At this point I do not have my Trident alpha-alpha prototype in any feedback loop. Look for this in a couple of months when we have everything more complete and stable and I have a new prototype on the tank.
Much of the credit goes to the Philips CoralCare lights. I have seen no other LED on the market that can get you lighting that so emulates traditional metal halide and does not create blue cast in your photos. That said, the iPhone X and its two lenses is a big leap from my iPhone 6 it replaced.
AFAIK that should work. Someone else might have a reason its not happening. Or contact support.
These kinds of posts fuel my fire in the hobby, in the community, and of course my motivation to keep sharing. Thank you!
Terence, I initially came to this thread after a search on using DOS to feed my Ca reactor. However, I ended up reading it end to end! Very nice and informative thread.I have the DOS set up to push water into the CR. When you add more water, the excess rolls into the aquarium out of the output with no restriction or valve to clog.
So right now I use a profile to do the dosing as opposed to using the automatic method with the chart. I do this because I want a specific dosing frequency and the algorithm in the automatic setting does not give me what I want.
The profile is set up to have the DOS push 180ml into the CR every 3 min (180 seconds) @ 250ml/min. This means it runs about 45 seconds every three minutes. Because the profile settings only allow 255 doses this way and I may have wanted to tweak it here and there, I split the day in two for the outlet programming and used two profiles to do it (only used two different ones in case I wanted to play around independently).
The CR pH barely fluctuates. This proved my theory that non-continuous CR feed could work just fine.
One of the best parts of using the DOS is the ease with which you want to make changes. Now both the melt point of the media AND the flow rate of the reactor are controlled (digitally) by my Apex from my phone. This makes it much easier to tweak accurately and consistently and test.
Here are some of the drawbacks:
- noise - at 250ml/min, no peristaltic pump that a hobbyist can afford will be quiet. However, since my application is not in a living space (my FishCave), it is not a problem for me.
- wear and tear - we will see the longevity, but I have been using the same head on this DOS for 4-5 months already and it is doing just fine. Replacing the head set is just $30 so if one gets six months on average, it is probably worth it.
- max flow rate - given the 1/3 duty cycle choice by Neptune Systems to improve longevity of the motors, it means that with one pump head I can only get to a point where my dosing is just over 80ml/min. If I need to go past that, I will have to employ the second head to do it. Until then, the second pump head will dose AcroPower from Two Little Fishies!
If you took the denitrifying system off line you wouldn’t miss a beat. Ok, for a week it might spike up a bit, maybe 5ppm NO3. Nothing is more stable and effective than macros. Cheato in particular. Great thread my friend. I have learned a lot. Very grateful for your ability to keep it going. Last question, with buying the Triton mega jugs, what is your estimated monthly cost? And based on your testing, has your usage gone up in a linear or exponential pace. I always wondered if coral growth nutrient uptake was a constant increase in dosage rate or as you get more colonies the demand actually skyrockets and goes more exponential.
Ok, got it. So you are doing the CArx and triton!!! Very awesome!! Best of both worlds most likely.
It was simply a cost-cutting measure but I have not done a full analysis on that - might be a wash when you consider CO2, media, and power of two pumps (DOS+Sicce).
A big part of the fun of reefkeeping for me is the desire to keep turning the dials to make it better and better. Easier and easier. The trade off is the risk. That said, I usually only change one thing at a time and I try and do it slowly if possible.
I think the Philips CoralCare (shout out to @Luc Vogels) are the best lights out there right now. Period. If you use BRS (@Ryanbrs ) criteria and stack ranking of what matters (which I totally agree with), the CoralCare easily comes out on top. Where it falls short will matter a lot to many out there (ugly fixture, limited controllability) but for me it did not matter as they are in a canopy and the two channel control via my Apex is enough because they have made the control curves for LED ratios spot on. Sure, you cannot tell it to give you all the cyan or amber LED to 100% independently, but who needs/wants that anyways. It is about using what works to grow corals and then what looks good. If you cannot find that on the two-axis control (I will admit I was skeptical at first) then you should look elsewhere for a way to kill your corals.
