A few pics of Schnitzel's sticks

[SchnitzelReef]

Originally Posted by lowbudget

corals are looking good man, why are you changing the lights out

Always room for improvement. Radions were nice, but not perfect. I have corals in my tank that are 2 years old, and haven't grown more then an inch. Not sure if it's water parameters, or lights. I've done everything in my power to make sure water parameters are dialed, and still no growth. With t5s, I won't have to worry about the problem being my lights. 90% of my acros are growing and colorful, it's that 10% that just won't grow. Of course the 10% are my rare acros. For the past 5 years I have been a huge led fan, we had our fun, it's time to move on. Bye leds, it was fun while it lasted. ;(

[SchnitzelReef]

2 48" reefbrite xhos



So excited to get everything setup. Gunna have a busy Saturday.

[dodgerblew]

Are you using new bulbs Nick? ATI recommends breaking bulbs in at 100% for first 50 hrs

[rickztahone]

Very nice Nick. Not sure where you live but if you were open to me photographing your tank, I would love to try my hand at getting some good shots of it

[iammrhappy]

Are you still using a stenner pump for AWC? Do you notice a difference between daily small changes WC and large twice a month WC? Currently doing 2 gpd WC with my stenner. Tank is doing pretty well with that.

What are the dimensions of your tank? It's frkn awesome.

[kajung2k]

I'm curious on what bulb combination you are going with.

[solitude127]

Any particular reason why you went with the dimmable version?

[SchnitzelReef]

Originally Posted by dodgerblew

Are you using new bulbs Nick? ATI recommends breaking bulbs in at 100% for first 50 hrs

Yes I have all new ATI bulbs. Thanks for the tip, wasn't aware of that.

Originally Posted by rickztahone

Very nice Nick. Not sure where you live but if you were open to me photographing your tank, I would love to try my hand at getting some good shots of it

I'm in corona, near Norco. Right off the 15 in between the 60 and the 91. Would love to have someone snap some pics of my corals. I have a canon t3i, and an avast porthole, but I just shoot in auto mode, and I never do any editing. I don't have the time to mess with it, but someday when work slows down, I would love to learn how to really use my camera.

Originally Posted by iammrhappy

Are you still using a stenner pump for AWC? Do you notice a difference between daily small changes WC and large twice a month WC? Currently doing 2 gpd WC with my stenner. Tank is doing pretty well with that.

What are the dimensions of your tank? It's frkn awesome.

Actually I haven't use the Stenner in over 6 months. I was dealing with low nutrients, and stopped doing water changes all together. I was hoping to get nitrates above 1. They are still hovering around .5-1, so I haven't gotten to the point of using my Stenner on a regular basis. I'm hoping I will eventually get there, but first, I need to get my lighting situation figured out.

Tank is 96x30x21. Recessed eurobrace and external overflow. Thanks for the love.

[SchnitzelReef]

Originally Posted by kajung2k

I'm curious on what bulb combination you are going with.

I'm starting off with 6 blue + 1 coral + and 1 purple +

I originally wanted to mix bulb manufactures, just because I've always ran ATI. But for now I'm going to stick with ATI.

In the future I'm gunna try to mix in some KZ bulbs. Maybe 1 or 2 super blues, and swap their purple bulb for the purple +.

Originally Posted by solitude127

Any particular reason why you went with the dimmable version?

No reason in particular. Dimmable has 1 power cord vs 3 with the non dimmable. One of the things I did love about LEDs, whether it was my DIY or the radions, was being able to dim for sunrise and sunset. I also bought the dimming module for the reefbrites. I'll have those dimmed through my apex, and run the t5s on a similar dimming schedule.

So I guess it was mainly for aesthetics. I love the look of my tank at night when it slowly dimms down over a couple hours. Just a cool feature.

[rickztahone]

If I ever head close to Corona I will make sure to give you a buzz

[SchnitzelReef]

No more radions






Loving these t5s!!!

[solitude127]

Looks good

[SchnitzelReef]

Originally Posted by solitude127

Looks good

Thanks man.

No more excuses now. If things don't start growing and coloring up, then I just suck. Haha

[iammrhappy]

Originally Posted by SchnitzelReef

Actually I haven't use the Stenner in over 6 months. I was dealing with low nutrients, and stopped doing water changes all together. I was hoping to get nitrates above 1. They are still hovering around .5-1, so I haven't gotten to the point of using my Stenner on a regular basis. I'm hoping I will eventually get there, but first, I need to get my lighting situation figured out.

Tank is 96x30x21. Recessed eurobrace and external overflow. Thanks for the love.

Ah gotcha. I think I remember reading your thread about low nitrates. Makes sense why you'd stop the AWC. I still have my stenner doing 3 gal per day water changes, but I'm starting to see low nitrates as well. Coral haven't been happy with that.


Dream tank dimensions man.


I'm starting to plan my next build. I wish I could go 96, but the only length that would fit the area would be 72. But I'm pretty set on going 30x21 or 22. I bet having the height at 21 is great for maintenance and also less electricity since you really don't need to crank the lights up so much.





Awesome man. Thanks for the tank specs!

[thirst]

Damn are you telling me I am doomed with my Radions? I run 2x radion pros over my 48" sps tank. Been keeping the SPS since march or so.

[iammrhappy]

Originally Posted by thirst

Damn are you telling me I am doomed with my Radions? I run 2x radion pros over my 48" sps tank. Been keeping the SPS since march or so.

I don't think you're doomed. I know a buddy who runs 3 Hydras 52 HDs over a SPS dominant tank. I know it's not radions but they're both quality LEDs. His tank is bad azz. I'm sure you can do it!

[thirst]

Originally Posted by iammrhappy

I don't think you're doomed. I know a buddy who runs 3 Hydras 52 HDs over a SPS dominant tank. I know it's not radions but they're both quality LEDs. His tank is bad azz. I'm sure you can do it!

Hope so. I will continue to document my progress on my thread. But to be on the safe side, i am starting up a second tank using MH in the next few weeks.

the T-5s look great Schnitzel!

[SchnitzelReef]

Originally Posted by thirst

Damn are you telling me I am doomed with my Radions? I run 2x radion pros over my 48" sps tank. Been keeping the SPS since march or so.

Absolutely not doomed. Lots of people have had success with radions/LEDs. What made me switch was my lack of success, and all of the people I know that have amazing success with T5s.

Go on the Sps section of this forum, find the nicest sps dominant tanks in that section, scroll down to where they say what lighting they run............always T5s.

[zoobie88]

Awesome tank. Thanks for sharing

Sent from my SM-G920R4 using Tapatalk

[SchnitzelReef]

Gunna start using aquaforest salt, See how I like it. Did my first 30g water change yesterday. Gunna order a few more buckets soon.




Also got a second chamber for my calcium reactor. Ordered it from avast marine. Came with 1/4" john guest fittings, so my effluent line can easily be pushed right into the reactor.

[BeanMachine]

Originally Posted by SchnitzelReef

I'm starting off with 6 blue + 1 coral + and 1 purple +

I originally wanted to mix bulb manufactures, just because I've always ran ATI. But for now I'm going to stick with ATI.

In the future I'm gunna try to mix in some KZ bulbs. Maybe 1 or 2 super blues, and swap their purple bulb for the purple +.




No reason in particular. Dimmable has 1 power cord vs 3 with the non dimmable. One of the things I did love about LEDs, whether it was my DIY or the radions, was being able to dim for sunrise and sunset. I also bought the dimming module for the reefbrites. I'll have those dimmed through my apex, and run the t5s on a similar dimming schedule.

So I guess it was mainly for aesthetics. I love the look of my tank at night when it slowly dimms down over a couple hours. Just a cool feature.

You may know this already, but dimming T5 lamps reduces their life span.

Happy belated Bday btw!

[SchnitzelReef]

Took a couple iPhone pics with a gel filter this morning. Only blue + bulbs were on at the time. Insane what these t5s are doing to my acros. Everything is slowly but surely getting brighter and growing. Wish I had started with t5s 2 years ago, can't even imagine how different my tank would look today.







My orange passion is looking insane!

[rickztahone]

Love that torch! Where'd you get it?

[dodgerblew]

Spectacular!!

Interested in your review of the new salt

[SchnitzelReef]

Originally Posted by rickztahone

Love that torch! Where'd you get it?

Got it from RAP 4 years ago. Don't remember the vendor. Someone from Northern California

Originally Posted by dodgerblew

Spectacular!!

Interested in your review of the new salt

Yea im excited about using it. I ordered the small bucket, so I was only able to do a 30g water change. I'm gunna order 2 buckets this week, so I can do a 60g water change next. I'm gunna start doing water changes every 2-3 weeks with this new salt and see how I like it.

Im also gunna order some other aquaforest products and see how they work.