The Garden -- Rakies shallow SPS cube

tripdad

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Hey Rakie, get yourself a rigid plastic tube that will fit some siphon tubing. Cut the end at about a 60 degree angle and siphon those bubbles out. Works great to pry them off and straight up the tube they go. You can beat it for sure. Corals look great!
 
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Rakie

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The bubble algae is a nice contrast :)

I'll like it better when I kill it!

I've considered vibrant, but the last time I did that I ran into other issues. This time I may be searching for a more biological means that just plain eats things. I'm still afraid of emeralds though.
 
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Rakie

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I don’t think my foxface is helping , considering I have bubbles the size of a quarter covered in coralline and gha. Maybe I SHOULD get a crab or 3

Fox face can sometimes be hit and miss. My problem is if mine were to solve the problem while in tank, the problem could resume once he's been given away.

I'm just afraid an emerald will go after little gobies, which I have lots of and want more of!
 

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I know , I’ve been hesitant to go that route, hermits are bad enough ! I’ve been trying to handle it manually along my other algae issues. Seems to be getting better and +1 for the siphon tube with a sharp edged piece of plastic tube, works for Zenia,GHA and other undesirables ....
 
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So far the t5 experiment is helping with shadowing. I really do believe right now the radion is the best lighting possible. I also believe you need 2 of them for a single 50 cube. A single just won't cut it.

What's cheaper than an $800 light? The 2x24 t5 sitting in my closet.

So far all my high light corals are appreciating it
 
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Rakie

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Also, my friends 25"+ brittle star, who I've started calling Barney cause of his color.

In a standard 120 he can touch the back and front glass at the same time. Pic doesn't do him justice.
f59333b0a042fdb9206958a8bc0a13d7.jpg
00b7fa63231e93aa0770427bb375f897.jpg
 
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Rakie

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So your running a Radion 30and 2 T5s ? B+ or 6500k?

Yeah a single XR30 G4 pro cannot cover the space I need. I'm running 2 Actinics -- One Geisemann, one ATI.

To make up for the missing 6500k spectrum I run my Radion pretty white, my whites green and red are at 45% for most of the day until my evening ramp down. Because I'm also a huge believer in UV/Violet spectrum I've added Actinics opposed to B+ or 6500k (which I'm getting more than enough of from my radion).

I love the 6500k bulbs, I even have two Geisemann tropic 6500k's in my closet.. But the radion has way more than enough red, green, and warm white/white, people just neglect to use them.

Lighting is a complicated subject, which is why T5 and MH usually just "work" for people. They have taken out all the guesswork. With LED's you can now plug and play, but should you need supplemental lighting some consideration needs to be made. What do you want more of, growth, or color? Can you adjust your LED's to give you whats missing? Is shadowing the true problem, or just part of the problem? Etc etc.

6500k light = Unsurpassed growth
UV/Violet = Color (not POP like royal blue LED's, but full color shift)

My most unpopular opinion of all time: Blue+ bulb isn't as good as a full mix with ABS, P+, C+, Actinic. It looks horrible when you just slam 5-7 B+ bulbs in a single fixture.

If I were to run a 6 Bulb Today it would be 2B+, 2C+, 2 Act, an 8 bulb would add a P+ and ABS.

When I get the AquaticLife hybrid I'll be putting 4 actinic in it most likely. Possibly 1 C+.

EDIT: Also, whenever I get my Canopy I will be removing the diffuser from the Radion. Spectrum testing shows it should be no different, and the PAR loss should be negligible as my Radion was only at 40% previously and is now at 100%, but colors were better without the diffuser. Took a year of use to truly determine that color slowly has shifted for me.
 
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Rakie

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T5 led hybrid here, well said! :)

There's nothing wrong with T5, but honestly if money wasn't an issue I'd just be running 2 XR30 G4 Pros.. Unfortunately, a hybrid will cost me $200 more, and another XR30 will cost me $800 more.. So the choice was easy lol
 

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Yeah a single XR30 G4 pro cannot cover the space I need. I'm running 2 Actinics -- One Geisemann, one ATI.

To make up for the missing 6500k spectrum I run my Radion pretty white, my whites green and red are at 45% for most of the day until my evening ramp down. Because I'm also a huge believer in UV/Violet spectrum I've added Actinics opposed to B+ or 6500k (which I'm getting more than enough of from my radion).

I love the 6500k bulbs, I even have two Geisemann tropic 6500k's in my closet.. But the radion has way more than enough red, green, and warm white/white, people just neglect to use them.

Lighting is a complicated subject, which is why T5 and MH usually just "work" for people. They have taken out all the guesswork. With LED's you can now plug and play, but should you need supplemental lighting some consideration needs to be made. What do you want more of, growth, or color? Can you adjust your LED's to give you whats missing? Is shadowing the true problem, or just part of the problem? Etc etc.

6500k light = Unsurpassed growth
UV/Violet = Color (not POP like royal blue LED's, but full color shift)

My most unpopular opinion of all time: Blue+ bulb isn't as good as a full mix with ABS, P+, C+, Actinic. It looks horrible when you just slam 5-7 B+ bulbs in a single fixture.

If I were to run a 6 Bulb Today it would be 2B+, 2C+, 2 Act, an 8 bulb would add a P+ and ABS.

When I get the AquaticLife hybrid I'll be putting 4 actinic in it most likely. Possibly 1 C+.

EDIT: Also, whenever I get my Canopy I will be removing the diffuser from the Radion. Spectrum testing shows it should be no different, and the PAR loss should be negligible as my Radion was only at 40% previously and is now at 100%, but colors were better without the diffuser. Took a year of use to truly determine that color slowly has shifted for me.
Interesting. Going with some T5's as fillers. I think nothing could be better for shimmer reduction (which I hate). Much better than using Diffusers on LED.
And Purple Plus is one of my Favorite POP bulbs (in low Ratio to other).
I know you recommend ABS. I like it. Great for Photo's compared to a B+/C+, but I had a choice of P+, Actnic, ABS, and I went with P+, Actinic. (along with the other B+,C+ already in place)
Really helps when you have a Dimmable T5 Ballast. To tune the P+ just right, since too strong at 100% and Red's are OVERKILL.
 
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Rakie

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Interesting. Going with some T5's as fillers. I think nothing could be better for shimmer reduction (which I hate). Much better than using Diffusers on LED.
And Purple Plus is one of my Favorite POP bulbs (in low Ratio to other).
I know you recommend ABS. I like it. Great for Photo's compared to a B+/C+, but I had a choice of P+, Actnic, ABS, and I went with P+, Actinic. (along with the other B+,C+ already in place)
Really helps when you have a Dimmable T5 Ballast. To tune the P+ just right, since too strong at 100% and Red's are OVERKILL.

The ABS I mostly endorse for coral health and growth. Frankly the same can be done with White/Warm White/Green/Red LED's, so for me, I just turned those LED's up, and added more of the other spectrum I'm fond of (UV/Violet).

My problem with the Aquatic Life fixture is right now, I don't NEED 4 T5 bulbs. The back two will be wasted. I could maybe use one in the back but, not so much.. We shall see.

I really think the big flaw with Radions is them not being built like the AI Hydras. They should be a longer fixture with 3-4 pucks... The 2 puck design is just uselessly small. That's why people with bigger tanks need to run a dozen of them.

With Companies like Noopsyche coming out with similarly built / designed spectrums at literally 1/5 the price... Radion will go the way of ProTools did in music production.
 
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Rakie

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Hey Rakie, get yourself a rigid plastic tube that will fit some siphon tubing. Cut the end at about a 60 degree angle and siphon those bubbles out. Works great to pry them off and straight up the tube they go. You can beat it for sure. Corals look great!

Yeah, I could give that another shot. I've scraped it all off once before but I couldn't get it all and it had grown back.

I got a really nice echinata tonight. Green body with strong orange stripes, with some yellow highlights and teal streaks. Apparently it's a murderer and killed everything near it in a 5-6" radius. I didn't know their sweepers were THAT long! No pics yet, lights just turned off.

It'll be glued to the glass on the bottom of the tank far away from my murderous Space Invader.
 

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Yeah, I could give that another shot. I've scraped it all off once before but I couldn't get it all and it had grown back.

I got a really nice echinata tonight. Green body with strong orange stripes, with some yellow highlights and teal streaks. Apparently it's a murderer and killed everything near it in a 5-6" radius. I didn't know their sweepers were THAT long! No pics yet, lights just turned off.

It'll be glued to the glass on the bottom of the tank far away from my murderous Space Invader.
Put the space invader and the sick enchidna next to each other, for science...

Or fight club.
 
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Rakie

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Friend of mine went to the lfs and found something I e been wanting, that I've convinced quite a few people to get..

Geometric pygmy hawkfish.

Had one before. Amazing personality! Excited to have one again...

Always been afraid if flame Hawks, they get big enough to eat shrimp and takeout smaller fish (like the 2" tiny gobies I like)


d9eccfb97aa66a0e670f9af3113fbb9e.jpg



The other fish/critters I want again...
- Neon goby
- Tail spot blenny
- Trimma gobies (2-3)
- Pintail Wrasse

I'm also interested in some mini dart fish from Fishy business aquatics.. I'm kind of afraid they will end up as Geo hawk snacks now though, as they show up at 0.75" and Max out at 1.25 - 1.5" so pretty snack sized!
 
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