A Reefer's Journey

[albert_dao]

Originally Posted by asmodeus

Dude what is the length of that, u have a 8 footer too man and you are running that light. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm really please pm me the price of that light too $$ let me know how that is running for light on the ends too.

what is the difference in the 200 and the 260

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...ID=vt-ldss1800

SR200 - XPE
SR260 - XPG, about 30+% brighter

[lastlight]

You replaced 6 halides on an 8 foot tank with a 6-foot LED fixture with a somewhat narrow spread. Can you update us on how that's panned out so far?

[fooser]

Originally Posted by lastlight

You replaced 6 halides on an 8 foot tank with a 6-foot LED fixture with a somewhat narrow spread. Can you update us on how that's panned out so far?

Hi Brett, Sorry, I did not even see that post, I put the reefing on hold for a few months there. The LEDs are so much better than 6 halides! I think it may be a worthwhile consideration for you to switch as well if you have not already, since you are running a large system as well and would need some pretty hardcore lighting. I cannot say how much my electricity bill has gone down exactly each month since the amount of things in a new house has changed the overall usage in my household, but I can say that I am still paying less than I used to, even including the fact that I am fully moved in now and so is my wife (compared to only me living here and hardly ever home before).

With respect to the corals, I increased the intensity far too quickly. Some of my SPS near mid level and upwards in the tank bleached out quite a bit (even only at about 70% intensity). I turned it down to about 40% on the whites and 50% for both Blue and Royal Blue. I have since slowly increased to 50% white, 70%blue and 70%royal blue (about 2 or 3% increase per week). I have not added any of the red LED modules so cannot comment on that. I did only mount my lights about 8" from water surface, so I added in a 24" glow T5 i had lying around on each end of the tank running back to front to cover the very last 6" of each end of my tank. I suppose that since I am not even using nearly 100% of the Illumina's full capabilities, I could also have raised the unit and allowed the spread of the LEDs to reach the ends as well instead of adding the Glo T5s.

Growth is good, colors are coming back on whatever bleached before, and corals on the ones that didn't bleach are popping. I like how you can really play with the Blues and white to configure the look you want. The ability to set how long your sunrise and sunsets last is kind of neat too so you can have things light up more naturally (really nice for new coral additions to not stress them out for the first while that you have them). The fact that you can adjust your LED intensity settings temporarily is also great for adding new fish and corals as well.

To sum it up; great choice, would not go back, also strongly recommend to others. Ballast is tiny, wires are easy to manage, easy to mount in a neat and clutter free manner.

Hope that helps Brett.

[fooser]

I guess pictures of the tank would have been a better way to answer your question, but I did not take any full tank shots prior to seeing that post, so that will have to wait 'til the next time I have a day off with the camera

For now, I thought I should finally put up some pictures of the unseen parts.

My little fishroom to contain the mess that my wife dreads from this hobby. The empty bottom tank is to be a future quarantine.

Frag system (if I ever get my corals big enough to frag again) or nursery for injured fish or corals that need extra attention)

Auto top off reservoir

Water change system (to be plumbed in) Top barrel is for fresh water, bottom is for salt water, a large external pump will power the salt mixing/pumping into the sump. One valve controls the freshwater that drains to the salt barrel below. Another valve controls if the water continues to cycle and mix in the bottom saltwater barrel or if it goes to the sump instead.

Eight circuit panel just for my tank related consumption


Return, Emergency backup overflow to sump, and Main overflow to sump

The heart. Hammerhead pump that runs the operation.

splits off 3 ways, first valve goes to frag tank, second valve goes to media reactors, the rest goes back to the display

Looks like a mess, but it works. Carbon and Bio-pellets

How it all comes down. Main drain goes deep into the water in the back section (as well as the frag tank's), the emergency hangs suspended over 1 of the filter socks but is used only in emergency. 2 filter socks hang suspended on a removable glass tray for easy access to clean the socks. Don't mind the microbubbles, those are no longer there now that I adjusted the herbie.No salt spray!

The float valve I took a blow torch to bend a 90 degree into and use to control the autotop off. Yes, the water in the sump is above the normal level as I just cleaned my filter socks and all the water that was clogged in there is now in the sump. Good thing the total water volume is so big that this has almost no impact on the salinity.

Super disorganized sump, yes, I do plan to take that useless live rock out, it was initially there as backup rock for future aquascaping, but I think I changed my mind)

[fooser]

Super fuzzy electric

[Casey8]

I don't know why I missed your building thread. You have a very beautiful tank, too many nice corals for me to drool over and a very nice group of wrasses too.

[lastlight]

Glad to hear things are doing well for you =) I won't have any budget for LED upgrading for at least a year but there are more success stories all the time which is nice. I've accepted they're superior than halides in almost every way except perhaps aesthetics. And obviously that's a personal thing... but a major thing as all of our efforts culminate in how the reef actually looks to our eyes.

I'm amazed the single fixture has enought front-to-back to keep everything happy do you have sticks growing nearer the from of the glass? Is the unit closer to the front of the tank?