Poseidon's NEW Adventure!

I am not exactly sure on the volume, I would say about 2 gallons though. The dimensions are 4.5x4.5x19.25 inside the reactor. That foam comes in 3 sizes, 2mm 3mm and 6mm, this is the 6.

Documentation post-

I went to a 250W DE Halide over the 250W mogul bulb, mostly due to the far superior reflector. The bulb is an old Ushio 20K, and I am not a huge fan of it. I plan to replace it with a 14K Phoenix once the budget allows. I had to modify my LED's to fit the new reflector, by cutting 4" off the length. I attached them with screws this time, keeping the tubing separate from the halide reflector by about 1/4". Removing that 4" certainly made a difference in the heat of the tubing, they get MUCH warmer now. I added a thermal switch in series, that will cut power if the heatsink gets to hot, and so far there has been no problem.

Today I had an issue with the tank temp, I had failed to set my controller properly, and the heater did not turn on. Tank temp was 73.5. I fixed that and I am on way back to 75.5.

While I was trouble shooting, I decided to clean out the sump, and removed about 50% of my algae as a nutrient export. :D

Since putting the Kalk reactor online, I have seen an increase in growth... of Coralline Algae! LOL! I am sure the corals are also growing better, but that is harder to see over a short period.

Last night I did some minor rock work too, I had a small rock slide that needed to be fixed, and of course as soon as you touch the rock work, you end up changing more than you intend too. Once the tank clears up, I will take some pics to show the changes. Cleaning detritus from the sump, sure clouds the tank! :p

I finally got around to finishing the LED driver box. I also bought a new halide fixture, with a much better reflector in it. Here are the FINISHED pictures. LOL!


http://splitsecond.smugmug.com/Aquar...IMG_2794-L.jpg
The heat sink is now only 10" in length, and yes it does get quite warm. I have added a thermal switch from Steve's LED's to the middle of the heat sink, and it has never tripped off. The quarter is there for scale.


http://splitsecond.smugmug.com/Aquar...IMG_2796-L.jpg
Mounted to the side of the halide, this time I used a rubber grommet between the LED's and halide. The grommet creates an air gap to allow for better cooling, and less heat transfer from the halide to the LED.


http://splitsecond.smugmug.com/Aquar...IMG_2806-L.jpg
Lights on. This is taken with a Ushio 20K bulb that was about 12 months old, it has been replaced by a Phoenix 14K, which I like a lot more. I like the Phoenix even better than the Radium to be honest. The 14K Phoenix looks just a tad more blue to me, I know the charts show otherwise. Also the LED on the left is dim because I had touched the LED with the double sticky tape on the bottom of the reflector. The LED was on when I was placing those, and it started smoking immediately. I ended up replacing that particular emitter, and ordered a spare in case I do something stupid again.


http://splitsecond.smugmug.com/Aquar...IMG_2830-L.jpg
LDD's into the O2 Surplus manual PWM Dimmer. This works perfect for me, manual dimmer on LED's that are only there to enhance the color of the tank, and add a dawn/dusk effect to the halide.


http://splitsecond.smugmug.com/Aquar...IMG_2831-L.jpg
E-bay special voltage dropper. This takes the 36v from the LED power supply and drops it to 5.2V which goes into the O2 Surplus dimmer.


http://splitsecond.smugmug.com/Aquar...IMG_2833-L.jpg
All 3 parts hanging before getting added to the project box.


http://splitsecond.smugmug.com/Aquar...IMG_2839-L.jpg
All placed in the box, you can see the voltage to the Dimmer at 5.22. I can also push a button and see the input voltage, which is 36.2.


http://splitsecond.smugmug.com/Aquar...IMG_2840-L.jpg
And finally all buttoned up, looking much cleaner than having that dimmer hanging out in space. :D

Well, the Phoenix bulb, new reflector and the LED's all combined really cranked up the par... I am measuring 300 par on the SAND. Guess I better raise the light a bit before I cook stuff. :)

I am 900+ at the waters surface, and 350-400 at the 1/2 way point, these readings were taken with my Galaxy e-ballast on "HQI", I turned it to the 250W setting, I should take a couple quick readings to see the difference.

Another documentation post-

I am battling some algae I have never seen before, it is brown and stringy, and the worst part is it seems to want to grow on the coral tips.I blow it off the corals daily with a turkey baster but it grows right back. It also grows on the sand and the rock work. I knew I would get some sort of algae bloom with the new light, but I had no idea I would get this crap.

I have tried mechanical removal, with "quick filters" I added a sponge to the overflow that is cleaned twice a day.

The corals that are the most affected are the Hawkins and the Red Dragon, with the fine branches. The Acans and favia seem to love the stuff though, as they are out and puffed up every time I blow the crap off the rocks.

Tomorrow I am planning on picking up more salt for a water change.

The skimmer is producing dark nasty crap, and I have replaced my 1 cup worth of Phosguard with 2 cups with of the stuff. I did that a couple of days ago, I am hoping to see improvement.

This tank sure has given me a work out, the last one was a breeze in comparison. :(

Roflmao!! I too am seeing crap I've never seen before with this tank. Some days I'm sooo happy I have a t.v. in my room. Cause that's where I go when I don't wanna look-lol.
I hope no real damage is done to your sticks!

I am still battling this algae, it has caused significant loss of corals. Hawkins is almost dead, I lost a separate frag of hawkins that was doing well on its own too. Red Dragon is losing tissue at an alarming rate.

I've been using manual removal methods and water changes over the last 2 weeks. The algae blows right off the coral, or rock or sand with a gentle puff from a turkey baster, I used machanical filter pads to trap the now free floating algae, and then I remove that pad from the system.

There has been 2 cups of phosguard in the system for those 2 weeks as well, the flow must not have been good where I had it placed in the sump, and since I changed my return pump to an internal one, I don't have that nice little shelf that I once had for media such as this.

Yesterday I was off from work, and made a call out to Preuss Pets. They had a Coralife Chemical reactor in the used stuff section, for $20. I drove out there post haste and picked up TWO of them. One reactor now holds 1.5 cups of Phosguard, the other 1.5 cups of Carbon, the 2 reactors are driven by a MJ1200 that I had laying around. It seems to work perfectly as far as the media is tumbling and not getting blasted out of the reactors. :p

Now, I am sure the phosguard is getting good flow, hopefully whatever is in the water that is allowing that algae to grow can be eliminated and I can get back to enjoying my hobby. :)

Hoping for the best Mike!! Have you thought about using GFO? I've seen many using it when battling nuisance algae. Just a thought :)

Phosguard =/= GFO Jamie. It is just what I have had better luck with. GFO has the ability to impact corals, Phosguard seems to be a less risky option.

Whatever works for you right :) That's all that matters.