It hasn't been THAT long

miwoodar

miwoodar

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#61
#61
Thanks. No frame. The main structure is 5 rocks mounted to a large limestone patio paver. I drilled and pegged them with fiberglass rods (driveway markers) to hold them in place while I mortared them. Most of the rods were just 4" niblets. All are permanently buried under mortar.

There were a few connections that required temporary zip ties as well. I should have taken photos but I was already making a pretty big mess, trying to work quickly, and didn't want to get mortar/saltwater on the camera. I'll see if I can take some shots to make it clearer where I pegged and how the connections turned out.
 
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miwoodar

miwoodar

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#63
#63
Grats to you too then! There was a period that I believed I would never be able to quit. They had me by the balls for a long time.
 
miwoodar

miwoodar

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#64
#64
Lil' help here? My head is spinning, I think I read too much. Please pardon my noob questions.

I've run through a number of LED combos/ratios and now I'm tweaking as I figure out strings/drivers. If I went with the following...

2 strings of 12 on an HLG 120-42B
* 12 CW XP-G @ 1.1
* 12 NW XP-G @ 1.1

5 strings of 11 on an HLG 185-42B
* 55 RB XP-E @ .733
* 5 blue XP-E @ .733

Can an HLG's current be set in the same way as an ELN? I saw someone say it wasn't possible (no SVR2 screw). If not, how do I make sure I never turn it up too high on the pots?

Lastly, assuming the Rapid dimming kit, can I use one pot for the HLG120 and the other for the HLG185?
 
miwoodar

miwoodar

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#66
#66
Thanks Gail. That helps a lot...internal potentiometer...right there on the spec sheet.

Great idea on the sump lighting. I think I should bump it to the 150 though, no? (12 whites at 1.1 ma...140 watts) Would it be hard to balance if I have an extra 6 feet of wire going into that particular string?

I'm pondering adding another string of 11 to the RB/B by the way. 0.733 would put me at 184+ watts. What are your thoughts on running one of these drivers so close to the rated capacity? Or I could set them to 0.7 (176 watts). I doubt I'll be running them at 100% anyways.

That would put me here (not counting the extra string of CW/NW)...
12 CW (13%)
12 NW (13%)
60 RB (67%)
6 Blue (7%)
 
Zooid

Zooid

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#67
#67
With 3 strings of 12 on a 120, you'd have almost 1A per string which is the max I would use on an XP-G. I know they are rated for 1.5A but
I almost blinded myself by looking at seven cool white XP-G's running at 500mA, so they are EXTEMELY bright. Adding another string to the 185 is a good idea,
that will bring your current down to about 730mA which is the most I would run through an XP-E just because I like to run them cooler :)
 
Zooid

Zooid

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#68
#68
Oh, and since you're using parallel branches, I'd consider using a fuse in each branch just in case you lose a branch or two.
 
miwoodar

miwoodar

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#69
#69
All good points - thanks again. I'm stoked...I feel that I'm close to plunking down the cash.

My bike light has an XP-G in it (I feel compelled to point it towards the ground when approaching people on the trail). I was using it to search for aiptasia in my tank last night and I was blinded for a few minutes after catching a direct flash to the eye. These things are stunners, for sure. And speaking of aiptasia, I didn't find any! :) I've only found three in the last week or so.
 
Zooid

Zooid

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#70
#70
I wish I could say the same.
I grow aiptasia great unless I'm trying to culture it for Berghia nudibranchs hehe.
 
miwoodar

miwoodar

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#71
#71
I found an aiptasia last night. These little buggers are persistant. I'm going to bury him with putty tonight.


Light Build Status...this will be my first go at LEDs...am I overlooking anything?

Specs not shown in the images:
* The fixture would be 23.5" wide and 25" tall
* LEDs will be ~6" off the water surface
* 18 c-channels (1" wide with .25" between)...separation shown between every 3rd channel is not correct.
* Already have fans, wood, and plexi shield




 
DyM

DyM

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#72
#72
wow, that's going to be awesome. I'm really curious if you will like the LED's better than other lighting options.
 
DyM

DyM

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#73
#73
Mike, I too went through a crash earlier this year. It ended up being really high NO3 and PO4, and I did to much to fast, and some wrong decisions. I finally got things on track in the last few months.
 
miwoodar

miwoodar

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#74
#74
FAIL...not cleaning the photo box prior to taking photos...FAIL

I don't claim the coloration in these corals. This is how I received them from their prior owner.

I do claim the algae...building up my cleaning crew in phases. The tank is cleaner than it looks in photos though.

The island in the middle is too big. I'm going to break it down to about a 1/3rd of the size.


A personal favorite


ORA Miami Orchid


Tricolor, Red Monti Digi, unidentified green, ponape, undata, (zoas, rics ... had previously)


MDrumm's old crocea, a favia (yes?) with it's tenticles out, a couple of unknown acros (mille and something else), and a cyphestrea (not sure about that one either)


Mmmmm


Old standard (cleanup crew....get to work here)


Unknown green and a cup of bits (the cups will be removed as soon as the bits attach)
 
miwoodar

miwoodar

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#75
#75
DyM;118310 said:
Mike, I too went through a crash earlier this year. It ended up being really high NO3 and PO4, and I did to much to fast, and some wrong decisions. I finally got things on track in the last few months.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear. It was crushing when I lost my colonies. We never figured out what it was. I had all of the parameters, maintenance, and equipment double checked by a very reputable local reefer. It was a couple of months of extremely frustrating STN. After it became apparent that I could lose everything I broke in a few times and did MASSIVE trimmings of anything that looked at all sick. I filled more than a half of a 5-gallon bucket with niblets and chunks. Eventually I just turned away and let it settle out. A few heads of my frogspawn made it, a frag of my red monti cap, a pocillopora, a few more LPS and a few more softies.
 
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miwoodar

miwoodar

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#77
#77
Dang, you're tank is looking good! That's very kind of you. I'm in for a trade.

Might you be interested in swapping a small frag of your cyphestrea (linked below) for a handful of heads of my green candy cane? (back left corner...it's much greener than it looks in the photo above BTW...the photo is whiter/redder than in person.)

 
miwoodar

miwoodar

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#79
#79
I kick myself that I didn't save the 'photo' you posted of it. :) The sale thread brings up a red x. :(
 
miwoodar

miwoodar

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#80
#80
Can I get this thread moved to the build section?

Does anyone run a Sicce PSK1000 on their skimmer? Like it?

LEDs are wired and running but I still have to build a box so I can mount them in my canopy. I'm going to forever miss my MH/VHO combo but I'm ready for the change. Does anyone want some 250 watt halides? One is a Coralife e-ballast running a Radium. The other is an M58 probe start ballast in a ballast box. I'll also be selling an Icecap 660. Extra bulbs (used) and endcaps will be included.

Here are PAR numbers when I was running two of the available four VHO's over my old 65.

 
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