Craigb350s SPS Maniac's Reef - Colours Update July18th

[Rakie]

https://www.marinefarm.co.uk/evergrow-it5012-aquaocean-marine-led-light

Don't know how true it is but there was an article saying the unit was using basically Radion LED's.

Gotcha! That looks like the ones that Cairns Marine use in Australia too.

So some history... AI used to have this nearly magical proprietary blue LED diode. It was so nice, Ecotech bought AI, the ENTIRE COMPANY, so they could use that blue LED in Radion fixtures. The AI now don't have that LED diode anymore, but Radions still do. So I would wager from a spectrum perspective your fixture is similar, but Radion uses completely custom proprietary LED's that you cannot purchase anywhere.

For some reason, I found that absolutely fascinating when I learned it, and can't help but share whenever the opportunity arises. That's a heck of an investment for one blue LED diode.

 

[Craigb350]

Gotcha! That looks like the ones that Cairns Marine use in Australia too.

So some history... AI used to have this nearly magical proprietary blue LED diode. It was so nice, Ecotech bought AI, the ENTIRE COMPANY, so they could use that blue LED in Radion fixtures. The AI now don't have that LED diode anymore, but Radions still do. So I would wager from a spectrum perspective your fixture is similar, but Radion uses completely custom proprietary LED's that you cannot purchase anywhere.

For some reason, I found that absolutely fascinating when I learned it, and can't help but share whenever the opportunity arises. That's a heck of an investment for one blue LED diode.

I didn't believe it much haha, they seem to do the job pretty well and im hoping with the 4 blue plus, I should see good results.

 

[Rakie]

Like I keep telling people -- I really do honestly believe Radions are NOW (as of G4) the forefront of lighting. The problem is you need about twice as many as people claim, unless you run them VERY high off the water surface.

By the way.. Did you make it through that super tedious and long WWC lighting video? I would NOT blame you if you didn't, I was interested in it and barely found the time.

 

[Craigb350]

Like I keep telling people -- I really do honestly believe Radions are NOW (as of G4) the forefront of lighting. The problem is you need about twice as many as people claim, unless you run them VERY high off the water surface.

By the way.. Did you make it through that super tedious and long WWC lighting video? I would NOT blame you if you didn't, I was interested in it and barely found the time.

I must admit, I did skip bits of it to get to the point...., You cant blame them though, blogging etc can only help the new starter in the hobby, but sometime too much information can be a bad thing too,

When I started in the hobby almost 10 years ago, I got some really bad advice from my LFS, so I was forced to lean on local reefers and forums at the time.

 

[Craigb350]

Well seen as I have made a few changes to the tank recently in flow and lighting, I thought I would take some pics of corals to use as a base point,

I am pretty sure the corals will have to go through a sulking stage as they have been used to the high par output but we will see,

So I will be closely monitoring the same corals for any colour/growth changes and documenting them.

 

[Codym808]

Your tank looks amazing! Nice photography too btw, I need to work on mines!

How do you like your pin cushion urchin in terms of coralline algae control?

 

[Craigb350]

Your tank looks amazing! Nice photography too btw, I need to work on mines!

How do you like your pin cushion urchin in terms of coralline algae control?

Haha I don't, I have moved both of them on due to them deciding to rescape my frags all the time!

 

[Codym808]

Haha forgot about that! That can be frustrating!

 

[Craigb350]

Haha forgot about that! That can be frustrating!

Yeah I wouldn’t get them again will stick to my algae scraper haha

 

[Janci]

Great pictures.
The corals looks amazing.

 

[Craigb350]

Great pictures.
The corals looks amazing.

Thanks I do like photography as one of my other hobbies

 

[Craigb350]

Well after all the inspiration from different tank threads on here, looking at all these well designed sumps, I am safe to say I have been ashamed of mine.

I never really gave it any thought when I set it up 3 years ago, I just kinda chucked all the equipment in, so I could concentrate on the good bit fish and coral!

So I have put together a list of some changes I am wanting to make over the next couple of weeks,

• Replace tired old Jebao 6000lph return pump, this has done me well and never missed a beat for 3 years ( Just ordered a Ecotech Vectra M1)

• Change the pipe work on the return from vinyl to Hard pipe, also incorporate a ball valve into the return (has always bugged me I can have changed the vinyl 3 times due to the light and algae growth

• Change the pipe for the main drain, I currently have this hard piped it to an elbow, with corrugated flexi pipe, I am thinking of hard piping it to the refugium flow with elbows pointing up into the cheato at the bottom?? don't know if this is a good idea I think the pros are getting the cheato to tumble, cons it may become blocked?

• Smarten up the wiring on the cupboard door, I have done my best to neaten it but I need some trunking of some kind, as the cable ties work but its still kind of messy, I also need to mount the power packs to the cupboard, Are there clips out there for this?

• My other last improvement I would like to make is scrapping the idea of the drain piping above, making a section in the back corner of the refugium when I can run mechanical filtration i.e a filter wool pad for the return, rather than draining my sump, something I can hang on like the red seas design where the water runs through to the next stage. To do this properly I think I would have to lower the water level in the main chamber modifying the baffle.

• Create a place for my probes and purchase a holder.

So yeah as you guys can see quite a list to get through, buts its about time I pay the engine room some tlc.

Here some pics as it stands with my current effort,

IKS power bars in, just needs tidying

Any thoughts to the plans would be well received !! hahah

 

[Craigb350]

Might of answered my own question I might head down the Clarisea option


https://krakencorals.co.uk/clarisea-sk-3000m-manual-4330.html

 

[Craigb350]

Waiting on my delivery I'm impatient haha,

Vortech should be next!

 

[Craigb350]

Took some pics yesterday including a couple of the new frags in the tank at the minute,

Enjoy

 

[Hemmdog]

Took some pics yesterday including a couple of the new frags in the tank at the minute,

Enjoy

Looks great! How much is the jackolantern lepto in the UK? Just wondering lol

 

[Craigb350]

Looks great! How much is the jackolantern lepto in the UK? Just wondering lol

Not cheap, roughly about $70 a piece 1/2" square.

 

[Hemmdog]

Not cheap, roughly about $70 a piece 1/2" square.

Oh wow. That’s pricey. A cool one though!

 

[Craigb350]

Oh wow. That’s pricey. A cool one though!

Yeah had mine about 3 months, grown to around 3" square now, stunning coral though

 

[Hemmdog]

Yeah had mine about 3 months, grown to around 3" square now, stunning coral though

Yea for sure, I just moved mine today. It was wedged in a crack, it’s new spot really balances some color out in my tank and looks really good. It’s funny how minor things can make such a big difference visually in our tanks.