Radion and I broke up! Went back to my old girl, MH

TheSaint216 · Mar 3, 2015

Just reading this thread makes me think I wasn't alone. The problem with me and leds was my constant playing with percentages. Tweaking colors to see what they looked like. I went back to T5 and it's set it and forget it. I miss the pop led give though. I'm glad there's a post led support group out there.

Funbags · Mar 3, 2015

I have seen a few post on many boards about people displeased with there radions. To think I was about to buy 6 to "try" them out.........

kannon50 · Mar 4, 2015

UPDATE: ok so yesterday was the first full day on the proposed lighting schedule.

Reefbrite LED : 0900-2200 this is mostly for visual appeal
T5 : 1000-1800
MH : 1200-1500

At 3:00PM when the MH kicked off my water temp was 81.4 degrees. by the time i got home from work around 6:00PM the tank temp had only dropped to 80.6 so i watched it till i was about to go to bed, and decided it wasnt dropping fast enough for it to be back down to 78 degrees by the time the light cycles starts back over the next day. so i took the doors off the sides of the stand and put a box fan blowing thought the whole stand. This dropped it back down far enough that my heater kicked on.

here are some picture of what it looks like inside the floating canopy will probably get another RB for the back at some point.

i ordered two of these to install on each side of the canopy. going to have them blow air in..... hopefully this will help with the heat... if not i will be putting something similar on the the inside of the stand.

AIRPLATE 7, Quiet Cabinet Fan 11 Inch - AC Infinity

i appreciate everyone's feedback and help.... another question how much of temp swing is acceptable?

also as far as electricity my whole system pull 14amps at maximum capacity. when i had radions it was 12ish ... no real difference there.

kannon50 · Mar 4, 2015

any more feed back on fan placement?

zemuss · Mar 4, 2015

I wonder what I need for a 60 cube 24 X 24? 250W? With T5 supplement?

kannon50 · Mar 4, 2015

zemuss my buddy runs a 260 on his 60 cube .... runs pretty dang good too lol

zemuss · Mar 4, 2015

any supplements? T5? LED Reefbrights?

kannon50 · Mar 4, 2015

zemuss said:
any supplements? T5? LED Reefbrights?

Yes sir has a few strips of hamilton leds for visual purposes i dont think they give much par lol

tinkerman · Mar 4, 2015

I ran 2 80mm cpu fans per 250 halide on a 125and would get 2-3 degree swing a day, house temp 68-72. The best fan placement I found was to place in back of canopy blowing into the canopy and have the same if not more holes in the top for heat to rise out. I run only 2 fans now on a 120 with 250's and get about the same temp swing. Hope it helps.

d2mini · Mar 4, 2015

How are you liking the reefbrite strip? Do you notice it visually adding much? Which color combo is it?
I made the same switch back over a year ago and don't regret it one bit. I run the Hamilton Cebu Sun fixture and the reefbrite would bolt right up to it.
The difference in coral growth, PE, and color in just a few months was astounding.
Plus it was so nice to have a "bright" tank again.

kannon50 · Mar 4, 2015

d2mini said:
How are you liking the reefbrite strip? Do you notice it visually adding much? Which color combo is it?
I made the same switch back over a year ago and don't regret it one bit. I run the Hamilton Cebu Sun fixture and the reefbrite would bolt right up to it.
The difference in coral growth, PE, and color in just a few months was astounding.
Plus it was so nice to have a "bright" tank again.

Thanks Dennis, i should have listened to you back in the day before the sales guys at EM got in my head....

love the Reefbrite, the visual it gives is outstanding. i bought the 60" full actinic version. i plan on adding another with my Reef Currents Raffle winnings

.. this may sound crazy but within 10 mins of the MH firing on for the first time, i got PE like never before. At that moment i was like ... here we go!! what i have been waiting on for a year lol....

no regrets here at all, just got to figure out how to control this heat a little better without having to add a chiller.

kannon50 · Mar 4, 2015

tinkerman said:
I ran 2 80mm cpu fans per 250 halide on a 125and would get 2-3 degree swing a day, house temp 68-72. The best fan placement I found was to place in back of canopy blowing into the canopy and have the same if not more holes in the top for heat to rise out. I run only 2 fans now on a 120 with 250's and get about the same temp swing. Hope it helps.

yes sir this helps alot, i think if i mount those fans in the link i posted on each side and blast them into the canopy it will help out alot. might also cut some holes in the top if i can figure out a way to do that and not get a spotlight on my ceiling.

abinder · Mar 4, 2015

thejuggernaut said:
Yea, I mean't before someone defended LEDs. Don't get me wrong, they have their own benefits, just like any kind of lighting. Check out the new TOTM. 900 gallons and nothing but LED. That said, MH despite having to replace the bulbs, the added heat and the added electrical cost, they still put out the best looking light in my opinion. On my next tank I plan on a combination of T5 and LED. I think that is a good sweet spot.

I'm with you on this.

I'm having a 100 gallon, 5 foot long tank built. I'll be putting 4 T5 in it and 2 or 3 AI hydra 26 fixtures in the middle of the T5s. I'll probably stagger the T5s also.

From what I've read, I'll probably only want to run the AI hydra 26 fixtures at about 30% power.

Allen

abinder · Mar 4, 2015

As far as cooling goes, to me, a chiller is the only way to go. Much less evaporation and usuallly much tighter temp parameters than just going with cooling fans.

Just my opinion though.

Allen

thejuggernaut · Mar 4, 2015

abinder said:
As far as cooling goes, to me, a chiller is the only way to go. Much less evaporation and usuallly much tighter temp parameters than just going with cooling fans.

Just my opinion though.

Allen

I hear what you're saying and agree that in allot of situations, a chiller is the best way to go. I guess it depends on the ambient temps of your house, if you have room for a chiller, if you have a easy route to the outdoors to run a larger chiller. Allot plays into deciding what method is best, but they all have their own pros and cons.

d2mini · Mar 4, 2015

kannon50 said:
Thanks Dennis, i should have listened to you back in the day before the sales guys at EM got in my head....

love the Reefbrite, the visual it gives is outstanding. i bought the 60" full actinic version. i plan on adding another with my Reef Currents Raffle winnings .. this may sound crazy but within 10 mins of the MH firing on for the first time, i got PE like never before. At that moment i was like ... here we go!! what i have been waiting on for a year lol....

no regrets here at all, just got to figure out how to control this heat a little better without having to add a chiller.

Ya, managing the heat can be tough, especially if you have a canopy like I do.
I still need to get my chiller hooked up. Going to at least start that this weekend.
My temps hit 85.7 today.
Won't have to worry tomorrow though. lol Crazy freakin weather.

What did you end up winning at reef currents?

kannon50 · Mar 4, 2015

d2mini said:
Ya, managing the heat can be tough, especially if you have a canopy like I do.
I still need to get my chiller hooked up. Going to at least start that this weekend.
My temps hit 85.7 today.
Won't have to worry tomorrow though. lol Crazy freakin weather.

What did you end up winning at reef currents?

Ouch 85.7! What was the total swing? ..... grand prize winner over here brother $1600 credit to Oceanlife. Rather spend that on coral and not chiller ya know.

d2mini · Mar 4, 2015

oh, right. hahaha, i get confused with all the screen names.

I have been swinging from 78 to 84 but today was higher than normal.
I have that room in my garage so when the temps are cooler I can leave the room door open so the cool garage air helps cool things down, but today was too warm.
And it's not all that warm that the house AC is running a lot yet, getting more ac into the fish room.