmers or some type of shading system huh?

Yeah... seems to be the case.

Word of advice for any one going with DIY LEDs.. unless it is an actinic strip you're building.. you are better off creating a dimmable fixture.

 

[anthony27]

any news on the tank or the clams coral status please

 

[batt600]

Xpg, Xpe Not sure about the Xre's though! Cool White, Nutreal White, Royal Blue, Cool Blue and they all are marked XP if that helps. I am fairly new to all this and do not have the best electrical background in the world.
But these builds are not Rocket science once you get the general idea of how it all works!
Bill:wave:

Didn't notice that you put Pur. But can't agree with you more on the leds. My corals have more color then thay had before. I will never go back to any lighting. Leds is the way to go

 

[Staaan]

any news on the tank or the clams coral status please

The tank seems to be doing better. Every single piece of pulsing Xenia that was in the tank is non existant any more... unfortunately. A very "blah" coral... but actually one of my favorite.

On the other hand... my 2 green start polyp frags finally opened up 100% after not opening for about a week, along with the neon green nepthea and some zoanthids. Some zoanthids are closed or partially opened.

My tridacna clam has been absolutely fine during this whole tank problem.. not one sign of stress. If anything it may have extended its mantle even more.

My maxima (I know they're both technically tridacna, just don't know the name for the above clam), hasn't been totally opening... but I think its due more to the 6 aiptaisa/mojanos on its' shell.

I successfully killed one with a tweezer... but the others haven't been able to catch. Need to get a syringe and fry those suckers... just a tiny bit scared because I don't wanna kill the clam or harm anything else in the tank.

Dr. Harry's beautiful Green Slimer... is not really that beautfiul at the moment.

I think that the combo of intense LED lighting along with an alk swing from 7 --> 11dKH caused it to get all pale brown.

The polyps are still flourscent green. But I think that in the past few days its started to slowly color up again... I can't wait till it does.. it was actually one of my favorite pieces.. the color was unreal.. so I really hope to get it back.

All the monti caps are dead... just bare skeleton. But everything else seems to be doing just fine... really need to get some test kits... i never really used to test with the old tank, because doing water changes was enough... but even now... I have about 3 frags of SPS.. so I doubt those 3 will suck up that much alk/cal. But we'll see. I have my 3 DIY Cal/Alk/Mag supplements ready.. just needa save up for a test kit. I'll post pic in a day or two...

Alright back to studying for my finals...

 

[poolkeeper1]

Scared

Scared

Wow Bill now I'm really scared of LED's. :spin1: Those LEDs really need dimmers or some type of shading system huh?

I was actually very aprehensive to make the switch to Led's but once I did and saw how easy it is to DIY these fixtures i jumped head first. I made a few mistakes that raised my overall cost to build the fixture but in the end i am very glad i did.
All the Nay Sayers that said all you coral will brown out and die were Way Wrong as I just never saw anything but Improvement over my M/H T5HO set up.
As i do not know you personally i wasn't sure if you were kinda playin me or are serious about your statement, But either way It's Good and Don't be scared! If you are brave I will send you a lolipop LOL
And just to be very clear I am goofing around:uhoh2:
Bill

 

[anthony27]

I am glad to see how everything is doing so well.

Xenia is a wonderful coral to have it does not bother any thing and growes like a weed.

How did you get the alk from 7 to 11. What was the time frame in a matter of days or you shot it up in one day.

That you will get the nack of dosing the tank every day or every other day.

 

[DrHarryLopez]

I was actually very aprehensive to make the switch to Led's but once I did and saw how easy it is to DIY these fixtures i jumped head first. I made a few mistakes that raised my overall cost to build the fixture but in the end i am very glad i did.
All the Nay Sayers that said all you coral will brown out and die were Way Wrong as I just never saw anything but Improvement over my M/H T5HO set up.
As i do not know you personally i wasn't sure if you were kinda playin me or are serious about your statement, But either way It's Good and Don't be scared! If you are brave I will send you a lolipop LOL
And just to be very clear I am goofing around:uhoh2:
Bill

No worries Bill, I try to read everything with a smile.

 

[Staaan]

I am glad to see how everything is doing so well.

Xenia is a wonderful coral to have it does not bother any thing and growes like a weed.

How did you get the alk from 7 to 11. What was the time frame in a matter of days or you shot it up in one day.

That you will get the nack of dosing the tank every day or every other day.

I think it was ~3 days it shot up.

I was dosing the DIY Alk supplement I made... and I also added in some extra Alk in my last ESV Salt batch..

 

[anthony27]

good idea to add it in the esv, more stable that way and mixes way better.