Jump to content
inTank Media Baskets

Reef Vase - "Blue Crevice"


Rogles

Recommended Posts

PinkDamsel have you checked your tanks temp? Most corals in the wild bleach from the temp rising, the same could happen in our aquariums.

 

Thanks, but I think I have pretty good temp control: both heater & chiller controlled by ReefKeeper Lite. They aren't bleached, they're just not showing the pink colors, more dull and brownish, which usually means not enough light but they aren't stretching and the LED is strong, so I don't think it's intensity. Same issue w. some palys that were initially lime-colored.

Link to comment
  • Replies 123
  • Created
  • Last Reply

running this on all blues is pretty great... i'm probably going to switch my dymax IQ3 idea to making one of these vases instead (I only need a small tank for my future asterina collection lol).

Still the only thing that bothers me is the lid situation. do you have your's drilled near the top for cords to get through? how do you and brandon feed the cords into the vase but at the same time have the lid rest flawlessly on the inner surface of the vase(avoiding salt creep)?

Link to comment
Pink Im amazed too, we're missing the primary photosynthetic driver spectrum...its like running a reef on pure actinics only, Newman?

no, the blues are smack dab in the middle of the primary photosynthetic absorption spectrum. should work just fine

Link to comment
running this on all blues is pretty great... i'm probably going to switch my dymax IQ3 idea to making one of these vases instead (I only need a small tank for my future asterina collection lol).

Still the only thing that bothers me is the lid situation. do you have your's drilled near the top for cords to get through? how do you and brandon feed the cords into the vase but at the same time have the lid rest flawlessly on the inner surface of the vase(avoiding salt creep)?

 

 

Two holes were drilled in mine - one for the air tube and one for the heater cord. They are near the top (well above the water line) and the lid is above them. The heater's cord was cut and then reattached to a plug you can get at a hardware store. I needed help with that, so I'm not sure of the details of that process. I do know there was some type of putty involved. Looked pretty simple though.

 

I do get some salt creep with the cords - it even comes out through the grommets. Not sure how to avoid that one without having the holes below the water line (which is something I did actually ponder - though I couldn't think of a nice and clean way to seal it without it looking like a mess of silicone gel).

Link to comment

i see, so you basically did the same thing that brandon did on his... how did you drill the glass vase btw? i can't imagine drilling something that fragile, i would most certainly crack it lol...

Link to comment

The first attempt at drilling did shatter the vase for me. The trick is to put tape down on both sides where you're going to drill and drill slowly. It does take a while. I'd hate to try it with the thicker vases.

Link to comment

darn, sounds like I'd have to cut the lid instead then...i probably wont mind a little salt creep that i can remove periodically, as long as i don't have to cut any cords and increase my chances of water/salt getting in the spliced cord section and causing problems :P

 

thanks for inspiring me to consider a vase like this as a pico idea. you and brandon both. along with one other person here i think, but they haven't updated in a very long while :(

Link to comment

I tried running a pico on just actinics once, for constant flourescence and it didn't work, something must be off between the two spectra.

 

I ended up drilling the plastic lid, it gives the exact same effect as drilling the vase. drill two small incoming line holes, go to radioshack to get a pack of mixed grommets, and find two that fit snugly over your incoming lines then position in the lid holes. a few pieces of clear tape is usually required to press fit the lid into the inner diameter of the vase neck, or because Im using pc lights the fixture itself sits on top of the vase and presses down on the lid. the positive air pressure from the bubbler vents out through minor imperfections in the lid seating, but its still easy to control salt creep through water level adjustment.

Link to comment

i'd be using a powerhead if I were to do this... would that help? and what about just cutting two slits in the lid for the cords instead of drilling? that would work too right?

Link to comment

I had two slits cut for a while it works ok, but is more likely to collect some splatter and salt creep in that area but not too bad. the holes+grommet in the lid helped 10% more on reducing salt creep id guess

Link to comment

Rogles, what is that montipora coral with the yellow color? what does it look like under normal white light (you dont have to show, just describe the color of the skin and polyps under white light).

Link to comment
Rogles, what is that montipora coral with the yellow color? what does it look like under normal white light (you dont have to show, just describe the color of the skin and polyps under white light).

 

It's a rainbow montipora - it usally has a blue-ish base with green polyps. I've found that most green corals look yellow under royal blue LEDs - especially really strong ones. Also, orange coral looks red, yellowish-orange coral looks orange and cyan coral looks green. The frogspawn is strange though sometimes it looks yellow and sometimes it looks green.

Link to comment

This vase is pure awesomeness... Please note that this may be the only time in my life that I put those words together.

 

Good luck with it I'll read the whole thread when I have time soon because I have a bunch of questions...

Link to comment

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=286359

 

 

this link shows more anecdotes from hobbysists who do not get the same coral growth from actinic only vs lower kelvin ratings. It may help to increase the white bulb count to even back out that sps? even though the color is really punchy awesome I wouldn't have an actinic only setup, it doesn't run corals like a blended spectrum does. Since you are able to get growth in your vase with actinic spectrum only Im thinking the focal abilities of LED are still power driving the light somewhat, although Id still add a couple white bulbs and just keep the same royal blue pop. the link above is not scientific it just shows what hobbyists have measured for years, balanced lighting is better color retention and growth...

Link to comment

but wouldn't you want things to grow slower in a tiny vase like this? there is very little room and things would get cramped real quick if lighting was perfect. that's what I'm guessing. I rather like the idea of having a small vase like this run only on actinic, because 1. it's display appeal is huge, just look at all the neon colors and 2. aren't the colors very good already?

Link to comment

sure thats a good control reason to experiment w the lighting, more corals and less pruning if it works out that way. The color rendition is amazing its the best popping pics Ive seen in a while. we need to be able to see details of the base of the corals/numbers of polyps across a timeframe using actinic only to chart the growth potential of all blue LEDs. Rogle you could take some macro pics of the base of your sps and watch them in '12 to see how they progress.

Link to comment

hey are you dosing Rogles or not?

 

you could base plate a monti that far for sure in the vase. how were you feeding it Rogles?

Newman how many white led's run your tank

I have a friend who is using only one white led to balance out her blues and I wondered if it was too little low k spectrum to push the growth potential of the tank. your blues seem almost purple in these pics Rogs is neat.

Link to comment

well if he's using all blue crees, then the blues are of course pure blue, not purple at all, which is one reason why i like them. I run blue crees too on my pico. but i also run white crees. I have three whites and three blues. My slow-growing encrusting monti has plated well over the rocks. i think the dosing helps, so yes if you have SPS in a small tank, its recommended that you dose it even a little bit in between water change to boost up growth, if not just keep the SPS alive and well.

Link to comment
hey are you dosing Rogles or not?

 

you could base plate a monti that far for sure in the vase. how were you feeding it Rogles?

Newman how many white led's run your tank

I have a friend who is using only one white led to balance out her blues and I wondered if it was too little low k spectrum to push the growth potential of the tank. your blues seem almost purple in these pics Rogs is neat.

 

I've been still having trouble dosing as often as you recommended. Lately it's been just once a week. Also, I haven't actually put any food in since around July. I'm still trying to get rid of the flatworms and though they aren't in plague proportions now, there are still quite a few. They must be still living off the light. I'm surprised the coral has still been doing okay without being fed all this time (I still have a lot of amphipods and micro brittlestars too). I should probably put food in soon though. I assume the reason why the vase looks good even though I haven't been dosing it as much as I should is because I haven't been feeding. If I start feeding again, I'm going to have to make sure to dose 3 times a week.

 

Other notes: the yellow palys have been fading quite a bit recently. Could be the blue light or too much par for that particular variety. Also, the piece of the green birdsnest that I broke off and put in my 17.4 gallon with the Aqua Illumination Sol is actually getting a little brighter than the piece that's still in the vase. I'm going to agree that it's probably better to have some white light instead of all blue. If I had the ability, I would like to set it up so the vase would get some strong white light in the middle of the day, but then switch to full blue around 5:00 or so. That might call for an AI nano!

Link to comment
i am expecting that monti to be plating over the rocks it's resting on over the next few months :)

 

I broke that piece up into a bunch of pieces last week. They will probably be encrusting in quite a few places :)

 

My purple monti (which doesn't really show up under blue light) has really been spreading in there.

Link to comment

these bowls are very forgiving regarding feeding and dosing and light I think all the truths will be known as it ages closer to a year, too much to guess so early on. Once you meet the basic requirements like you have they will darn near run a year with hardly any prescribed care at all!

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions


×
×
  • Create New...