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B-Dare's 70 Mixed Reef


bdare

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Not many pictures to show. I had my 40B for about 2 years. Although I loved the tank I just had to go bigger. I figured the best way to do this without spending a TON of money was to just go taller. This would allow me to keep my stand / canopy.

 

40 Before I sold SPS colonies:

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70 after moving everthing over:

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LEFT:

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Middle:

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Right:

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A few other shots I took for fun...

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Edited by bdare
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Ahhh. Everything came from the 40 which I guess I didn't update very well towards the end. Here are all the specs:

 

Lights - 2x150 (Phoenix 14K) HQI Magnetic ballast. 2x39W T5's (Blue+ and pure atinic). I'm considering adding 2 more T5's and just running them on a single Icecap 440 ballast instead of 2 seperate ones. Also thinking of switching to 10 or 12K bulbs to add PAR.

 

Flow - Vortech MP40 currently running in short pulse mode creating a wave, 2 Korilla #2. Might ditch the korilla's cause the MP40 along with the returns on OM is NICE.

 

Return pump - Eheim 1260 split by OM 2 way on either side of the over flow box. I decided NOT to use the return plumbing from Oceanic because I wanted to use the OM Squirt for more random flow.

 

Additives - Randy's 2 part dosed by Litermeter III. I'm not using as much because all the large colonies from the 40 are gone. After recalibrating my dosing pumps I think I'm adding about 100ml / day.

 

JBJ ATO - Been using it for about 2 years. I have a 15 gallon resivor which I fill weekly.

 

Octopus EXT-110 skimmer. It's external and recirculates the water. I don't know how great it is cause I don't have much to compare to. Wondering if I'll need a bigger skimmer with the new tank...

 

ACjr controller. I friggin LOVE this thing. If there were a fire at my house I think I'd take it first.

 

Current USA 1/10hp chiller

 

20H Sump split into 3 sections (Drain / fuge / return). I also have a phosban reactor which I fill with ROX carbon and GFO from BRS.

 

I use Reef Crystals salt, but I'm serioulsy considering changing because of the high Alk levels in the new mix.

 

Current Specs:

Ca - 430

Alk - 9.5dkh

Mg - 1410

Ph - 8.35

Nitrate - 0

 

Am I missing anything Glenn? :P

 

Oh... forgot to add... the new rock is dead rock I picked up from BRS. I didn't want to bring any new hitchhikers into my established tank or worry about curing more rock. Hopefully it works out!

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Ahhh. Everything came from the 40 which I guess I didn't update very well towards the end. Here are all the specs:

 

Lights - 2x150 (Phoenix 14K) HQI Magnetic ballast. 2x39W T5's (Blue+ and pure atinic). I'm considering adding 2 more T5's and just running them on a single Icecap 440 ballast instead of 2 seperate ones. Also thinking of switching to 10 or 12K bulbs to add PAR.

 

Flow - Vortech MP40 currently running in short pulse mode creating a wave, 2 Korilla #2. Might ditch the korilla's cause the MP40 along with the returns on OM is NICE.

 

Return pump - Eheim 1260 split by OM 2 way on either side of the over flow box. I decided NOT to use the return plumbing from Oceanic because I wanted to use the OM Squirt for more random flow.

 

Additives - Randy's 2 part dosed by Litermeter III. I'm not using as much because all the large colonies from the 40 are gone. After recalibrating my dosing pumps I think I'm adding about 100ml / day.

 

JBJ ATO - Been using it for about 2 years. I have a 15 gallon resivor which I fill weekly.

 

Octopus EXT-110 skimmer. It's external and recirculates the water. I don't know how great it is cause I don't have much to compare to. Wondering if I'll need a bigger skimmer with the new tank...

 

ACjr controller. I friggin LOVE this thing. If there were a fire at my house I think I'd take it first.

 

Current USA 1/10hp chiller

 

20H Sump split into 3 sections (Drain / fuge / return). I also have a phosban reactor which I fill with ROX carbon and GFO from BRS.

 

I use Reef Crystals salt, but I'm serioulsy considering changing because of the high Alk levels in the new mix.

 

Current Specs:

Ca - 430

Alk - 9.5dkh

Mg - 1410

Ph - 8.35

Nitrate - 0

 

Am I missing anything Glenn? :P

 

Oh... forgot to add... the new rock is dead rock I picked up from BRS. I didn't want to bring any new hitchhikers into my established tank or worry about curing more rock. Hopefully it works out!

 

 

No, I'd say that pretty much sums it up!

 

I'm considering putting my 2x's 150's w/ radiums over my 20L, thoughts? Probably a bit much huh?

 

How's the flame angel with the SPS & clams?

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No, I'd say that pretty much sums it up!

 

I'm considering putting my 2x's 150's w/ radiums over my 20L, thoughts? Probably a bit much huh?

I only think it would be too much cause of the heat. If you have a chiller you'll be fine, but those bulbs don't put out a lot of par. Not going to fry anything. I think the 2 150s would give you good coverage too. A single might still leave some dark spots on the edges. I was ok with the asthetics of it, but wasn't happy with the corals on the edges growing towards the middle.

 

How's the flame angel with the SPS & clams?

 

Dude... Flame angels have always been in my top 5 when it comes to fish. ALWAYS wanted one in this tank but didn't get one for the reasons you stated above. A guy posted one on the DFW boards and said he didn't nip in his mixed tank. I think he wanted like $65 for it, but for one that is proven not to nip I coudn't pass it up. Apprently it's captive raised which has better chances for behaving...

Edited by bdare
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I only think it would be too much cause of the heat. If you have a chiller you'll be fine, but those bulbs don't put out a lot of par. Not going to fry anything. I think the 2 150s would give you good coverage too. A single might still leave some dark spots on the edges. I was ok with the asthetics of it, but wasn't happy with the corals on the edges growing towards the middle.

 

 

Idk, I actually fried a few things when I switched from the 250 (phoenix) to the 150's. The 150w radium isn't quite as blue as the SE versions (think phoenix coloring, but without the purpleish tint), and iirc the par is similar to a phoenix, and may actually be higher. Concerning the heat, I plan to turn my canopy into a pendant and hang it about 6 inches above the tank. I have 3x's 80mm fans in it that move the air pretty good. I'm hoping that this would be sufficient for cooling because the tank is an AIO, and adding a chiller would not be easy.

 

Dude... Flame angels have always been in my top 5 when it comes to fish. ALWAYS wanted one in this tank but didn't get one for the reasons you stated above. A guy posted one on the DFW boards and said he didn't nip in his mixed tank. I think he wanted like $65 for it, but for one that is proven not to nip I coudn't pass it up. Apprently it's captive raised which has better chances for behaving...

 

Sweet, flame angels have always been a favorite of mine as well. I would've gladly paid $65 for a good one myself!

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Idk, I actually fried a few things when I switched from the 250 (phoenix) to the 150's. The 150w radium isn't quite as blue as the SE versions (think phoenix coloring, but without the purpleish tint), and iirc the par is similar to a phoenix, and may actually be higher. Concerning the heat, I plan to turn my canopy into a pendant and hang it about 6 inches above the tank. I have 3x's 80mm fans in it that move the air pretty good. I'm hoping that this would be sufficient for cooling because the tank is an AIO, and adding a chiller would not be easy.

Where have you seen the par is higher? Do you have a LUX meter? I was basing my comments on Sanjay's lighting page which shows Phoenix is much higher.

 

As you are well aware my brother, fans always work! If you can't keep it cool, there are those drop in nano chillers?

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Where have you seen the par is higher? Do you have a LUX meter? I was basing my comments on Sanjay's lighting page which shows Phoenix is much higher.

 

As you are well aware my brother, fans always work! If you can't keep it cool, there are those drop in nano chillers?

 

 

I could very well be mistaken on the lights, that's just what I seem to remember. Are you sure its the same in the 150w version? Either way, they should be plenty bright enough over a 12" deep tank!!

 

I'm only keeping lower light SPS and doing it with, get this, 48w of T5. So far it's going okay, but I'm not seeing very much growth, and my blue milli looks pretty bland. Fwiw, the tank is only a few months old so it may need a little more time to "settle in".

 

I'm affraid that if I can't keep it cool with the halides I will be forced back to the T5's. I don't have ANY room in the tank for any more equipment. Not even a little bit, lol.

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  • 6 months later...

Sooo... some of you may or may not know, but I've been getting rid of my SPS and moving to more softies / LPS cause I want more movement in the tank.

 

Here are some of my new inhabitants:

 

Blue tip elegance

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Yellow Fiji Leather

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Green Bubble

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Green Nepthea

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Finger leather

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Duncans

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Maxima

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Flowerpot

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Ausie Bi-color hammer

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FTS - New Stuff is still filling in :(

IMG_3617.jpg

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  • 7 months later...
Hey Ben, I think you're due for an update buddy!!

I've got lots of updates coming. Today I'm actually in the process of selling my T5's, MH's and my chiller so I can get some loot to build my own LED retrofit... I'll wait till it's all done and post soon.

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I've got lots of updates coming. Today I'm actually in the process of selling my T5's, MH's and my chiller so I can get some loot to build my own LED retrofit... I'll wait till it's all done and post soon.

 

 

Cool. I'll keep any eye on your thread.

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Sooo... I'm switching my tank over from MH and T5's to LED. During full daylight my lights alone were consuming almost 500W on a 36x18x25 70 Gallon tank. I just placed an order last night for the retro for my display tank which will use 48 cree LED's and run ~150W.

 

Last week the bulb on my fuge over my sump went out. Rather than spend money on another compact florescent bulb I thought "Why not use LED's to light the sump too?" Although probably not the most cost effective solution, I thought it would be cool way to learn what I was doing before trying it for the first time on my large retro. If nothing else maybe I could grow a few frags in my sump now?

 

I ordered a small heatsink and a 6 bulb retro kit.

 

Next I drilled 4 holes in the heatsink. These are used to mount the LED's to top of my stand using a couple of "L" brackets.

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I really wasn't too particular about getting an EXACT layout on these since it's just 6 bulbs and lighting my fuge. I simply laid them out where I thought they would work best.

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Next I mixed together the thermal adhesive epoxy which I used to attach the LED's to my heatsink.

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It only takes a LITTLE bit of adhesive to get the LED's to stick. If the layer is too thick it impedes heat transfer.

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Once they were all attached it was time to give my first attempt at soldering! I definitely think this is a job for 2 people. It's TOO hard to hold the wire, soldering iron, and solder at the same time. It ain't pretty, but it is what it is.

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Next it was just a matter of connecting the power supply and plugging it in. Believe me when I say I had my fingers crossed!

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Up close...

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I'm glad it's over. Now I just need to find something else to do so the spots will go out of my eyes.

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So... Last week I finished the LED fixture for my display tank.

 

30"X10" Heat sink from www.heatsinkusa.com

28 Cree XRE Royal Blue

3 Cree XRE Warm White

15 Cree XPG cool white

 

The LEDs are wired in 4 strings. They are controlled with my ACjr and come on in order to give me the dawn / dusk effect I love so much.

 

String 1 - 12 Blue

String 2 - 12 Blue

String 3 - 4 blue 8 white

String 4 - 12 white

 

Both the blue and white colors are on different dimmer switches so I can both control the color temperature and gradually let my tank adjust to the increase in PAR. I got over anxious already and started to fry my frogspawn.

 

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In the end I went from 2x150 MH and 4x39w T5's (almost 500 Watts) to under 150W if they were running at full power.

 

I also sold my chiller and the chiller feed pump. The good news is I was able to sell everything for the cost of the new lights! Considering my annual bulb replacement cost was $200 and my MH bulbs were due to be replaced soon I'm pretty sure I'm already seeing a savings!

 

I'm also looking forward to getting a smaller ATO container because I have a feeling my evaporation will also go down.

 

If anyone else is thinking about making the jump to LED... DO IT!!!!

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Led is enticing... but still a little young for me. I personally would like to see some high fadelity before and after pictures of some established tanks. Good luck with the new fixture. keep us updated on how everything responds.

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Led is enticing... but still a little young for me. I personally would like to see some high fadelity before and after pictures of some established tanks. Good luck with the new fixture. keep us updated on how everything responds.

I personally believe there have been tons of advances in LEDs the past few years. I really like the diy option which allows me to customize every aspect (color, intensity, light spread). I did a ton of research before I made this switch. I think if you do the same you'll find there are tons of large existing tanks which have actually flourished after making the switch.

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Great set-up

 

How's the Flame Angel working out? Nip or pic at your SPS / clam?

The flame angel is GREAT. It is my favorite fish. I always wanted one, but never bought one because I was afraid of the nipping. A local member had this guy for sale and had him in an SPS tank with clams and he was on his best behavior so I bought it! VERY Happy!

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