*d2mini's new 200g Reeftastic Build*

[d2mini]

Just wanted to post an updated pic of the fuge.
And this is a few weeks AFTER harvesting a whole bunch of red bubble algae and cleaning off all the mangrove roots.
This puppy has been really taking off and my phosphates have dropped quite a bit.
It was starting to do ok but then really seemed to take off when I moved my 1st Gen Radion over it.
So I'm getting lots of good macro algae growth, the gorgonians are doing well, and i have three feather dusters that are also doing well. The mangroves aren't really getting more leaves on top but their roots are all growing straight down just like I wanted them to. The plan is for the roots to eventually start hitting rock and substrate. I want a crazy thick mangrove root structure in there.

[sseaner]

Now you are posting pics making my fuge look bad......lol...Beautiful fuge. That should should really improve your water quality. Are you purchasing most of your macro locally?

[d2mini]

No, not local.
http://www.live-plants.com

[gb530]

Originally Posted by d2mini

Just wanted to post an updated pic of the fuge.
And this is a few weeks AFTER harvesting a whole bunch of red bubble algae and cleaning off all the mangrove roots.
This puppy has been really taking off and my phosphates have dropped quite a bit.
It was starting to do ok but then really seemed to take off when I moved my 1st Gen Radion over it.
So I'm getting lots of good macro algae growth, the gorgonians are doing well, and i have three feather dusters that are also doing well. The mangroves aren't really getting more leaves on top but their roots are all growing straight down just like I wanted them to. The plan is for the roots to eventually start hitting rock and substrate. I want a crazy thick mangrove root structure in there.

This is really cool! Are you still running the algae scrubber?

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by gb530

This is really cool! Are you still running the algae scrubber?

No, I pulled if off before christmas.
I just didn't have the nutrients to support it!
I couldn't get the refugium to take off during that time either.
Now the refugium is really taking off and it's doing the job of an algae scrubber, but in a much more interesting way.

[frankabagnale]

That is looking great! Nice work on the fuge!

[saf1]

Radion Gen 1? LED, correct?

If so, those have red, green, and violet(maybe, may be in later gen though) in them which helps with algae. Those had more white/blue/royal blues but the added colors helped a ton with spectrum spreads.

I'm not saying that is why yours is doing so well but I think LED's with those colors and if controllable it helps a ton You have good tank husbandry skills so that is probably why

[MikesReef83]

With having a fuge like this there is almost no need for gfo is that correct?

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by saf1

Radion Gen 1? LED, correct?

If so, those have red, green, and violet(maybe, may be in later gen though) in them which helps with algae. Those had more white/blue/royal blues but the added colors helped a ton with spectrum spreads.

I'm not saying that is why yours is doing so well but I think LED's with those colors and if controllable it helps a ton

Absolutely and thanks for pointing that out.
I previously had a 200w daylight spectrum grow light over the fuge.
The mangroves loved it but the macros not so much. They are more like coral and prefer a bluer spectrum. So i noticed an improvement when swapping with the Radion. No violet in the gen one, just the whites, blues and I do have the reds and greens jacked to 100%.

Originally Posted by MikesReef83

With having a fuge like this there is almost no need for gfo is that correct?

Yup.
I think GFO is generally overused anyway. What I mean is some of us just assume we need it when we really do not.
I was having problems back in december with sps suddenly losing color, gorgonians not happy, etc. I seemed to be overdoing it with the gfo. Pulled it off and haven't needed it since.

[saf1]

I forgot to mention in my post that it looks really nice. Sorry about that

I believe that would look pretty amazing has a stand alone display tank if truth be told. A lot of attention is always paid to coral but some of the algae can look pretty epic on its own.

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by saf1

I forgot to mention in my post that it looks really nice. Sorry about that

I believe that would look pretty amazing has a stand alone display tank if truth be told. A lot of attention is always paid to coral but some of the algae can look pretty epic on its own.

Thanks.
And yeah... i don't have room in the house near the display tank but at least I have something to look at while doing maintenance in the fish room. haha

[d2mini]

Ok, peepnuggets! It's Easter, and it's time for FULL DISCLOSURE.

d2mini has been running a little experiment over the last few months and hasn't been forthcoming about it until now.
The Radion Pros were removed from the tank in late February and replaced with... *GASP!* Metal Halide and T5!

Nothing against the Radions or LED in general.
I just got tired of certain things and missed my old MH/T5 setup. I missed how bright my tank looked, I missed how natural looking the coral looked, I missed the growth rates, I missed the color I used to get, I missed the color and polyp extension UNDER my corals.... looking back at old pics, i was just like, "dang, i miss that!"

So as an easy way to get back to mh/t5 and test it out, I picked up a Hamilton Cebu Sun mh/t5 combo fixture. Three 250w Radium MH and four 80w T5 bulbs (2x Blue+, KZ SuperBlue, and Coral+).



When I first put this fixture up over the tank and turned it on, comparing it to the 4 radions I had, it was like turning on the light in a dark room. It was SOOOO much brighter! The back wall of my tank was now getting light, as was the ledge on the front of the stand. There was so much more spread. And such better light wrap around the coral.
Then the waiting game began, and I expected to be writing this 6 months later. But within days, things started to seem different. Within in weeks, stuff was definitely changing. I had dull sps frags that hadn't grown at all in a year start to explode in color and growth. All my colors started looking better to me. NOTHING went downhill. Pretty much all my sps saw at least a little improvement. After two months, I've seen enough positive changes to call it done and I know which lighting system I'm sticking with.

Here's a couple FTS.

The before, with LED. And not bad looking, at all.


And then a shot from a few weeks ago... about a month after the switch.

[d2mini]

And here's some more recent individual coral shots.
In fact, any pics I posted in the last couple months was shot under the new lighting.

[d2mini]

This was one that was nothing but a dull stick before.

[Maximus]

Welcome to my world, Dennis! I too switched out my Kessil's and went back to my old trusty 400 watt Radiums and t-5's. The brightness is sooooo nice compared to the LED's. I don't care how much more my power bill goes up as I feel it's definitely worth it. It might even be a wash as my 300 watts in heaters were constantly coming on!

[dcmartinpc]

Looking amazing Dennis! I was running a GHL Mitras for about 6 months and decided to make the switch back to MH/T5 over my 60 cube. I loved the Mitras, it did a great job, but I was noticing the "dimness" and I love a bright looking tank. I went to 250w Radium, 2xBlue+, and 2xPure Actinic. It was working OK, but I just wanted more PAR to kick my growth into high gear, so I made the move to a 400w Radium and I couldn't be happier! This bulb is amazing!!! The only downside is the 6-8 month replacement cycle.

I do find it very interesting how many people are making the move back to MH/T5 from LED. I had arguably the best LED out there, and I came back. I was like you, I missed it

Thanks for sharing your tank! Love the fuge! I have been contemplating one myself, just figuring out the logistics of the placement in my fish room...

Don

[r-balljunkie]

Next tank, radiums and vho for me.....corals look good BTW.


C

[james30ct]

Tank is looking good. I love that scroll coral.

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by Maximus

Welcome to my world, Dennis! I too switched out my Kessil's and went back to my old trusty 400 watt Radiums and t-5's. The brightness is sooooo nice compared to the LED's. I don't care how much more my power bill goes up as I feel it's definitely worth it. It might even be a wash as my 300 watts in heaters were constantly coming on!

Yep, I did the power analysis, and by using this chart in my AquaticLog.com account which gives you the power output of your own individual Radion graph, I was able to get a pretty accurate tally of how much I was spending each month to run my lights. I figured out that to make the switch, the difference in just the lighting is going to cost me around $100/year more than before. That's nothing. Now since I have a lot of water in my garage, which already requires a chiller in the warmer months, the chiller will be running more. But then I'll probably make up some of that in the cooler months when the heaters might not have to run as much. But whatever... it's totally worth it.

Originally Posted by dcmartinpc

Looking amazing Dennis! I was running a GHL Mitras for about 6 months and decided to make the switch back to MH/T5 over my 60 cube. I loved the Mitras, it did a great job, but I was noticing the "dimness" and I love a bright looking tank. I went to 250w Radium, 2xBlue+, and 2xPure Actinic. It was working OK, but I just wanted more PAR to kick my growth into high gear, so I made the move to a 400w Radium and I couldn't be happier! This bulb is amazing!!! The only downside is the 6-8 month replacement cycle.

I do find it very interesting how many people are making the move back to MH/T5 from LED. I had arguably the best LED out there, and I came back. I was like you, I missed it

Thanks for sharing your tank! Love the fuge! I have been contemplating one myself, just figuring out the logistics of the placement in my fish room...

Don

Thanks, Don.
Yeah, i'm sure the 400w is insane. My problem with this fixture and my rearward slanting canopy is that I can only get the bulbs 8" off the water. My plan is to run this fixture for around a year (life of the bulbs) and then figure out how to hang 3 separate mh pendants and retrofit the T5's in there. Not only to maybe get some more height but also the bulb changes would be a heck of a lot easier. That fixture has a single 72" long piece of glass that has to be slid out the side!

Originally Posted by r-balljunkie

Next tank, radiums and vho for me.....corals look good BTW.


C

Thanks.

[Saltydrip]

That's precisely why I built my own LEDs. In stead of them being tightly clustered I have them spread out and I get a great even light. I did have to add a T5 actinic on account of the fact that I wanted a little more color pop. I'll be adding another 36 3w LEDs to the mix to make up for that.

[iced98lx]

Dennis:

"Whatever works, man"

Glad you're loving the switch back, do what works for you and the coral you like to keep, obviously it's working.

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by Saltydrip

That's precisely why I built my own LEDs. In stead of them being tightly clustered I have them spread out and I get a great even light. I did have to add a T5 actinic on account of the fact that I wanted a little more color pop. I'll be adding another 36 3w LEDs to the mix to make up for that.

Yup, i believe you would need to cover almost the entire top of the tank with led to get a similar spread. And then that would only be taking care of one of the things I didn't like.

Originally Posted by iced98lx

Dennis:

"Whatever works, man"

Glad you're loving the switch back, do what works for you and the coral you like to keep, obviously it's working.

Thanks.

[SS_Sean]

Dennis, just a little feedback for you...

I finished up my saltwater mixing station about 3 weeks ago, and it came out great. The only differences I can think if is I used an Eheim 1262 instead of the 1260, and I used 35g jugs whereas you used 65. The 1262 was needed because I'm pushing sw some 60 feet to my DT from the station.

The system worked out fantastic, and has met all of our needs. Thanks for putting out the stuff you did on your system in such detail. I simply would not have built such a nice system if you hadn't been so helpful. You rock!

[gb530]

Originally Posted by d2mini

This was one that was nothing but a dull stick before.

Do you have a before picture of this exact coral? Would love to see some closeup before/after shots of the same corals!

I knew there was something up when I saw you commenting against LEDs in the "Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS..." thread. I was was like, wait, he has the Radions??? haha

I have been thinking about pulling the trigger on getting a 48" ATI SunPower High Output T5 Light Fixture 8 x 54W to replace my two Kessils, on my standard 90 gallon tank. Any thoughts/advice?

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by SS_Sean

Dennis, just a little feedback for you...

I finished up my saltwater mixing station about 3 weeks ago, and it came out great. The only differences I can think if is I used an Eheim 1262 instead of the 1260, and I used 35g jugs whereas you used 65. The 1262 was needed because I'm pushing sw some 60 feet to my DT from the station.

The system worked out fantastic, and has met all of our needs. Thanks for putting out the stuff you did on your system in such detail. I simply would not have built such a nice system if you hadn't been so helpful. You rock!

Awesome! Glad I could help.

Originally Posted by gb530

Do you have a before picture of this exact coral? Would love to see some closeup before/after shots of the same corals!

I knew there was something up when I saw you commenting against LEDs in the "Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS..." thread. I was was like, wait, he has the Radions??? haha

I have been thinking about pulling the trigger on getting a 48" ATI SunPower High Output T5 Light Fixture 8 x 54W to replace my two Kessils, on my standard 90 gallon tank. Any thoughts/advice?

Unfortunately I never took a pic of that coral because there was really nothing to take a pic of. The best I can do is point you to this hi res image.
http://bluelemonphoto.smugmug.com/Aq...um/i-pwVHpQ6/O
Look for the vortech on the back wall, on the left side. That mille is just to the right of the vortech. This photo was taken 2 months prior to getting the lights.
And here is another shot over a year ago, last March 3rd.
http://bluelemonphoto.smugmug.com/Aq...2_200gReef.jpg
And back even further in January, you can see it here on the left above the orange sponge.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bluele...7628769890473/

Basically, its the same stick in all pics, until the MH/T5 setup.
This is just one coral though. Not everything will react like this. Interesting nonetheless.