Acer's build thread ( 3RMAS area)

acer · Mar 22, 2019

Yep I ordered a new RO membrane yesterday. If I do a 15 gallon water change on my 180 gallons of water ( 150 tank, 40 sump with skimmer , 75 gallon refugium) of water it's less of a change than your 7 gallon change on your 75 tank. So , not sure about that thought process.

loui · Mar 22, 2019

Didn't add in those factors, I also have a skimmer and a sump.

acer · Mar 22, 2019

That makes more sense. I appreciate your input - 2 heads always better than one. So maybe I will switch to 10 gallons 2 times a week.

acer · Mar 24, 2019

OK, got all the filters and the RO membrane changed out today (fast free shipping by BRS) - ran RODI unit for 10 minutes. Now TDS reads 14 going into the DI chamber and Zero coming out. Will mix up new Fritz water tomorrow and test it for No3/Po4/Alk/Ca+,Mg. Hopefully it will test low to zero on both No3 and Po4 , Ca 430-450, Mg 1450, Alk around 8.0.

acer · Mar 24, 2019

Ok results are in:

New rodi water with new bag/box of Fritz pro=
ALK= 8.6
PH= 8.26
PO4= 15ppb= .046 ppm
Ca+= 450

Tank =
ALK= 8.6
PH= 8.0
PO4= 38ppb= .117ppm
NO3= 10
Ca+= 400

So, yep, it appears Fritz has some phosphorus or phosphates or they are getting through a brand new Rodi setup that reads zero TDS.

acer · Apr 4, 2019

Forgot to mention, my rainbow anemone split a while back. So selling one for $45 picture taken this morning when mostly blue light was on, so you can't see the green in the anemone. If I catch my coral eating Regal Angel I thing I will be able to grow sps/acros again.

kevinl · Apr 4, 2019

If you can grow stuff like that, why even try sps again?
Beautiful!!

acer · Apr 4, 2019

good point .... And I may rethink it and just have great fish , anemone's, and corals they don't eat- if I find any - the Regal for sure and maybe the Foxface and the goldrim tang is eating all sps ( digi's, cap's,etc.) , Acros, and Zoa's as well. So I guess I can do LPS, clams, and Maybe Goniapora, Elegence.

acer · Oct 11, 2019

Well - I didnt want to post, but pretty much all my SPS besides a few monti's passed months ago. I gave up and just enjoyed the tank for the summer as is. I did sell my beautiful Regal Angel as he was eating my Zoa's at a rate of a polyp per hour - yikes! So, to top off the frustration, while cleaning this AM , I bummed my Radion G3 Xr30 into the tank- yep - its fried. So , now looking for new light for 1/2 of my 5 foot long 150 gallon display tank. I cannot afford a new Radion so I guess Reefbreeders V24 , SB 18 wifi, or maybe these new Reef2Reef sponsers = Noopsyche. Opinions wanted.

loui · Oct 12, 2019

I was lucky to win some of the Noopsyche lights and will highly recommend them. They are very strong lights with good shimmer and have a very small profile. Only problem I see is that you are going to have a hard time getting the color to match the radions, so one side of your tank is going to look different then the other. Myself I don't get bothered by stuff like that, but at one time I had different versions of the 120 Watt Black boxes above my tank and it was noticeable that one side was brighter then the other and that did bother me. But then again u never know you may be able to get the lighting to match up.

acer · Oct 12, 2019

I have only one Radion , the other side of the tank is using a Reefbreeder V24. So I was trying to pick up one of those, but he did it locally and the new one are good but not cheap. I talked to the noopsyche people and to cover 1/2 of my 60 inch tank I would need 2 of their lights, with a controller = $350ish. So, I decided to go for a SB extreme wifi 18. It's is supposed to cover 30 x24x24 inches when it's 10 inches above the water ( my exact need), it ramps up and down linearly and you can program the channels at least somewhat , for $250. So I guess we will see. I thought about trying to sell the Reef breeder light and then purchase 3 or 4 of the noopsyche lights to cover the whole tank with new lights.

_AV · Oct 17, 2019

So here's what a water damaged radion board looks like. On the surface, not a big deal, other than some pealed paint on the RF module and the blown fuse:

The fun begins when we flip the board look closer at the disaster. Lot's of oxidation all over the place:

Especially in this area:

Oh yeah, baby. This is not looking good at all:

A part of the chip burned off, taking some pins with it and creating a crater on the board:

The main controller has a hole in it caused by burning from the inside:

And some other miscellaneous damage to resisters and whatnot:

Why so much damage you ask, especially considering that there is a blown fuse?
Ah, that's more than likely because the fuse is rated to handle a large load of ~150w required by all the LEDs. It's not there to protect your little main board. So when the salt water hit that board, all of that 150w of power, enough to illuminate a house, rushed to those small components you see butchered.

For those curious as to the outcome of this case, given the amount of damage, the main board is not in a condition where it can be repaired and will have to be replaced. Good luck trying to get ecotech to sell just the board.

acer · Oct 17, 2019

Yep... Fried!! And the wallet screams "ouch"!!.

acer · Nov 29, 2019

*******************UPDATE **************

Well- I did order a new wifi SB extreme 18" light about 6 weeks ago, after several weeks I did a return order via Paypal and got my money back, because I never heard from them - even though told me the light was "in stock" in California. So, I continued limping along on the original old SB basic light on the one side and the old Reefbreeeder 24 on the other side. Have been shopping ever since. It seems to come down to this: Spend the $1500 -$2000 for high end lights like the Radions or go cheap as there does not seem to be much in the middle. Spend quite a bit of time trying to like the New Noopsyche K7's - but at 95 watt max (all 7 channels running 100% - so realistically that would be closer to 60-70 watts unless you want the tank to look yellow) they are under powered for a 24 in front to back and 24 inch deep tank - several T5's would be necessary. The Noop's are ON sale now so if I got 4 of them it would be under $600 -but not so sure they would really light my tank for SPS corals well or not -even with 2 x 48 " T5 retro bulbs running the length of the tank.

Due to the shopping/light emergency I have not been testing the tank- so finally got to it today and my phosphates are way up= .25 ( tested twice) , yes point 25 ( not .025) as in my Hanna URL phosphate checker read 81 - that would explain why the frags I got at the latest fragswap in Cleveland did not do well.
Other test : Salifert Ca+ =440, Hanna Alk checker = 8.7, Salifert nitrate = trace ( under 2 but not zero).

SO, I dumped out the dual media reactor ( carbon and GFO), because obviously the GFO was expired in spite of it only being about a month old and then filled both reactors with new GFO. Will be doing a 15 gallon water change today as well. Retest PO4 tomorrow.

Camaro Show Corals · Nov 29, 2019

Ted some great deals can be found on used radions the G4 are quite a improvement over the G3. Also look at ai hydras since they just released new models you can get a great price on the last models and lastly kessil is flooded with a360s which seem to be good lights.

loui · Nov 29, 2019

Disappointing to hear that about SB reef, they seemed to be a legit company that may be on the way out. I really like reefbreeders new photon V2 lights and Logan has always been quick with the emails back for any questions you may have. I have both the 48 and 50 inch versions with SPS growing under both with no issues. I do have 2 60 inch T5 bulbs with the 50 inch light to help with shading. They are having there black Friday sale going. I combined the light with there coral box wave makers and saved a pretty good amount of money last year, all equipment has been running smooth. I did have 1 propeller snap on me and Logan replaced it with no questions asked even though it was probably my fault due to not setting it right after cleaning. He also does 5 more percent for veterans. Of course getting the G4 Radions is the best option, but 2000.00 for lights isn't in my budget that's for sure.

acer · Nov 29, 2019

Yep, I read that even Reefbreeder lights are made in China. Don't know if that's true or not. I did also seriously think about them = the 50 V2 is pretty perfect for my 60 inch tank. But again, it's no Radion G4 xr30, but what is. My concern is the poor control of channels ( 2 channel only) , so by the time you "like" the look of the tank by turning down the white/,re/ green channel, you reduced the power of coral growth and health by maybe 50%. Seems like a waste of $600 , when $100 Amazon lights have the same control , other than ramp up and down in morning and evening. Also , if by chance we move, or something makes me gave to downsize, I have a 50 " long light than is useless to me.

loui · Nov 29, 2019

yep they are made in China if they where made in the US they would be twice the cost. Not sure what you are referring to 2 Channel control and how you lose coral growth power? Radions are able to make the tank look blue with the white, red and green channels turned up?

acer · Nov 30, 2019

Yes , that's my point= Radions can do exactly that - at $850 each, because they have each light frequency controller individuality, Reef breeders doesn't as they only have 2 channel control = blue channel is Chanel #1, and all others are on channel #2. So it's much more difficult to get the spectrum you want with only 2 channel control. I get it - you get what you pay for.