I personally run a ReefKeeper Elite from Digital Aquatics, I absolutely love it especially the safety features. I am afraid of the thermostat getting stuck on my heater I have the heater itself set between certain temps as well as my controller cutting power to it above a certain temperature. Additionally another couple degrees above that if the summer heat gets the best of my tank it cuts of the lights to keep the temperature from sky rocketing (a real life saver last year when my A/C went out in the house over the weekend.) I have nothing but good things to say about my controller but I have also never owned or used an apex.
Well I went ahead and purchased 2 out of 3 ecotech radions for the 195 I will be building. I put these 2 in my 90 gallon to replace the compact fluorescent that I was previously using. I had no idea what level intensity I had before so I started the radions off at 40% and planning on workin my way up 5% a week. I have them at 40% for 11 hours, should I do a shorter daylight cycle to start out with? Did water testing on the tank, results as follows. Calcium 420 alk. 7dkh mag. 1380 Nitrate. 0.00 ppm phosphate. ??? Phosphate test kit never had a chemical reaction the 4 times I tested that water. Hope these light can bring my tank back to life from 190 watts of compact fluorescent to these to radions. How long should I wait till I try a couple sps or Lps corals?
My tank was lit by 4 AI SOL Super Blue modules for 6 months. Then I was going to start adding SPS to my Mix of Corals and Everyone, I mean everyone was dogging the color spectrum of the AI Blue modules. While it did superb for my LPS I did notice some washing of some SPS colors; mainly the Red and Orange colors. So after much deliberation I went with 2 - 250Watt (running at 150Watt) 20K Radiums powered by 2 Lumatek 250 watt selectable ballasts. The colors of everything started to look a little better but not much. Time will tell when I start add more and more SPS I guess. This Blasto was grown out from 4 polyps exclusively by AI SOL Super Blue Modules. Talk about a Deep Red color. These were lit with LED's for about 2 months and never lost any color what so ever. As a matter of fact, the One Red Acan that did come in all Washed Out, colored up awesomely under LEDS. This Full Tank Shot was Taken 1 Week after the Metal Halide Modification mainly to show off the new Metal Halide Add On. What ever color that is on this picture was already there and kept by the LED's.
It seems like a new company comes out w/ the latest/greatest light a/b every month. I've been wanting to switch to LED's but can't find a brand name that would be good for my tank. I currently have a 6 bulb T5HO Nova Extreme w/ 18'' bulbs. My tank is a 46 gal cube tank, pretty narrow and very tall, any suggestions?
I ran my LEDs at half power for a month with no optics after going from T5HO
Thanks everyone for the info on the led lights. Wrx what kind of process did you use to switch over to LEDs? How much power at a time and how long till you were able to have lights operating at full power?
My tank has done better with LEDs than T5HO tek
I bleached some corals after going from t5s to leds. I think the key to avoided major color shifts in corals is proper acclimation, and proper spectrum coverage.
that would be 100% myth my tank is proof the only problem i had is that i bleached almost all my coral at first, LED's put out lots of light but they dont seem to be as intense as compaired to MH so i cranked mine...
That's horrible terrible stuff that will ruin your tank. You should ship it all to me immediately for tang dispossal. LOL Sorry couldn't resist. That about the only algae I haven't had at some point.
Thanks melev. I will keep it in the tank until it gets to big and move some to the Refugium if needed.
Looks like "Dragon's Breath" to me. This is one algae that really doesn't cause any issues in the tank. It adds movement, color, and some fish will eat it.
Here is the picture. Thanks Blakew for the help with the info on how to post this. Can anyone tell me what this is?
There's a couple of different ways... 1) If you have a picasa, photobucket, etc account, upload the photo to that account and copy the http:\\ address of the photo. Then come back to this site and click on the "insert image" icon and paste the copied http:\\ address into the line under "URL". You should see your image in the "leave comment" box prior to clicking the "post now" button. 2)Go to your profile on this site. If you scroll down on your profile page you have an "albums" section. You can create an album and upload pictures to the album. When you click on the picture in the album there is a line under the picture (on the right side) that says "URL". Copy that and paste as above and make sure you see the image prior to clicking "post now".
I want to send a picture but how do I upload it when it asks for an URL?
Heres a pic of the leaf lettuce.
Can you post a picture? Is this Dragon's Breath by any chance?
Thanks for the advice melev and cyano. New tank won't be up and running for a while.
the JBJ auto top off is by far the best purchase I feel I have made under $100
Definitely add a vent fan to suck the moisture out of the room via that window. I've seen basements soaking wet because of a lack of air circulation.
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