NanoTopia's ZEOvit 80L [ ]

[Asureef]

Very nice SPS Nano, I especially like the red planet. I don't even run zeovit and mine looks paler than yours for some reason.

 

 

An old pic of my forest fire monti., I moved it in the back and it just grew like weed. I could never get that green to come out though. I remember back when it was still a frag with a green base in my old 28g, which I never tested for nutrients. There's also a few branches that's been shaded out by a monti cap that still hold color. I'm with POD, lighting may not be the important factor here in bringing out the green. I also have the german blue, which looks like a pale brown stick and only half of the colony is showing light blue polyps. I have measured par in that area which should be getting close to 300. I've also seen the coral in a more nutrients rich tank that looks like a clear textbook example of the ORA german blue digi.

 

[Arkayology]

Looks like you need to clean that wet side

[NanoTopia]

Very nice SPS Nano, I especially like the red planet. I don't even run zeovit and mine looks paler than yours for some reason.

 

 

An old pic of my forest fire monti., I moved it in the back and it just grew like weed. I could never get that green to come out though. I remember back when it was still a frag with a green base in my old 28g, which I never tested for nutrients. There's also a few branches that's been shaded out by a monti cap that still hold color. I'm with POD, lighting may not be the important factor here in bringing out the green. I also have the german blue, which looks like a pale brown stick and only half of the colony is showing light blue polyps. I have measured par in that area which should be getting close to 300. I've also seen the coral in a more nutrients rich tank that looks like a clear textbook example of the ORA german blue digi.

 

With the right supplements you can keep colours even in low nutrients, albeit a bit tricky.

 

Looks like you need to clean that wet side

You think?

 

Never saw the bubble algae until I saw the photo, time for some cleaning for sure

[markalot]

So I wanted to include this pic from my 46, just to complete the discussion of the Forest Fire digitata. I despise my 46 due to the difficulty seeing the finer details through the bowed glass, so of course it has always done better. Anyway, I have a piece of Forest Fire digitata in here, under about 200 PAR LED lights, so probably a little higher than measured. If you look at the back branch, it is being shaded by the green monti cap and looks a lot better (better polyp extension, more color, green base) that the part exposed to full light. And yea, that back branch goes from the base, out, and then loops and circles back.

 

It's on odd coral.

 

[NanoTopia]

So I wanted to include this pic from my 46, just to complete the discussion of the Forest Fire digitata. I despise my 46 due to the difficulty seeing the finer details through the bowed glass, so of course it has always done better. Anyway, I have a piece of Forest Fire digitata in here, under about 200 PAR LED lights, so probably a little higher than measured. If you look at the back branch, it is being shaded by the green monti cap and looks a lot better (better polyp extension, more color, green base) that the part exposed to full light. And yea, that back branch goes from the base, out, and then loops and circles back.

 

It's on odd coral.

Have you tried dialling in more blue spectrum and less white spectrum and keeping the same PAR? Your caps look a little faded as well, albeit they look nice otherwise I have had the Forest Fire frag just under the water line on the frag rack for a while now and it's holding good colour, can't say how much PAR exactly it is getting but it's under a 6 bulb T5. I never had any success with monties and LED, no idea why really, maybe I just had too much PAR or the wrong spectrum on them. They are liking the T5 bulbs now, getting some better colours from them. I think I need to by an Apogee MQ200, tired of guessing PAR in my tanks, there like $400 here

[Nano sapiens]

I think I need to by an Apogee MQ200, tired of guessing PAR in my tanks, there like $400 here

 

A much cheaper option is to buy just the sensor from Apogee ('electric' or 'sun'..I have the 'electric') and a digital meter. The PAR reading is simply multiplied by a factor of five to give you the same number you'd get with the Apogee MQ200.

[bobssecrtsn]

Hey Christine, im back in the game again !

[NanoTopia]

A much cheaper option is to buy just the sensor from Apogee ('electric' or 'sun'..I have the 'electric') and a digital meter. The PAR reading is simply multiplied by a factor of five to give you the same number you'd get with the Apogee MQ200.

What digital meter are you using?

 

Hey Christine, im back in the game again !

[markalot]

Have you tried dialling in more blue spectrum and less white spectrum and keeping the same PAR? Your caps look a little faded as well, albeit they look nice otherwise I have had the Forest Fire frag just under the water line on the frag rack for a while now and it's holding good colour, can't say how much PAR exactly it is getting but it's under a 6 bulb T5. I never had any success with monties and LED, no idea why really, maybe I just had too much PAR or the wrong spectrum on them. They are liking the T5 bulbs now, getting some better colours from them. I think I need to by an Apogee MQ200, tired of guessing PAR in my tanks, there like $400 here

 

I'm limited on what I can do. I have 3 BuildMyLED fixtures over this tank and a couple of low power blue accent strips, all laying on the glass lids. The latest is one I customized to be mostly blue, but my reef spectrum and Blue White (what was I thinking!) custom strip over power the blues. That green cap with the blue polyps looks 100 times better in here than it does in the 40, and the purple cap on the right was brown just 2 weeks ago when I bought it.

 

See, I did not intend to have any SPS in this tank, it was supposed to be LPS and softies. Big things that would look good in a bowfront. I run a DIY refugium in an AC110 and I bought an EShoppes HOB skimmer because it was on sale and supposed to be ok, but not great. The two hockey puck LED lights I glued to the lid of the AC110 ended up being the perfect light for macro algae and it grows like crazy, and the skimmer pulls out twice the volume of dark muck as the one in my 40 ... but I still did not intend for this to have any SPS ... then I had a few extra broken pieces of coral so I put them in ... and there they go, growing fast and looking great. I only test every other week, if I remember, and I go with the attitude that if one of the SPS dies ... so be it. And they keep going. There's a lesson for me here somewhere.

[neuwave]

Wow. Your tank is looking amazing and those tabling acros have fantastic growth. Keep it up.

[Nano sapiens]

What digital meter are you using?

 

 

One I got at Radio Shack. Just about any modern digital multimeter will work.

 

There are a few posts around like this one with details:

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1841059

[NanoTopia]

I'm limited on what I can do. I have 3 BuildMyLED fixtures over this tank and a couple of low power blue accent strips, all laying on the glass lids. The latest is one I customized to be mostly blue, but my reef spectrum and Blue White (what was I thinking!) custom strip over power the blues. That green cap with the blue polyps looks 100 times better in here than it does in the 40, and the purple cap on the right was brown just 2 weeks ago when I bought it.

 

See, I did not intend to have any SPS in this tank, it was supposed to be LPS and softies. Big things that would look good in a bowfront. I run a DIY refugium in an AC110 and I bought an EShoppes HOB skimmer because it was on sale and supposed to be ok, but not great. The two hockey puck LED lights I glued to the lid of the AC110 ended up being the perfect light for macro algae and it grows like crazy, and the skimmer pulls out twice the volume of dark muck as the one in my 40 ... but I still did not intend for this to have any SPS ... then I had a few extra broken pieces of coral so I put them in ... and there they go, growing fast and looking great. I only test every other week, if I remember, and I go with the attitude that if one of the SPS dies ... so be it. And they keep going. There's a lesson for me here somewhere.

I have been playing around with my nanobox on the 7 gallon, I must say that spectrum is everything with LED, control like I have (4 channels) makes a big difference. My last LED did not have much control, I think that contributed to the lack of success I was having with it. I wasn't a big believer in full spectrum LED until just recently, no other way to do LED IMO.

 

Picked up a ORA Bellina and ORA Joe the Coral yesterday, not easy finds up in the great white north, picks when they colour up

 

Wow. Your tank is looking amazing and those tabling acros have fantastic growth. Keep it up.

Thanks Neuwave, the tank is 2.5 years old now, I look at other tanks that are 2.5+ years old and they seem to have had better growth overall. Things grow in my tank I just frag it off often to keep things under control. I'm at the point where I prefer less growth and more colour, getting hard to get my hands in the tank these days for fragging and maintenance.

 

One I got at Radio Shack. Just about any modern digital multimeter will work.

 

There are a few posts around like this one with details:

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1841059

Thanks for the link, seems easy to rig, but I can't find a retailer that sells just the probe, I have a multimeter. Need to do some more looking when I have time.

[Arkayology]

Cool that you got frags of JTC and Belina. Give that Joe the Coral lots of space. Mine is my fastest grower and is always fighting with neighbors.

[NanoTopia]

Give that Joe the Coral lots of space. Mine is my fastest grower and is always fighting with neighbors.

It's still a frag and not mounted, good to hear it is a fast grower

 

Joe the Coral and Bellina are both A.tenuis BTW.

 

Changed my bulb config as a two week experiment... basically trying to lower PAR a bit and see if I can get some different colours.

 

ATI Blue+

KZ Superblue

KZ New Gen

ATI Blue+ (switched out the *ATI Aquablue Special)

ATI Actinic

ATI Blue+

[Arkayology]

ATI Blue+

KZ Superblue

KZ New Gen

ATI Blue+ (switched out the *ATI Aquablue Special)

ATI Actinic

ATI Blue+

How's that look? I would expect a little bluer than your previous configuration?

[SouthFlorida_Tron]

Im going to guess a beautiful 20k with deep purple, but the colors should be popping soon!

[Arkayology]

Hey Christine, have you ever had a precipitate inside a bottle of coral booster? Mine has some salts/crystals at the bottom of the bottle. It does not expire until a year from now.

[TheKleinReef]

I'm looking for a new bulb combo. How do you like the look?

[jedimasterben]

A much cheaper option is to buy just the sensor from Apogee ('electric' or 'sun'..I have the 'electric') and a digital meter. The PAR reading is simply multiplied by a factor of five to give you the same number you'd get with the Apogee MQ200.

The 'sun' calibration is what you want for it to be more accurate with LEDs. The 'electric' calibration is for fluorescent lighting.

[NanoTopia]

How's that look? I would expect a little bluer than your previous configuration?

Yes, maybe a bit too blue for my liking but I will give it two weeks.

 

Im going to guess a beautiful 20k with deep purple, but the colors should be popping soon!

It's 20K for sure but I'm not seeing the the purple, in two days I see blues are improving.

 

Hey Christine, have you ever had a precipitate inside a bottle of coral booster? Mine has some salts/crystals at the bottom of the bottle. It does not expire until a year from now.

No, it is clear for me but I have heard of it before, I don't think it is a problem. Possible you got some salt water in it?

 

I'm looking for a new bulb combo. How do you like the look?

A little too blue, I may switch out the KZ New Generation for the ATI Aquablue Special, I think that will give me some more warmth.

 

The 'sun' calibration is what you want for it to be more accurate with LEDs. The 'electric' calibration is for fluorescent lighting.

Yes but do you need the different sensor probe for each? That gets expensive.

[jedimasterben]

Yes but do you need the different sensor probe for each? That gets expensive.

The calibration is software-based - however, if buying the sensor only, the calibration is hard wired. Only in the full units is it switchable between sun and electric, but the readings shouldn't be but ~5% off, so just add 5% to your margin of error.

 

A little too blue, I may switch out the KZ New Generation for the ATI Aquablue Special, I think that will give me some more warmth.

Side-by-side, the Coral Plus looks lightyears better than the Aquablue Special does.

[NanoTopia]

The calibration is software-based - however, if buying the sensor only, the calibration is hard wired. Only in the full units is it switchable between sun and electric, but the readings shouldn't be but ~5% off, so just add 5% to your margin of error.

 

Side-by-side, the Coral Plus looks lightyears better than the Aquablue Special does.

Yes that's what I figured, so really makes more sense to just by the full unit then if your going to be testing different light sources?

[SouthFlorida_Tron]

Abs is outdated Christine... Give the coral+ a try.

[DaveFason]

Looking great as normal! Keep it up.

 

-Dave

[jedimasterben]

Yes that's what I figured, so really makes more sense to just by the full unit then if your going to be testing different light sources?

I would stick with the sun calibrated sensor. It's certainly not worth the extra couple hundred dollars for what will amount to single-digit accuracy gains.