Dany's frag tank build

Miami Reef · May 4, 2025

Awesome.

Can I see his tank picture, purely for research purposes? I’m trying to figure out if it’s talent or if the Middle Eastern air just breeds reefing hits-after-hits.

DanyL · May 4, 2025

lol You simply stumbled upon the very few from Israel that are also active here at R2R, and happen to have a long track record in the hobby, so it’s only natural that this experience will produce great results

I think that in reality, the failure-average-successful ratio is likely to be similar between all countries.

But yeah, we do have some awesome systems here ;)

I will send you pics of his tank in a DM shortly (not that I think he would mind, but it’s too late here to ask for permission to share them publicly).

Miami Reef · May 4, 2025

DanyL said:
I think that in reality, the failure-average-successful ratio is likely to be similar between all countries.

That’s why people should start with larger tanks, but that’s a discussion for another day. ;)

I got the message and my mind has casually exploded.

I wonder why he’s not apart of the forums as well? Is it because of language or is he just not a forum person?

Nevertheless, I’m thoroughly impressed.

DanyL · May 4, 2025

Miami Reef said:
That’s why people should start with larger tanks, but that’s a discussion for another day. ;)

:face-with-hand-over-mouth:

Miami Reef said:
I got the message and my mind has gently exploded.

Wait until you see Reuven Tal’s tanks over the years.. They were in my opinion the most beautiful, absolutely mind blowing tanks I’ve ever seen - they are on par if not above the tanks I seen at WWC’s back room.

One of his tanks was even featured at ReefBuilders in 2012:

Featured Reef: Reuven Tal’s reef from Israel | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

Great reefs can be found all over the world, and even though Israel might not be known for it’s reefing scene, the stunning reef of Reuven Tal is located in Israel. It is seldom an aquascape makes us…

reefbuilders.com

I will try to find photos of some of his newer tanks and DM them to you. They are FAR better than his 2012 tank in that article.

Miami Reef said:
I wonder why he’s not apart of the forums as well? Is it because of language or is he just not a forum person?

Some because of language, but I think that it’s mostly because we have our own local community that not only satisfies our needs, but also somewhat migrate it to our local environment (restrictions, hot climate, availability, etc etc).

For me, personally - I simply wondered how we compare to the international community, which was the trigger for me officially joining in and being active here, in contrast to being only passive like before - and I’ve found an awesome community, so I stuck with it :)

Miami Reef · May 4, 2025

DanyL said:
and I’ve found an awesome community, so I stuck with it :)

I’m glad you’re here. I’m learning a ton from you and Yanir; your tanks are my inspiration.

Miami Reef · May 10, 2025

@DanyL

Which LEDs do you use or recommend?

I ordered Radion G6 Blue but I want to know what you have running for the frag tank. What about the display tank?

DanyL · May 10, 2025

Miami Reef said:
Which LEDs do you use or recommend?

There are 3 lights I personally recommend to others:
1. ReeFi Uno 2.x Pro
2. GHL Mitras
3. ATI Straton (original/Pro)

The Straton is in my opinion the best looking and has the best spread of them all (it’s a panel), spectrum is wide - but somewhat limited (mostly leaning towards 10-14k).

The Motras advantage is in build quality and modularity - the LED packs can be replaced quite easily.

The ReeFi Uno 2.X Pro - completely overpowered, wide spectrum, exchangeable reflectors, great price and 3 times the warranty.

All 3 options produce real and abundant UVA, which can reproduce some of the colors you’d usually see only under MH (I even had some frags develop GFP after being exposed to UVA).

Personally I use a mix of Uno 1 and Uno 2.0/2.1 Pros over my tank

Over my main tank (1.8 meters, mounted 30cm above water line) which I recently upgraded I currently have:
3 - ReeFi Uno 2.X with 90 deg reeflectors v2.
4 - ReeFi Uno 1.
1 - ReeFi Uno 2.1 with 90 deg reeflectors v1 (over my frag section in the sump).

Over my frag tank (1.17 meters, mounted 50cm above water line) which I recently added a third fixture (impulse purchase - price was too good to decline), I currently have:
3 - ReeFi Uno 2.0 Pro with 90 deg reeflectors v1.

Miami Reef said:
I ordered Radion G6 Blue but I want to know what you think about them?

I would be brutally honest - While I think the Radions are fine high quality lights, they do fall short in terms of value/investment.

Comparing it directly to the Uno 2:
- Cons
1. They are twice as expansive
2. PAR at spectrum is limited (or rather spectrum is preconfigured based on the model you purchased - Blue/Pro, not enough excess power to allow both while also preserving PAR)
3. Stock spread with the G6 is too wide - it bleeds a lot outside the tank, and you need to purchase the more focused lenses separately.
4. It uses (or at least used with the G5) an acrylic cover rather than glass, which filters UVA light - not sure by how much it affects it though.
5. Warranty is only 1 year.

Pros:
1. Even with the focused lens (likely 80-90 deg) the spread is slightly wider, solely based on the size difference.
2. It’s visually more appealing
3. It has an actual mobile app rather than a basic web interface (some may include mobius as a con - it’s subjective).

More about the PAR/spectrum on the Radions - basically, you need to have enough fixtures to create the excess power needed to go from heavy blue to proper full spectrum, because a single light that spreads across a larger area would lack the excess power needed to reach target SPS PAR at spectrum. This means that for full even coverage (focused lens with many overlapping fixtures) - it may not really be an actual con.

More about spread - given that you can purchase twice as much ReeFi’s, the small advantage the Radions have becomes insignificant in most cases, but it may come in handy if you have a slightly deeper tank.

Miami Reef said:
Do you have any recommendations?

Since you still have time to decide whether to keep them or not - I suggest you to do a deeper comparison between the Radions and the other options I recommended above to decide for yourself.

Note that the other 2 options are closer to the ball park of the Radions in terms of price, but they have their own advantages/disadvantages in terms of spec and performance.

This is of course solely based on my personal opinion after doing my own research (which I did twice - first when purchasing the Uno 1, and second with the Uno 2), and seeing all 4 options in person.

Miami Reef · May 10, 2025

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the input. I’ll look into them.

clarity · May 15, 2025

Kinda stumbled on this thread looking for places to visit. I got into coral reefs for the first time on a birthright trip to Eilat learning about the work they do at Ben Gurion University, plus seeing some of the aquaculture set ups in Arava. I’m actually going back for a few weeks of volunteer work in Tel Aviv in June, and I’m wondering if there’s anything I should hit up while I’m in the area!

(May also be looking at import laws to see if I can bring a fish home— not going to waste my time trying for a coral)

DanyL · May 17, 2025

clarity said:
Kinda stumbled on this thread looking for places to visit. I got into coral reefs for the first time on a birthright trip to Eilat learning about the work they do at Ben Gurion University, plus seeing some of the aquaculture set ups in Arava. I’m actually going back for a few weeks of volunteer work in Tel Aviv in June, and I’m wondering if there’s anything I should hit up while I’m in the area!

(May also be looking at import laws to see if I can bring a fish home— not going to waste my time trying for a coral)

Of course, there are a few places worthwhile visiting, including stores, private farms and research centers.

I will DM you the details and a few contacts.

Exporting anything would need to go through Reshut Hateva Vehaganim - they are very difficult, at least on the import side.

Miami Reef · May 28, 2025

DanyL said:
Alright alright. I feel like I’m being pressed here lol :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

Just as a heads up for those who followed the build thread from the beginning - while the plan was to build a frag tank, and it still is a frag tank, during the time I was designing ~~the best~~ over engineered frag racks ~~ever made~~ I already had tons of frags in the system (pretty much since week two), and as the time went on I kinda loved the idea of having a more dynamic show tank, and I also realized that it is practical to manage this many frags on a rockwork without ever using glue to secure them, and also - a good looking tank sells well.
So when I already had figured out the design of the racks, I realized I didn’t want them and I ended up making the call and officially turning this frag tank to what I now call a show frag tank.

Everything in it is for sale (not a plug, and I’m not in the US guys), but I also like to keep some pieces for longer to grow out, so that I could “shape” the look and feel of the tank - that being said, I still clear about 1/3-1/2 of it every few months when I actually advertise in local groups (rather than a bit here and there).

Now when it’s all said and done, let’s proceed to some pics from last month or so:

What’s the Reefi settings for the daylight look in these photos? I’d like to replicate them and see how it looks in real life.

DanyL · May 28, 2025

Miami Reef said:
What’s the Reefi settings for the daylight look in these photos? I’d like to replicate them and see how it looks in real life.

I believe this was somewhere in between my peak hours and the bars around it.

I just got back from a vacation, so I’ll look it up tomorrow, but I shared my settings on your thread.

You can save your current settings, load mine and copy it, than revert back to your backup and load only my daylight settings.

Miami Reef · May 28, 2025

DanyL said:
I believe this was somewhere in between my peak hours and the bars around it.

I just got back from a vacation, so I’ll look it up tomorrow, but I shared my settings on your thread.

You can save your current settings, load mine and copy it, than revert back to your backup and load only my daylight settings.

I took a look at it. It’s nice, but way more blue than the photos show. lol

What do you use to take your pictures? Do you use any editing software?

I like how you can see the corals in your actinic photos. My phone is washing my corals out with the blues.

DanyL · May 29, 2025

Miami Reef said:
took a look at it. It’s nice, but way more blue than the photos show. lol

The photos above were shot in a pretty bright cool white, which does have a slight blue tint to it (somewhere between 10k to 14k).

The video I shared earlier that showed the shimmer was in a more warm white which is closer to a T5/MH hybrid, and has a slight orange/yellow tint - perhaps you’re trying to mimic this instead?

You can make it look more similar to MH by either increasing the Lime channel by 10-15%, or lowering the Royal Blue channel by 10-15%.

Just to make sure I shared the correct settings earlier and not the ones I use on my main tank (only the intensity should be different, because I decreased it when I added the third fixture):

Miami Reef said:
What do you use to take your pictures? Do you use any editing software?

They were taken from either an iPhone X or 14 Pro. I only ever edited photos for POTM (only a couple iirc, not even all of them), but I do sometimes use manual mode, because the built in AI likes to over saturate the photos.

When I’m not using manual mode - I aim the phone first straight to the light source to recalibrate it, which sometimes helps the sensor to set a more realistic configuration.

I also experimented shooting in RAW to try and color-correct it from scratch like professional photographers are doing, but admittedly I didn’t have much luck with it.

Miami Reef said:
I like how you can see the corals in your actinic photos. My phone is washing my corals out with the blues.

While it is possible to adjust the spectrum itself and calibrate the white balance accordingly, it is quite painful to get good results with it (this is where you technically need to use RAW and manually do color correction). It also seems like newer camera sensors from recent years are even more sensitive to it (at least the 14 Pro vs the iPhone X).

Personally, for blue spectrum I opt to simply use an orange and yellow lenses to filter out the heavy blue, and than with manual mode I try to mimic how it looks in real life.

Another thing I would like to point out is that actinic brings out a lot of colors that were previously influenced by the exposure to UVA, which in practice took months to develop, so I’d expect your colors to develop more within the next few months under the ReeFis.