TDB's 320 SPS Rebuild

[tdb320reef]

After recently breaking down my tank to move, I switched gears and decided to stay put and stand the 320 Back up. In the past I had all kinds of Corals and Fish. For the Rebuild It will be all Acropora. I have collected about 100 different Acros, mainly Reef Raft and other "Named" corals that I am currently growing out.


Some Changes to the tank.

1. Going with a shelf type rock work and ordered 200 lbs of shelf rock
2. Upgrading the skimmer to Reef Octopus Regal 300INT
3. Ditch the LED panels and Kalk Stirrer
4. Building my own Light fixture that will support 96 Cree Royal Blue, 8 Cree Royal Blue Moons, 8 ATI T5 Over-driven with Icecap ballast and 4 250 Radium running on M80 Ballast. It will be 96 X 25 and the LumenMax 2 pendants will rest in the middle angle aluminum. I am 75% done with the fixture pictured below.

I would like to share my updates and love your ideas on how I can make improvements.

Thanks!

 

[rovster]

This will be epic! Tagging along. Best of luck....not that you need it

 

[Chris Lakies]

Dang talk about some PAR! cant wait for this!

 

[Pumbooris]

Very nice light set up! Ive been really thinking about adding two t5s on each side of my diy leds to help with all the shading im getting but I cant figure out what kind of reflectors and ballests to go with. Do you plan on using lenses/optics on your leds? What reflectors did you end up using for your t5s?

 

[tdb320reef]

Very nice light set up! Ive been really thinking about adding two t5s on each side of my diy leds to help with all the shading im getting but I cant figure out what kind of reflectors and ballests to go with. Do you plan on using lenses/optics on your leds? What reflectors did you end up using for your t5s?

I purchased 60 degree optics, I did a par test and at about 30" I am close to 500 Par just on the LEDS so I am going to leave them off initially to see how it goes as once I epoxy them on they are perm.

I went with IceCap/VUE SLR T5 Reflectors and the ballast is two Icecap/Vue 660's.

 

[teebone110]

Very exciting build Tom! Glad to hear that you are staying with your 320

Why are you ditching the kalk stirrer? I know you will have high demand, so I assume that you will be staying with the CaRx, will you be going with 2part as well?

Your lighting system looks sweet, I see you are staying with halides and LED, but also adding some T5s, you should have some serious par going on with that setup! I don't think you will need to overdrive your T5s with all that light.

what are your ideas for rockscape, will you be doing islands? I really like the shelf rock, you will have tons of space and options for sps placement.

What are your doing for flow this time.. Are you considering the Gyres?

 

[jda]

If you haven't ordered all of your T5s yet, I might suggest that you try some UVL Actinics. They really pop with the 80-85 watts of IceCap power.

Looking good.

 

[Chris Lakies]

I dont want to be a stalker or anything but when you get this done i want to see it in person! Holy crap. One suggestion is using different optics for the LED's. 75 or 90 degree if available.

 

[tdb320reef]

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If you haven't ordered all of your T5s yet, I might suggest that you try some UVL Actinics. They really pop with the 80-85 watts of IceCap power.

Looking good.

Thank You, our conversation a while back inspired me to make some changes and I am very happy with the new direction having run Radiums on the tank since last Nov and T5's 8X80 on the frag setup for the past half year. Yeah I have two 454's in there I believe. The rest will be ATI blue +.

 

[tdb320reef]

I dont want to be a stalker or anything but when you get this done i want to see it in person! Holy crap. One suggestion is using different optics for the LED's. 75 or 90 degree if available.

For sure I will be a couple months out for it to be show ready but I move fast. The Idea for Royal Blue LEDS is not to grow coral but more or less to reflect the florescence . Similar as to how people are using reefbrites.

It would have cost about 1600+ for reefbrites so I got the Rapid LED DIY for 500 and provide for more options in the future. Ill leave the growth and color to MH and T5 but I do like my Led Blues and Moons.

With all of that said Ill run it for a while without optics but yeah if I put them on Ill also test with 80 degree which is what is offered for Cree.

Thanks.

 

[tdb320reef]

Very exciting build Tom! Glad to hear that you are staying with your 320

Why are you ditching the kalk stirrer? I know you will have high demand, so I assume that you will be staying with the CaRx, will you be going with 2part as well?

Your lighting system looks sweet, I see you are staying with halides and LED, but also adding some T5s, you should have some serious par going on with that setup! I don't think you will need to overdrive your T5s with all that light.

what are your ideas for rockscape, will you be doing islands? I really like the shelf rock, you will have tons of space and options for sps placement.

What are your doing for flow this time.. Are you considering the Gyres?

Thanks Tyler, Looks like your build is also rocking. There is no doubt that a Kalk Stirrer is worth its weight in gold but IME I have noticed some instability when running it with Top Off. I found that depending on the season and the associated evaporation, saturation solution and other variables it was difficulty to keep solid stability.

Based on a 6 month trial run with only Acros and at least 200 of them, my CARX effluent drip is very slow. I think that in the past I had a ton of Clams, Monti’s and other corals that required it, but with Acros only I think CARX will create the ultimate stability. If I get to the tipping point where the CARX is not enough I can always add dosing pumps and two part which I am already plumed for.

With the Shelf Rock, I know it sounds lame, but I am basically looking for flat suspend shelf going across the entire tank on a 30 degree angle with minimal rock between the shelf and bottom glass. I want about 15 inches from the edge of the shelf and the glass for tabling acros. This will allow the acros to grow up with stability maximizing the open space with ample swimming room for the fish as I want to go with some exotics like a Gem Tang. Also I will be removing all of the sand, rinsing it and putting it in the sump in containers to hold up the eggcrate for a mini frag area.

For the flow I am keeping it with 2 MP60 2 MP 40 2 Tunze 6105 and 2 Tunze Waveboxes but will install perhaps gyres or Jeabos in the bottom to create an under rock current.

 

[diciple]

great job on the lights i likey

 

[Huntor0]

Tagging along, very happy to see you sticking with the big tank your last build was amazing. I know your new build will be EPIC!

 

[overexposed]

That lighting rack is looking very similar to what I'm planning for my new build! Except I'm going to be using 3x 400 watt MH in Lumenarc3 reflectors, VHO instead of T5, and I'll be adding the LEDs later on...

Can't wait to see this tank up and running! Godspeed.

 

[tdb320reef]

Thanks all for the encouragement. I am making great progress and finished the Moons last night. I have two more sections to solder and it will be done.

The next step is to pull the canopy apart and get all of the angle Iron and panels out. This will be a less than desirable task.

Below is a picture of the Moon Channel using the Rapid LED 350MA moon Drivers. Speaking of Rapid LED I am very impressed that absolutely everything that I purchased in the 4 retro kits worked and they even provided extra thermal adhesive and wiring. It is a great product at a great price.

 

[blakers82]

That lighting setup should be slamming! I'm running Radiums, pure actinic T5s on IceCap 660 and ReefBrites on my display. Just Radiums and ReefBrite on my separate fragger.

If I could change anything - VHO actinic over the T5s, but I simply have no room. Seems most who've run the VHOs agree. Alas. Looking forward to the rest of the rebuild!

 

[tdb320reef]

Thanks. I have had Vho running for a little while and loved them but it was impossible to find bulbs. Planning for the future availability of bulbs. I went with t5.

 

[tdb320reef]

To add some more diversification to the conversation the below pictures my frag system that I am growing out the acros. Most of the Acros are frags that I kept from my break down. I have since added all of the Reef Raft and other Named corals that I can find from other reefers.

The system profile is a 150G stock tub. 200 lbs of live rock, 8X80 watt Tek Light with ATI bulbs, Reef Dynamics Biopellet reactor (very low flow), Geo 624 CARX and SRO 5000 Cone. I am using Jeabos for Flow. Notice I do not have a sump.

This system was actually a back-up when my main system was having issues. Its been up for about a year and half. I am getting incredible growth and color.

It has a green scat, 2 monos and 2 tangs that do a good job keeping it clean as I like to keep the nutrients very high. The corals here have only been here for a few months. This will eventually become the sump to a back-up/frag tank. I am looking for a shallow 180 for this purpose.

 

[acesq]

Nice collection!!

 

[cFloor]

I am looking forward to following along with this build. Your last reef was amazing! You certainly have a great start with all those corals! Do you have a fish list that you'll have in the new setup?