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Unread 12/24/2016, 08:51 PM   #76
brad65ford
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Well its almost Christmas so I figured i'd give another update on the system and live stock. On a whole everyone is doing well, some corals I believe can be doing better while others I'm impressed with the growth. Whats amazing is seeing the same type of coral placed in different locations give different results. This really goes to show you lighting and water flow has a lot to do with a coral aside from water parameters

Been contemplating adding GFO/Carbon reactor and or sand to the system, believe my wife has a present for me and its a reactor with gfo/carbon from bulkreef as well as some more marine pure plates for the sump. Currently i throw in a bag of seachem carbon, phosban and or purigen every other month but i don't think it does as much as a reactor would. P04 is one thing while it could be to easy to strip with the reactor (will experiment in the new year) then there is N03. Even though levels are very low I started religiously dosing Zeostart (liquid carbon) manual about 3ml a day along with a few drops of zeostart. Goal is to see if this would help remove some of the green algae on the glass. After 2 week there is a good yet small difference in algae and skill mate. Coral growth seemed to have really take off on a few of the higher light loving corals. New growth is impressive, I'm thinking i should be happy since its only been 4 months since adding any of the sps's some were added after. As with most all reefers one may want more/better though I'm telling myself its really not a race as much as wanting to take care of least amount of steps.. well as least me anyway.

On a side note, i switched over a smaller system i've been running to all T5 from running mulipte different led fixtures. Boy i really like the way the corals look under t5. with that said I'm still not fully happy with the look of the Orphek's, meaning I don't like the look with all channels running 100 percent. I do believe in running them at 100 percent for ideal growth and coral color just wish they would look similar to T5. Oh and I forget to mentioned I again added two 160a kessils to the outer sides of the orphek's since the sides are not seeing similar par as the middle of the tank. Corals on the outside of the tank are now happier :-) Would love to run two T5 bulbs down both sides of these Orpheks in the future or change over the ATI with the led's.

So far maintenance schedule is change filter socks and clean skimmer every 2-3 days. Feed fish/corals 4 times a day multiple different dry and frozen foods. Dose zeostart morning and night, this i know i'll eventually stop unless i connect to dosser. Water changes are 12g or 40g every 2-3 weeks.









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Unread 12/24/2016, 08:52 PM   #77
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Unread 01/02/2017, 05:48 PM   #78
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Well pulled the trigger on a genismene 8 bulb 80w unit to replace my Orphek's. Its not that these are not working i just want to try t5 for now and see the difference if anything with my system. Been playing around with a t5 unit on my other system and enjoying the look more over the LED. Wife is not happy about purchase though its my only hobby right now. Will report back once unit comes it. Will be running ati bulbs.


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Unread 01/02/2017, 09:38 PM   #79
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http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2467348 I hope this is not to late


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Unread 01/02/2017, 09:49 PM   #80
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Looks like dimming units had issues they don't make the dimming one is the 80wx8 any more which is fine with me
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Unread 01/03/2017, 01:03 AM   #81
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Good I hate for you get a bad light also these lights were 230 volts in Australia so could be totally different. I have a dimmable 24 x 4 Mattrixx Giesemann light but I have not fired it up yet.


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Unread 01/06/2017, 04:08 PM   #82
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Giesemann Matrixx 8 x 80w is here and installed

Will post a photo soon. Wow what a interesting different between the LED and T5. I can see things including lower portions of the corals and rock I didn't notice before. Now the trickly par, intensity and height of fixture. Did a good deal of measuring par before i removed the Orphek's and I know everyone says par is different between T5 and LED though I'm thinking differently with the Orphek's though I could be wrong. Regardless its amazing how much par different between them. At the moment I'm running 4 Blue +, 3 Coral + and 1 Purple. Its to white for my liking though I have more purple, attinics and blue's bulbs coming to find our liking. At the moment the fixture is sitting 8 1/2 inch above the water line and i'm only seeing 280 par in the middle, 230 at the center bottom and 180 off to the sides. But with the Orpheks I was 380+ par and the fixture was 15 1/2 inch above the water! Not sure if I should lower the fixture down more to match par or leave alone. I was told by BRS that the t5 are more usable light and suggest to run them for only 6 hours a day at 14" above the water surface which may be to high imo. Any suggestions for the T5 users out there??


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Unread 01/08/2017, 06:36 PM   #83
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Second day of running them and i really love the difference already. So strange how i'm seeing less par but i physically can see more of my tank/coral and nooks and crannies then ever before. Photo below doesn't really represent how much light the tank really has right now. Only running the center 6 bulbs for now till the actinics and other Blue bulb comes in. Plan to run 5 B+, 1 C+, 1 P+, 1 A. May want to run 2 P+ instead of the 1 C + not sure yet. Time will tell though i'm very happy still wondering the difference between the Matrix and the ATI fixtures everyone raves about. All i know is the corals already are adapting and excepting the new lights well. Thanks for listening guys.




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Unread 01/21/2017, 05:13 PM   #84
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Back to Orhpeks,, long story and frustrations but letting that stuff go and moving forward. Happy to have them now hung from a hanging kit looks much cleaner.



Adding another cleaner shrimp, 6 line and royal gramma. Also changing a few things with the system, been skimmerless and no filter socks for 2 weeks bring up the n03 and p04, now its time to grow some corals!


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Unread 11/13/2018, 12:31 PM   #85
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If anyone was following I'm sorry for not posting. So many ups and down, and many many different lighting testing. Removed skimmer and running algae scrubber still. Gave up on trying to keep sps's and constant testing. Something is still not right with my main water supply, still working on my ro/di system now...... so the tank is pretty much growing easy sps's like monti's,leptastrea, cup corals, lps's and softies and i'm happy with it for the most part. The floor is almost fully covered we a few different zoa's. Much easier to manage. Currently running just 3 kessil a160's which seem more then fine for this lower demanding lighting system.






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Unread 11/14/2018, 10:00 AM   #86
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brad65ford View Post
If anyone was following I'm sorry for not posting. So many ups and down, and many many different lighting testing. Removed skimmer and running algae scrubber still. Gave up on trying to keep sps's and constant testing. Something is still not right with my main water supply, still working on my ro/di system now...... so the tank is pretty much growing easy sps's like monti's,leptastrea, cup corals, lps's and softies and i'm happy with it for the most part. The floor is almost fully covered we a few different zoa's. Much easier to manage. Currently running just 3 kessil a160's which seem more then fine for this lower demanding lighting system.



Hi Brad, if I were you I would settle on one type of lighting, get a good RO/DI unit, from BRS or SpectraPure and be done with it. If you are going to keep SPS corals you should also have a good Calcium Reactor, and let the tank stabilize before adding any more SPS Corals. Hook up your protein skimmer, and make sure it is a good one, test your water weekly until the system is stable, then whenever you see a problem in the tank, or maybe once a month if you feel safer this way. Good luck going forward.


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Unread 11/14/2018, 10:44 AM   #87
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Couldn't agree more regarding light, once you have what is appealing to the eye and enough light for corals let it go.

Regarding water, I have a SpectraPure 6 stage still can't figure out the Cat Pee smell that is created in our holding tank. It's a brute grey which everyone uses too, not sure what is going on but I ordered a new membrane since that is the last piece of the puzzle. RO/DI is only 8 months old.


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Unread 11/14/2018, 10:53 AM   #88
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brad65ford View Post
Couldn't agree more regarding light, once you have what is appealing to the eye and enough light for corals let it go.

Regarding water, I have a SpectraPure 6 stage still can't figure out the Cat Pee smell that is created in our holding tank. It's a brute grey which everyone uses too, not sure what is going on but I ordered a new membrane since that is the last piece of the puzzle. RO/DI is only 8 months old.

That smell is completely normal. It will dissipate with time and use. Drove me nuts trying to figure it out until I made a thread about it. Everyone that uses them agrees it's normal and does not impact the tank one bit.

3 years now and I still smell it faintly, but have not had any issue with the tank because of it. I only smell it in my RO/DI storage, once salt is mixed in I cannot smell it anymore.


EDIT:
Great looking tank BTW!!!


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80G SCA Build: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2560256

Originally posted by der_wille_zur_macht:

"He's just taking his lunch to work"
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Unread 11/14/2018, 10:57 AM   #89
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Whats weird is I never had the smell before. Its strong, really strong. To the point I did a 40g water change and my wife is what the hell is that smell, smells like cat pee.


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Unread 11/14/2018, 10:58 AM   #90
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RO/DI storage or in the mixed water?


Mine is just in the RO/DI storage.


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80G SCA Build: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2560256

Originally posted by der_wille_zur_macht:

"He's just taking his lunch to work"
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Unread 11/14/2018, 11:05 AM   #91
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In storage holding brute grey 30g. I've bleached it twice, smell still comes back, thought it was coming from ro/di filters possibly but the smell isn't even there before it, also no where in the house or showers etc...


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Unread 11/14/2018, 11:46 AM   #92
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Nice growth for ten months! My Brute kind of smells like cat pee, but only if I stick my head in it. What salt do you use? you don't exactly have cats do you?


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Unread 11/14/2018, 11:54 AM   #93
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LOL such a funny subject. I've always used RPM but just switched to AquaForest to give it a shot.

So i'm not alone in this cat pee brute smell. That just doesn't make sense.


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Unread 11/14/2018, 03:38 PM   #94
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Whats weird is I never had the smell before. Its strong, really strong. To the point I did a 40g water change and my wife is what the hell is that smell, smells like cat pee.
Hi, do you or your neighbors have cats?


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Unread 11/14/2018, 07:40 PM   #95
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actually wish i did, wife doesn't like cats and I'm not a dog person and as you can imagine we have 3 dogs lol.

I thought Brute was inert?
This is the one I have. Actually have 4 in my setup.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rubberma...1187/202649169


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Unread 11/14/2018, 07:49 PM   #96
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Wow, I started looking and there is a lot of thread on this. Now i'm wondering its ammonia

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/i...ammonia.95590/


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Unread 11/14/2018, 07:53 PM   #97
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Not sure if I believe this since I just changed my DI resin and I even run 2 in a line. So brand new even created this smell.

https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/top...omment=3368140


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Unread 11/15/2018, 04:18 AM   #98
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I tested my RO/DI for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates when I first discovered the smell, all 0's. So thats not it.



I honestly think it's just a product of the plastic leeching a smell. Nothing harmful to our tanks, but none the less frustrating.



I've rinsed, washed, rinsed both my brutes several times. One smells, the other does not, and if I switch containers, one will smell, the other will not.



As anecdotal evidence it may just be the grey brutes, I have 2 red brutes(ace brand but made by rubbermaid and is NSF certified) that I use on occasion when I need a large amount of water, and they do not smell. I wonder if it's just the grey brutes that have the smell?


I have learned to just ignore it and my tank is no different.


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80G SCA Build: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2560256

Originally posted by der_wille_zur_macht:

"He's just taking his lunch to work"
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Unread 11/15/2018, 05:50 AM   #99
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Yup brutes storing water smell like cat pee, it is most bizarre. Love the zoa colonies on the bottom like that, they look great.


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Current Tank Info: 65 gallon mixed reef, Eshopps sump and HOB overflow, RO-110int skimmer, Reefbreeder 32" photons V1.
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