Stolireef--New SPS Build

[Stolireef]

Go for it. I had AI Hydra 26 HDs and they were a huge pain to me. They kept losing connectivity and would get stuck in "full on" sometimes. I had to reset them about once a week to avoid problems. The tech support was pretty shoddy, at best. I would have to really want to know the results of the experiment to force myself to mess with their app again.

That's pretty unfortunate. I've heard really good things about the 52HD. Food for thought, I guess.

 

[Hentz]

I'm running the Hydra 26HD on my Reefer 170 with great success. Noticing almost daily growth on my Acropora. I just did a par check last night and realized my Acropora aren't receiving that much light so I'm surprised about the growth and color. I just amped up my intensity today and set up the acclimation mode.

I had connection issues at my old house with the original ones I had. But that was because my router was awful. I've had. I issues at all with the new one I'm running.

Planning my current upgrade for my new house in the next few months. I plan on doing HydraHD/T5 combo again probably. That being said though, I've always had great success with these lights. Only issues with corals were complete user issues (changing settings too much, blasting them on accident). But after I got them dialed in, they were great.

I'd recommend them over and over again. But that being said, I would hesitate trying the G4 Radion or going back to ATI T5's if I had a much more mature SPS tank

 

[Stolireef]

I'm running the Hydra 26HD on my Reefer 170 with great success. Noticing almost daily growth on my Acropora. I just did a par check last night and realized my Acropora aren't receiving that much light so I'm surprised about the growth and color. I just amped up my intensity today and set up the acclimation mode.

I had connection issues at my old house with the original ones I had. But that was because my router was awful. I've had. I issues at all with the new one I'm running.

Planning my current upgrade for my new house in the next few months. I plan on doing HydraHD/T5 combo again probably. That being said though, I've always had great success with these lights. Only issues with corals were complete user issues (changing settings too much, blasting them on accident). But after I got them dialed in, they were great.

I'd recommend them over and over again. But that being said, I would hesitate trying the G4 Radion or going back to ATI T5's if I had a much more mature SPS tank

I've got two G4s coming but I was thinking about running an AI52HD between them.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[Stolireef]

Look what Santa in a brown suit brought me today

Look what Santa in a brown suit brought me today

Haven't unboxed them yet but wanted to share. They'll be on the tank tomorrow morning.

 

[Stolireef]

Just finished installing the Radions and hooking them up to my Apex. This is a shot on full intensity. Looks brighter to me than my MH setup but we'll see. I do notice some discoballing effect. I have really strong water movement even at the surface that is causing some of the effect. It doesn't bother me.

 

[zibba]

Looking good!

 

[Stolireef]

The programming seems pretty easy with the Apex. I'm still kicking around the idea of getting a third one and running them perpendicular but that's really not a high priority at the moment. IMO, they throw more than enough light in the right spectrum to grow pretty much anything I want. Fortunately the tank is only 20" high so I get strong penetration down to the bottom of the tank.

 

[Stolireef]

I've spiked my tank with ammonia to 1 ppm twice in the last four days and within 24 hours, the Ammonia and Nitrites are undetectable. I guess I've got to give some props to Bio-Spira. Nitrates are also declining. My QT tank is ready to go so I ordered a few small fish today from Divers Den. Bonded pair of bangais and a yellow candy hogfish. A couple of weeks in QT for observation and they become residents of the tank.

I figure a couple of more weeks to get the nitrates down and then first SPS. Probably start with a green slimer.

 

[reefmutt]

Looking great!
Nice progress.
Fwiw, I've installed several AI primes and hydra 26/52s in various tanks and I have always had a seamless experience.. from pairing them up to each other and programming, they are a breeze. Never had a problem.. and no I don't work for them!
Looking forward to the fish!

 

[codydemmel4]

Looks good!!

 

[Stolireef]

Received my first fish today and into the QT tank. It's a bonded pair of Bangaii Cardinals and a Candy Hogfish. Diver's Den really does a great job of packaging their fish. Already eating. Also added a CUC to the main tank.

 

[Stolireef]

Ordered my Artfully Acrylic lid last night. Looking forward to some wrasses and other jumpers in this tank.

 

[Stolireef]

Picked up a really cool piece of kit today. Tunze full spectrum fuge light. It's submersible and you can adjust the color temperature. When submerged it runs at 26 watts and should grow macro like crazy in the fuge. Perfect fit and really well made. Putting it under water also limits the light spill to other components under the tank. I'll let you know if it grows algae as expected.

 

[Stolireef]

After just four days under the fuge light, chaeto is already growing fast. I'm sure part of it is that it's taking up the excess nitrates from the cycle but the light is really slick. It's quickly turning into one of my favorite pieces of equipment.

Oh, and I'm doing the first stupid thing with my tank. I received a trio of Lyretail Anthias today. One mail (simply beautiful) and two smaller females. They're happy in QT right now but from past experiences, I'll be down to one anthias in about three months. These were a bonded trio so I'm hoping for better results but...

Should be adding my first acro in a day or two. My nitrates are down to about 5 ppm (where I usually like them) and still falling a bit. Based upon my lousy phosphate test kit, they are at about 2 (again, about where I like them) so we'll see how things turn out.

 

[jda]

Get the Lyretails on New Life Spectrum pellets as soon as possible and use an autofeeder to give them grub three times a day.

Keep your eye on the Iron. Chaeto (all macros) can use it up quickly and will stop growing. You will also need to prune it to keep it growing, IME.

 

[Stolireef]

Get the Lyretails on New Life Spectrum pellets as soon as possible and use an autofeeder to give them grub three times a day.

Keep your eye on the Iron. Chaeto (all macros) can use it up quickly and will stop growing. You will also need to prune it to keep it growing, IME.

Thanks for the advice. I've been meaing to get an Iron test kit. Fortunately, I'm in semi-temporary retirement so I'm home to feed them all day (yeah, I know, a little sad but I'm having fun). What do you think of Hikari. It's a little easier to get here than the New Life.

 

[jda]

Hikari is probably fine if they will eat it. Seems like NLS gets eaten better by most fish.

 

[Stolireef]

New rule. Never play with the power settings on an MP40 unless you are in the room and can see what they do at peak power. Pushed mine up to 85% on reefcrest sync.

Little while later heard some splashing sounds. Walked in and tank looked a little like a flushing toilet. Fortunately, nothing splashed out of the tank but had I pushed them any higher.

On the cool side of this, they create a ridiculously cool front to back gyre.

 

[Stolireef]

Also added a few tester SPS frags a couple of days ago. The tank parameters look solid but it's still a very immature system. More playing around with the lights and flow.

 

[Stolireef]

Green slimer and red dragon. I had to adjust the white balance on the red dragon but I think I got it pretty close. Taken on a cell phone so that's as good as I can get at the moment.