Mike and Terry's 300g Reef

Aquaph8 · Apr 17, 2014

Outstanding as always and love the hooded! How's that new little angel behaving?

falconerr · Apr 17, 2014

This tank always looks amazing good job to you both. Hopefully my half size version of ya'lls tank will look half as good. Keep up the good work.

swannyson7 · Apr 17, 2014

Stunning, as always!

Mike&Terry · Apr 17, 2014

spspirate said:
The reef is filling in very nicely!! Looking great!

Thanks Andy!

Aquaph8 said:
Outstanding as always and love the hooded! How's that new little angel behaving?

Thanks Brett! The little C. flavissima is still a bit intimidated by the Regal, so is mostly hanging out near or inside of the large cave on the left side of the tank. Amazingly, the Flame Angel has not bothered his new "roomy" at all.

falconerr said:
This tank always looks amazing good job to you both. Hopefully my half size version of ya'lls tank will look half as good. Keep up the good work.

Thanks so much for the awesome compliment and congrats on the new to you 150!

swannyson7 said:
Stunning, as always!

Thank you, Scott!

Mike&Terry · Apr 21, 2014

We finally carved out some time this past weekend to get the new Hydra 52 light fixtures installed - Yay! We are also in the middle of a bit of re-scaping and coral pruning. Hoping to be finished up in the next day or two and will post up some pics once we're done.

Connie · Apr 21, 2014

Can't wait to see the new scape and lighting!

revhtree · Apr 21, 2014

Looking forward to it!

Mike&Terry · May 1, 2014

Thought we'd share a technical update...

No more MH's! :xd:

We are controlling the Hydra 52's with the AWM module on our Neptune Apex Aquacontroller. We setup 4 permanent profiles to control light intensity and color:

<profile>
<name>LED_SunUp</name>
<type>vega</type>
<cWhite>5</cWhite>
<wWhite>10</wWhite>
<nWhite>0</nWhite>
<violet>5</violet>
<red>5</red>
<green>0</green>
<blue>100</blue>
<dBlue>100</dBlue>
<rBlue>100</rBlue>
<UV>35</UV>
<min>5</min>
<max>30</max>
<rampTime>120</rampTime>
</profile>

<profile>
<name>LED_MidDay</name>
<type>vega</type>
<cWhite>100</cWhite>
<wWhite>90</wWhite>
<nWhite>100</nWhite>
<violet>10</violet>
<red>0</red>
<green>80</green>
<blue>100</blue>
<dBlue>100</dBlue>
<rBlue>100</rBlue>
<UV>35</UV>
<min>30</min>
<max>95</max>
<rampTime>30</rampTime>
</profile>

<profile>
<name>LED_SunDn</name>
<type>vega</type>
<cWhite>100</cWhite>
<wWhite>100</wWhite>
<nWhite>100</nWhite>
<violet>5</violet>
<red>0</red>
<green>80</green>
<blue>100</blue>
<dBlue>100</dBlue>
<rBlue>100</rBlue>
<UV>0</UV>
<min>95</min>
<max>25</max>
<rampTime>30</rampTime>
</profile>

<profile>
<name>LED_Moon</name>
<type>vega</type>
<cWhite>0</cWhite>
<wWhite>0</wWhite>
<nWhite>30</nWhite>
<violet>0</violet>
<red>0</red>
<green>0</green>
<blue>30</blue>
<dBlue>30</dBlue>
<rBlue>30</rBlue>
<UV>0</UV>
<min>30</min>
<max>10</max>
<rampTime>30</rampTime>
</profile>

The left and right fixtures are running with temporary LED_MidDay and LED_SunDn profiles which are currently set to a peak of 70% (35% for uv) while we acclimate the corals to the new lighting.

Changing subjects, our new toy from Santa Monica Filtration arrived a couple of days ago. This is the SURF 4 model. Algae scrubber size is based on how much you feed and not the size of your system. This particular model is sized for 4 cubes of food per day feeding. We connected the unit to our 6 outlet air pump and have it floating in our second sump (the 150g stock vat). We'll update once we get our first harvest.

-M&T

Saltgator · May 1, 2014

Very nice update M&T. Welcome to 100% LEDs too. Been looking at that scrubber too. Really interested in its work for yall.

Mike&Terry · May 2, 2014

Saltgator said:
Very nice update M&T. Welcome to 100% LEDs too. Been looking at that scrubber too. Really interested in its work for yall.

Thanks, Brad! We will definitely post an update on the scrubber after our first harvest.

Mike S · May 8, 2014

Mike I was wondering if you are using Fusion on the Apex? If so are you watching the average power consumption numbers that it provides and are you seeing a significant drop in your electricity usage since going over to leds?

My system is about the same same size and was somewhat surpised that my electricity usage dropped slighty when I went from 8 80 watt T5s to 3 250 watt metal halides plus 4 80 watt t5s for dawn/dusk. Looking at the Fusion graphs it was obvious that the difference was the heaters not running as much.

Mike&Terry · May 8, 2014

Mike S said:
Mike I was wondering if you are using Fusion on the Apex? If so are you watching the average power consumption numbers that it provides and are you seeing a significant drop in your electricity usage since going over to leds?

My system is about the same same size and was somewhat surpised that my electricity usage dropped slighty when I went from 8 80 watt T5s to 3 250 watt metal halides plus 4 80 watt t5s for dawn/dusk. Looking at the Fusion graphs it was obvious that the difference was the heaters not running as much.

We have noticed a significant reduction in power consumption. The lighting change from (3) 400w MH's to (3) 135w (max power) LED fixtures has had the greatest impact. We keep our system temp lower than most folks (avg 75Â° F) and have noticed no difference in heater usage, but have noticed that the chiller has not turned on since the MH's were removed.

kidtango · May 10, 2014

Woah... I love how resilient you guys are with the the tank busted a while back! What a nightmare... That's something I am also very fearful of. I am sure glad the new tank has been good so far for you guys. Very awesome setup. Love the wrasses!

Mike&Terry · May 12, 2014

kidtango said:
Woah... I love how resilient you guys are with the the tank busted a while back! What a nightmare... That's something I am also very fearful of. I am sure glad the new tank has been good so far for you guys. Very awesome setup. Love the wrasses!

Thank You so much kidtango!

revhtree · May 12, 2014

Great update on the new lights and scrubber! I am thinking about adding a scrubber as well.

revhtree · May 12, 2014

BTW how big are the cubes you feed a day? Also what else do you feed?

zibba · May 12, 2014

Mike&Terry said:
No updates on the LED front, but thought we'd share a few pics...

Haven't checked in for awhile and just saw these pictures. Great shots!!

Always a pleasure to check your thread out.

Mike&Terry · May 12, 2014

revhtree said:
Great update on the new lights and scrubber! I am thinking about adding a scrubber as well.

revhtree said:
BTW how big are the cubes you feed a day? Also what else do you feed?

Thanks, Rev! We feed heavy and buy a lot of the flat packs so I'm guessing on the cube size, but about the same as the PE Mysis cubes and I probably feed 6 or more?. Feedings are 3x per day. Frozen food is offered twice per day and is a mix of(PE Mysis, Hikari Mysis, Hikari Jumbo Mysis, Hikari Angel, Hikari Spirulina Brine, Hikari Blood Worms). The 3rd feeding consists of NLS large and small sinking pellets. We also offer algae on a clip most every day - Gotta keep the nippers occupied, LOL.

zibba said:
Haven't checked in for awhile and just saw these pictures. Great shots!!

Always a pleasure to check your thread out.

Thank you so much, Zibba!

Mike&Terry · May 12, 2014

It's been a while, so thought we'd post a few new pics as an update:

Happy Desjardini - He looks like he's smiling, LOL!

We purchased a couple of Wrasse Dens from The Alternative Reef about a month or so ago. We should not have been surprised when our resident pair of Ocellaris Clownfish decided to commandeer one of them, LOL!

This is not a great pic, but had to share anyway. Our lone Chromis loves to photobomb. I thought it was hilarious that they both had the "Grumpy Guss" look, LOL. :snicker: