Planning new build, input appreciated

[jgraz]

If your planning on an SPS heavy tank or a mixed reef and decide on T5 then go with a 48" 8 bulb unit. Don't bother with the 36" unit. Will it work yes, will you be looking for a 48" in a couple of months, again yes. ATI is the cream of the crop but don't get hung up on the name, there are many other T5 units that will work well also. TEK is probably the next most popular unit. But they do not make them anymore so you will have to buy used. The biggest keys are good reflectors and quality bulbs. I had a TEK 8x54watt on my 90gal mixed. I had plenty of lower light areas to put whatever I wanted. Plus I could and did have SPS everywhere in my tank, including the sandbed. I would not hesitate to put that over the DB 80gal. As for replacing bulbs, this should be done around 8-9 months on a light that is not cooled, you can go longer but not much with fan cooled light. That is an appealing point of the ATI over the TEK. The fan will allow the unit to run cooler and thus allowing the bulbs to be more efficient.

I just switched to LEDs a few months ago and so far in happy. I switched because of cost. I was ready for a bulb change and figured the $200 for that could be put to better use. If I decide I don't like them though I will not hesitate to go back to the T5, which I held on to.

 

[Alcohol120]

i know the t5s will be more in the long run. for a 6 bulb fixture, its $220 a year. if i could get one for $300-400 with some new bulbs already then it will be cheaper than buying a new LED fixture initially because a new LED fixture will run me around $500-600. unless you guys know of something else thats cheaper, thats pretty much what i came up with. my problem with the LED is i want the good ones, and i dont have the expertise to know which are the best. i know there is a significant difference because ive seen it myself. i have two 120w chinese fixtures over my 40b, one i got from amazon that is normal and i keep it at 100% and one i got used that is ridiculously brighter. i have to keep the one i bought used turned down to about 30-40% just so you can't notice a huge difference and you can still see a difference.
heres an image i found that shows the difference between two cool white cree LEDs. the one on the right is a warmer bin Cree Cool White (bin 3A) and the left is a brighter binned cree cool white

more info on specific bins: http://reefledlights.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/XLampXTE_BL.pdf

now like i said before i have no expertise on this, so i dont know if this is just something to stir up business or if these brighter binned LEDs actually help with growth or not. im just posting some info i found and hopefully someone on here is an LED whiz.

 

[Zippy69]

Check out reef radiance. I and several members have em. Not 600$ that's for sure. Also not the Chinese blue/ white either, full spectrum to make colors pop.

 

[jgraz]

Bulbs for t5's shouldn't run more then $25 each, and that's expensive. I've seen them as low as $17 when many site run their sales and during the champion long bulb group buy.

Now I'm no expert but I would put my ocean revive LEDs full spectrums up against any "high end" LEDs out there. Sure I can't make a thunder storm or flash them on and off on a whim, but it's growth that counts any day and everyday. If your looking for bells and whistles then you can blow your money on the Vegas and maxspects of the world. If your like me and quite a few others on this site take a look at reef breeders, ocean revive, reef radiance, and the many others that can get you a good quality fixture that will do what it's made to do. And save yourself a pretty penny for corals.

 

[Alcohol120]

im aware of most of those manufacturers. the OR-IT2080 LED Aquarium Light from ocean revive seems like a pretty good deal at $450. its 36" but i think it will be enough to cover the tank. it doesnt mention the kind of LED chips are being used though.
theres also the photon48 from reefbreeders at $500 which uses bridgelux LEDs.

 

[Zippy69]

Bulbs for t5's shouldn't run more then $25 each, and that's expensive. I've seen them as low as $17 when many site run their sales and during the champion long bulb group buy.

Now I'm no expert but I would put my ocean revive LEDs full spectrums up against any "high end" LEDs out there. Sure I can't make a thunder storm or flash them on and off on a whim, but it's growth that counts any day and everyday. If your looking for bells and whistles then you can blow your money on the Vegas and maxspects of the world. If your like me and quite a few others on this site take a look at reef breeders, ocean revive, reef radiance, and the many others that can get you a good quality fixture that will do what it's made to do. And save yourself a pretty penny for corals.

Agree +1

 

[jgraz]

Send ocean revive a email. They are very good at getting back to you. They are really just starting out as a company but they are based out of Oregon. They have vendor threads on both R2R and RC. I personally love mine, I have the S026 if I remember the model correctly. Your welcome to come by one day and see them.

 

[Alcohol120]

Send ocean revive a email. They are very good at getting back to you. They are really just starting out as a company but they are based out of Oregon. They have vendor threads on both R2R and RC. I personally love mine, I have the S026 if I remember the model correctly. Your welcome to come by one day and see them.

i've emailed them, im sure they'll get back to me tomorrow. i think im on to something though. the fixture i just bought that is really bright looks uncannily familiar to the OR-D120 on that site but maybe an older version. i can tell by the power cords, the other chinese LED fixtures come with regular power cords, not the ones shown in the picture. so thats a good indication they're using Cree LEDs.

i just got done talking to some chinese person (claiming their name was jessica) from eshine too, they said two aquasun 36x3w fixtures would work for this tank. they have a lot of information about their stuff and they use cree LEDs. they said $200 for each fixture and i can customize the layout to whatever i want. the shipping is probably another $100 or so too from china.
http://www.eshinesystems.com/aqua/aquasun-36x3w.html
you can see the specs in a pdf at the bottom.

im starting to wonder if i should go after two fixtures instead of one since the tank is 24" wide. it would either be one 48" or so fixture or two 20" fixtures side by side.

 

[Alcohol120]

i've come across a deal to get two maxspect razor 120w 16000k fixtures for $500. Im pretty confident that they will light the tank. they dont have violet, green, or red LEDs so im not completely sure if want them. From what i found this will give me
12 Cree XLamp® XT-E 382 lm @ 1300mA Cool White 8000K

12 Cree XLamp® XT-E 1520mW @ 1300mA Royal Blue 450-465nm

12 Cree XLamp® XT-E 294 lm @ 1300mA Warm White 3000K

18 Cree XLamp® XP-E 63 lm @ 860mA Blue 465-485nm

12 Cree XLamp® XT-E 1520mW @ 1300mA Royal Blue 450-465nm

12 Epileds Dual-Core 1100mW @ 1300mA Super Actinic 410-420nm

for a total of 66 Cree LEDs and 12 epileds. thats the info i got from the website and then multiplied it by 2. when i look on the pad layout though, there is only 13 LEDs. 2 pads per fixture. 13x4=52 ???
anyone know what im missing here? what do you think about this setup? will i want more light?

 

[Alcohol120]

nvm, ive figured it out. the LED layout number is correct. it would be 78 LEDs total if i was buying two 160w fixtures. since im getting the 120w, its 1/3 less the amount of LEDs. so 52 doesnt really seem like that many. they are CREE though which is supposedly twice as bright as bridgelux.

 

[Alcohol120]

ive been pretty busy. got the tank last weekend and it was pretty dirty

spent a while cleaning it up and scraping the paint off

still can't get this coralline off. i tried water, CLR, and scraping it with a credit card and the tough side of sponge. does anyone have any ideas one how to get it off? I want to soak it in vinegar water but i dont want to fill the tank up with 80g of vinegar water. would it be such a bad idea to remove it so i can soak it? if i removed it i would probably get a new overflow and try to make the design more suitable for a peninsula tank (so that you can see all 48 inches on both sides). im not sure if thats practical or a bad idea though since its already all done for me.

also the tank has some sort of brace behind the overflow. i dont think its from the manufacturer, but im not sure why the person wanted to reinforce it. maybe thats standard but it makes me a little worried.

also got these on monday. cant wait to see how they look over the tank Dance

 

[Zippy69]

You could soak a towel in vinegar and simply lay it over the coraline. It will dissolve it

 

[Alcohol120]

i have to start planning out my sump area so i can get the stand design in motion. im thinking im going to want a lot of LR in the sump because i wont have very much in the display. i was thinking about putting a small 10g tank with a 120w chinese fixture in the stand and use it as a little frag tank too. i also want to fit the RODI reservoir in the stand too. it'll probably be a tight fit with all three things.
what would be the best way to plumb the frag tank in? is there anything im missing? since the sump in my 40b is really basic and almost impossible to clean, i'll be focusing on accessibility and trying to make this one a bit more complex. i want water changes to be easy. so what would you guys do? i need ideas since right now i only have a basic sump.

thanks in advance

 

[Alcohol120]

You could soak a towel in vinegar and simply lay it over the coraline. It will dissolve it

i'll definitely try that. thanks

 

[Empire]

Gravity feed the 10g. Raise the 10g higher than the sump, and either t off your drain or get a small pump from the sump into the 10g. Drill a hole in the 10g and have it drain back into the sump.

 

[Alcohol120]

How long should I leave the vinegar soaked towel on the coralline? It's been about 24 hours and I checked earlier this morning and it seems like its not working.
Anyways heres what i came up with for my sump area. I think im going to use the 20L i already have. i think the ball joints made sense there. that way i could restrict the flow out of the frag tank and close the main drain. is there anywhere else i would want to add one? Everything should fit the way it is in the stand but im not sure if i want to cram a bunch of stuff in there. it seems like its going to be a really tight fit if i want a sump, frag tank, and RODI reservoir all in the stand. not to mention all of the other stuff that will eventually end up in there. i also wanted to save some room possibly for a reactor or something in the future. so i have to decide if i really want the frag tank or not. with the 10g frag tank and the 20L sump, it only leaves room for a RODI reservoir thats about 14x14x16, which is smaller than the rubbermaid container i have now. im contemplating getting a whole new sump thats taller, wider, and not as long as a 20L and maybe getting a smaller frag tank. im not sure what to do yet really though as you can probably see. my thoughts and ideas are pretty scrambled

 

[Alcohol120]

vinegar towel is a no go. its been about 32 hours since i left it on there and i dont think more time will help. can i cut it out and put a new overflow in? or should i just forget about it since it will grow back anyways

 

[redfishbluefish]

vinegar towel is a no go. its been about 32 hours since i left it on there and i dont think more time will help. can i cut it out and put a new overflow in? or should i just forget about it since it will grow back anyways

You actually need to re-wet the towel with vinegar ever hour or so. The towel must remain wet with vinegar. It does work....I've recently done it with two Brute trash cans used for mixing salt.

 

[Zippy69]

vinegar towel is a no go. its been about 32 hours since i left it on there and i dont think more time will help. can i cut it out and put a new overflow in? or should i just forget about it since it will grow back anyways

If it ain't broke don't go fixing....especially if it's gonna look that way in a healthy system in a few months

You actually need to re-wet the towel with vinegar ever hour or so. The towel must remain wet with vinegar. It does work....I've recently done it with two Brute trash cans used for mixing salt.

Besides the evaporation factor the calcium carbonate of the coraline would exhaust vinegar trapped in the towel in a short time. No?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Besides the evaporation factor the calcium carbonate of the coraline would exhaust vinegar trapped in the towel in a short time. No?

Pete, you know your chemistry. Yes, there is a reaction of the vinegar (acetic acid) with the calcium carbonate, which "consumes" the acid. This is the reason why you need to continually wet the towel (along with evaporation). The reaction of vinegar with calcium carbonate produces a calcium acetate (which is readily water soluble), along with carbon dioxide and water. As stated, in the process, the vinegar is "consumed."

CaCO[SUB]3[/SUB] + 2CH[SUB]3[/SUB]COOH = Ca (CH[SUB]3[/SUB]COO)[SUB]2[/SUB] + CO[SUB]2[/SUB] + H[SUB]2[/SUB]O

This concludes the chemistry lesson...there will be a quiz on Friday.