Reef Envy 120

[superdragon]

Originally Posted by yellowRubi

Looks great!
Iam thinking about ordering a tank from them also, I might go 48x32x20 and after I saw Your external overflow I might do the same
How loud is it? Could it be covered with a piece of glass or acrylic?

Thank You

My external overflow is zero noise. You can cover it with plastic or acrylic. The manufacturer forgot to send me a cover, but I really don't cover it. The flow is slow enough that it can be used as a acclimation box for corals and fish.

[superdragon]

Months have passed and new changes have taken place.

Corals: I added a few new ones.
Blue Hoeksemai
Pink Lemonade
Rainbow Mille
Purple Stylophora
Orange Digi
Red/Orange Cap
Red/Green Blastomussa

Lighting:
Radion Pro 80 deg lenses => 120 deg lenses
-I got these because I was nuking sps directly in the center and the ones on the sides of the lights were not getting enough light. Now the light is more even. I need to borrow a PAR meter at some point or even consider the DYI to get correct measurements.

Filtration:
My sump flow is now on lowest setting on DC pump 1/6 ~ 350gph
-After lots of reading, it just made more sense to go slow flow through the sump so my skimmer and purify the water better. Skimmer output is consistent now and much more now with BP. I like it better, less noise, efficient skimming, less power to boot.
-I also run carbon now in my filter socks. I know this is not efficient but its better than no carbon.

I added a Biopellet Reactor (Aquamaxx Biomaxx. I waited over 1 month for this. Worth the wait)
-I started BP on 4/14/14 and did some vinegar dosing to bring my pH down from 8.5. Little did I realized I also was adding carbon. I had a bacterial bloom for 3 days with Nitrates 10-25 and PO4 around 25ppb. On yesterday after the bloom, Nitrates was 0.05 and PO4 was 2ppb or 0.002 ppm. Water is clear and light penetration is great.
-I have started BP at 1/8 the dose at 25cc of pellets and will add another 25cc this weekend.
-Took GFO offline. One less thing to worry about.

Flow:
Apparently two wp-25's were great for the time being, but I realized that my sps wanted more flow.
Yesterday the mailman dropped off the wp-40 and without more than 10 minutes it was running. Running at 100% is like a cell phone vibration, but at 50% (S2) is silent. I'm considering adding a second wp40 and only running two 40's at 50% on W1.
Waves are not strong enough to leave the tank because of my coast to coast overflow.

The question these days is collectors zoas or collectors sps? I don't know but I have a good amount for now.
Coraline Algae is setting in at a fast rate, finally.

Some quick cell phone pics

[IMG]http://i58.*******.com/m7tkh.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i59.*******.com/oqzmvb.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i59.*******.com/i69z10.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i61.*******.com/5a18w9.jpg[/IMG]

[sahin]

Looking good! Go easy on the Biopellets. Too much for your nutrient load and they will cause issues with your corals.

[trinidiver]

Nice build

[superdragon]

Originally Posted by sahin

Looking good! Go easy on the Biopellets. Too much for your nutrient load and they will cause issues with your corals.

In that case, lets just stick with 1/8 to 1/4 the dose for now

Originally Posted by trinidiver

Nice build

Thanks, it's a work in progress. I'm trying to figure out the perfect program for my Radion Pro's and it's complicated

[superdragon]

Tonight's Night shot
Looks like 120 degree lenses are working
[IMG]http://i57.*******.com/o8i8fq.jpg[/IMG]

[sahin]

Looking great! I think its better with the 120degree lens.

[mpsti05]

Hmmm maybe I should upgrade to those optics.

[superdragon]

Originally Posted by sahin

Looking great! I think its better with the 120degree lens.

I think the lenses not only look better, but makes the par more even and predictable. Par meter is on it's way... can't wait.

Originally Posted by mpsti05

Hmmm maybe I should upgrade to those optics.

My neighbor has a Vertex light and has no optics... he gets a good spread, but lots of loss because it kills your eyes from the sides. Though standard LED's are 120 degrees, I still would use a TIR lens to protect the light & spread par more evenly. I'm at 75% intensity until the PAR meter gets here.

FYI my neighbor and I have been experimenting and reading more and more about red LED's and decided not to use them. Too much evidence based studies not to use them. I did add Green to my mix and seems like it may be stimulating algae growth on the glass, but I haven't read any utility for green at this time.

My BP's from 50cc to 100cc was a scare lately. There was no bacterial bloom, but the skimmer stopped working?? I may have stripped the water clean. The water had a light smell when up close but remained clear. Feeding moderately, I let it go for 4days and the skimmer still put out nothing. Corals and fish looked ok if not growing. Minor algae started to collect on the glass and nitrates were still at 0.01. In panic I removed the BP back to 50cc and did a WC. Will cont. to monitor.

[superdragon]

Murphy's law today... my Speedwave DC 2640 failed. I'm working with Premium Aquatics to have it warrantied.

[superdragon]

SPEEDWAVE DC PUMP FAILURE UPDATE:

Premium Aquatics has referred me to their distributor (proline) for warranty since they don't carry the pump anymore. I was told that they don't have parts for the speedwave but only for wavelines. :/

The dist. (proline) told me that they stopped working with Jebao who is the manufacturer for the speedwave which is branded under multiple names. There were cheap capacitors used in the electronics. They would not disclose with me the percentages of failures, but did tell me that the failure rates were higher than average for their dist. to stop selling the units.

They apologized for the issues and would send out a pump (motor block/impeller,etc.) as needed. I was also told that the power supplies were the main culprit for many failures and they recommended Meanwell power supplies?

My assumption is that any DC pump with the green led's on black boxes are prone to possible issues. I have also learned that the new gen 2 pumps have the IC chips in the controller vs. the pumps. Once the gen 1 pump is fried it's useless and cannot be repaired according to the dist.

So does this affect only the speedwave? my assumption is that it affects all speedwave/waveline/diablo/rlss or any pump that runs with the classic black box with green leds. This includes my RO POV DC1 Skimmer ;(

I'm sure the gen 2 pumps are way more reliable but I'm not ready to shell out $200+ for another pump until the warranty is out.


TANK UPDATE:

I'm temporarily using a Mag 7 at this time.

I did add some new corals:
Jedi Mind Trick Undata
Mystic Sunset
Red People Eater
True Rasta Zoas, last one's melted.

I also changed the lighting last month due to poor PAR readings.

[mpsti05]

Whatcha do for light? Go back to the standard lens for the radions?

[superdragon]

Looks are deceiving and the 120 degree lenses were a poor choice for my setup. Live and learn.

Yes, I run BP and yes I only run 5cc because my nitrates are 0. For phosphates, I believe in aggressive phosphate control with skimmer, phosphate remover, refugium. Skimmer, I believe that skimmers today are too efficient and I run only at night for many reasons.

After reading Sahin's posts on this thread, I dared to expaned my mind.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...2253547&page=7

Over the last several months I learned tons about LED lighting for my reef as well as misconceptions. These are my ideas and I'm not pushing anyone to believe in "PAR Shadows".

= The methods to coloring up corals under LEDs... =

It was never a secret to start, just misunderstood depending on what brand and type of lighting. This is assuming your water quality is good to excellent. I'm just going ramble about LED lights.

1. Get a PAR Meter if you have LED's.
Single most important investment I have ever got, saves frustration, guessing, even a used one. Or local club may have one your can borrow or a buddy. Can't be a loner in this hobby there is too much to learn and help each other with.
Aim for a PAR greater than 200 and try to get to 250 in the sandbed during your main lights profile.
If your measuring lower then increase your intensity 10% every week until you get to the desired 200-250.

2. Don't believe manufacturers recommendations.
Business is business and a hobby is a hobby. Ever heard of a cheap hobby? because they don't exist, due to business.
Some companies will say one unit will be perfect for a 30"x30"24" spread. This creates PAR shadows all over. To combat this you will need MORE LED units. Yes, "PAR shadows" Don't let a PAR shadow tell you where to place your corals.

3. LED's and ramp up/ramp down
Aim for a consistent main light period of 6-8 hours. Don't count the ramp up and ramp down.

4. Keep an open mind about Red LEDs.
The studies say RED's are bad, probably if you ran then as much as they were in the studies. I think they have their place and it helps with photosynthesis regulation... who knows. My corals have shown and increased reponse. Especially, red and orange corals. My lighting profile for reds is default R.C. by ESL.

5. 120 degree lenses vs. 80 degree.
If you have a canopy and super shallow tank it might work. The 120 lens doesn't penetrate 24 inches properly and PAR loss is dismal. With the 80 degree lens you might be saying, now I have a hot spot in the center and the rest is losing PAR around the sides. "PAR Shadow" Keep reading...

6. Avoid "PAR Shadows"
Depending on your aquascape, shadows are an issue. PAR shadows are light loss. Shadows also occur from not enough LEDs all over. This creates halo's and PAR shadows. Depending on rockwork, pumps, etc. "coral X" may not like this spot, but there is a perfect spot for flow, but light may be compromised because of a PAR shadow. Move rocks, move lights, add more lights??

7. What you think may be enough LED's may not be enough
I have a standard 120g 24x24x48 and now have 3 radion pros. 2 radion pros was silly, PAR only straight down the middle. Light loss on the front and back of the tank. I truely believe that 4 units would be awesome but not completely necessary and that there should be 2 radion pros for every 2-3 square feet if 24" deep.

8. The Radion profile: Intensity vs. Color intensity
I own radions so that's what I'll discuss. Color intensity is adjusted per channel affecting color temperature and PAR. General intensity adjusts the entire color intensity graph. Running blues at 100% color intensity and 75% overall intensity is still only 75% output of PAR for that color. It took me awhile to realize this is making things complicated.
For someone to ask, what intensity do you run your radion is confusing. IF you run at 75% intensity but at 20K the PAR will be much lower than someone running 75% at 12k. General graph intensity is NOT equal to PAR.

I bought these lights for performance so I now run at 100% intesity and adjust color intesity to change PAR. It only makes sense in my eyes and also to eliminate a unnecessary option, general intensity. Why have it then? to acclimate? If one buys a new coral are they going to acclimate their whole tank, it makes more sense to start in the sandbed and move up for that individual coral.

9. Raising and lower lights to adjust optics
We want the lights to project evenly from the top to bottom and all the sides of the tank.
Adjust hanging lights to focus 80 degree optics properly. This is done at night with lights off. Avoid too much light spill by looking at the floor and sides at the top of the tank.

10. It's not all about the SPS.
Granted I love sps just as much as anyone else. However, zoanthids color up so quicky with in 1-2 weeks that they work better as a baseline for lighting before sps can catch up. I use them as my monitor corals (i.e. My Alien Organism Zoas don't like phosphates over 15ppb, they will close) I also use a red montipora capricornis as a monitor. With some sps when its too late, its too late.

11. Learn from everyone, even a noob.
I believe everyone has something to contribute. Buying frags from locals... I have seen amazing tanks under LEDs and always wondered what are they doing that I'm not. They do understand parts of the puzzle and didn't migrate from MH or T5. Then one day something clicked in me. LED lighting made sense and there were similarities.

I had beginners luck in smaller tanks, when moving to a larger tank the luck disappears quickly and complexities are not so simple especially went trouble rears its ugly head. Bigger WC's, bigger everything. LED lighting is the last thing I want to worry about.

[superdragon]

DC PUMP UPDATE
6 days later, Jen at Proline sent me a brand new boxed pump instead of sending just the motor block.
I'm using cell phone pics, just what I have available at the moment.

[IMG]http://i60.*******.com/2cylmxy.jpg[/IMG]

Comparision time...
Something I did notice is the power supply is now 24v @ 6 amps and the old one is 24v at 5 amps.
The power supply is also much higher quality than the old generic one.

[IMG]http://i62.*******.com/30c88d1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i58.*******.com/16bzxty.jpg[/IMG]

30 minutes later I'm back up and running. Hopefully I don't have any more issues with return pumps. As strange as it sounds I'm going to miss my Mag7. I use it as a WC pump. It was doing the job in the tank, but needed more flow. It was loud in the beginning and did quiet down.

Jedi Mind Trick Undata. Need I say more, this thing screams dizzying colors.

[IMG]http://i59.*******.com/xe39jr.jpg[/IMG]

Mystic Sunset. The polyps are hypnotic.

[IMG]http://i62.*******.com/21a05ft.jpg[/IMG]

Current Lighting Setup, 3 Gen2 Radion Pro's. I could use one more, but will play with this for now. Seems like my PAR is good now. some things coloring up and growth is decent.

[IMG]http://i58.*******.com/raoy2p.jpg[/IMG]

I converted my overflow into a acclimation box and put my new RBTA back there for now. I didn't realize it was sick and I'm working on feeding it back to health. It's also getting stray light casting from the radions. I also added a ORA Yellow Fuzzy.

[sahin]

Hey man, your tanks been through some changes...how are things progressing?

[superdragon]

Originally Posted by sahin

Hey man, your tanks been through some changes...how are things progressing?

I'll get stuff up soon. I re-did a lot of stuff. Still work in progress.

[superdragon]

So much has changed over the years and of recently. I have been dealing with red bugs for 2 years now and didn't even know it. I have also changed out my sump (ver. 3) to accommodate my new larger skimmer one month ago.

I will be starting interceptor treatments this week and need to catch my 2 cleaner shrimp and 2 adult harlequin shrimps. I have new plans on the horizon for the tank.

[superdragon]

Black friday purchase from Fragtastic reef, SRO 6000sss & Neck Cleaner 2015



My favorite shrimps, female is berried and they are both 3" each.



I was so excited build the new sump, I forced myself to learn Sketchup 12/2015



Working on sump, I hate the smell of Weld-on.



Picture of my 1 piece euro top... my old build pictures are not compatible with RC now.





Plastics shop pulled me the wrong panel for teeth, frost vs. clear. Had to drive back for another piece.



It's BIG and I can feed whatever I want. The cup is 1 gallon!



New skimmer vs. old skimmer with old sump.

[superdragon]

Not all my plumbing plans worked out, but no failure.



No more skimmer/sump upgrades

[superdragon]

[Usernam Invalid]

That's a big skimmer

[superdragon]

Originally Posted by Usernam Invalid

That's a big skimmer

[superdragon]

My skimmer has a problem. The needlewheel is super off balance. I submitted a claim to Coralvue. Lets see what happens.

http://vid270.photobucket.com/albums...227_000143.mp4

[superdragon]

After my claim on the weekend done online, CoralVue replied immediately on Monday, turned over to replacement dept., shipped out same day with a tracking number, and no questions asked. I got the new impeller on Thursday.
Awesome customer service and a company that stands behind their products!