A reef on the 10th floor

[JMacedo]

Wow such a beautiful Reef Tank, lots of inspiration there. What is your light schedule like ?

Thank you very much.

I recently I added a 7th AI Hydra 52 module and changed the lighting settings, I would like to increase the intensity even further but once again the Aqua Illumination Hydras were not designed considering hotter climates like the one over here and it always run into overheating issues. Worse with the 1st generation of Hydras and definitely not properly addressed with Hydra52's, don't know about the new HD's.

For now these are the settings I am using:

 

[JMacedo]

I'm gonna miss the spongodes but see the need to remove it. It was a unique piece. Tank looks great!

I miss it too, but it was getting too big. I know it is in a larger tank now, so I hope it will continue to thrive as it did for the past three years in my tank.

 

[Ljaus]

Know the feeling with the hydra. I had the old version 52 and it cooked itself from hot climate. I used the air con most days but we went away for the weekend and the tank ran off the chiller. Came home to a malfunctioning hydra

 

[JMacedo]

Four months into Balling and some ups and downs, I think I got too excited with the possibility of tweaking things and forgot that I am running a sps tank with a very high bioload and nice feedings. High Bioload + more trace elements + more amino acids + Alkalinity drop from a blocked dosing line = disaster

I am not happy, I lost a few corals, some corals are lighter, others darker and I am starting to have shading issues with a few corals due to the increase of trace elements and amino acids and the sudden drop of alkalinity due to the blocked line. My red planet lost the reddish colouration and I am trying to compensate by shifting just a tad the light spectrum-

It is time now to go back to the fish poo and my blended foods as the only method of colouring corals in my tank and then see if there is something to slowly tweak. If things don´t go back to normal, I will go back to the Calcium Reactor and some calcium addition. Let's wait and see.

 

[JMacedo]

Know the feeling with the hydra. I had the old version 52 and it cooked itself from hot climate. I used the air con most days but we went away for the weekend and the tank ran off the chiller. Came home to a malfunctioning hydra

The first hydras (the thick bricks) would overheat to the point of the LED's go "POP"! I got so fed up of having parts replaced that I sold them all loosing lots of money but as I was having nice results with my sps I decided to have another go and bought the Hydra52, in terms of light was a big improvement but the power adapters started to go "POP!" as well. After having to buy two new power adapters I decided to place a fan blowing on them and never had any more fried power adapters.

Like you I am only able to run the Hydra52 at higher intensity if the A/C is on.

If these fail, I will probably go back to MH next time!

 

[Ljaus]

The first hydras (the thick bricks) would overheat to the point of the LED's go "POP"! I got so fed up of having parts replaced that I sold them all loosing lots of money but as I was having nice results with my sps I decided to have another go and bought the Hydra52, in terms of light was a big improvement but the power adapters started to go "POP!" as well. After having to buy two new power adapters I decided to place a fan blowing on them and never had any more fried power adapters.

Like you I am only able to run the Hydra52 at higher intensity if the A/C is on.

If these fail, I will probably go back to MH next time!

Yep mine was the 52 made in 2014. I got it second hand after being used for less than a year, I ran it for 6 months until the mainboard all but died. Tried to get parts here in Australia through the distributor but found out it was a grey import so they can't provide the parts, probably could get them from the U.S but the cost adds up then. I gave up and went back to t5.

 

[JMacedo]

Yep mine was the 52 made in 2014. I got it second hand after being used for less than a year, I ran it for 6 months until the mainboard all but died. Tried to get parts here in Australia through the distributor but found out it was a grey import so they can't provide the parts, probably could get them from the U.S but the cost adds up then. I gave up and went back to t5.

Yep, I know the feeling... I still have an 8th module, never used, in case I need to replace something! lol

 

[Fercho]

Gorgeous reef, do you mind sharing how did the christmas tree worms get in the green spongodes please?

 

[JMacedo]

Gorgeous reef, do you mind sharing how did the christmas tree worms get in the green spongodes please?

Thank you. Three years ago I bought two similar porites heads with the Christmas tree worms in. One of the porites totally bleached and I glued a 2" montipora spongodes frag on the bleached porites and that was the result. The other porites head still alive and well as can bee seen in the videos.

 

[Roberts reef]

Love the colour

 

[JMacedo]

You know how I feel.....HA!

Love the colour

Many thanks for the very kind words.

Today I am cleaning the gyres and preparing the tank as I am going away for a few days. I haven't seen the eel for the past 3 ou 4 days I know "Sally" is alive and in the sand but the fact that she spends so much time buried in the sand freaks me out, especially going away for a few days. I will try to use infrared to see if she is coming out at night looking for food. Definitely this one spends way more time hidden in the sand than my previous Banded snake Eel.

My lovely wife gave me a Kamoer x4 dosing pump as a birthday gift! Yay!! I will replace the Aquamedic after I come back from the holiday.

After the Alk drop due to the blocked line, things and colours are slowly coming back, Lost a small colony and another one is still fighting for its survival despite I fragged it twice. Here is a phone pic from yesterday:

Also I am honored by the visit of @Lowell Lemon and his lovely wife, being so kind to take some precious time from their holiday and see my humble tank. I wish them the best time ever over here in Thailand.

Have a very merry Christmas, everyone!

 

[lifesbetterunderwater]

That kamoer dosing pump looks good!

 

[mcarroll]

I think you're going to want lights that are designed to be air-cooled (or even water-cooled, a la Tunze's 8850's*) hopefully rated for your climate! Seems like nobody publishes this, so you may have to write or call to find out.

You can see Tunze's lights on this 150 gallon tank. They're really intended for nano's, but it can be fun using things outside their intended purpose!


Cool option to consider, but I'm sure you'd need at least a dozen of them. Not cheap.

If a light's design is dependent on fan-cooling, I think it's at a disadvantage by definition in your situation. I think continuous 22ºC HVAC is part of the assumption with them.

 

[revhtree]

Many thanks for the very kind words.

Today I am cleaning the gyres and preparing the tank as I am going away for a few days. I haven't seen the eel for the past 3 ou 4 days I know "Sally" is alive and in the sand but the fact that she spends so much time buried in the sand freaks me out, especially going away for a few days. I will try to use infrared to see if she is coming out at night looking for food. Definitely this one spends way more time hidden in the sand than my previous Banded snake Eel.

My lovely wife gave me a Kamoer x4 dosing pump as a birthday gift! Yay!! I will replace the Aquamedic after I come back from the holiday.

After the Alk drop due to the blocked line, things and colours are slowly coming back, Lost a small colony and another one is still fighting for its survival despite I fragged it twice. Here is a phone pic from yesterday:

Also I am honored by the visit of @Lowell Lemon and his lovely wife, being so kind to take some precious time from their holiday and see my humble tank. I wish them the best time ever over here in Thailand.

Have a very merry Christmas, everyone!

Would love to see this tank in person!

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Would love to see this tank in person!

You would not be disappointed! We enjoyed Jorge and his family's hospitality and the great view of Bangkok as well as a lesson on how to make a reef tank successful and easy. Such a bright spot in our visit to Thailand!

 

[reefluvrr]

Loved it as it always kept my tank at undetectable levels of NO3 and PO4 but before using some Fauna Marin Products I was battling ugly rock coatings of brown bacteria (Cyano included). I used to have to peel it from the rocks as it was competing for space with the corals.

Nowadays I am convinced that Reef Vitality is helping in keeping my rocks clean and also I have some Chemiclean in case Cyano will be back as I just add a 7h Hydra 52 fixture.

What is your recommendation for using Reef Vitality in help reducing Cyano/brown algae on sand bed/rocks? I have used NOPOX for about one month, and have the same problems with cyano.
Thank you for sharing!!

 

[Maddlesrain]

I love reading through this thread and seeing all your images! Beautiful reef!

 

[JMacedo]

I think you're going to want lights that are designed to be air-cooled (or even water-cooled, a la Tunze's 8850's*) hopefully rated for your climate! Seems like nobody publishes this, so you may have to write or call to find out.

You can see Tunze's lights on this 150 gallon tank. They're really intended for nano's, but it can be fun using things outside their intended purpose!


Cool option to consider, but I'm sure you'd need at least a dozen of them. Not cheap.

If a light's design is dependent on fan-cooling, I think it's at a disadvantage by definition in your situation. I think continuous 22ºC HVAC is part of the assumption with them.

For now I am using these 7 modules at a lower settings than I would like, that's why I use so many. Well if it is not the lights overheating, it is the power adapters. Hope things will improve in the future... hope I can save for some LUPYLED's

 

[JMacedo]

Would love to see this tank in person!

Planning a holiday in Thailand? Just let me know when! HA HA HA

 

[JMacedo]

You would not be disappointed! We enjoyed Jorge and his family's hospitality and the great view of Bangkok as well as a lesson on how to make a reef tank successful and easy. Such a bright spot in our visit to Thailand!

Very, very kind of you, Lowel! Thank you!