Trueblackperculas 120cube with Mitras Lx6100Hv

[trueblackpercula]

Hello Everyone

I have decided to create a new thread on my tank with the Mitras Lx6100Hv. I will post one picture every month of the same angle and during the same time of the day 6:00PM to show progress. The reason I picked this time is because its doesn't give the illusion of outrageous colors. I will post the bluer looking pictures later down the road when i can. I am rebuilding the stock as the last try was a complete failure because of many reasons.

I know it isn't much to see right now but I did add three new pieces today and plan on adding 6 more next weekend. This is going to be a work in progress and I plan on going back to feeding Pappone not that the aptasias are under control

I am also including a shot of my project and I have included my project file for anyone that wants to use it that has a Mitras.

I will also include my systems water test to show whats going on also what I dose. I will answer all questing as best as I can and will post close ups of all my sps as I go along.

Thanks for any advice you want to provide.

Michael

 

[reeflover62]

I love those lights but a little expensive for me. I have had good luck with my hydra 26 over my sump:bum: so those should be great for your sps.

 

[Nanighan]

What are the dimensions of the tank? Looks like a great start.

 

[trueblackpercula]

I love those lights but a little expensive for me. I have had good luck with my hydra 26 over my sump:bum: so those should be great for your sps.

Yes you are correct the lights are expensive, but they are truly worth ever penny. This light PE not a toy and very well made, if it were not for a friend who practically gave it to me I would still be saving for one. If you are able to save up and get one you will be over joyed when you get it. Oh and the software is start of the art compared to the others I have seen and used.

 

[trueblackpercula]

What are the dimensions of the tank? Looks like a great start.

I am so sorry I forgot that information lol. The tank is 30 inches wide by 30 Inches in length and 31 inches deep.
Alk 8 to 9
Calcium is 310 raising it slow to 450
Salinaty 1.025
Magnesium 1270
PO4 0.01
Nitrate zero
Temp 77 winter and 81 summer cooled by a drop in probe chiller. I dose Bionic two part with a aqua medic dosing pump. I dose tropic Marin magnesium one spoon ever three days.

I also carbon dose prodibio products biodigest one vial every 15 days and so add Bioptim two vial every 15 days together. I also use the iodi plus and strontium plus.

I have been using reef crystal for water changes but have been thinking about switching to Red Sea pro or tropic Marin pro not sure yet. I do change 6 to 7 gallons of water a week on Sundays.

I top of the tank once every 7 to 8 days with 5 gallons of RO/DI water. I use the bulk reef supply ro membrane and resins.

 

[Nanighan]

If you use red sea pro, you probably would not have to go "mad scientist" on your tank this early. It has elevated levels of everything. Just make sure you roll around the bag to get everything mix properly. Top of with kalk...get more tangs and you should be good for a while, even with new sps on the way.

 

[jthao]

Looking good bro!!

 

[trueblackpercula]

Well as promised I received my Sps today and I was blown away with what I seen today. Me and my friend Bill ordered Sps From my friend Anthony and all I can say is that the SPS were dripping with color. Some even had PE in the bag when I got home. I dipped them for 15 minutes and then acclimated them to tank water, Then dipped them again for another 15 minutes, and then back into tank water for another 30 minutes on slow drip acclimation, then into the tank. I placed them at the bottom and lowered the intensity to 65% and will raise it over 30 days 5% a week until i get to 85% here are the Pictures and I will post some close ups later this week. By the way the sps were incredible and my friend Bill told me that one of his sps had a little goby still alive on one of the sps.
enjoy
Michael

 

[jgalen0025]

They look like some really nice maricultured pieces!

 

[stikhead]

One word of advice get them off the concrete plugs immediately you may have killed the parasites with the dipping but not the 50 different strains of macro and micro algea that are on those plugs made that mistake myself

 

[trueblackpercula]

One word of advice get them off the concrete plugs immediately you may have killed the parasites with the dipping but not the 50 different strains of macro and micro algea that are on those plugs made that mistake myself

I am a little confused by your advice. Can you please elaborate more about this as I thought macro algea was good?

 

[Nace]

If you want algae in your display then no worries.

stikhead is recommending you get them off the plugs so the algae doesn't spread to your display tank.

Again, if you don't mind the possibility of algae in your display then no worries.

 

[trueblackpercula]

Ah got it, As far as i can see they are encrusted with coralin algae and the yeloow tang has been picking on them so I think i am Ok.

 

[trueblackpercula]

here are a few cloe ups of when i first got them, I am doing this so i can post pictures later once the settle in. If anyone can ID these please let me know as I really am not good with this.
thanks

Michael
A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

 

[fishguy597]

I think the second pic has a lot of potential along with the third from the bottom. Nice corals.

 

[CrookedStick]

Some really great looking SPS! What's is the one in the 6th photo.

 

[reefmutt]

Looking great, Micheal!
I'll be watching to see how they grow out.
Nice tank, i love the 30 cube.
Imo, when you add any rock that has come out of the ocean, wether it is just live rock, mushroom or polyp or soft coral rock, you run the risk of adding a million different species of algae, bacteria, micro organism, even macro organism.. whatever to your system.. You cannot control them all..
Having said that, I find the cultured acro plugs are ugly and often stink terribly when removed from the acropora, so god only knows what they are made of..
I'd be more concerned about what impurities may be in the material the plugs are made of than what might be growing on them- except for aefw eggs. I've always removed the plugs as a way of removing any aefw eggs, but also because I can then glue the colonies exactly where and how i want them..

 

[trueblackpercula]

Looking great, Micheal!
I'll be watching to see how they grow out.
Nice tank, i love the 30 cube.
Imo, when you add any rock that has come out of the ocean, wether it is just live rock, mushroom or polyp or soft coral rock, you run the risk of adding a million different species of algae, bacteria, micro organism, even macro organism.. whatever to your system.. You cannot control them all..
Having said that, I find the cultured acro plugs are ugly and often stink terribly when removed from the acropora, so god only knows what they are made of..
I'd be more concerned about what impurities may be in the material the plugs are made of than what might be growing on them- except for aefw eggs. I've always removed the plugs as a way of removing any aefw eggs, but also because I can then glue the colonies exactly where and how i want them..

Hey Reefmutt hope all is well with your reef,

Thanks for the advice and i can see your point of view. Well I think its a little to late as the Sps are in the tank now and if I introduced pest or bad algea ETC there is nothing i can do about it now. I did give the plugs a smell test and they smelled cleaned, but a couple did have that nasty epoxy smell that I hate.

I will say as of today they all look really good and have really started to color up for the better. My problem is that I lowered the intensity to 65% and my sps actually look better.

I know everyone keeps telling m,e that Mari pieces need strong light to maintane there colors but maybe its too early to talk, but there are looking really good as of today.

I plan on letting these settle in and placing them where they are going to go and after wards purchasing 8 more LOL. they are so cheap that i can have a full blow reef tank in about three weekends LOL. I hope they make it as next year this time i should have a fully grown out SPS tank.

Now for something I learned this past week. Maricultred pieces well these anyways like lower alk as i was running 8.5 to 9 i lowered it to 7.8 and they have better polyp extension. I dont know if this is because it is closer to natural seawater or that they are just happy to be in my tank :bounce1:

I will post some pictures soon and to be honest I doubt I will ever buy frags again except for the few I really want. Cali tort, true Oregon tort, Jawdropper just to name three .

Well for anyone thinking about buying maricultred pieces do so if you have everything to keep sps alive and please dip dip and dip again and check to make sure you didn't buy one that has aefw Etc.

One more thing picture B is turning blue and as some crazy looking PE. I have never seen this type of Sps and it was the only one in the box of 30 I will post a picture in a few. I think it will be an amazing piece and have no problem cutting a frag for someone if they want to trade.

Michael

Here she is sitting on the bottom of my tank about 27" to 28 " from the water surface with the others I picked up.

 

[ViktorVaughn]

I am a T5 guy but man, that light and its specs look amazing. I just looked up all the specs and features on that, I would love to mess around with one of those.

 

[trueblackpercula]

I am a T5 guy but man, that light and its specs look amazing. I just looked up all the specs and features on that, I would love to mess around with one of those.

You have no idea how much i really Love My Mitras, its an amazing piece of equiptment. There are a few software upgrades that I would like to see upgraded and I have submitted them to GHL as recomendations.

Here is my current project and I must say that My sps are responding very well to it at 67% intensity LOL this light fixture is really not a toy. I can't imagine what the future holds for the mitras but I have deffernatly drank the cool aid LOL

Also below are my recomendations to the Mitras team that I placed on there web page.
I did get a few response and some of the below can aready be done. the GHL team has actually contacted me and advised that they will be working on some of them as they felt it would be an advantage to the end user. Enjoy and i hope yo become part of the Mitras club soon
****ghl mitras software recommendations ****
Hello GHL

Some of the below recommendations may or may not have been answered as I am only an owner for a couple weeks. I also want to say that this light fixture is not a TOY and I would recommend it to anyone who is really serious about reef-keeping.

Yes its expensive but is worth every penny, in addition it is very well made and there software is intended not only for the most advance hobbyist but is also very user friendly once you get a better understanding of how it works.

I will have more to come as I expand my knowledge of not only the light fixture but the software, but below are some recommendations that others may also want to see in a new software upgrade.

Again thank you for allowing me to hold my interest in the hobby as I was almost ready to throw in the towel. YOU GUYS ROCK I cant wait to see what my system looks like in 6 months to a year as I am already seeing amazing colors in my SPS thanks to your light fixture.

Michael


"¢ Allow user when the first connect their light fixture to the software that it shows what project is on the light at the current time. Not ask for the user to pick what project to load to the light
"¢ Allow users to adjust the output to the LEDS not only by adjusting the sliders but all also allow user to be able to manually enter in a value like 23.6 ETC.
"¢ Allow the user to be able to adjust the entire project with a slider to lower or raise the intensity output to the LEDS, EXAMPLE: once sliders are adjust to get the correct spectrum and after putting the fixture into high output or high efficiency and then setting it to 80% allow user to adjust it on the LEDS spectrum screen with another slide to go up or down.
"¢ Being able to shut of the moon simulation with and ON or OFF check box.
"¢ More explanation on how to use or not use the moon simulation would also be nice as it is very confusing.
"¢ Being able to connect to the light fixture with WIFI and be able to use a laptop
"¢ Being able to connect to the light fixture through WIFI and use my Ipad ( This is really needed)
"¢ An APP would be outstanding to use through WIFI
"¢ Now this is something that I was very surprised it cannot do"¦. Allow end user to make adjustments to a project without the light being connected.
"¢ When selecting the GRAPH tab what does that do? It asked for the user to load a graph but from where or what?
"¢ Allow the user to check calibration of their LEDS ( I had some issues with my Radion when I first got it and it was because the right side puck was giving more light out then the left side calibration with the software fixed that) not comparing this light to that one just making a statement.
"¢ Adding a check box that says run project to see what it looks like without using the slider. The reason I am asking for this is because I have an in the wall tank and the USB cable is not long enough so I can't see the front of the tank when checking my project. So if there was a run project check box and it ran the project from start to finish let's say over 2 minutes ( Or let the end user select between 2 minutes 5 minutes or 10 minutes ETC) I could see what it would look like.
"¢ Pre set projects that simulate from sun rise to sunset in various spectrum. Like 10 pre set projects. Called high growth, high color, LPS, SPS, mixed reef. Deep water SPS Fiji simulation, Bali simulation, Australian simulation, 20k 18k ETC I think you get the point.

"¢ Here is a suggestion about the light fixture itself that has nothing to do with the software. make the fixture 6" to 8" longer and add another set of LED cluster and make it 6" to 8" inches wider and it will cover a 36 X 48 area so that the large tank owners would only need one fixture not two. This would open up your market to more reef keepers.

"¢ Here is a suggestion about the light fixture itself that has nothing to do with the software. Sell lens that will give the flexibility to add 90 degree optics 120 degree optics ETC for those that want either direct light or want to spread the light out.

"¢ Here is a suggestion about the light fixture itself that has nothing to do with the software. Instead of making the plastic shield out of plastic have you thought about selling ones as a glass add on that would have the optics on it already as described above?

As always thank you for an amazing light fixture

Michael