Kinda nice knowing that you are acheiving 25% more PAR performance at a little over half the wattage of one of the stock PC bulbs.

Just imagine the numbers when you crank it up to 11

FTS w/LEDs:

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Hammer:
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Tubs Blues:
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War Coral:
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Green Implosions:
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HD Video Uploaded Here

Incredible! Don't know how I missed this thread.

What camera did you take the video with?

Thanks man! I've got a Sony Cybershot DSC-H20/B. I like it a lot. My only complaint is I can just barely get to 2x optical zoom on a macro shot. Makes it a bit harder to get a really close up shot of the corals that are in the center of the tank. Speaking of which i'm overdue for some tank shots.. it's impossible to get a shot of just the royal blues.. i'm going to have to sit and play with white balance for quite a while.

i have a cybershot too and ive gotten some pretty good pics out of it. i have to admit it is kinda hard to get those good shots though.

Updated FTS.. although I still need to replace some rock and ban some mushrooms to my IDFC 10g.

Ugh.. my aching back! OK so the small frag of pink table went hiding so I could no longer procrastinate removing the mushroom rocks. After about 2 hours everything was back in the tank. Gonna take a while to get used to the new scape as I was really in love with it the way it was as pictured above. Hoping everything will pull through.. Really only a bit worried about the SPS.. some bleaching might occur but eh.. that's life in a small tank for ya.

and I've got a bunch of digi frags... unfortunately I got a little haphazard as it approached 12am..

Update... no bleaching.. woohoo.. MP10 on the way.. bigger WOOOHOOOOOOOO

Ah finally it's here! Apparently it snows in Miami as my MP10 has been held up at UPS for days due to adverse weather conditions..seriously..it made it all the way from NY just to get stuck 2 hours away. I'm still not diggin the scape in the tank so I'm gonna give it one last effort to get it right.. everything's getting epoxied into place in preparation for the added flow, and whatever can't deal with the added flow is getting removed. Cannot wait to get home and start tinkerin.

What ever happen to your RBTA?

Well after I got the LEDs it decided to expand way bigger and had to get rid of it. Stung some stuff and ticked me off. I could definitely tell it was loving the addt'l light.. I think i have some pics of it taking up the whole tank practically. Was definitely cool though.. my little alien in the living room.

That last FTS was beautiful. How is the tank running?

The tank looks amazing! Im doing the same LED setup on my 14 I cant wait! How much have your corals spread since you installed the LED's ?

Hey I havent seen this thread in a while. How are the LEDs going? I am about to make a second LED tank myself. Your pics do look sweet !

Nice tank!

It's really matured a lot in the pictures, and I you've got some really really nice coral colonies going on here!

OK so I've been holding out on this update.. not so great news here. Sad to report I switched from LEDs to a 70w sunpod fixture sometime around the beginning of March. I had turned up the LEDs to 100% (don't do this at home kids) and caused a lot of my corals to shrink, SPS were browning out and bleaching, zoas shriveled and because of the stress developed zoa pox. So in an attempt to essentially save the tank, I switched lighting. I really miss the colors of the LEDs though and I'm not too sure about this 14k ushio bulb.. not enough blue I think. Anyways..the problems continue. Some of my LPS is bleaching now and I'm having a heck of a time with my Alk, seems like it's always at 7 when it should be more in the 9-11s. The war coral and chalice are both on the sandbed and aren't looking as good and I can see some signs of bleaching.. also I swear my acans aren't nearly as vibrant and they are definitely not as puffed up as when they were under my LEDs at 50%. The only corals I've completely lost are some zoas and an acro that was browned out when I bought it. I have frags of just about all the zoas however. As for the alk. I'm dosing 10ml of b-ionic daily in the morning and it's not gettin the job done. My tank is sucking it down but I'm afraid to add more of the 2 part as I don't want a huge swing in pH, it's probably already doing that though. So fellow reefers, please offer up some suggestions.

^^^^ help..

is the 70watt too much light, I figured it would be less than the LEDS were at 100%.. what do I do about dosing? The reef calc says I'd need 38ML just to get up to 9 dKH.. and I'm assuming that's on top of the 10ml I'm already dumping in daily. Do I need to get some dosing pumps and start messing around with all that ??

I dont think the 70w is too much light, I am going to be putting a 150w over my BC14. Did you acclimate your corals to the MH light or just put the fixture on top? This could be your problem if so. Your corals didnt have any protection against the UV due to the LEDs, and plus they were bleaching and stessed already.

I have no clue about your alk, maybe due to the lighting change and the stress of your corals.

Be careful, I believe the directions on the B-ionic say not to add more than 1ML per gallon capacity in a 24 hour period (i.e. don't add more than 14 ML in a 24 hour period).

I think Maddevil hit it on the money with the UV and you're right I was a little antsy about dosing the 38ML. I got a new alk test kit the other day and turns out my other kit was reading 7's when I was in the 9's. So apparently 10mL daily is enough to keep it at 9. Fortunately I hadn't increased my dosage or attempted to correct it yet. I have since changed to oceanic salt which has helped with the calcium. I think the tank just needs time to settle down now. My recent vaca wasn't too harsh on the tank.. came home to find my ATO stopped working so the salinity was a bit high.. but no major losses to report. Some slight tip burn in just a few spots but ever so slightly and I've broken off the tips that looked bad. I've moved some of my LPS to another tank and the chalice to a shady spot.. so aside from the zoa pox.. we're ok (for now).

Just wondering how this tank is... any updates

What is going on with the tank?

Funny you should ask.. I have a recent pic I took like 2 days ago and been procrastinating puttin it up..I just did a massive cleaning on the glass. The sps colors are blah, but they're alive.. not happy with the 70w 14k ushio.. Nutrients are too high.. chemipure elite not working as it should. Underwater light just burnt out.. gah! Needs some TLC. Pocillopora spawned everywhere.. alkalinity is riding lower than it should have been.. probably 6. Got some burn on the bottom of my sps that I'm not happy about. Time to get my butt in gear. I give out all this good advice.. I just need to follow what I tell others to do haha.

FTS 11-23-2010






Boy those LEDs were pretty... but boy did they ruin a lot of coral.

wow... how did I forget to take a picture of my chalice.. I've been tryin to get an ID on it for a while, and now that the glass is clean I'll have my chance!! Also got a new favia. Have to wait until lights on.

I'm curious Mike, why didn't you simply turn the power down on your LEDs rather than trade them out for MH? I run mine around 50%, colors are fab and growth is causing me to frag more than I want to.

I guess I got discouraged when my zoas shrank to mere millimeters in size.. Also I was just getting into SPS and the colors were brown so I needed to eliminate the lighting from the picture. I never really figured out how to turn them down to 50% as the brightness doesn't change much. Seems too difficult to guess based upon the position of the pot. I'll give them another go around in the future

I feel you about the LEDS I had a nice set.I went from Sunpod 150watt and loved it growth was awesome colors just wow.Then I got the LED bug and started them way to low since mine were not dimmable.I fried all my SPS and a small mint in chalices.I had one chalice colony that was worth a grand.Well the LEDS pissed it off and there went my tank downhill.I sold the LED light and went back to the sunpod 150.Still have a few zoas that the skirts were fried so bad they look like little donuts.I found a great deal on a brand new 16.5" Sunpod 70watt and I love it.I purchased a 20K Ushio bulb and like it better than the 14K phoenix.I am totally done with SPS and am sticking with rare leathers zoas and chalice.You would be very surprised the color you can find in leathers.If you keep them higher up under the 70watt they will keep there colors.SPS will brown out under 70Watt.I am finally 100 % happy with my tank now no damn dosing just waterchanges.

Almost forgot to say I would never run another LED light if someone gave it to me.

I'm a lot happier with my 10 gal softie/LPS tank right now too. Just change the water .. I was able to get some color back on the blue milli for a short while and I think it was when I used the last of my phosguard. I don't think the chemipure elite is good for more than a week or two at most at dealing with the phosphates. I'm on the fence about doing anything else with this tank as plans are in the works to buy a bigger place and probably something along the lines of a 75gal..I guess it couldn't hurt to buy some phosban and throw it in a media bag in the 3rd chamber where the sponge would normally go. The flow is not strong enough to tumble the phosban so I don't think it would pulverize it.

Sorry to hear about the corals man.. I do have a chalice but I've had to keep it in the back corner.. It was bleaching under the halide.. Maybe its time to get the 20k bulb and start moving it out to where I can enjoy it.

Here's what was sold to me as fire chalice.. probably way overpriced at $100, but with a $50gc and 20% off it was a no brainer. Got it almost a year ago so it's grown a few new eyes and has completely covered the plug. Just picked up the favia yesterday.

20k Ushio on the way.. along with some phosban. Time to see if we can't get these corals to come around.

woohoo.. shipment comes tomorrow.. can't wait to put this new bulb in..

Tada.... wow!!! i'm pretty happy with this bulb.. 20k ushio

Did I mention how much I love the color of this bulb.. omg.. Has sparked a new interest in this tank... I haven't seen green on my green acans in months.. darn 14k ushio bulb. I'm glad the colors are all still there , I was really afraid my acans had lost coloring..

Not sure what possessed me to think I could put a small RBTA in here... .. other than I think this tank is going to go in a whole new direction.. again.. pics later...

Looks like she is gonna pull through - its looking so much better. I had a BTA once in my aquapod, didn't work out as it was killing every coral I had at one point.

I did a little bit of reaquascaping to accomodate the RBTA.. I really need to get some kalk paste and use it kill off some pocillopora that spawned. I can't wait to see the tank tonight. Once again I think this will be a successful go around with a nem in the tank provided that it stays where it's at currently at. It's in the perfect spot. Both times I've put a nem in here, they've stayed where I put them, and I think it's due to placing them in a crevice so they have a spot to plant their foot. They don't like flat surfaces, so I don't attempt to put it on one and expect it to stay.

FTS 12-13-10 w/new RBTA..

Looking good. I like the 20k bulb color. I think I'll try that next.
More pics please

I wonder if my bulb is old or if its the 70w viper? I was told I have a 5 month ushio 20k but it looks really dull.Yours looks way better then mine.

Thanks Lalani

Glad you like the 20K Ushio bulb Mike.I actually like it more than the phoenix I use to have in my 150 sunpod.I just love my 70W sunpod with the 20k Ushio bulb.My chalices just grow like crazy.Tank is looking great.

picked these up not too long ago

Rasta's?

Candy Apple Reds..

Moved into a house and the did a complete 180 with the tank. Speaking of 180 I'm also trying to get a 180 bowfront for the front room.

What you lighting, are you running now?

Still running the 70w 20k ushio.. not quite as blue when I bought it in Dec but it's lookin good still

For a while I wanted to go strictly SPS in the tank but the pocillopora spawn got me discouraged, still dealing with that crap on some frags..

Great vid, I love it


tanks is looking sweet as hell

looks good