Mike's 300 Double-D

[pookstreet]

All in the name of progress

[prop-frags]

Originally Posted by pookstreet

All in the name of progress

Plus we gotta keep things interesting...

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We checked the inside of the SURF4 earlier today and noticed hair algae is starting to form on the strings - good sign that things are starting to percolate there. The algae growth should pick up speed considerably with the initial growth getting established.

On the LED front, the corals are starting to color up a bit (we've got more brownies than a girl scout convention ) so we increased the intensity on the left and right fixtures to 85%. They remain on their own "acclimation" profile, not quite up to full production intensity.

We should be able to get all three fixtures onto the same profile within the next 2 to 3 weeks.

And some pics:

[john90009]

how is your chalices and other lps reacting to the changeover to the leds? mine dont like the leds so i have them shaded- just dont know if there seeing enough light to grow- they dont fluff up.

[ptreef]

anyway to have some progress pics like:
Coral x unnder 400w
Coral x during transition
Coral x colring up:
Coral x long term under led...

Would be cool to see if you had a few individual old coral shots and maybe a few of them that are struggling and or thriving during the transition and then see how they color up after led's. As many may change colors a little. some maybe for the better and others for the not so better.

Thanks again for all the detail!

[prop-frags]

Originally Posted by john90009

how is your chalices and other lps reacting to the changeover to the leds? mine dont like the leds so i have them shaded- just dont know if there seeing enough light to grow- they dont fluff up.

Good question, John! Our chalices and other LPS are seemingly unfazed by the switch to LED's. The majority of those corals sit on the sand bed (approx 3 feet from the light fixtures) and while we have not seen any issues, we will continue to keep a close eye on them as we ramp up the intensity of the two newer fixtures. This does seem to be one of the things that the newer fixtures are addressing - better diffraction/less beaming.

While on the subject of lighting and corals, we should probably clarify that our SPS brownouts are more due to the recent coral scaping work and less about the lighting changes. With some of our SPS colonies getting rather large, we have been working on some pretty major pruning and moving. Quite a few of the corals sat in the sump(s) or the coral QT while this has been going on and they are understandably upset with us.

This is going to make it a bit challenging to provide a reasonably useful comparison of "SPS before LED / SPS during transition/ SPS after LED". More likely we'll have to wait a few more weeks before we can show some before/after shots that are reflective of the lighting changes alone.

In the meantime, we thought we would share a couple of pics of our Rhomboid Rocketeer in his nuptial display:

[SPotter]

Great pics Mike!!!!! I always love seeing your updates!!! cant wait to get my new tank up and running!

[Newbie Aquarist]

Beautiful pics Mike. I sent you a message before reading your thread so you can discard it if you like.

[prop-frags]

Originally Posted by SPotter

Great pics Mike!!!!! I always love seeing your updates!!! cant wait to get my new tank up and running!

Thank You, Steve!

Originally Posted by Newbie Aquarist

Beautiful pics Mike. I sent you a message before reading your thread so you can discard it if you like.

Thanks, Wayne!

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The SURF4 scrubber has been "percolating" in the sump for about 2 weeks and it looks like we're getting close to Harvest Time:

[biecacka]

Great looking photos as always guys! How often do you anticipate harvesting from the surf scrubber

Corey

[prop-frags]

Originally Posted by biecacka

Great looking photos as always guys! How often do you anticipate harvesting from the surf scrubber

Corey

Thank You, Corey! And to answer your question, probably weekly. We'll just add that task in when we do our weekly water change.

[aquaph8]

Add my waterchange to your list too

[crat748]

Mike and Terry, I spent several days reading your thread. The results of your hard work have paid off for sure. Your tank is beautiful! I have a 125g and just picked up an 8g. One day I will be able to get my dream tank, a 300g, and hopefully it can be half as amazing as yours. I look forward to future updates and awesome pics!

[prop-frags]

Originally Posted by aquaph8

Add my waterchange to your list too

Sure thing Brett!

Originally Posted by crat748

Mike and Terry, I spent several days reading your thread. The results of your hard work have paid off for sure. Your tank is beautiful! I have a 125g and just picked up an 8g. One day I will be able to get my dream tank, a 300g, and hopefully it can be half as amazing as yours. I look forward to future updates and awesome pics!

Thanks so much for the compliments and for taking the time to read and post in our thread!


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After our last update on the algae scrubber, we decided to take the vendor's advice and wait another week to make our first harvest (May 24th - 3 weeks growth) which weighed in at 85 grams. Not too shabby!

This picture was taken right before harvesting. You can see a huge difference in the amount of algae growth after waiting the additional week:


And here is the weigh-in:


We have since made our second harvest (11 days growth) and here's a shot of the weigh-in:

100 grams - Wowza! We were not expecting that much growth considering the relatively short time the unit has been in operation, but we certainly are not complaining.

And our update wouldn't be complete without sharing some fish pics:

[prop-frags]

Yikes...

We inadvertently posted the wrong pic for our second harvest weigh-in. Here's the correct one:

[Decadence]

Tagging along because I'm in the process of converting to a 300dd and our systems have a ton in common. I'm really interested to see how well the tank goes with only three hydra52s. I run two hydra52s and two sol blues over my 90 right now and was planning on running three hydra52s and six sols on the 300dd to get better coverage/less shadowing.

Your fish selection is superb. Are you still actively stocking or are you roughly where you want to be with your bioload? Has the regal angel done any real damage to your SPS?

[Dbondaruk]

Sent pm

[bwrag]

Any update or regrets on lighting. I'm setting up a 300 dd and still on the fence for led and mh

[prop-frags]

Originally Posted by Decadence

Tagging along because I'm in the process of converting to a 300dd and our systems have a ton in common. I'm really interested to see how well the tank goes with only three hydra52s. I run two hydra52s and two sol blues over my 90 right now and was planning on running three hydra52s and six sols on the 300dd to get better coverage/less shadowing.

Your fish selection is superb. Are you still actively stocking or are you roughly where you want to be with your bioload? Has the regal angel done any real damage to your SPS?

Depending on your aquascaping and coral stocking decisions, you may find that three hydra 52s will not provide adequate coverage. This is still a work in progress for us, but for right now, we have added an additional Kessil A360 to each section. Currently, they are positioned to provide their light on the front of each section, and the AI fixtures are covering the mid-to-back of each section.

Stocking isn't really ever complete is it? We'd love to say that we don't have losses, but it does occasionally happen. Wrasses in particular are not known for their longevity, so we do typically have some in the QT. Our recent additions include a new trio of Genicanthus semifaciatus, and a Macropharyngodon choati. All four are doing great:





The regal is a dream. She picks at corals, but nothing really damaging results. Plus, what a fantastic fish - we just couldn't be happier with her in the tank!

Originally Posted by bwrag

Any update or regrets on lighting. I'm setting up a 300 dd and still on the fence for led and mh

Regrets on lighting? Hmmm, not really. All-in-all, the move to LEDs is beneficial. The costs to run the system are dropping noticeably. The chiller almost never comes on. Top-off water use has gone down. The electricity bill has fallen significantly. We don't have to buy 3 new MH bulbs every 7 months. The ability to control the LEDs color and intensity, plus the other "cool features" is really a great step forward in technology and sophistication. Sure, some of the corals haven't done well, despite all of our efforts to gradually introduce the LEDs. We cannot point conclusively to the LEDs as the cause (we've had some other problems during the time like alk swings, a poor fish choice, etc.). So while the MH lighting for us is the tried-and-true solution, it was time to move on.

The left side has gotten a real make-over this summer:



Thanks for watching!

[rpjaws74]

always a pleasure seeing your tank!!

[crvz]

love the new angels, I've considered those when I see them pop up on liveaquaria but havent had the guts to jump on them (they aint cheap at that store, which certainly influences the decision). I am also adding a algae turf scrubber (influenced by your success a bit, but more of a DIY since I had the space to add a whole new tank to pull it off), so I'm hoping to get better growth out of corals with a lessened nutrient load. I've run a large number of fish in the past, and I'm trying to be a bit more strategic with that moving forward.

[glaukos]

Great pics mike
The new fish look amazing(realy like the angels too ) and the make-over of the left side is awesome.
Thanks for sharing

[Oldude]

I remain a fan of your reef & your photos are fantastic. Enjoyed the update.

[FDAWG]

Amazing shots! Love your fish collection.

[Newbie Aquarist]

Great updates as always. The new aquascape on the left side looks fantastic. Just to be curious, where are your levels since adding the Surf scrubber. Were they higher before or now that you have it you use less equipment now?

[SaintMark]

Tagging along. I have read all 61 pages over the last few days and I admire your fortitude and perseverance. Very good thread!

-Mark