rc1626
Active Member
Anyone have the actual DIY plans that were out on the web a few years back? Google was not my friend. Would like to attempt to make my own. Thanks.
Your favorite Metal Halides for Acropora Growth and Coloration
- Thread starter Reefahholic
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Anyone have the actual DIY plans that were out on the web a few years back? Google was not my friend. Would like to attempt to make my own. Thanks.
rc1626
Active Member
After a little more searching I did find this. Should be helpful to anyone who might be looking to try this. Says lumen bright but these are not lumen brights. Has to be luminarcs from what I've seen. I hope I'm allowed to post this on here. Just looking to help some folks out. Please delete if out of line.
www.austinreefclub.com
DIY Lumenbright reflectors
I built a DIY Lumenbright reflector mock up a while back with a pattern i found on another salt water forum and thought i might build a pair for my build if i can find some high polished reflective material for a reasonable price. Anyway I thought i would post it if anyone was interested in doing...
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OP
OP
I just don’t think LED’s have the whole package. This is just my personal opinion and many people may disagree. LED’s grow coral, but something is missing for me. I’ve looked at thousands of hours of videos, ran T5’s for close to 15 years, and I’ve seen all three light sources in person, and how the corals grow along with the health of the corals. I’m speaking mostly about Acropora. Till this day I haven’t seen anything top MH or T5’s as far as coral health and growth are concerned. Again…just my personal opinion. The light from MH and T5 is just good quality light.
Looking about when Keith was running MH+T5 it just gets me excited. The corals grow well and the health is very good. At the end of the day it’s what you like and what floats your boat. For me, that’s MH & T5’s at this point in time.
The only person I’ve really seen grow the crap out of some corals with LED’s is Thomas Coral Fragz, but the guy is a light guru and runs some crazy LED’s I’ve never seen anybody else run. The health of the corals looks pretty dang good. He targets 455nm with his LED chips, and it’s doing an excellent job.
Well, if you’re going to post about halides, it’s pretty fitting to mention Keith and his legendary tanks. That 225 was LOADED with light. Those were three 400 watt Radiums on 400 watt PFO HQI ballasts. Now, for those that aren’t fully familiar with that combo…it’s blinding white light. The par is well over 500 almost everywhere in the tank. Add t5’s to that and it borders on the insane. I have no idea how he acclimated his sticks to that amount of light but the 400 watt Radium driven on a Son Agro 400 watt HQI (which was the PFO) pulled 470-490 watts. It also overdrove the bulb so hard that it needed to be replaced at 6 months. That’s 1400 watts of halide and 312 watts of t5; and he ran the halides for over 9 hours. That’s pushing almost 8 watts per gallon; definitely riding the razor’s edge of what corals can handle. Acclimation was most likely tough, but man oh man the progress shots on that tank filled in faster than any tank I’ve ever seen.I just don’t think LED’s have the whole package. This is just my personal opinion and many people may disagree. LED’s grow coral, but something is missing for me. I’ve looked at thousands of hours of videos, ran T5’s for close to 15 years, and I’ve seen all three light sources in person, and how the corals grow along with the health of the corals. I’m speaking mostly about Acropora. Till this day I haven’t seen anything top MH or T5’s as far as coral health and growth are concerned. Again…just my personal opinion. The light from MH and T5 is just good quality light.
Looking about when Keith was running MH+T5 it just gets me excited. The corals grow well and the health is very good. At the end of the day it’s what you like and what floats your boat. For me, that’s MH & T5’s at this point in time.
The only person I’ve really seen grow the crap out of some corals with LED’s is Thomas Coral Fragz, but the guy is a light guru and runs some crazy LED’s I’ve never seen anybody else run. The health of the corals looks pretty dang good. He targets 455nm with his LED chips, and it’s doing an excellent job.
Those were the days.
OP
OP
Yeah, a ton of quality light indeed. I think to date that was one of his most epic tanks. Speaking of all that light and comparing with his GHL Mitras, the corals look compacted to me under the Mitra’s vs the MH+T5 which likely had more PAR. I like the growth pattern much better under the MH+T5 combo.
When you have a lot of light there are several light protecting elements that are very helpful for coral health if they’re in check.
Otherwise….you start seeing cooked tissue that isn’t healthy. Ask me how I know. (Old pic BTW)
OP
OP
Here’s the video if anybody wants to check it out. I posted it early in this thread also I believe.
I don’t think it’s as much of a compaction issue as him fragging. He’s running a business so he’s not letting them grow out as much as he once did; which may explain why they may look compacted. I’m actually pretty impressed with how he’s done with the Mitras. Oh and this picture is a lot more accurate of how bright that tank was. You can plainly see that Radiums are not that blue on a 400 watt HQI.Yeah, a ton of quality light indeed. I think to date that was one of his most epic tanks. Speaking of all that light and comparing with his GHL Mitras, the corals look compacted to me under the Mitra’s vs the MH+T5 which likely had more PAR. I like the growth pattern much better under the MH+T5 combo.
When you have a lot of light there are several light protecting elements that are very helpful for coral health if they’re in check.
Otherwise….you start seeing cooked tissue that isn’t healthy. Ask me how I know. (Old pic BTW)
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Yanir34
Well-Known Member
Well , that is very helpful !After a little more searching I did find this. Should be helpful to anyone who might be looking to try this. Says lumen bright but these are not lumen brights. Has to be luminarcs from what I've seen. I hope I'm allowed to post this on here. Just looking to help some folks out. Please delete if out of line.
DIY Lumenbright reflectors
I built a DIY Lumenbright reflector mock up a while back with a pattern i found on another salt water forum and thought i might build a pair for my build if i can find some high polished reflective material for a reasonable price. Anyway I thought i would post it if anyone was interested in doing...
I can understand the exact dimensions of each side...maybe do you have better link ?
Thanks for that. I’m struggling to find the plans. But that seems easy enough to follow. I’ll keep looking to see if I can find even better plansAfter a little more searching I did find this. Should be helpful to anyone who might be looking to try this. Says lumen bright but these are not lumen brights. Has to be luminarcs from what I've seen. I hope I'm allowed to post this on here. Just looking to help some folks out. Please delete if out of line.
DIY Lumenbright reflectors
I built a DIY Lumenbright reflector mock up a while back with a pattern i found on another salt water forum and thought i might build a pair for my build if i can find some high polished reflective material for a reasonable price. Anyway I thought i would post it if anyone was interested in doing...
This is the best I could find online. Perhaps if someone has CAD they could draw up a better file, or Hamiltons Cozumel Suns appear to be very similar, could see if they’re willing to share their dimensions if they aren’t selling them any more
This is apparently the original patent which lists dimensions on the description - US Patent 6042250 - https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/57/4b/51/01426296d3d3c4/US6042250.pdf
rc1626
Active Member
Unfortunately that was all I could find as of now. From the couple of threads I searched on RC and the like many would take the plans to a Staples, Office Depot, etc. and get them blown up to the size template they needed. You can basically scale them up or down to make whatever size you want.
Anyone know of a good online source for specular or polished aluminum sheets. Say 2’ x 4’?
I seen it on my feed didn’t watch it fell asleep
Im bummed I have my lights 3 hrs right now and I’m at work during those 3 hrs lol … acclimation period is killing the fun
No clue on the aluminum. I no most threads I read said using solar tubes from Lowe’s or Home Depot.
I’ll have to check the reefbum vid
I watched it. My guess is that he’s there for a reason; possibly the same reason Chris Meckley from ACI had him come to his farm to figure out how his prized torches that were moved from halide to LED weren’t doing so well; and then when moved back started to thrive again.
I will say this…and it may be hard for people who have LED’s to understand if they’ve never had halides or t5’s. There is definitely an algae that develops in an LED tank that doesn’t present itself in any way under halides and t5’s. I used to own a retail store a few years ago and ran a for sale SPS frag system plumbed into an equally sized LPS and zoanthids system. The SPS system was lit with t5 and the LPS and zoanthid system lit by hydra 32’s. Both shared the same sump. There was a velvety brownish red algae that developed on the frag rack and onto plugs in the LPS/zoanthid system that never showed one trace of being in the t5 system. I was constantly scraping it and cleaning it. Never saw it in 20 years of keeping a reef tank. Fast forward to this year. I had an ati t5 lighting system on one of my home displays but when a couple of the ballasts started kicking the bucket I decided I wanted to try LEDs again. This time I went with the Neptune Sky. Then I watched the Reefbum video of Chris mentioning the exact same algae I had years back. After having the Sky lights on this tank since August, I can now see that same algae starting to develop on my rocks again. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, but tangs and my Foxface rabbit fish won’t touch it; even going so far as to pick at the rocks around the algae. It’s velvety in appearance. If you watch some of Reefbum’s videos where he does top down views of his tanks, you’ll notice that algae is non-existent in his halide and t5 187 gallon tank…yet his Mitras LED tank has it. I know it when I see it.
So here’s the thing…I’ve been fortunate enough to dive some nice reefs in the Indo Pacific rim. The algae present in nature is what I see in my home tanks lit with t5 and or halide. I’ve never seen the algae anywhere in nature that led develops. Maybe it’s an algae that develops at a deeper depth? Since most led fixtures skew blue these days, they’re still more blue than the bluest of 20k halide bulbs. I don’t know if this algae is bad or good for our tanks. But it’s definitely new to our hobby since the introduction of LEDs.
My guess is that halide and t5 provide a level of UV that keeps this algae at bay like the sun does in nature. The absence of UV may allow this algae to flourish. My concern is long term health of our entire systems under led. With all the dinoflagellate talk these days, I’m curious if we’ve caused our own first year woes in tanks with LEDs. And…if this algae only presents itself under LEDs, what else is happening biologically to our tank biomes that we can’t see under this light source? With everyone trading and buying frags from vendors and hobbyists that have made the switch, a new strain of something pathogenic is very possible to have reached the majority (if not all) of our systems by now.
I’m very curious to hear Tulio’s results, but I’m confident I know what I’m going to hear.
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Do you have a reference picture to this algae?
Not with lights out right now. I know you run Radions. Trust me…you have it. I haven’t seen an led tank yet that doesn’t have it. Just do a search on YouTube for reefbum’s channel where he shows progression shots of his SPS growth in his peninsula tank. His rocks are covered in it. Now, most people simply don’t run as full spectrum a schedule on their LEDs as Keith. If you turn your whites up you’ll see it on your rocks. I guarantee it.
Not so much the red stuff. That seems like coralline? But at the base of that beautiful Speciosa looks eerily familiar. It’s not a bright algae. In fact it’s almost black.Is the algae like this on the plug?
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