MedRed's 60 Gal Solana XL: The End of an Era

[Deckoz2302]

I went the direction of I could support everything off of t5 or off led. If one was down for a day or what not. But really I use the LEDs as for a sunphase (and the color combo matches the t5s visually) while the t5s come on for 3 to 4 hours for a high noon/high par period. All my corals are still very brightlt colored. Then again you could acheive this with MH too however I was thinking more along the lines of heat and electric.

 

Either way in the end it is what is visually appealing as well as the best for animals. Im like medred I like the look of radiums, but Phoenix being my favorite so that is the output I went for spectrally with the leds, while the t5s brighten up the tank (leds look dim but are very intense) and I chose a color combo which best resembles a 14k Phoenix (blue plus, coral plus, purple plus, blue plus).

 

Im sure med will pick something awesome as he always does

[MedRed]

Ok... I have officially lost my mind. after staying up until 3am last night and spending most of today looking... I'm just going to use one of my existing fixtures from my endless supply of existing fixtures. I'm going to add a 150 watt ocean medic pendant for a total of 550w of light. Super overkill! hopefully I don't piss off my corals. The chiller is about to be working overtime.

[redkneecoral]

I have to say, you're tank is amazing.

 

It's been a long time since I have been on here and still Rocking out.

[MedRed]

Thank you redknee! Just trying to get to that next level.

[Deckoz2302]

Lol atleast im not the only one that thinks light can never be in abundance

[Spirofucci]

Ok... I have officially lost my mind. after staying up until 3am last night and spending most of today looking... I'm just going to use one of my existing fixtures from my endless supply of existing fixtures. I'm going to add a 150 watt ocean medic pendant for a total of 550w of light. Super overkill! hopefully I don't piss off my corals. The chiller is about to be working overtime.

You are too frigg'n funny!!!!

 

Really, no such thing as too much light......If I could afford it, I'd put another Pro over my tank.

[Deckoz2302]

You are too frigg'n funny!!!!

Really, no such thing as too much light......If I could afford it, I'd put another Pro over my tank.

 

You mean retro t5s onto it .. lol jk

[jedimasterben]

Why not just use a 400w Radium on an HQI ballast and supplement?

 

With that much light, you may start running into photoinhibition on some corals, though.

 

 

Also, *ahem*

 

 

1,762 PAR at 12" from a single 50w cluster, with the look between a Phonix and a Radium (on an HQI ballast). Imagine four of those over a 13" tall 30g tank. If I hang them right, I'll be able to support clams, and only clams.

[Kfmmartin19]

Why not just use a 400w Radium on an HQI ballast and supplement?

 

With that much light, you may start running into photoinhibition on some corals, though.

 

 

Also, *ahem*

 

 

1,762 PAR at 12" from a single 50w cluster, with the look between a Phonix and a Radium (on an HQI ballast). Imagine four of those over a 13" tall 30g tank. If I hang them right, I'll be able to support clams, and only clams.

Watcha got there, Ben??

[jedimasterben]

Watcha got there, Ben??

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/323517-building-an-evil-cluster-diy-led-on-steroids/?p=4328767

[MedRed]

My SWC 160 skimmer has been a pain in the butt for most of it's time. I can only get it to skim wet, and a lot of times I don't get very much skimmate at all. It may be due to how clean my tank is, but I'm seriously debating on upgrading to a Vertex Omega 150. My only reservation is the footprint on the 150 may make it tough to fit pumps for the biopellet reactor and the chiller. I may need to connect the chiller and biopellet reactor to the same pump and even then it might be a tight fit.

[Deckoz2302]

I love my bubble magua curve 5......

[MedRed]

I love my bubble magua curve 5......

I'll wait until the new Vertex comes out to see what the reviews are like. I'll keep the curve 5 in mind for shopping time. I really need a skimmer with a smaller neck.

 

Also, It's official...550w of halide. I'm keeping the AI Nano to use strictly for lunar lights and sunrise/set. I'm maxing out at 10% RB & Blue during the day and 5% at night for the lunar cycle. Most expensive moonlights ever. I'm going to do some par readings today. I stuck the meter in for a second to look at a couple of spots. I'm over 800 par at the top of the right spire and I seem to average 400 or so in the middle.

 

I ordered a new Radium bulb and was surprised to see the old style show up in the package! I found my m80 magnetic ballast. It's definitely brighter/whiter than the new style on an electronic ballast. I need to hook it up to an electronic ballast and see what it looks like.

[MedRed]

The complete history of my lighting can be summed up in this picture. Well...almost. The Radions used the AI hanging kit, and the pendant I used between the Radion and the Geisemann sat on that kit as well.

 

[Deckoz2302]

The complete history of my lighting can be summed up in this picture. Well...almost. The Radions used the AI hanging kit, and the pendant I used between the Radion and the Geisemann sat on that kit as well.

 

Lol you know they make drywall putty (not mud) that you can pack by hand ...better yet how many alligator clips are stranded up there lol

[mpsti05]

The complete history of my lighting can be summed up in this picture. Well...almost. The Radions used the AI hanging kit, and the pendant I used between the Radion and the Geisemann sat on that kit as well.

 

Lol that's funny as hell!

[MedRed]

lol. I want to repair the holes, but I only want to do it once. If this works through the end of the year, I'll fix them. There are more toggle bolts than holes up there

[metrokat]

You should post that picture in my Ghetto DIY thread.

[MedRed]

So... I'm in the process of upgrading and right sizing quite a few components in my tank.

 

Lighting: After realizing LEDs weren't for me, it's taken me a long while to find a solution that delivered enough PAR for SPS to fully surround each spire. Unless I end up with photoinhibition, I'm positive I've found the solution. Here's the history of my lighting.

1. Hung AI Sol Blues from hanging arms
2. replaced 40º optics with 70º optics to obtain better light spread
3. Hung Sol Blues from ceiling
4. Swapped the 40º optics back in to increase par
5. Swapped the 70º optics back in as the 40's still created too much shadowing
6. Switched to Ecotech Radions to improve coral and viewing color
7. Rehung Radions to move them forward
8. Removed Radions and placed Aqua Medic 250w Pendant with 10,000K Aqua Medic bulb on hanging kit to judge halide look (noticeable improvement even at 10,000K)
9. Added Phoenix 14,000K bulb to pendant (nail in the fate of LEDs)
10. Hung Giesemann Infiniti with 14,000K Phoenix and T5's.
11. Replaced Coral+ with a Blue+ for 3xBlue+ and 1 Purple+ (this was by far the best lighting for tank viewing and a beautiful fixture)
12. Removed Gisemann and hung 2 Aqua Medic halide pendants to fully illuminate spires where enough halide PAR couldn't reach due to centralized location
13. Added AI Super Blue Nano to front spire
14. Added Aqua Medic halide pendant to front spire and moved AI Nano to the right to illuminate open water.
15. PAR is finally where I want it for full SPS placement

Dosing Containers:

Switched from Bubble Magus conainers:

 

To Vertex Libra Vessels short version:

The Vessels are stackable, which allowed me to stack two with one sitting next to the stack. This takes up about the same footprint as the bubble magus containers, but each vessel adds a liter of capacity over the bubble magus containers. I don't have to fill up the vessels as often and they actually seal, so less worries of spilling when I remove them to fill up my ATO.

 

As of yesterday I added Hanna Magnetic stirrers to the Mag and Alk. I get some settling in the BRS ALK. I get a LOT of settling in the Kent Tech M Magnesium. I keep adding more mag as it is used, and the layer of silt covering the bottom keeps getting thicker and thicker. This worries me as I'm not able to guarantee the integrity of the solution with so much silt accumulating. I dumped out all of the mag, cleaned the container, and fired up the stirrer to keep the ingredients in suspension.

 

Biopellets: I've run Warner Marine EcoBak since day one and I'm very pleased with them. Both my nitrates and phosphates are undetectable by testing with Salifert and a Hanna checker respectively. I started off using 1,000ml of pellets while thinking more is better. I've since dropped down to 250ml. I realized my NextReef SMR1 reactor is over sized for my application. I'll be freeing up cabinet and sump space by switching to a CADlights nano reactor.

 

Preaching: If you're going to do biopellets, do it right. Don't convert a media reactor to a biopellet reactor. More than likely you will end up with clumping. I've seen people using the regular NextReef media reactor complain about clumping. Use a quality pellet (I'm sold on Warner Marine EcoBak), make sure you have enough flow, and start very small. Biopellets take time to get going. Being less ambitious in the start can save you from a bacterial bloom and cyano.

 

Skimmer: I've finally given in to the fact that my skimmer is oversized for my tank and bioload. I'll be right sizing it as soon as I see some reviews on the upcoming Vertex Omega 130. This switch will also free up some sump space.

[MGDMIRAGE]

I totally agree on the pellets, I've been running ecobak pellets for 3 years now. I got my first batch before they were released to stores. They are a great product and like you said nitrate and phosphate are ultra low while using them. I've used mine in a phosban 150 reactor the whole time but with an over sized pump(mag 3) the extra pressure of the larger pump kept them tumbling nicely.

I actually had to glue the push on fittings on the phosban reactor because the pressure of the mag 3 kept blowing them off lol.

[metrokat]

If you're running pellets, makes sense to have a right sized skimmer before you strip more nutrients than needed for the corals.

[MGDMIRAGE]

In my case my skimmer is rated for 250 gallons on my 40 breeder so I just feed heavy.

[jedimasterben]

You said you checked PAR in the tank - what does it look like?

[MedRed]

If you're running pellets, makes sense to have a right sized skimmer before you strip more nutrients than needed for the corals.

My skimmer is too big to pull anything out now that the nutrient levels are so low unless I wet skim. When I started with biopellets, I was told to go larger on the skimmer. Now I realize it's about balance. I'll downsize my skimmer so that I don't have to wet skim.

You said you checked PAR in the tank - what does it look like?

The next picture I take I'll include par values. The PAR values were eye opening. With 3 halides, most of the places where I have placed SPS have as much PAR as if they were only under 1 halide with maybe a small amount of overlap. Near the bottom in the middle (where all the fixtures combine) has almost as much PAR as some of the higher up areas around the sides. With 550W of light I'm at 800 on the top right spire and go down as low as 300 in the lower SPS zones.

[MedRed]

4 fixtures of craziness