my 135 rimless - updated with new LED build!!

[johnanddawn]

Great growth and nice 'scape!

thanks!

many of these pics are repeats but i thought it would be cool to do the rainbow
ROYGBIV
red

orange

yellow

green

blue

indigo

violet

 

[johnanddawn]

ok a few more pics then i'm done for a while again, a couple newer ones i picked up

F&S superman cyphastrea

ora hawkins

ora borealis

ora plum crazy

 

[johnanddawn]

well for those who follow the member tank threads but may have missed my post in the sps forum here is an update to my thread

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/f48/power-outage-42457.html#post466971

bummed out of course but thats the way it goes. just when the tank was starting to take off too.....

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Man that was only from 5 hours of no flow even with good temps! WOW! Now I know why I stopped collecting sticks. Can you please update us with the status of your tank. I hope all is well and its coming back to its full potential

 

[johnanddawn]

thanks for asking
yeah sticks can be fussy - its weird to me that these things can live out of water at low tide but cut the power to them for a few hours in our tanks and things go to crap.
only two big losses out of the deal though, i lost about 75% of my pink milli and a clam that i had had for over 5 years. everything else is starting to recover. i'm starting to get polyp extention and some color coming back in most everything else. i actually have a couple of new growth tips starting on three or four corals

 

[johnanddawn]

on a side note: I AM GOING LED!

i love my T5's and have been a huge proponent of them for the last two years - but i was just contemplating another bulb change coming up and it got me thinking, as a science teacher i've always like green tech and LED's are it right now
its kinda cool to think that in the past couple years i went from over 800W of MH/VHO to 400W T5's and now to less then 150W of LED's

i've spent the last week reading everything i could find - i am working with bill at reefleds right now on an array to get me started and then i will tweek it to meet the needs of my tank

i'm starting with an 18" square array of 48 LED's

1) some report that the spectrum is so precise to coral photosynthesis that not as many are needed as once thought - people are reading crazy PAR numbers and i have some corals that are only 6 - 10 inches of water i don't want to burn

2) color - if i decide to add more i want to see it first to see if i want to add more whites or more blues

3) if i do add more i want to add them at an angle to the water surface - 45* from the tank edge toward the center. this will add light from the sides as well as directly overhead for a neat effect. i am currently sup'ing my T5's with 4 powerbrights in this manner and i love it

i'm experimenting - even though they have been around a while noone seems to agree on what is best about anything to do with LED's

bill is working on my array and i should have it in a week or two, updates to follow

the numbers just plain add up and i think i would do it even if it didn't ....

 

[purplereef]

Hi johnanddawn,
Do you still have the red with blue tips Milli? Where did you find that awesome piece?

 

[johnanddawn]

it is a nice specimen, def one of my favs
but right now its not as nice as it was in that pic - kinda pinky beige throughout without the nice blue growth tips since the power outage - it should color back up though
i got it from a local club member and she got it from f&s - i think it was a mariculture from their dd section, but not possitive

 

[purplereef]

Cool, thanks for the info. I hope you get it to color back up to it's former glory.

 

[dabruecker]

Sweet Pics!

 

[johnanddawn]

thanks - can't wait to see what happens when i go LED

 

[TANKSALOT]

That is a very sweet setup.

Thanks for sharing!

TANKSALOT
aka - Steve

 

[NaClCrocodile]

I'm sure it's been asked - but what are the cons of running a tile substrate? I'd like to go for two tiles because I don't like BB, but are there any things I should look out for? I like the look and have seen it at a not-so-local lfs. Are there any types I need to go for or avoid? What about detritus buildup? I'd think that fish and snail poop may accumulate but maybe not. Thanks in advance!

 

[johnanddawn]

That is a very sweet setup.

Thanks for sharing!

TANKSALOT
aka - Steve

thanks

I'm sure it's been asked - but what are the cons of running a tile substrate? I'd like to go for two tiles because I don't like BB, but are there any things I should look out for? I like the look and have seen it at a not-so-local lfs. Are there any types I need to go for or avoid? What about detritus buildup? I'd think that fish and snail poop may accumulate but maybe not. Thanks in advance!

i choose to use natural stone tile (granite, but slate would be a good choice too) because some have expressed concern over certain glazes used on ceramics. i cut 12x12 tiles to be a nice fit around the overflow and edges
as far as detritus i have so much flow that nothing collects on the bottom at all. i scaped the reef thinking about detritus under the rock and left a tunnel under the rock on each side (a place for a ph to blow under the rock) and stacked a very hollow pile with as little rock touching the bottom as possible. a little pre planning and you can keep the bottom spotless in a bb set-up
i think it is a great option

 

[NaClCrocodile]

Hmm, making me want to try that out. Glad I saw this thread.

 

[cmcneil]

that is a sweet granulosa and pink milli with blue tips.

 

[johnanddawn]

Hmm, making me want to try that out. Glad I saw this thread.

it's nice, the maintence is very low and you don't have to look at glass bottom or starboard. also natural stone tile comes in so many colors you can get exactly the look you are looking for from very light to dark. marbles, schists, granites, slates a lot of cool colors and textures out there

that is a sweet granulosa and pink milli with blue tips.

yeah that granulosa was a wild caught aussie. it was doing great and then i decided to move it to a place where i could see it better and it stn'ed. dumb mistake i know better then to move a coral from a place where it was doing great. its usually ok to move frags around but once a colony gets established to light and flow moving them can be disasterous
i have a small frag of it in the frag tank yet though so maybe one day i can bring it back up to the display.

 

[johnanddawn]

i got my LED pkg from bill at reefled's on friday and started the build today.
i let them do the soldering for me to save a step and it all looks good, i get the rest of the stuff i need next week, and should have it all together by next weekend

details and pics to follow tomorrow...

 

[johnanddawn]

step 1 - i bolted the two heat sinks together to form one 17x18 array - soldering and glueing done by bill at reefleds to my specifications. note: the outer rim is 2-1 blue and the inner square is 1-1. the 80* optics were placed on to test the spead pattern

step 2 - i screwed on 2 Al angles 36" long (this will allow me to simply place it in the 36" T5 oak pendent i built) and figured out the wiring pattern. i tested each strip and they all work fine

step 3 - cut a piece of Al plate to have 4 fan holes and 2 ballast cutouts. this will hide all the wiring and make the fans more efficient at cooling the sink. the ballast boxes will sit right on the sink to help cool them as well

step 4 - test fit everything before i start cutting wires and adding cords. I'm waiting on two more fans and two more drivers, so i'll probably stop here for now till i get more parts

I have to finish the wiring and add the track lighting fixtures that will hold the PAR38's that i will be getting. I also have to wait for the 60* deg optics to show up. I decided after looking at the 80* that the spread was going to be way to large and i can gain PAR by going tighter, and keep the light where it needs to be


i am going to borrow our clubs PAR meter and test my T5 system before i switch out the lights to see if i can get as close to what i have now. hopefully i can use height to get close.

 

[Rickyrooz]

johnanddawn, do you think the 17"x18" LED fixture will cover your tank or will you need more than one fixture?