Mike and Terry's 300g Reef

[jackson6745]

This tank looks beautiful!

 

[trido]

Tank looks amazing. I cant tell where there is any different lighting either. How long are you going to keep us guessing?

 

[EW_Fish]

Tank looks amazing. I cant tell where there is any different lighting either. How long are you going to keep us guessing?

lol i've been checking the thread every 3-5hrs

 

[Mike&Terry]

lol i've been checking the thread every 3-5hrs

LOL! We'll post an update tomorrow evening... So stay tuned! :bigsmile:

 

[EW_Fish]

LOL! We'll post an update tomorrow evening... So stay tuned! :bigsmile:

Awesome!

 

[Mike&Terry]

Looking good! I can't tell where the new LED's are?

I'm guessing the leds are on the left side. Look real close at the slimmer. But honestly if you would have never said anything I would have NEVER noticed. Amazing. How do you guys like the LEDs?

I am thinking the Right side.

What's all this nonsense about LEDs in there!?

I even tried to "cheat" by looking back at your Flickr thread and can't tell for sure. I'd guess right in the middle. But, more importantly, your 5-week growth rate from your last FTS is ridiculously impressive! I think your corals grow more in a month than mine do in a year!

Now I'm about this (<->) close to buying the Hydra52 when I was (<----------------->) before. Haha.

Are you controlling it through your Apex or did you go with the Director? Also, what do you think on coverage over a 36x36 space?

Led placement: I'm gonna say on the back, almost directly over the overflows. The corals appear to have different (deeper) coloring there.

Tank looks amazing. I cant tell where there is any different lighting either. How long are you going to keep us guessing?

This tank looks beautiful!

Thank You!

It keeps getting better!

How many LEDs do you have in there? You still have the 14ks and VHOs correct?

Not sure if anyone has asked this yet, but are you doing any carbon dosing or adding any additives like Zeo, Trace elements, or AAs?

Thank You, Lucas! We'll answer the lighting question below. As for dosing and additives, we do none of them. The only supplement we add to the tank is iodine after weekly water changes.


The answer to our question regarding the LED lights was purposely a bit tricky, LOL, and is:
The middle section and partially the right section (front). :bigsmile:

We replaced the MH fixture in the middle section of the tank with the AI Hydra 52 and the Kessil A360WE (towards the front).

For the Hydra 52, I fashioned a mounting bracket for the AI fixture out of 1.5" aluminum L-bracket material, and fitted in within the existing light rack where the MH reflector sat previously. We also built some config and control logic into the Apex (using the Neptune AI wireless interface), and Terry spent several days working on the color settings to mimic the existing fixtures during the various time intervals. That is, we created a dawn/dusk setting that looks like the stunner strips, a morning setting that mimics the actinic VHOs, and then a mid-day configuration that matches the MH Ushio bulbs. We started out the first two weeks with the Hydra at no greater than 50% overall intensity, to avoid any adverse affects to the corals.

So far, we are very pleased with how the unit is performing. It provides an impressive coverage given the 36" depth of the DD, and the 27" height of the tank, but to fully cover the 3 foot depth from front to back will more than likely require either a second Hydra 52 (probably overkill) or one of the Kessil A360WE pendants.



We placed a Kessil A150W Special Blend pendant light at the front right section of the tank in addition to the MH fixture that is currently there.

We have not taken any pics with the Kessil A360W in there yet. We just picked up the Neptune Apex VDM module this weekend, so are just now starting to really see what it can do and how best to integrate it.

And as part of the update, we thought we would share a few pics:

 

[spspirate]

Awesome reef shots as always! Really enjoy the updates!

 

[monkiboy]

fantastic photos. really enjoy them!

are you shooting in aperature priority with a higher f-stop around 8 or higher? or in full manual? if the latter, at what settings do you find yourself most commonly (on average) in? all this with a tripod?

 

[Mike&Terry]

Awesome reef shots as always! Really enjoy the updates!

Andy, Thank you so much!

fantastic photos. really enjoy them!

are you shooting in aperature priority with a higher f-stop around 8 or higher? or in full manual? if the latter, at what settings do you find yourself most commonly (on average) in? all this with a tripod?

Thank you! I shoot in manual. For fish pics, I usually set exposure between 1/100 and 1/125 and aperture between f/5 and f/6.3. For corals, exposure can be anywhere from 1/50 to 1/80 with an aperture setting anywhere from f/8 to f/10 (and rare occasions f/11). I never use a tripod when taking fish pics and rarely use one for coral shots. For most coral shots through the glass, I let the lens hood rest against the glass. For top down shots, I use an acrylic camera box, so a tripod isn't an option in that situation either.

-Terry

 

[monkiboy]

thanks for the detail terry, that helps a lot and i hope to take great fish photos like you soon as i just got the hang of taking pretty good coral macro shots. thanks again!

 

[EW_Fish]

Awesome reef shots as always! Really enjoy the updates!

I have to agree with Andy

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I bet those fish are all stuck and and snobbish living in that kind of reef! HA!

 

[Mike&Terry]

thanks for the detail terry, that helps a lot and i hope to take great fish photos like you soon as i just got the hang of taking pretty good coral macro shots. thanks again!

You're welcome! Patience and practice is key...

I have to agree with Andy

Thank You, Josh!

I bet those fish are all stuck up and and snobbish living in that kind of reef! HA!

LOL! We do admit they are spoiled rotten!

 

[Mike&Terry]

We have an OrangePeel Angelfish (Centropyge flavissima variant) coming in tomorrow from PIA... I am SOOOO excited I can't sleep, LOL!

-Terry

 

[trido]

Awesome Pictures!! As always.

 

[Mike&Terry]

Awesome Pictures!! As always.

Thank You!

 

[Mike&Terry]

How about a short video clip?

[video=youtube_share;Hq4I21nUpek]http://youtu.be/Hq4I21nUpek[/video]

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Ahhh awesome!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Love the song too!

 

[Mike&Terry]

^^ Thanks, Rev. May have to re-do the video with different music as it was flagged for copyright on youtube for that awesome song. Not a big deal, except the video is blocked in certain countries (thank goodness, not this one!).