jedimasterben Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 Subtle Updates: 1. Split my two DIY strips into 'White' and 'Blue' channels (running 50/50%). Although I won't be able to adjust intensity front-to-back, I can now more easily alter the hue (had to change out emitters before to get a particular color rendition). White channel has OCW, NW, B, C...Blue channel has RB, HV. I anticipate settling on maybe 40% white, 60% blue. Since I'm using a few LEDGroupBuy Bridglux NWs, this will also help reduce the amount of heat buildup on the White channel. Ya know, You could have full control over the front and back AND each color if you used different drivers. Also, the Bridgelux diodes do the opposite effect - they create more heat for less light. Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 Ya know, You could have full control over the front and back AND each color if you used different drivers. Also, the Bridgelux diodes do the opposite effect - they create more heat for less light. LOL, I knew you'd pop in Yeah, I know about the drivers. One of these days... True in regards to the NW Bridglux and that's why I went to Cree's, initially. But I have found that the light that the BLs put out stimulates richer coral pigmentation and is just more pleasant than the Crees...at least to my eye. I run a mix of both to mitigate some of the extra heat. 1 Quote Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 LOL, I knew you'd pop in Yeah, I know about the drivers. One of these days... True in regards to the NW Bridglux and that's why I went to Cree's, initially. But I have found that the light that the BLs put out stimulates richer coral pigmentation and is just more pleasant than the Crees...at least to my eye. I run a mix of both to mitigate some of the extra heat. http://shop.stevesleds.com/Philips-Luxeon-ES-2700K-Warm-White-3-Watt-LEDs-8794102491.htm Those would show you what a real white diode can do. 95CRI typical, 90 minimum. The chips you have now are 70 typical. Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 http://shop.stevesleds.com/Philips-Luxeon-ES-2700K-Warm-White-3-Watt-LEDs-8794102491.htm Those would show you what a real white diode can do. 95CRI typical, 90 minimum. The chips you have now are 70 typical. Hmmm, interesting...and bookmarked 1 Quote Link to comment
hypostatic Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 "Au Naturel" ? OOH LA LA! Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted April 26, 2015 Author Share Posted April 26, 2015 "Au Naturel" ? OOH LA LA! Sounds better than 'natürlich' 3 Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 Noticed that my heatsink strips were running hot to the touch at ~50% and the OCW Red diode was actually slightly burned around the edges. I had planned to retrofit everything over to Rapid LED's 6" x 12" canopy wih a large heatsink, however, the canopy was just a bit too small for everything to fit. Luckily, the heatsink was the perfect size to fit in my existing canopy, so a bit of garage engineering and wala: To make this work, I had to delete one of the Blue/white Stunner Strips and all the reflectors since they protruded beyong the clear plastic guard. While I was at it, I used the hole pattern of Steve's canopy to create an array of holes in my canopy's top surface to allow heat to escape: The results are a passive system where the heatsink is now just a bit warm to the touch, even after running for 3-4 hours at ~50% of capacity (350mA). 4 Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 'Now with 'Birds...nests'!' Moved on my Vivid Red Planet Acro today to a LFS. It was a good run going from a 3/8" frag to over 3-1/2" diameter, but the growth form and color clearly indicated that it needed a SPS dedicated tank with higher flow and lighting. 'Farewell, ye 'ol trooper' To fill this medium flow and light spot, something a bit more suitable: Never really paid too much attention to the different varieties of Seriatopora out there, but it looks like one is likely a 'Ponape', one is highlighter green and one has rounded ends (as opposed to sharp). I heard they can grow like weeds, so I'd better make extra Kalkwasser 5 Quote Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Nice, to bad for the red planet- it was a nice piece. Ponape do grow fairly quickly - tight little sharp points! Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Hey you. How is everything? I've taken to bi-weekly sand siphoning and think of you every time. I hang a sock in my sump and siphon into there. I collect a mountain of detritus but waste very little water and can keep to my usual lazy water change routine. 1 Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Nice, to bad for the red planet- it was a nice piece. Ponape do grow fairly quickly - tight little sharp points! It was an interesting experiment to try and grow a difficult tabling Acro in what is basically a lagoon tank full of 'Shrooms. Yeeah, sharp they are. I've got extra band-aids...just in case 1 Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted May 22, 2015 Author Share Posted May 22, 2015 Hey you. How is everything? I've taken to bi-weekly sand siphoning and think of you every time. I hang a sock in my sump and siphon into there. I collect a mountain of detritus but waste very little water and can keep to my usual lazy water change routine. Nano sapiens = Bag Full of Detritus ... Hi Kat, I know you like to feed heavy, so regular cleaning should help to keep NO3 and PO4 low. I have found that a good SB blasting with a turkey baster everyday keeps the sand bed bacteria productive since some are stirred up into the water column and absorbed by other animals and the remainder have to repopulate so they use up substances such as PO4 and NO3. I attribute my low NO3 (consistently ~0.5ppm) and undetectable PO4 partly to this process, as well as to the direct removal of detritus weekly. And, I also use my back wall as a type of ATS by scraping and removing the biofilm/brown algae once a week. Caution to those who might read this: Without sufficient food input, regular rigorous sand bed vacuuming can result in insufficient nutrient levels...and pale corals. 4 Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted May 22, 2015 Share Posted May 22, 2015 Nano sapiens = Bag Full of Detritus ... Hi Kat, I know you like to feed heavy, so regular cleaning should help to keep NO3 and PO4 low. I have found that a good SB blasting with a turkey baster everyday keeps the sand bed bacteria productive since some are stirred up into the water column and absorbed by other animals and the remainder have to repopulate so they use up substances such as PO4 and NO3. I attribute my low NO3 (consistently ~0.5ppm) and undetectable PO4 partly to this process, as well as to the direct removal of detritus weekly. And, I also use my back wall as a type of ATS by scraping and removing the biofilm/brown algae once a week. Caution to those who might read this: Without sufficient food input, regular rigorous sand bed vacuuming can result in insufficient nutrient levels...and pale corals. I haven't turkey basted the sand, but then I have a lot of sand NS! I take the beating stick and stir up the sand often though - I think that counts. I've been trying to find my balance with nutrients again. I don't necessarily want to keep everything on the low end, just in balance. Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted May 30, 2015 Author Share Posted May 30, 2015 I haven't turkey basted the sand, but then I have a lot of sand NS! I take the beating stick and stir up the sand often though - I think that counts. I've been trying to find my balance with nutrients again. I don't necessarily want to keep everything on the low end, just in balance. Speaking of stirring...and balance... I just came back from a 5 day vacation and my tank walls were so full of brown algae I could hardly see into the tank. The tank was not fed in my absence. What makes this so unusual is that normally I can go 4-5 days until I start to see a small dusting of algae. I feed twice daily (dry food for the fish in the morning, frozen for the fish and aminos/coral food in the afternoon)...plus daily stirring of the sand bed. I speculate that the bacteria in the sand bed were deprived of the daily nutrition source they were using to denitrify and stirring distributed some bacteria into the water column for consumption while the remainder naturally repopulated (phosphate usage/sequestering). With both processes interrupted, nitrate and phosphate were then abundantly available for the algae to utilize, hence the algae bloom. A good example of how a tank 'gets used to' a certain routine...and what can happen when the routine is interrupted. Consistency in regards to tank feeding and maintenance practices are often overlooked, but they rank right behind water parameter stability, IMO. 9 Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 Lighting Update: Whipped out the PAR meter and it looks like I lost about 20% intensity when I modified my array to run cooler (much larger heat sink, removed one stunner strip and all stunner reflectors). Currently reading 185 PAR, previously 230 PAR (midpoint of tank). Also dropped the white channel down ~20% since I now have control over both white and blue channels. Interestingly, Kalkwasser usage has gone up 20%. A case coud be made that the previously higher light intensity was photoinhibiting at least some of the corals due to the high PUR output typical of LED arrays, but it may also be true that a brighter white channel than typical these days (in relation to the blue channel) was contributing to less Ca and Alk usage. . 1 Quote Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 How are the corals reacting to the change in par? Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 How are the corals reacting to the change in par? For the most part, better actually. The Rics, and especially the Rhodactis, look more 'relaxed' and I've noticed much less zooxanthellae being ejected over a week. Only the Acan colonies have a little less intense coloration than before, but still acceptable The new Birdsnest frags I got recently are the only corals having some difficulty at the moment (some bleaching/STN from the bases on upwards, but the progression seems to have stopped). The alk swing I had over my one week vacation likely contributed to the problem, but also my array's different spectrum and output (they were under Kessils at the LFS). Apparently, they are known to be finicky when it comes to lighting. As always when I have any bleaching, I add a bit of extra Iodine which I believe does help. Getting commercial LED arrays set properly can be a challenge (when compared to MH and T5), but DIY LEDs even more so. 1 Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 If I were small and a fishie, I'd dive right in myself 7 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 Nano sapiens = Bag Full of Detritus ... Hi Kat, I know you like to feed heavy, so regular cleaning should help to keep NO3 and PO4 low. I have found that a good SB blasting with a turkey baster everyday keeps the sand bed bacteria productive since some are stirred up into the water column and absorbed by other animals and the remainder have to repopulate so they use up substances such as PO4 and NO3. I attribute my low NO3 (consistently ~0.5ppm) and undetectable PO4 partly to this process, as well as to the direct removal of detritus weekly. And, I also use my back wall as a type of ATS by scraping and removing the biofilm/brown algae once a week. Caution to those who might read this: Without sufficient food input, regular rigorous sand bed vacuuming can result in insufficient nutrient levels...and pale corals. I've been doing the turkey baster in my 4g and my 10g too, but only once or twice a week. In the 10g, I've noticed more difficulty keeping NO3 under control. I'm going to try doing it daily and see if things improve. And yeah, gotta feed those corals In my little frag tank which is super clean due to large water changes, my green monti cap frag has gone from bright green to pale yellow, I suspect due mostly to lack of nutrients. If I were small and a fishie, I'd dive right in myself Video Link: http://vid230.photobucket.com/albums/ee141/Back2dubs/Clown%20Snuggling%20in%20Rics_060615_zpsgutfvjxv.mp4 I love this! I want to take it home and snuggle it 1 Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 I've been doing the turkey baster in my 4g and my 10g too, but only once or twice a week. In the 10g, I've noticed more difficulty keeping NO3 under control. I'm going to try doing it daily and see if things improve. And yeah, gotta feed those corals In my little frag tank which is super clean due to large water changes, my green monti cap frag has gone from bright green to pale yellow, I suspect due mostly to lack of nutrients. I love this! I want to take it home and snuggle it When you first start basting daily you might experience an increase iin nutrients initally, but stick with it a while and you should see an improvement. I also utilize the back wall as an algae turf farm by removing the algae that grows there weekly from the tank (credit card scrape from bottom to top, remove algae at the top of the stroke with a pipette, move over a bit and repeat). Easy way to remove phosphate from the system regularly in addition to the detritus removal. Indeed, does sound like a starved Monti Cap. With my low NO3/PO4 system daily feeding and AAs are producing very deep, rich coloration in all my established corals. Need a proper theme song for 'Snuggly Rics' 1 Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Cute clown He does look cute in the vid, but he turns into a fishie kamakazee-samurai whenever I put my hand (or other cleaning object) into the tank. 1 Quote Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 If I were small and a fishie, I'd dive right in myself Video Link: http://vid230.photobucket.com/albums/ee141/Back2dubs/Clown%20Snuggling%20in%20Rics_060615_zpsgutfvjxv.mp4 The clown is all I LOVE THIS SO MUCH THIS IS LOVE AND THIS IS MINE AND THIS IS MY LOVE He does look cute in the vid, but he turns into a fishie kamakazee-samurai whenever I put my hand (or other cleaning object) into the tank. Well yeah, you're coming after his blankey 4 Quote Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted June 6, 2015 Author Share Posted June 6, 2015 Well yeah, you're coming after his blankey So he thinks... 3 Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted June 6, 2015 Share Posted June 6, 2015 That's surprising! I figured he was too small to be aggressive like that. Spunky fish! Quote Link to comment
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