Ace25's 75G Build Thread

[xsdbs]

do you leave these leds on all night or are they on a timer. when using blue leds can you see any of the tank life (like pods) at night. I have heard of people being able to see critters at night but when I use a flashlight I don't see anything other than the snails and somecrabs. maybe I'm using the wrong type of light?

This picture more closely matches the looks of the moonlights. Still don't get the shimmer effect or the glow of certain corals in the picture unfortunately.

Also, small edit on Step 2 of the process. While it doesn't matter which way the resistor is pointing nor where in line you solder it, it does matter which direction the wires go on the LEDs. There is a positive and negative side to each, the longer of the 2 wires being positive. In my setup I made the resistor solder to positive before the first LED gets power. Then you solder negative to positive when linking the LEDs.

 

[Ace25]

Yup, lights are on all night. I have a $350 Bretford timer I use for my Sump/Moonlights at night and Actinics during the day.. when one is on, the other is off. Flashlights are usually too bright and scare the little critters before you get a chance to see them.. try putting a filter of some type in either red or blue over a flashlight and it should help.

 

[powerkit]

Wow! this thread is amazing! Ace, I love yor tank! Wish i had the patience (and more importantly $) for such a nice reef! Thanks for all the pics of yor lfs too, that was great!

 

[xsdbs]

I'll try that . Thanks Ace

 

[Ace25]

Picture update

 

[beabroca]

oomggosh , this is the first time i seen this thread, but it is ABSOLUTLY AMAZING!!! beautiful and breathtaking!!!!!!!!!!!! great job on doing something like this!!!!!!

 

[GregAW]

Ace, when you have a few minutes how about helping me set up my Nikon Coolpix 5700? Tks

 

[Ace25]

Not much I can tell you about the camera. It was given to me by a co-worker when he upgraded. I simply use the Auto focus/Macro (Flower) setting, make sure it is yellow, use a Tri-pod and the timer (one tip, press the shutter button TWICE when using timer, this will change the countdown from 10 to 3 on the second press, saves time). IMO the timer and tri-pod is the secret for me.. and taking about 500 pictures at a time in order to get about 5 good ones.

Few pics from today.

And... My old 29G.. setup as a "rescue" tank for fish that need homes. Got these mated pair of clowns last week. People in my reefclub that get out of the hobby don't like bringing fish back to a LFS... many reasons I won't go into, so they give them to me to take care of until I can find GOOD homes for them. People in my club trust me not to just give fish away to just anyone.. I understand these are their beloved pets they had to give up for some reason or another and their only wish is to make sure they go to good homes. Since I do 30G a week waterchanges on my 75G that means I can use all the old water from that tank and do pretty much a 95% waterchange on the 29G weekly. The water out of my SPS reef tank is still great water.. 0 phosphates (really, tested with a Hanna spectrometer just yesterday, 0.00 phosphates), 0 nitrates, CA/Alk good.. I just have a habit of making sure my 75G is "Pristine" even if that means doing water changes a little larger and a little more frequent than required. Better safe than sorry is what I say. I wouldn't risk $1000's in corals and fish just to save a few $ on salt. I go though a 150G bucket of salt every month just for my 75G tank. The only fish I bought for the tank is a Starry Blenny, which I want to put in my main tank, but I just can't evict my 8 year old Lawnmower blenny.. one of my first fish when I got into reef tanks, and I know I can't put 2 algae blennies in the same tank so the smaller starry stays in the 29G for now.

 

[Almondsaz]

Ace: I have got to say this is the nicest reef tank that I have seen. It looks really nice and well populated. Looks great!

 

[Ace25]

Would you ever have imagined the tank has not even been running for 3 months yet? If you go back in the first few pages of this thread you will see when I set it up in June 08.. but then had to tear it down to send out for repair because of a leak and I set it up again on Dec 4th... which would make that "Day 1" again for my tank. Worst part about setting up/resetting up was the Deep Sand Bed.. it takes about a month for that to start working.. then to have to tear it down kills the benefits of it and I have to wait another month after setting it back up before it helps out with removing nitrates again.

Everyone in my reefclub is also "in awe" of my tank.. it has really progressed each step of the way, much faster than any tank I have ever had.. and I feel like it is going from a Bi-Plane (my 29G softie/LPS reef I had setup for 7 years) to a fighter jet.. in 7 years of learning my 29G never looked anywhere near as good as this tank... then in 3 months time this tank has really turned into a work of art and so far I am having so much success that others want to know my secret.. but there is no secret. I am learning as I go just as everyone else does. I have learned though, with SW tanks, the first sign of any problems, no matter what it is, fish or coral, you MUST take immediate action to have the best success. Even waiting a few hours from the time you first spot a problem to the time you do something about it can be enough to put whatever is having the problem over the edge.. much more so with fish than corals, but with corals, I have learned if you see something not looking as good as the day before and you let it go another day to see if it comes back.. that 1 extra day can cost you months in recovery. You may have luck with the coral recovering.. but the 1-2 days it took to do the damage can take 1-2 months to recover.