Catfish's 21g w/ Sump ! The coral survival Group

[CatfishSoupFTW]

Good Idea emailing Kessil for some lighting suggestions. I've also got the A160WE

The ADA tanks are expensive but not too bad. Mine was $330 for the tank & garden matt.

What really got expensive was the shipping, 260 for the crate and shipping.

 

BTW Modular Marine said plumbing the BeanAnimal is possible in the 8in slim overflow just

need to trim the excess off the bulkhead for some added space and may need to get creative

to fit everything in, but they did think it can work. We shall see.

 

Im going to be nervous as hell drilling 2 holes in this new tank. I think im gonna see who can

do it locally thats got some experience. Not that it looks that difficult using the right tools.

 

oh man thats brutal on the shippping! I have a store front about an hour plus away from where I live that does online retail for fish things, www.angelfins.com, but they also do local pick up so I can luck out there with the ADA. is ada tank that much clearer than most mildly green/blue starphire tanks like Mr. aqua? ADA is just so noticeably more expensive. lol

 

and drilling is hella scary. I went to an LFS to do it - they did a pretty decent job, but it wasnt a clean clean cut, a bit of chipping on the parameter unfortunately. but the bulkhead covers it and seals it no problem.

 

 

Hey man I had the same question about my a160we and emailed customer service and told them about my tank and inhabitants and they gave me a schedule with my spectral controller and how high off the water it should hang, if you would like I can post the pic of that email here? Also to my knowledge this light will grow anything especially in your dimensions

 

that would be amazing! thats the thing, I know this light is a powerhouse, especially for my tank dims, I just dont have much to control it with, so I have been struggling to find a good happy medium. maybe ill get a bluefish or the spectral controller I dunno yet.

[Cencalfishguy56]

 

oh man thats brutal on the shippping! I have a store front about an hour plus away from where I live that does online retail for fish things, www.angelfins.com, but they also do local pick up so I can luck out there with the ADA. is ada tank that much clearer than most mildly green/blue starphire tanks like Mr. aqua? ADA is just so noticeably more expensive. lol

 

and drilling is hella scary. I went to an LFS to do it - they did a pretty decent job, but it wasnt a clean clean cut, a bit of chipping on the parameter unfortunately. but the bulkhead covers it and seals it no problem.

 

 

 

that would be amazing! thats the thing, I know this light is a powerhouse, especially for my tank dims, I just dont have much to control it with, so I have been struggling to find a good happy medium. maybe ill get a bluefish or the spectral controller I dunno yet.

I forgot you don't have a controller lol sorry but before I had it I had the knob for intensity about 65-75% of the way and color just above 50%

[Halo_003]

Interesting regarding Kessil's suggestion above.

 

 

Tank looks great! Those shots with the Phase One are insane.

[Cencalfishguy56]

Interesting regarding Kessil's suggestion above.

 

 

Tank looks great! Those shots with the Phase One are insane.

I thought so too, had this light at a max of 65% I was under the impression this light was too powerful for a shallow tank to run 100% but I'm doing a test run today to see how it' goes

[CatfishSoupFTW]

I thought so too, had this light at a max of 65% I was under the impression this light was too powerful for a shallow tank to run 100% but I'm doing a test run today to see how it' goes

whats the dims on your tank again?

 

 

also, I purchased a XR15w pro, and I returned it the next day. It had some serious color banding, and it just made no sense to me why. I have seen plenty of radions ( the bigger brothers) and didnt notice an issue. I made a thread and asked, and apparently thats a thing. Maybe because its one puck who knows, but I was seriously disappointed, especially for the price point. Shimmer was ugly, even when I made the surface agitation very mild.

 

The gimmicks were meh, and he color control was kind of cool, but comparing it directly to the Kessil, it hit very similar temperatures, but the kessil kept true to the heavy blue/actinic.

 

Though what WAS a beauty of a light, was combining it with the kessil. The who together create a wonderful spread, and eveness with the shimmer of the kessil . But thats overkill and unjustified for a 21 cube. lol Loving my kessil more now, may get a controller for it, just to finish off that ramping and color, which would help me a bit more I find. its all I really need.

 

I heard the mac software too was buggy, and it sort of was. And I left windows years ago as well. nope. If I had it my way though, t5 and kessil. xD

[Cencalfishguy56]

whats the dims on your tank again?

 

 

also, I purchased a XR15w pro, and I returned it the next day. It had some serious color banding, and it just made no sense to me why. I have seen plenty of radions ( the bigger brothers) and didnt notice an issue. I made a thread and asked, and apparently thats a thing. Maybe because its one puck who knows, but I was seriously disappointed, especially for the price point. Shimmer was ugly, even when I made the surface agitation very mild.

 

The gimmicks were meh, and he color control was kind of cool, but comparing it directly to the Kessil, it hit very similar temperatures, but the kessil kept true to the heavy blue/actinic.

 

Though what WAS a beauty of a light, was combining it with the kessil. The who together create a wonderful spread, and eveness with the shimmer of the kessil . But thats overkill and unjustified for a 21 cube. lol Loving my kessil more now, may get a controller for it, just to finish off that ramping and color, which would help me a bit more I find. its all I really need.

 

I heard the mac software too was buggy, and it sort of was. And I left windows years ago as well. nope. If I had it my way though, t5 and kessil. xD

20x11x13 lol that's why I was surprised but corals have no negative effect, the true blue is what I love about the kessil

[reefernanoman]

Nice tank and equipment. How's your experience with Kessil so far? I love my A160we only after about two weeks. Color and growth on my superman SPS has been nothing less than impressive.

[CatfishSoupFTW]

Nice tank and equipment. How's your experience with Kessil so far? I love my A160we only after about two weeks. Color and growth on my superman SPS has been nothing less than impressive.

Thanks !!!

 

At first, I loved it, but also felt like something was missing. Fast forward, I bought a xr15pro and it didnt take long before I returned it. Aside from the horrendous disco balling, the shimmer it had compared to the kessil was nassstty lol When I put the kessil Back on, it really made me appreciate the light a lot. The shimmer especially. I lowered the surface agitation a bit as well to reduce a bit more of the shadowing and shimmer, but overall the light has been wonderful. The 10K looks great, and the deeper blues look amazing as well.

 

As for growth, some corals are doing verrryy well. My RBTA, and some blastos, yumas, ricordeas as well have been doing well. My zoas and some acans havent been doing the best. I havent been able to successfully keep an sps yet - im not too sure why, but what I have noticed is, since I lack a controller, I run my power at 50 percent all day, which I find caters to some corals very well in the 8 hour status, but some corals, i.e. my zoas or acans, dont like that much light consistently ( which is probably why my sps die as well aside from the params, which are fine)

 

Due to the lack of a controller, I try to compensate by moving some corals to the far outer edges of my tank, to allow them to breath a bit more. Its unfortunate that the controller is 100 bucks, for something ill set once to ramp and thats it but ill have to do it when I can, because ramping I feel would be super beneficial. I never ran T5ho or MH for corals, only my FW tank, so I dont know how to solve all this aside from possibly getting a controller. If there is one mild gripe, I do wish that the deeper blues looked brighter to the human eye ( hence why everyone is adding lime now? ) but that aside, it does add nice contrast to make everything pop nicely.

 

overall - I dont see any other light I would bother replacing it with. Blending and color is great. Coupled with a radion actually makes a killer combo, or maybe some sort of kessil T5HO, but all I could think of is how id have to sell my soul to make it happen. Plus aesthetically it may look messy.

[reefernanoman]

Thanks !!!

 

At first, I loved it, but also felt like something was missing. Fast forward, I bought a xr15pro and it didnt take long before I returned it. Aside from the horrendous disco balling, the shimmer it had compared to the kessil was nassstty lol When I put the kessil Back on, it really made me appreciate the light a lot. The shimmer especially. I lowered the surface agitation a bit as well to reduce a bit more of the shadowing and shimmer, but overall the light has been wonderful. The 10K looks great, and the deeper blues look amazing as well.

 

As for growth, some corals are doing verrryy well. My RBTA, and some blastos, yumas, ricordeas as well have been doing well. My zoas and some acans havent been doing the best. I havent been able to successfully keep an sps yet - im not too sure why, but what I have noticed is, since I lack a controller, I run my power at 50 percent all day, which I find caters to some corals very well in the 8 hour status, but some corals, i.e. my zoas or acans, dont like that much light consistently ( which is probably why my sps die as well aside from the params, which are fine)

 

Due to the lack of a controller, I try to compensate by moving some corals to the far outer edges of my tank, to allow them to breath a bit more. Its unfortunate that the controller is 100 bucks, for something ill set once to ramp and thats it but ill have to do it when I can, because ramping I feel would be super beneficial. I never ran T5ho or MH for corals, only my FW tank, so I dont know how to solve all this aside from possibly getting a controller. If there is one mild gripe, I do wish that the deeper blues looked brighter to the human eye ( hence why everyone is adding lime now? ) but that aside, it does add nice contrast to make everything pop nicely.

 

overall - I dont see any other light I would bother replacing it with. Blending and color is great. Coupled with a radion actually makes a killer combo, or maybe some sort of kessil T5HO, but all I could think of is how id have to sell my soul to make it happen. Plus aesthetically it may look messy.

 

My Kessil is being controlled by my apex Jr, but I doubt that's why you can't keep sps. Have you tried any entrusting montis or any other easy sps? My light is currently at 60% intensity and all of my corals seem fine (SPS, ACANS, LPS, ZOAS). I'm going to be increasing the intensity about 10% each week until I reach about 80% then I'll see how everything reacts. I have seen people unloading spectral controllers as low as $70 shipped, so look out for one of those deals.

[reefernanoman]

Thanks !!!

 

At first, I loved it, but also felt like something was missing. Fast forward, I bought a xr15pro and it didnt take long before I returned it. Aside from the horrendous disco balling, the shimmer it had compared to the kessil was nassstty lol When I put the kessil Back on, it really made me appreciate the light a lot. The shimmer especially. I lowered the surface agitation a bit as well to reduce a bit more of the shadowing and shimmer, but overall the light has been wonderful. The 10K looks great, and the deeper blues look amazing as well.

 

As for growth, some corals are doing verrryy well. My RBTA, and some blastos, yumas, ricordeas as well have been doing well. My zoas and some acans havent been doing the best. I havent been able to successfully keep an sps yet - im not too sure why, but what I have noticed is, since I lack a controller, I run my power at 50 percent all day, which I find caters to some corals very well in the 8 hour status, but some corals, i.e. my zoas or acans, dont like that much light consistently ( which is probably why my sps die as well aside from the params, which are fine)

 

Due to the lack of a controller, I try to compensate by moving some corals to the far outer edges of my tank, to allow them to breath a bit more. Its unfortunate that the controller is 100 bucks, for something ill set once to ramp and thats it but ill have to do it when I can, because ramping I feel would be super beneficial. I never ran T5ho or MH for corals, only my FW tank, so I dont know how to solve all this aside from possibly getting a controller. If there is one mild gripe, I do wish that the deeper blues looked brighter to the human eye ( hence why everyone is adding lime now? ) but that aside, it does add nice contrast to make everything pop nicely.

 

overall - I dont see any other light I would bother replacing it with. Blending and color is great. Coupled with a radion actually makes a killer combo, or maybe some sort of kessil T5HO, but all I could think of is how id have to sell my soul to make it happen. Plus aesthetically it may look messy.

Yeah, I know what you mean about the color blending. I have a different light on my 10G, and even though the LED's don't have optics or are spaced apart too much, I can still see the different colors in my sand bed. No such issue with Kessil.

[JayPagi]

Nice to see a drilled tank from AI, I purchased a 25 gallon from them the other day (December) and I'm still waiting for it to arrive. They were out of stock. I was unsure if they were tempered glass or not, they said no but they didn't speak english all that well.

 

Nice build, any update?

[CatfishSoupFTW]

Nice to see a drilled tank from AI, I purchased a 25 gallon from them the other day (December) and I'm still waiting for it to arrive. They were out of stock. I was unsure if they were tempered glass or not, they said no but they didn't speak english all that well.

 

Nice build, any update?

oh man sorry I didnt respond! yeah the threads been insanely quiet - Im in my final year of school so the amount of work I have been up to has been bananas. The tank is still up, same gear etc, but I did go through some neglect, and the nitrates killed a good chunk of corals. Tanks coming back though, nitrates have done down dramatically.

 

also, you can safely drill an AI tank. They aren't tempered - and yes, their english is fairly limited. Nice people though.

[JayPagi]

Thanks for the response.

[CatfishSoupFTW]

hey everyone. been quiet sorry !

 

so as an update, I ahve been struggling for a very long time with nitrates. I tried sugar dosing and nothing. redid some sump work for better skimming and still nothing. RO water is clean, and I have done 50 percent water changed weekly and still nothing. so finally I decided to try the red sea nitrate and phosphate reducer.

 

its been about a week of dosing 1-2mils or so roughly and after a week, my nitrates have gone down from 160 plus ppm to about the 60-80 zone. its not as blood red as before, its got an orange cast now so thats good. I have seen my corals react to this product as well, so im glad things are working out.

 

I got a move coming up at the end of june, so im hoping with that, and a vast water change there things should drop even more !

 

after that, once the tank is happy again ill be posting pics.

 

this was the last pic I have had. sorry, iphone quality. coral colors are a lot healthier than the pic.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEHhXddHdXZ/