RFBF's Five Footer

[TheEngineer]

Sheesh. It will be worth the wait, I’m sure.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I'm like a five year old at Christmas time.....I just received the verification e-mail from Glass Cages....this Saturday at 5PM I'm picking up the new tank!!! WOO HOO!

 

[redfishbluefish]

When my tank started to leak and fail, my first thoughts were replacing the tank by transferring everthing over to the new tank. Since the delivery has been delayed twice, I've had time to give it more thought and have decided to do a Do-Over ....something that was commonly yelled when growing up in the 60's and playing games with other neighborhood kids. My tank is over ten years old, has softies that have taken over the tank, and in addition, a nice crop of aiptasia. So it's time to start all over. I began by pulling out the seven salt buckets of rocks I have:

I set up a table and drew out the dimensions of the tank. My current rock structure is more or less the Berlin Wall. My wishes now are to open it up. This is my first shot, that took all of three minutes. I'm taking this first go as a starting point.

The next step will be bleaching the rock. I don't believe in acid dipping. The only thing that does is give you less rock.

I also realize this Do-Over will add 1 1/2 to 2 months to the change over because of curing and cycling the rock. Just wished I came to this conclusion in December....the rock would be about ready by now!

 

[redfishbluefish]

New tank has landed. Here it is dumped inside the front door of the house. WooHoo. Now the fun begins.

 

[kschweer]

New tank has landed. Here it is dumped inside the front door of the house. WooHoo. Now the fun begins.

Looks well built! Good luck with the instal Paul!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Thanks Kevin. I'm aware Glass Cages had mixed reviews, but I must say, upon first inspection, I'm impressed......and extremely happy. That said, the pick up was a bit scary, watching the drive drag other tanks around the back of the truck. Luckily my tank was in the front corner of the truck, still strapped to the side of the truck. FYI, one guy there, his tank wasn't on the truck. If that would have happened to me......:mad::mad::mad::mad:.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Having to start all over again building my new tank, I've decided to continue this journey with a new thread, which can be found here:

RFBF's 90 Gallon Déjà vu All Over Again

 

[redfishbluefish]

The new build is still ongoing, but had an issue with the old boy:

WAVELINE DC6000 ISSUES


I switched from a MAG 9.5 as my return pump, to a Waveline DC6000, May 2016. Over eight years with the MAG, with the only issue being that the stainless screws were rusting. In less than two years this Waveline pump has stopped working twice. Never had this issue with the MAG's. It happened again last night some time, finding the DT at 73.1 degrees this morning. As with the last time, took the pump apart and only found an amount of slime in the pump/impeller. Does a little slime cause these pumps to stall and stop working?

This time around I did attempt to simply restart the pump, and it started for about 30 seconds and then stopped. So I pulled it out.

Lucky for me I still have the MAG as a backup, with the pipe and union all set to simply switch out the bad one within a couple minutes.

Am I going to have to put the Waveline on a maintenance schedule for cleaning? I haven't put it back in yet.....pondering whether or not I should go back to the MAGs. I was trying to be more energy conscience, with the MAG being an energy hog.

I think I'll post this in "Equipment" thread as well to get more visibility.....so if you wish to reply, do it HERE. Thanks.

 

[TheEngineer]

You just can NOT catch a break!

 

[redfishbluefish]

You just can NOT catch a break!

A little insight into my luck. We have a new car and this week my wife hit a pothole and cracked the wheel and ruined the tire. Honda wanted over 300 for the wheel alone. Found a used one for $180...and replacement tire was $220! Unexpected $400 expenditure. But I'm remaining positive....it's all part of life. Check out my mantra below my Avatar. All is good.

 

[Paul B]

Redfishbluefish, I took a bunch of rock pieces like that and cemented them together to make this 18" piece that is the backbone of my reef today.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Went into the fish room tonight and the blues were out on one of my three fixtures. Quick inspection....still getting juice...fan running, but no light. My guess, without opening it up, is the driver. Fortunately I have a rack set up with three Fathom Hydra fixtures on it. Easiest thing is to flip these two racks, and in my leisure, open up the non-functioning fixture to figure out what's wrong.

Now the issue is that I've never used these Fathom lights, and the major difference between my current two channel fixtures is that these Fathoms ramp up and down. So I've got to guess the ramping that will sort of match what I'm doing now with two channels.

Here's my current light schedule:

Sunrise (Moonlights) ------------ 1 hr ------- 10AM-11AM
Morning (Blues only) ------------ 3 hr ------- On at 11AM
Mid-day (Blues and Whites) --- 4 hr -------- 2PM - 6PM
Afternoon (Blues) ----------------3 hr -------- Off at 9PM
Sunset (Moonlights) --------------1 hr ------- 9PM-10PM

And with the Fathoms having ten set points, where it ramps between each point, here's my first starting guess on a ramp up and ramp down schedule:

Set Point--Time---White %--Blue %
-----1------10:00-------0--------0
-----2------11:00-------0-------20
-----3------12:00-----20-------40
-----4------14:00-----40-------90
-----5------15:00-----60------100
-----6------17:00-----60------100
-----7------18:00-----40-------90
-----8------20:00----20-------40
-----9------21:00------0-------20
-----10-----22:00------0--------0

I'm open to comments, this ramping thing being new for me.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Well, it was a good run while it lasted. The non-functioning blue channel isn't a power problem, it's a board/LED problem.


All three fixtures have toasted blue LED's...some actually browning the board!

I've already replaced all the blues on both Apollos three years ago, and thought the issue was the lack of use of enough thermal compound. That obviously isn't the case. The Mars Aqua having toasted blues surprised me. I wasn't expecting that. Realize the Apollos have no adjustment (they are old), and both channels run at 100%. The Mars Aqua had blues at 100% and the whites at about 1/3. I can only guess that these LED's can't take running at 100%. I've decided I'm not going to "fix" these again....because I don't know what the true fix might be....and they are old...I've gotten my money's worth. And before you ask, all fans were running on all fixtures, albeit a bit dusty/dirty.


The good news is that having the other rack of Fathom LEDs all set to go (I'm a back-up nut), made the transfer extremely easy. I think about 20 minutes and the racks were swapped out....note to self, less zip-ties next time. It took me longer to program the twenty set points in the Fathom's. Here are the two racks side by side....white rack are the old Apollo/Mars Aqua, the black rack are the Fathom's.

And with my luck, one of the lenses in one Fathom had fallen off and moved.

Now to decide what LED's I wish to go to.

 

[redfishbluefish]

NEW LIGHTS

Here's my thought process on purchasing three new fixtures...

1. I'm happy with the daylight simulation I use by utilizing two bright IceCap Moonlights and the two channels on black boxes....and so are the corals.

2. I got over five years out of the Apollo's and about four years out of the Mars Aqua fixtures....and not willing to redo these since I don't know why they are burning up the blues, short of running them at 100%.
Time for something new.

3. I've read very good review on SB Reef lights. In addition, they sell replacement boards that fit into rounded corner black boxes (Mars Aqua is rounded corner). So I'm leaning towards purchasing two new SB Reef fixtures and one replacement board to put me back in business....for not that much....less than 350.

 

[redfishbluefish]

This is disheartening....still looking around I found this video of SB Reef boards burning out!!!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Well I pulled the trigger and purchased 2 SB Reef Basic fixtures and a new board to replace the board in the Mars Aqua. This will give me three fixtures with all having adjustable pots....that I will not run at 100%. I'm hoping this keeps them from burning up. I'm thinking of keeping the lenses on these and cutting the pots accordingly.

 

[redfishbluefish]

With all the posts about using Lux Meters, I also just purchased THIS meter so that I can get an idea of where to set my new lights. I'm still at a loss as to how to use this....for me, it measures brightness, not the wavelengths needed for photosysnthesis (PAR). That's why I'm hoping @saltyfilmfolks will be able to tell me what kind of numbers I should shoot for with my three SB Reef Lights over a five foot tank about 13.5 inches above the waterline. I understand Salty has similar SB Reef fixtures.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

With all the posts about using Lux Meters, I also just purchased THIS meter so that I can get an idea of where to set my new lights. I'm still at a loss as to how to use this....for me, it measures brightness, not the wavelengths needed for photosysnthesis (PAR). That's why I'm hoping @saltyfilmfolks will be able to tell me what kind of numbers I should shoot for with my three SB Reef Lights over a five foot tank about 13.5 inches above the waterline. I understand Salty has similar SB Reef fixtures.

I may have one or two. (4). Lol.

Did you take the other ones out yet?
Measure at the top of the water. Get kind of an abverage and note the hot spot.
Then drop it 6000 to 9000 lux for acclimation (about 100 to 150 par)or how much you feel comfortable with.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lighting-upgrade-with-a-lux-meter-saltyfilmfolks.248417/

From all the math and reasech , most all the Chinese B.B. especially the Mars aqua come out to devide lux by 60 (6000 lux =100 par)
The mars actually usually at a 1:1, came out at 63 as an average.
I haven’t done a real hard methodical test on the SB yet , but it’s about 60 at a 1:1. Close enough.


Here’s a good walk through with reccomended levels.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-lux-meter-how-do-i-use.368945/#post-4549549
Although , I do reccomend starting or aiming for the last intensity. Esp if the tank is pretty happy.
You may not reach it though. In my 55 upgrade , while doing the acclimation weeks , many of my lps took of like crazy and acros didn’t seem to mind. I might have come across the Sweet spot, so I stopped.

The general reccomendation is 100 par on the sand. But a longer photoperiod you can get away with less. My self I never tested the sand reading until I got a par meter.
Stuff grew )amazing )well so I figured why bother.
In my cube (20x18x20) w an and half the lenses , I set the top to about 450 -500 par with the lux meter. 16 in below that. My par meter gave me an average of about 180 par when I tested it. Explains the happy clams there.


On pulling lenses
Out friend Reeferfoxx pulled lenses and documented it. , you’ll see how that effects penetration and spread here.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-modified-black-box-thread.283942/page-10#post-4602828
Kinda funny folks worry about penetration with led but not t5 generally.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

With all the posts about using Lux Meters, I also just purchased THIS meter so that I can get an idea of where to set my new lights. I'm still at a loss as to how to use this....for me, it measures brightness, not the wavelengths needed for photosysnthesis (PAR). That's why I'm hoping @saltyfilmfolks will be able to tell me what kind of numbers I should shoot for with my three SB Reef Lights over a five foot tank about 13.5 inches above the waterline. I understand Salty has similar SB Reef fixtures.

One of the fun things is , you’ll immediately see the correlation of brightness and par.
A t5 tube , (pretend the cool white in your garage are ati lol) , as you move the meter closer to it it gets brighter so does the par. Add another tube and it doubles the brightness and par (assuming same tube ).

You will probably also see , that at 1% 1:1 ratio measured at 12 in with stock lenses at the hot spot of the fixture , it’s about 12,000 lux.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Why does crap always happen when you're on vacation!!!!

1. ATO - This is the third time my JBJ ATO has "timed out." Lucky this time around it must have only happened two days ago or so because the water was only down about 2 - 3 gallons. Last year's vacation was the same thing, except it dropped below the return pump. Time for a larger pump or new ATO.

2. LIGHTS - I pulled my lights that I had for many years just before going on vacation and temporarily replaced them with three fixtures that I fixed by replacing the UV beads. So I come home and find one had blown another UV bead....about two weeks and the LED blows? I just have no luck. Luckily I have new fixtures coming in shortly. Left side good, right side typical when UV burns out: