PolypHead Posted April 19, 2010 Share Posted April 19, 2010 I set this tank up on 4-13-2010. I have been curious about leds for several years but had only seen pictures on the internet. I had to see for myself what corals looked like under leds. I have used several types of metal halides over the past 12 years and my favorite for color was the 20k radium 400 watt driven by coral vue hqi ballast and the 400 watt coral vue 12k for growth. My new favorite lights are Cree leds. A few people have told me that leds were a waste of time just from what they heard from other people online but I had to see for myself. I dont rely on meters or test to tell me my light qualiity. I like to rely on the color and health of the coral when I decide on what light to use. So my newsest reef is a 2.5 perfecto with glass top, 2 tom 45gph internal filters, 3 xpg led driven by meanwell 1050, 6 royal blue xre led mounted on a 4x8 heatsink, one $6 fan from wallmart, 2 lbs live rock, 1 bali green slimer, one unknown encrusting monti that has started to turn purple, a few green zoanthids , 2 brown palys that are turning blue, one small gsp frag, Pom Pom Xenia, Cornbread bubblegum chalice, RedPE, Candy Apple Paly, Blackholesun Paly, Icebreaker paly, Green Acan Hilea, Red Acan Hilea, Bleeding Heart Acan Hilea, Green Pocilipora, Pink and Orange Yuma, Cespitularia, 2 astrea snails and 4 quarter inch blue legged hermits. Total cost so far $400. Link to comment
Powiee Posted April 23, 2010 Share Posted April 23, 2010 Awesome, I agree, seeing is believing. I also bought my LEDs but haven't gotten the driver for it so it will take some time. Link to comment
tazer Posted April 24, 2010 Share Posted April 24, 2010 This is awesome. Exactly what I was wanting to do to try LED's out. Definitely will be following this thread. Link to comment
PolypHead Posted April 27, 2010 Author Share Posted April 27, 2010 4-27-2010 Did my first water change today. Replaced one half gallon and rinsed out filter in the water I took out. Also added some corals last week. Added True Red People Eaters, Ice Breakers Paly, Black Hole Sun Paly, Candy Apple Paly, ATL Mohawks Paly, Acan Hilae green, red, and a Bleeding Heart, Pink Yuma, and a Bubblegum Monster Cornbred. This weekend I plan on making my final purchases, one more sps and a few small hermits to help keep the rocks clean. Link to comment
c_k_kuehne Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Look good PolypHead -- Welcome to the Methodology Contest Link to comment
PolypHead Posted May 3, 2010 Author Share Posted May 3, 2010 I have had to cut back the lighting to 5 hours a day and raise my leds. These leds are more intense than the metal halide the corals came from. The corals started to show signs of stress. The ice breakes palys have lost most of thier whitish blue zoanthella and one of the acans and yuma is looking shriveled. The sps look great though. Link to comment
PolypHead Posted May 21, 2010 Author Share Posted May 21, 2010 Here is a current fts and a picture upclose of my chalice. Click on the pictures and they should enlarge. I havent figured out how to post the pictures so that you dont have to click on them. If someone could help me I would appreciate it. For anyone wondering about the color loss I had in a few corals. After raising the lights and cutting back from 10 to 12 hours I went to 5 hours per day for a week and now up to 6 to 8 hours per day. The color has returned to the corals and they are looking great. Link to comment
PolypHead Posted May 21, 2010 Author Share Posted May 21, 2010 Any updates on the tank? No additives are added. Once every 7 to 10 days I do a half a gallon water change. Lights are on 6 to 8 hours a day until I put a timer on the lights. It seems that if the lights are on for more than this I start to get lots of air bubbles in the tank which I believe is from algae producing oxygen. Salinity is at 25 Temp varies from 74 to 77 I tried using a small heater but I returned it because it kept the tank at 82 which I believe is to hot for this small tank. I top off with ro di every other day about a half of a cup. The top of the tank is covered with glass so water evaporation is minimal. Link to comment
Freakin Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 To insert images inline you will need to upload them somewhere else. Popular choices are imageshack.us and photobucket.com You upload the image to there, grab the URL to the full size image and click on the "Add Image" button when posting. Alternatively you can wrap the URL in tags instead Link to comment
PolypHead Posted May 22, 2010 Author Share Posted May 22, 2010 To insert images inline you will need to upload them somewhere else. Popular choices are imageshack.us and photobucket.com You upload the image to there, grab the URL to the full size image and click on the "Add Image" button when posting. Alternatively you can wrap the URL in tags instead Thanks for the info Link to comment
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