New 135 build sps dominated

[xsdbs]

Thanks everybody!

The pvc is just a holder for the pc lighting I have over the refugium.

I use a bare bottom because I'm going to try my hand at sps and I'll use lots of flow. Maybe too much for fine sand and that's all that I would have used. Instead I used a semi deep sand bed 5" in the refugium with a rack holding LR above 1" and some cheato in a space between the rock.

that is a pretty cool way to hold the lights above the tank with the pvc and also a great way to life the rocks of the bottom of the tank.

 

[TomToro]

that is a pretty cool way to hold the lights above the tank with the pvc and also a great way to life the rocks of the bottom of the tank.

Thanks very much. It was my buddy's idea for the rock and mine for the lights.

Also, Thanks to Moko and st0l1.

Rudy,
Appreciate it. The Cheato came from my other tank's sumps and a friend's sump. His had tons of cheato and mine had tons of bugs.

I use the cheato to hopefully use up nutrients and nitrates. I again hope to harvest about twice a month (as in my other tank) and either toss it out or seed somebody else's tank around here. There's usually lots of bugs and it's a shame to just toss it.

Big skimmer, cheato, dsb in the sump, frequent small water changes, lots of water movement and minimal feeding will hopefully keep nuisance algae at bay. Time will tell and I'm sure I'll have my usual 'new tank' problems.

 

[TomToro]

Ace,

Here's the study I saw awhile ago. Truthfully I didn't understand it, but everybody that likes the Iwasaki 15k's in the 175w bulb, cite this study. I also understand that in a more recent study(I'll look for it)Sanjay calls it a 15k instead of a 14k for some reason.

11) Iwasaki 175W Aqua2 14000K Mogul Base

This is a very interesting lamp that will soon be available to the reef hobby. In all my years of testing lamps, this is the one lamp that has in fact tested at around 14000K as advertised. It also has highest PPFD values among all the 175W lamps to go along with the 14000K CCT, which would make it a very appealing lamp to those seeing a lamp that truly satisfy the niche of being less blue than the 20000K and more blue than the 10000K, without sacrificing light output.
Table 12: Iwasaki 175W Aqua2 14000K Mogul Base performance on all ballasts
Ballast Power
Watts Input
Volts Input
Amps PPFD CCT Efficiency
PPFD/Watt ARO (Electronic) 175 123.2 1.53 86.9 13794 0.4966 Icecap (Electronic) 165 122.6 1.53 86.8 14565 0.5261 EVC (Electronic) 178 122.5 1.53 87.2 14565 0.4899 Magnetic (M57) 189 122.6 2.02 71.5 15215 0.3783 Figure 11: Spectral data for Iwasaki 175W Aqua2 14000K Mogul base Lamps on all ballasts

 

[Ace25]

Here are the stats from Sanjays site:

XM 250W 10000K SE w/ PFO 250W HQI (M80) = 182PPFD

Iwasaki 175W 15000K SE w/ ARO 175W Electronic = 86PPFD

So as you can see, just going from a 175w 15k bulb with an electronic ballast to a 250w 10K bulb with HQI ballast you will gain over 2x as much usuable "coral" light. To me that is pretty significant, especially on a tank that will be SPS dominated.

 

[GregAW]

So Ace, what is the cost of these bulbs?

 

[xsdbs]

Tomtoro, what is the material that you used for the floor bottom of the display tank?

 

[Rudy]

I use the cheato to hopefully use up nutrients and nitrates. I again hope to harvest about twice a month (as in my other tank) and either toss it out or seed somebody else's tank around here. There's usually lots of bugs and it's a shame to just toss it.

Big skimmer, cheato, dsb in the sump, frequent small water changes, lots of water movement and minimal feeding will hopefully keep nuisance algae at bay. Time will tell and I'm sure I'll have my usual 'new tank' problems.

Looks like I need to try to find a local source for some Cheato in my sump. Anyone around this board live in New England?

 

[TomToro]

Here are the stats from Sanjays site:

XM 250W 10000K SE w/ PFO 250W HQI (M80) = 182PPFD

Iwasaki 175W 15000K SE w/ ARO 175W Electronic = 86PPFD

So as you can see, just going from a 175w 15k bulb with an electronic ballast to a 250w 10K bulb with HQI ballast you will gain over 2x as much usuable "coral" light. To me that is pretty significant, especially on a tank that will be SPS dominated.

I agree. Maybe someday.

 

[TomToro]

Tomtoro, what is the material that you used for the floor bottom of the display tank?

I used a cutting board material called hdpe I think. I bought it from U.S.Plastics. Cost was 70.00 plus shipping for 2 18"x36"x1/2" sheets. I cut the ends where they meet the silicone at an angle so they'd lay flat against the bottom.

Here's the link:
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/pr...e=USPlastic&category_name=72&product_id=10369

 

[xsdbs]

perhaps an odd question but with this material being white, will you try to keep it white and will diatom build up on it? If so will clean up be easy? I know you mentioned that you will have a strong water circulation, will this keep the diatom from building up in odd areas?