120G Rimless shallow peninsula tank

[Janci]

is it me or is that a bit loud? what is causing that water fall sound? only asking cause I want to get the synergy reef ghost also but want it to be as quiet as possible.

That is what I was commenting with that video.
It was a video made during the leak test and I did not do any further investigation at that time.
By now I changed 3 things:
- I made the 2 stand pipes inside the outside overflow box a little longer. The water level is a bit higher and flow is more silent.
- I adjusted my pump speed. The high speed during the leak test was too much. Now I run at only 50% pump capacity.
- There was an issue with my pipes. One joint at the drain box of the sump was not water tight and was sucking air due to the water fall. This has been sealed.

Over all, the Synergy overflow is silent and I am very happy with it.
I had a Red Sea Reefer before which was more difficult to dial in, had to be adjusted every week and was making more noise.

 

[Iceman001]

Wow, the tank is getting nicer every single day.

 

[ngoodermuth]

I love this tank!

 

[Carlos Danger]

And a video. I like it when the afternoon sun hits the tank.
It was not my intention when placing the tank but it turned out well.

Very nice tank. Some people think rimless tanks are too messy but I've always loved them for the lines and the simple beauty of them. The Peninsula just makes it that much better. Very nice setup! Keep up the good work.

 

[Mattres]

And a video. I like it when the afternoon sun hits the tank.
It was not my intention when placing the tank but it turned out well.

Nice video, it really shows off the depth of your scape that a photo can't.

 

[Janci]

Since last update there were not too many changes.
Tank is maturing and is one month old. This week I will do a water change.
Parameters have been held stable during this time.
I have been adding some clean up crew (dwarf blue legged hermit crabs) and I found one rock to produce some algae which I am not sure how to battle.
It is not long hair algae as it blows off the rock as soon as you wave with your hand over it and create some waves, but after 2 days it comes back.
The clean up crew (snails, crabs) do not eat it.
A video below.
It is a nuisance as when it detaches from the rock it floats in the tank till it gets stuck somewhere and it annoys the corals.

Any suggestions are welcome.
The rock was bought new and sat with the other live rock for close to 2 months. Only now in tank it started to "bloom".

 

[Husker]

That hint of natural sun does make it look like you are peering in to a real reef. I haven't seen any lights that can replicate that subtle shimmer of warm natural light.

I have seen many synergy overflows that are completely inaudible, but it seems like it takes a bit of tuning. I got one for my new build, but I haven't set up the plumbing yet.

 

[Greybeard]

Diatom bloom. Don't panic. Siphon out what you can, keep your Nitrates and Phosphates under control, and wait it out. It's a fairly normal bloom on a new system.

 

[Janci]

Diatom bloom. Don't panic. Siphon out what you can, keep your Nitrates and Phosphates under control, and wait it out. It's a fairly normal bloom on a new system.

I did not kow that diatoms could have this appearance. Thanks for the advise.

 

[Janci]

Last week I received a long waited shipment with the 2new GHL Mitras Lightbar 2 with controller connection to the Profilux.
It took me a while to figure out how to install them on the tank and simply horizontal would cause too much light spill outside the tank.
I came up with the below by hanging the lights to 2 aluminium brackets which are placed over the Giesemann Matrixx lamp.
Between the aluminium bracket and the Matrixx T5 fixture, I added some cork sheet which makes the brackets rest on the white aluminium frame work of the Giesemann.
This is the strongest part of the lamp.
Acclimation is set from 30%-100% over a duration of 2 weeks.
The Lightbars are Deep Actinic lighting, 120cm long.

 

[Greybeard]

Can't recall... your tank is how wide? Is that a 6 or 8 bulb T5 fixture? Why did you decide you needed additional LED lighting?

I'm setting up a similar system, 30" wide, 18" tall, with an 8 bulb T5 fixture. I wasn't planning to add any additional lighting. Just wondering why you decided to do so.

Mounts look great. You planning to paint them at some point, or leave them bare aluminum?

 

[najer]

Watch your corals as the acclimation levels rise on the leds, 100% on most leds is very bright!

 

[Clayton Jessup]

Love that hybrid solution with the Matrixx , round of applause hands down.

 

[Janci]

Can't recall... your tank is how wide? Is that a 6 or 8 bulb T5 fixture? Why did you decide you needed additional LED lighting?
Mounts look great. You planning to paint them at some point, or leave them bare aluminum?

Your system will be similar to mine. I have 135cm x 80cm x 57cm.
I had LED's before and always loved the shimmer and effect. I am sure the 8xT5's are sufficient for light penetration and coral growth, I believe the LED's will give the the coral colours I am looking for.
I did a PAR test some weeks back with the T5's at a max of 80%.
I measured 450+ PAR at the water level and till 200 at the bottom of the tank. That was with only 2 white bulbs installed.
I now added 1 more white bulb which will improve the PAR even more. I have a PAR meter coming soon to do some proper measurements.

Watch your corals as the acclimation levels rise on the leds, 100% on most leds is very bright!

Thank you for the advise. The acclimation is arranged via the Profilux controller and the Lightbars follow a light schedule. White LED's go till max 50% according the light schedule.
So that 100% acclimation will go till an actual 50% intensity for the white LED's.

Love that hybrid solution with the Matrixx , round of applause hands down.

Thank you.
I doubted a lot between using the Kessil which is still one of my favourite LED fixtures but went with the GHL Lightbars for several reasons:
- I would need only 2 GHL Lightbars instead of 4 Kessils.
- Less wires
- better spread of LED light
- "almost clean" hanging solution
- the GHL lightbars give me better control in combination with the Profilux controller.
- more economical... 2 lightbars + driver + control cables and accessoiries = 2 Kessils A360W

 

[Janci]

A little bit more information about the GHL Lightbars.
They are not often used as they exist in the shadow of the real GHL power LED Mitras LX series.
The bars are pretty well done. If you have the Profilux controller, you can control up to 4 light bars simultaneously.
I got 2 Lightbar Deep Actinic 120. This means there are 11 clusters of below LED's. Each color can be controlled by a channel via the Profilux controller and a RS232 cable.

In the program I can later chose to add thunderstorm lighting, seasonal lighting, shattered clouds, ...
Although I have them only for a very short week, I love the flexibility.

 

[Greybeard]

Your system will be similar to mine. I have 135cm x 80cm x 57cm.
I had LED's before and always loved the shimmer and effect. I am sure the 8xT5's are sufficient for light penetration and coral growth, I believe the LED's will give the the coral colours I am looking for.
I did a PAR test some weeks back with the T5's at a max of 80%.
I measured 450+ PAR at the water level and till 200 at the bottom of the tank. That was with only 2 white bulbs installed.
I now added 1 more white bulb which will improve the PAR even more. I have a PAR meter coming soon to do some proper measurements.

So... (sorry, us hillbillies don't do metrics) 31" wide, 22" tall.

Shimmer. One of the things that worries me slightly about the system I'm building. Flat lighting. I've done T5 tanks before, I've got no worries about coral growth and health, from a lighting point of view anyway, but yeah. Flat, diffuse lighting does tend to make for a less interesting visual. I may well end up having to do something similar in my new system at some point. My last tank ran halide lighting... that shimmer effect is going to be missed.

Love your build... My tank is due next week

 

[Clayton Jessup]

That great to know. I myself am also considering a LED/T5 set up but going to make my own and am really thinking of doing Kessil. That's great to know thank you Janci.

 

[Janci]

So... (sorry, us hillbillies don't do metrics) 31" wide, 22" tall.
Shimmer. One of the things that worries me slightly about the system I'm building. Flat lighting. I've done T5 tanks before, I've got no worries about coral growth and health, from a lighting point of view anyway, but yeah. Flat, diffuse lighting does tend to make for a less interesting visual. I may well end up having to do something similar in my new system at some point. My last tank ran halide lighting... that shimmer effect is going to be missed.
Love your build... My tank is due next week

I am following your thread. Curious to see your plans come together.
Our tank dimensions are as good as similar.

 

[Janci]

I have been adding some corals and hung the doser till the tank is ready for the CaRx

 

[Janci]

And one of the snails.

Lighting changes everything: