Proteus' Shallow reef build

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

FWIW I've found that certain LPS families just cannot take my radions either. Chalices, most brains, scolies, etc... no go in my tank. They bleach to death rapidly wherever light hits them directly. Elegance corals, frogspawns, and *some* acans do ok. The funny thing is that under a Kessil ocean blue in my pico tank, all my brains recovered beautifully, got back their super deep, rich reds and greens. That fixture is LED, but it has no red or green diodes, and the mixture of blue to white is completely different, which might be the reason

In any case I'd likely try T5s on a smaller tank in the future.

Have you had any corals that have morphed in an unappealing way under the halides?

It's funny you spend so much on a led and expect great results but in fact the par38 on our other tank did a better job with lps than the radion. Now I wouldn't say I care for the par38 just based on the color seperation and the fact I had to were bell bottoms and put abba on the ok turntable.

As for the halide the only piece that's not what I hoped is the first fire digi. The colors are still there but the pop is not. Though it may just be a adjustment period. My setosa keeps it's pop. So I don't think its a halide vs orange issue

Should also say that since the ballast is currently under driving the bulb it's a little whiter than I would like. New luxcore eballast is on route

Also have a RB led retro coming as IMO RB led helps the pop

All in all halides kick ass. It just disappointing that it will soon be harder to get ballast as most companies have stopped supplying. Vertex, lumetek for example are out. But eballast are still avalible at most hydroponic shops

[asylumdown]

vertex has stopped making ballasts? wow, I didn't know that. It would be a shame if MH were to die out because equipment stopped being available. It's a tried, tested and true method.

I've sometimes wondered if I could tweak my radion program to make it more hospitable to the LPS that hate them, but since my tank is 95% SPS that seem to be doing fine (though some of the colour issues that you described are definitely happening in my tank as well) I'm too freaked out to tweak things in a way that might harm them.

[thmh]

Have you guys seen the new reefbrite mh+led!? Trina @ reef wholesale was telling me about it and I think it's definitely will be a contender! Now all reefbrite has to do is incorporate t5 then we might have a winner winner chicken dinner!

~Tony

[typezero]

Originally Posted by thmh

Have you guys seen the new reefbrite mh+led!? Trina @ reef wholesale was telling me about it and I think it's definitely will be a contender! Now all reefbrite has to do is incorporate t5 then we might have a winner winner chicken dinner!

~Tony

+1 tis be true

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

vertex has stopped making ballasts? wow, I didn't know that. It would be a shame if MH were to die out because equipment stopped being available. It's a tried, tested and true method.

I've sometimes wondered if I could tweak my radion program to make it more hospitable to the LPS that hate them, but since my tank is 95% SPS that seem to be doing fine (though some of the colour issues that you described are definitely happening in my tank as well) I'm too freaked out to tweak things in a way that might harm them.

That's a big issue I think is because you can tweak people do. Not allowing enough time for coral to acclimate. Most of us I would expect don't have a lot of patience and want instant results

I'm sure there will always be mh. Just have to start looking in other areas for parts.
I just found out about vertex ballast since I returned my defective one.

Originally Posted by thmh

Have you guys seen the new reefbrite mh+led!? Trina @ reef wholesale was telling me about it and I think it's definitely will be a contender! Now all reefbrite has to do is incorporate t5 then we might have a winner winner chicken dinner!

~Tony

I just saw last week. It looks ok I wasn't impressed with the look of the pendant myself though it may be prototype.
You can also buy just the led part to add to existing pendant
http://reefbuilders.com/2011/03/16/r...halide-hybrid/

[Proteus]

New ballast came In today. Bought a luxcore. So far it's great. It has a overdrive option but I don't think I'll need it there quite a difference between the two settings
Also picked up a couple old 250 HQI ballast as it's good to have back up
Also picked up a red fromia and Midas Blenny a while ago
In hopin when Phil sees my iPhone pics he'll pop over with his camera

[reefermadness]

Looks nice and sleek. Do you have a par meter to check out the levels? It does look a little bit high.

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by reefermadness

Looks nice and sleek. Do you have a par meter to check out the levels? It does look a little bit high.

As in the pendants is high?
It's 14" above water and I do plan on lowering it once I find a par meter to borrow
The tank is only 12" deep I didn't want to bleech everything

Don't mind the heater in the overflow. I just tossed it in there as wife kept back door open for the dogs and the cold air went downstairs. It's in sump now

[reefermadness]

Ya that is what I meant. It looks like its pretty high and you are getting a lot of light spillage. Always best to be cautious though. If things start getting brown you can lower it. Of course a par meter is going to help a lot.

[Proteus]

Before I put the halide on I had a bleaching incident with the led. I didn't want to shock the coral any more as my thought was brown is better than dead. Lol
I am planning on lowering a few inches at a time
I am using my setosa as a indicator now as its very pink lol