200G + Fish Room

[Lucidbeam]

Side note. I was able to download my apex data to excel. I pulled just July data. Here are a couple graphs. I need a Trident. I like data.
pH

Temp

Volts

 

[c.poindexter]

Awesome work. Fish rooms are great, planning for my future fish room.

 

[Lucidbeam]

I wanted to add some T5s to my setup.

• DIMMABLE T5 HO MIRO-4 RETROFIT KIT
• 2 CHANNEL APEX TO LIGHT DIMMING CABLE
• 4" CIRCULAR LED HYBRID MOUNTING BRACKET
• 1 by 2 wood

Current setup

Here are some pics as I built

The only way I could get the dimming to work for my was with Black in (Violet +) Red in (Gray -). Only needed 2 of the 4 cables. Please read instructions before you connect anything. I'm just relaying how I did it. This is not guidance.

Final product

I left space to add another set of T5s. The Apex light cable would allow me to add another set also. It is connected to a pulley system, so I can raise the lights up. I think I might rent a PAR meter and see what I'm getting.

 

[maroun.c]

Looking great already, tagging g along

 

[Lucidbeam]

Did some clean up and moving in the room. Moved the Apex controller to the wall, and moved the cabinet into new spot. Was able to open up some more space.

Before the move

After the move. I still need to clean up the cables a little more.

 

[Lucidbeam]

We ended up doing a lot more to the basement than originally planned from a budget perspective. That means fish tanks will have to wait a little.

View from living room

View from office

 

[Lucidbeam]

I’m struggling with my SPS. I rented a PAR meter. Hoping the PAR meter comes in before the weekend. I ended up moving my Montipora and birds of paradise birdsnest down lower, they aren’t looking good. I also moved my Frogspawn. The Frogspawn seems much happier. My Acropora are lacking color. Here are some tank pics for now. Pics with iPhone nothing special.

 

[Lucidbeam]

Here was my first run at the PAR test with at MQ-510. I was way off. They are not getting enough light. I broke it up into two zones. The T5s were at 100%. My LEDs were messed up and programmed wrong. They were at 30%ish. When I was programming them in the APEX I must have gotten color and power switched. Took me 60 mins to figure that out. Glad I rented the tool, thanks @Bulk Reef Supply.

As I held the PAR meter my son took pictures. Here is what they looked like.
Example Pic:

ZONE 1

ZONE 2

I then ran a test with the T5s at 100% and the LEDs at 100%. Was getting some 300 PAR at the top.

ZONE 1

ZONE 2

I bumped everything back down. I think the sweet spot will bet LEDs at 75-80%. I’m going to try and run another test tomorrow at 80% and grab some numbers.

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

I used to run mine at 100 percent and would actually lose corals I thought was from elevated nutrients but was from to much light I run mine at 80 percent and have had the best results

 

[Lucidbeam]

Update on Ph. Trying to figure out what changed on Oct 1st. I need to do a better job of writing things down.

 

[Lucidbeam]

Just picked up a couple killer corals from Cherry Corals. Love their auctions. @CherryCorals

 

[Lucidbeam]

Went to the Michigan Coral Expo. The plan was to just look. I went to the Jason Fox booth and they had a coral I had on my want list. I picked up a nice Jason Fox Meanstreak Montipora at a good price. Thanks @jfox

 

[Lucidbeam]

Added a calm to the tank. My fish didn't want to be left out.

 

[Lucidbeam]

Made some changes to the system.

Old Setup:
1 gallon bottle for Kalkwasser. Using BRS 1.1 doser pump. Running 350ml daily 14:00 to 2:00.
Dosing Sodium Bicarbonate by hand in the morning. Based on Alk testing. Average 50ml.
Dosing Calcium Chloride by hand in the evening. Based on how much Sodium I put in the morning.

New Setup
5 gallon bucket for Kalkwasser. Using BRS 1.1 doser pump. Running 500ml daily 0:00 to 22:00 (Start at 0 min)
1 gallon bottle for Soda Ash. Using BRS 1.1 doser pump. Running 30ml daily 2:00 to 10:00 (Start at 30 min)
1 gallon bottle for Calcium Chloride. Using BRS 1.1 doser pump. Running 30ml daily 16:00 to 23:00 (Start at 30 min)
Testing Alk in the morning. Will make changes to the Soda and Calcium based on findings.

Before pics

After pics

 

[Lucidbeam]

Started a thread for my QT tanks.

QT Tank Build

 

[Pmez]

dang I can’t wait to see when this is all done. Goals. Can’t wait to have a dedicated fish room lol.

 

[Lucidbeam]

It has been awhile since I updated. I decided to lay some flooring down.

I found some inexpensive vinyl flooring.

Here is what it looked like before.

Cleared out as much as I could. Did several mopping. Didn’t move the tank. That is for another day.

Let the work begin.

Took the wife and I about an hour.

With all the stuff back in.

 

[Lucidbeam]

My rose bubble tip anemone split. He has done this once before, but only one made it. This time they are both are healthy.

 

[siggy]

Looking good.

 

[Lucidbeam]

I have been working from home since the pandemic hit. Looks like I will continue to work from home. I work in IT and I’m able to do 95% of my job remotely. I decided it was time to move the 70G fish tank, so it was facing me in my office. It took a full day to move it. I didn’t loss anything.

The before and where I’m moving it to. Not too far.

Moving all the stuff out of the fish room again.

I then drained the tank and took the rock out.

Moved over and filling it back up.

Filled up

The final trim.