there is 11" from water surface to emitter. and Im getting excellent coverage, there's no noticable shadow from the center brace now too.
there is 11" from water surface to emitter. and Im getting excellent coverage, there's no noticable shadow from the center brace now too.
GREAT build Ryan!
One word of caution - It's hard to approximate PAR when visually comparing LEDS to MHs or T5s. I learned the hard way that the Cree LEDS are PAR MONSTERS. They put out MUCH more PAR than similar looking MH/T5s. If you adjust your new LED rig to approximate the appearance of your MHs, you're hitting your tank with significantly more PAR than provided by your 2X 250W MH.
I didn't note what optics you selected, but for reference here are PAR measurements I took under two of my AquaIllumination units (32W, 16B) 48 total LEDS using 40 degree optics running at 100%....
6" - 1650
12" - 1370 (water surface)
16" - 915 (4" water depth)
19" - 690 (7" water depth)
24" - 560 (12" water depth)
Your rig with 72 LEDS will obviously put out even more. I posted more PAR results here
It's taken me 6 months to finally figure out the best output and get things acclimated. I currently have the AI suspended 16" above the water and run 45%W, 100%B.
Best bet it to find a PAR meter - I'm a bit far, but I'll let you borrow my Apogee MQ-200 if you're unable to locate one closer.
Last edited by CalmSeasQuest; 08-07-2010 at 05:05 PM.
Thanks for the compliment and also the adviceOriginally Posted by CalmSeasQuest
Im using 60 degree optics, and the LEDs are spaced ~2 5/8" apart front to back and 3" apart left to right in a ~15x17 rectangle. It's definitely not very high density compared to how close some others have grouped them, especially like Mike's build.
I'm really not sure how much PAR I was getting with my halides but as you may have noticed I do have a dimmer circuit hooked up so I can tone it down if anything starts to look at all unhealthy.
From the sounds of what you're saying, I think Im going to go downstairs and turn the rigs down to 75% for now until I can get my hands on a PAR meter. I may take you up on the offer to borrow yours.
Last edited by XSiVE; 08-07-2010 at 07:36 PM.
A lesson that I finally learned... dip your corals, QT them for awhile, dip them again.. ugh... though, I dont know how long Ive possibly had this pest, maybe for a long time it was feeding on other things and just recently showed its face in public.
So I was peering into the tank this morning and saw some strange light/white spots on my Tricolor acro... I feared the worst..
yep those are bite marks from Acro eating flatworms =(
I did some reading and people had a lot of good luck with coral rx, seemingly moreso than other products out there so I picked some up to give it a try..
Took all of my acro's out of the tank and dipped / blasted them in the coral rx solution.. Only the tricolor had any evidence, as a bunch of AEFWs started falling off as soon as it was in the solution. I think I may have seen some eggs on another frag plug but I carefully picked them off.
half-dissolved little bugger. Coralrx literally dissolves these things, its crazy. the corals look pretty good within a few hours of coming out of the dip too, I like this stuff.
I need to continue a treatment regimen over the next few weeks to be sure I get all the little babies because theres no way I got all the eggs...
by the way, you basically CANNOT see these things when they are on the acro, the only signs will be fatigue of the coral and possibly the little bite marks that I showed here..
I will definitely keep this thread updated in how the treatment goes and if I see a relapse.
CR Member
That stuffs pretty wicked, and it's insane that it dissolves them, yet it says it's all natural ingredients. Cool that it works. Might have to consider using that if I ever see any problems.
Do yourself a favor and be proactive... No matter what product or method you go with it's easier to treat things as they come in then to have to go back and basically treat everything at once and hope you get the problem taken care of.
MizTanks liked this post
CR Member
I usually am, but I don't have any plans on stocking anything for awhile, so, at this point its just a matter of watching and seeing what comes up.
A2 Club Coordinator
Tanks lookin sweet man!!
How about some coral shots??
LOL I'll take some shots of all of my acro frags sitting in the quarantine / frag tank while they wait for their next coral rx bath :P
got my parts in for my LED build for my frag tank, I should have it completed tonight... will post pics.
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