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

[kannon50]

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.

I figured with your fish room you would tie into your as system running your house, i cant see it being that difficult or have much effect on your AC unit performance adding another 60sqft to its load..... unless you have living space right above your fish room, if so then you will have to get crafty. Good to know you can swing that much and not have any ill effects on everything.

Most of the time you can run halides 4-5hrs a day. Your corals have hit their photosatuaration pt by then further saving heat and electricity

Thanks Jason currently running 3 hrs with the MH, im afraid to bump it up too 4 right now.

the fans i ordered will be here on friday, so hopefully by the weekend i will have this heat thing under control.

 

[rayn]

Most of the time you can run halides 4-5hrs a day. Your corals have hit their photosatuaration pt by then further saving heat and electricity

Wait wait wait. So if one would pair MH and T5 the MH only needs 4-5 hours a day? This would cut way down on heat issues. I am debating going to MH/T5 combo over a tank. This thread is helping build my thought on this.

 

[docsky729]

If you blow the fans at the water surface it will help in cool the tank do to more evaporation. I have a box fan that blows straight down to my water surface over my tank and this allows me to not need a chiller. I run the box fan off my apex so i can control when its on and off depending on temp.

 

[kannon50]

If you blow the fans at the water surface it will help in cool the tank do to more evaporation. I have a box fan that blows straight down to my water surface over my tank and this allows me to not need a chiller. I run the box fan off my apex so i can control when its on and off depending on temp.

box fans are loud as crap tho.... right now every night i take the side doors off my stand and run a box fan through the stand.... it cools it down all the way, even makes the Finnex kick on. I want to eliminate this. if the two dual fans and some holes in the top of the canopy dont work then i will probably pick up a fan to blow down on the water in my sump. i heart that Tunze will help with 2 degrees, but it will also make the amount of top off i consume.

 

[FX CharityCorals]

Yes if you running at least 250watts on an electronic ballast. I would run t5 8-9 hrs. I believe that is happy medium. Could you get a little more growth running mh longer probably but I don't think its worth it.

Wait wait wait. So if one would pair MH and T5 the MH only needs 4-5 hours a day? This would cut way down on heat issues. I am debating going to MH/T5 combo over a tank. This thread is helping build my thought on this.

 

[hart24601]

Happy you are happy again! I am all for people using whatever lighting makes them happy.

But I always feel compelled whenever someone talks about lack of growth from any light type - feed feed feed! If you really want growth just keep feeding appropriately sized food. Granted if someone's lights are total rubbish it won't matter, but IMO lights are for color, and I like MH, LED and T5, but for tons of growth it's all about feeding.

Feeding juvenile corals brine shrimp drastically increase their growth ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[kannon50]

Happy you are happy again! I am all for people using whatever lighting makes them happy.

But I always feel compelled whenever someone talks about lack of growth from any light type - feed feed feed! If you really want growth just keep feeding appropriately sized food. Granted if someone's lights are total rubbish it won't matter, but IMO lights are for color, and I like MH, LED and T5, but for tons of growth it's all about feeding.

Feeding juvenile corals brine shrimp drastically increase their growth ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

i can totally agree with that statement. Fuel to LRS my reef says fed Brother

 

[msderganc]

I think the fan should be sufficient as you're finding.

But, if you want to go to a chiller, this guide is great: How to Size a Chiller

 

[JBNY]

Put two or three fans on the top of the canopy, you want them to pull heat out of the canopy, I have my canopies with a 1-2 inch opening in the back bottom near the tank and then the fans on top, that way it pulls cool air from the back and draws the hot air out the top. If you keep your house at 72d I do not see why you would need to have a chiller running. I have an open top now but with a canopy if I had my air on I would not need to run my chiller with MH.

 

[kannon50]

Update: temp swing all under control... cheap $8 dollar fan blowing on the sumps water surface and my swing is only 3 degrees noon to midnight. The sps are loving it!!! so much happier now! should have done this along time ago. ... not to redue the lighting on the frag tank lol ... anyone with a Cebu Sun fixture for sale?

 

[zemuss]

So I was looking at a kit from Aqua Cave with the Coralvue. However if I add the two t5's it would put my cost over 500. Yikes. The MH would be about 340 and another 200 for T5's plus lights. Anywhere else cheper than this?

 

[kannon50]

i think i have at total of 1300 in my setup now. its 3 MH, 4bulb t5 and the reefbrite

 

[zemuss]

kannon50 where did you get the MH and T5 fixtures?

 

[kannon50]

i got the retro fit kits from aquacave, and the MH stuff from Aquarium Specialty

 

[zemuss]

can you tell me the parts your purchased? I would like to compare. For a mogul bulb I don't know which balast to purchase.

 

[kannon50]

3 of these ballasts
Luxcore 400 Watt Dimmable Ballast

3 of these reflectors
CoralVue Lumen Bright L3 Mini Reflector

2 of these retrofit t5 kits
60 2x80W Miro-4 T5 Retrofit Kit - AquaCave.com

and 1 60" Reefbrite

 

[kannon50]

zemuss

 

[zemuss]

Thanks! kannon50

 

[zemuss]

The bulbs for the T5 which did you go with?

Was thinking ATI Aquablue Special 12,000K T5 Bulb, 24" (24W) and ATI True Actinic 03 T5 Bulb, 24" (24W)

 

[kannon50]

update.... i am extremely impressed with change. however the luxcore ballasts are completely subpar. i tried 3 different bulb brands and these ballasts flat out do not fire a 20k spectrum. needless to say i will be swapping them out soon.

i will start documenting coral progress shots so show the different....

side note i sold the radions over one of my prop systems as well and put a the (2) 175w Reefbrite MH over it... holy cow is those lights are amazing.