Requality's ADA 7.5g Cube | Kessil A350W

[Requality]

Kessil A350w is here!

 

 

I've been reading about reef tanks on and off for about 6 months and I finally decided to bite the bullet and start one. I'm coming to reefs with a distinct background in plantedtanks so I'm used to the constant care that these tanks require.

This will be my last summer in San Jose before I move out and go to college so I'm hoping to start this tank and bring it with me (its only a 2 hour drive).

Potentially scape, I'm missing two small pieces of live rock which are still in the bags.


Current Equipment (June 10th, 2014)
ADA 30C Cube 7.5 Gal
Hydor Koralia 70 Gal?
Aquaclear 70? - Floss, Purigen, Chemipure Elite
Coralife Digital Thermometer

6lb FHI Dry Rock
1lb Cured Live Rock
Aragonite Sand
Instant Ocean Salt

 

[Requality]

Filling up time! ADA tanks are still beautiful even when there is nothing in it.

After an hour or so of mixing water and setting the stand up, It's finally done!


Suburb craftsmanship.


Bought the stand at walmart for 37$. It's very sturdy and seems to be holding up well.

[NanoClown]

Yo im also local to the Bay Area, where did you end up picking up that nice live rock?

[Requality]

The purple one is actually FHI dry rock, Neptune Aquatics sells really nice sets of them for about 7.50/lb. The actual live rocks are the small white pieces which are going to house some cute little zoes someday.

[Spiderguardnano]

look into getting the surface skimmer from pico aquariums it would make a huge diffrence

 

 

the build looks promising

 

following

[Requality]

look into getting the surface skimmer from pico aquariums it would make a huge diffrence

 

 

the build looks promising

 

following

 

Awesome! First follower achievement obtained. I thought about getting a surface skimmer, but is it really even needed? I mean with constant weekly water change of 2 gallons, chemipure, and purigen I doubt there will be any excess nutrients left. I'm not looking to overstock the tank with fishes, I just want a nice coral scape.

[Roshan8768]

 

Awesome! First follower achievement obtained. I thought about getting a surface skimmer, but is it really even needed? I mean with constant weekly water change of 2 gallons, chemipure, and purigen I doubt there will be any excess nutrients left. I'm not looking to overstock the tank with fishes, I just want a nice coral scape.

 

The surface skimmer will help better oxygenate your water and will make sure that you don't develop an oily film on the top of your water surface... it's different from a skimmer which you definitely don't need with good water changes and low stocking

[Spiderguardnano]

I just added a surface skimmer on my ac50 and made a huge diffrence

 

its like $23 buck and i think its still free shipping

 

i would def jump on it

[Requality]

The surface skimmer will help better oxygenate your water and will make sure that you don't develop an oily film on the top of your water surface... it's different from a skimmer which you definitely don't need with good water changes and low stocking

 

Oh, I don't know why but I completely neglected the surface part. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

I just added a surface skimmer on my ac50 and made a huge diffrence

 

its like $23 buck and i think its still free shipping

 

i would def jump on it

 

Did you just plug it in the back of your Aquaclear? What changed after?

[Spiderguardnano]

 

Oh, I don't know why but I completely neglected the surface part. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

 

Did you just plug it in the back of your Aquaclear? What changed after?

 

that should explain everything

[pismo_reefer]

I really like the dimensions of that tank.

 

It bugs the crap out of me, that its not centered over the negative space in the stand tho. *ocd*

[Requality]

 

that should explain everything

 

Gotcha. I'll look more into this and see if i can DIY.

I really like the dimensions of that tank.

 

It bugs the crap out of me, that its not centered over the negative space in the stand tho. *ocd*

 

Really? I'm a designer myself and off centered things sometimes just make it look more appealing. To each his own though right?

 

 

Side note, I'm debating between a coral compulsion par 38 14k bulb or a nanobox. Any thoughts?

[Dramad1]

If you got the money id go with the tide. Great light.

[Roshan8768]

^{They are not even comparable haha... go for the nanobox if you have the $$. A par30 will do the trick just fine though}

[Requality]

If you got the money id go with the tide. Great light.

 

 

^{They are not even comparable haha... go for the nanobox if you have the $$. A par30 will do the trick just fine though}

 

Wow, guess nanobox it is. What about the light spec wise makes it so good? Or is it just the minimalist design portion of it that wins the market?

[Roshan8768]

I'm not an expert but I believe you get closer to a full spectrum on the Nanobox. Also, you can obviously dim the different channels and play around with it. Now you could also buy one of the new dimmable par38s, mount it higher and call it a day

[Illuiix]

 

that should explain everything

 

Oh snap! I didn't know Chris from picO had videos, that's freaking awesome man.

[Requality]

I'm not an expert but I believe you get closer to a full spectrum on the Nanobox. Also, you can obviously dim the different channels and play around with it. Now you could also buy one of the new dimmable par38s, mount it higher and call it a day

 

But what about the quality of the LEDs itself? BuildmyLED seems to have a much better deal for a sleek looking light that outputs more par. Is there a difference in quality or is just we're paying for craftsmanship. (I'm all for paying craftsmanship though, ADA Tanks <3)

 

http://www.buildmyled.com/14000k-reef-spectrum-xb-series/

[Illuiix]

Get a kessil man....get the deep ocean blue or ocean blue. Don't ever go sky blue 10k....I had a 10k sky blue a150w kessil before in the past on my previous build and I kinda lost interests in the reefs just because it wasn't blue enough and my corals weren't poppy enough. I had an ai nano sol and buildmyled before and from my past experiences, I would still rate kessils the best. For 1, it grows corals very very darn well. You can literally just add frags and it'll grow to colonies faster than any other light in the market. And the simplicity of on/off is a plus imo. I had control-ability with buildmyled fixture and ai nano sol and to me, it was useless....it actually made my corals stressed a bit more because I was always trying to figure out the right intensities to leave on....it just won't work on the naked eye imo. And the kessil a150w is really high quality....talk about the craftsmanship, it's made of really good quality compared to ai nano sol (cheap plastic) and buildmyled( some parts are plastic). And if you really want a nice looking light stand for a kessil, you can use this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-FREE-SHIP-ORE-MODERN-CHROME-BROWN-BATHROOM-TOWEL-RACK-HANGING-STAND-/380924968905?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item58b0e5bfc9

For $40, same priced as the kessil gooseneck but looks much much better imo.

Here's my tank with it, in case you're wondering.

And my build thread.

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/346272-d-r-o-o-l-z/

I bought my kessil on ebay for $200 flat, brand new free shipping. I have the 15k now, but wished I had gone for the 20k instead for more of an actinic look and superb growth.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kessil-A150W-Ocean-Blue-15000K-32W-LED-Fixture-FREE-USA-SHIPPING-/291150063095?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43c9e565f7

[Requality]

Get a kessil man....get the deep ocean blue or ocean blue. Don't ever go sky blue 10k....I had a 10k sky blue a150w kessil before in the past on my previous build and I kinda lost interests in the reefs just because it wasn't blue enough and my corals weren't poppy enough. I had an ai nano sol and buildmyled before and from my past experiences, I would still rate kessils the best. For 1, it grows corals very very darn well. You can literally just add frags and it'll grow to colonies faster than any other light in the market. And the simplicity of on/off is a plus imo. I had control-ability with buildmyled fixture and ai nano sol and to me, it was useless....it actually made my corals stressed a bit more because I was always trying to figure out the right intensities to leave on....it just won't work on the naked eye imo. And the kessil a150w is really high quality....talk about the craftsmanship, it's made of really good quality compared to ai nano sol (cheap plastic) and buildmyled( some parts are plastic). And if you really want a nice looking light stand for a kessil, you can use this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-FREE-SHIP-ORE-MODERN-CHROME-BROWN-BATHROOM-TOWEL-RACK-HANGING-STAND-/380924968905?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item58b0e5bfc9

For $40, same priced as the kessil gooseneck but looks much much better imo.

Here's my tank with it, in case you're wondering.

And my build thread.

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/346272-d-r-o-o-l-z/

I bought my kessil on ebay for $200 flat, brand new free shipping. I have the 15k now, but wished I had gone for the 20k instead for more of an actinic look and superb growth.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kessil-A150W-Ocean-Blue-15000K-32W-LED-Fixture-FREE-USA-SHIPPING-/291150063095?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43c9e565f7

 

Oh wow, I didn't even consider Kessil up until this point. I've seen it in stores and the lighting looks beautiful. This just moved it to one of my top choices!

[fishybusiness11]

digging the light fixture!

[Roshan8768]

Kessil would look pretty slick!! It would also be useful if you want to upgrade later and they have decent resale value... idk why I didn't think of that.

[Requality]

Alright! Kessil it is. I found an awesome deal for a Kessil 350w, but I feel like it would be crazy overkill for such a small tank? There is always an option of running it at a very very low dimmage (25%ish).

[Alex B]

Lulu saying kessil grows coral faster than any other light on the market is kinda crazy.

They are good lights, but come on man. Any well built, full spectrum light will grow coral. A lot more than good light is needed to have stunning corals.

 

If we want to talk about growth. Nothing is better than halide supplemented by t5.

[Requality]

Day 3
Daily dosages of 2ml of Brightwell MicroBacter7 to help seed the cycling process. I understand that the process would natural occur elsewise, but there is nothing wrong with some foundation. Especially for a first time reefer!

Also been doing daily top offs since the weather has gotten kinda hot recently.

So the water seems to have completely cleared up with my filter only containing filter floss. Azahh!


There is some minuscule diatom growth on the lower right side, since my room light is bleeding into the tank. Nothing too crazy though!


And does anyone know what this is? It has a clam like structure and occassionally moves up and down. This could be contributed to that the power head is directly pointed at it.