New to R2R, Howdy!

Dinkin's Aquatic Gardens
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stephenwjr said:
Howdy All!

Wanted to introduce myself. My name is Stephen and I use to have full 90 gal reef system with Metal halides and Actinic lights with 1/4hp chiller. Went on a weekend camping trip and lost it all, returning to a real mess. Anyways at that point sold everything and went back to a fresh water setup that I have had since.

Just recently have decided that I wanted to convert my fresh water over to a salt reef. Been doing a lot of research to see if I could avoid the problems from my past. Found an abundance of information on you tube, especially the video's BRS have published. The amount of information is so amazing and now feel like a reef system is something I can do confidently.

I look forward to getting to know everyone and will post when I convert my freshwater tank over to salt. If anyone has suggestions please let me know.

Thanks,

Stephen
Click to expand...
Welcome Stephen!
Sorry for the crash.
Let us know what happened, how you can keep it from happening again.
I'm sure its also happened to another member here.
 
Chewy.com
Pistondog said:
Welcome Stephen!
Sorry for the crash.
Let us know what happened, how you can keep it from happening again.
I'm sure its also happened to another member here.
Click to expand...

This subject still makes me sad but happy to help others if possible.

My reef crash was due to the temperature getting to hot.

I went on vacation camping with the family. Had setup what I thought were precautions to keep my reef alive. Purchased a 1/4 or 1/2 HP chiller(so long ago do not remember) to keep the tank cool. On top of that installed AC unit in the window to keep the room cool. During my vacation the temperature spiked to almost 110 deg. F. The AC and chiller were still not enough and I came back to reef soup. Was so upset having lost about $3000 from the investment I sold everything. Set my fresh water tank up and have had fresh water since. That was back in early 90's.

Since then I had seen advancements in the LED lighting and know they are not a giant source of heat like my previous setup of two 175 Watt Metal Halide and two 125 Watt actinic lights. May have gotten the wattage of the actinic wrong but was a long time ago.

My love of the sea and wanting to bring this back into my home gave me the inspiration to do some research and found some very helpful information thus deciding it was time to give salt water another try. BRS was by far the most helpful and they mentioned R2R and came here to further my education on the subject.

This time I really want to get it right and take my time doing so.

Stephen...aka 1NC0GNITO <--- might change my user to that...
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
stephenwjr said:
This subject still makes me sad but happy to help others if possible.

My reef crash was due to the temperature getting to hot.

I went on vacation camping with the family. Had setup what I thought were precautions to keep my reef alive. Purchased a 1/4 or 1/2 HP chiller(so long ago do not remember) to keep the tank cool. On top of that installed AC unit in the window to keep the room cool. During my vacation the temperature spiked to almost 110 deg. F. The AC and chiller were still not enough and I came back to reef soup. Was so upset having lost about $3000 from the investment I sold everything. Set my fresh water tank up and have had fresh water since. That was back in early 90's.

Since then I had seen advancements in the LED lighting and know they are not a giant source of heat like my previous setup of two 175 Watt Metal Halide and two 125 Watt actinic lights. May have gotten the wattage of the actinic wrong but was a long time ago.

My love of the sea and wanting to bring this back into my home gave me the inspiration to do some research and found some very helpful information thus deciding it was time to give salt water another try. BRS was by far the most helpful and they mentioned R2R and came here to further my education on the subject.

This time I really want to get it right and take my time doing so.

Stephen...aka 1NC0GNITO <--- might change my user to that...
Click to expand...
Thanks Stephen.
That is a tough circumstance, but one, I think will become more common.
So more chiller?
Maybe a controller to leave lights off if above x?
 
Pistondog said:
Thanks Stephen.
That is a tough circumstance, but one, I think will become more common.
So more chiller?
Maybe a controller to leave lights off if above x?
Click to expand...
I am hoping that a chiller will no longer be needed due to LED fixtures. What do you think?
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
stephenwjr said:
Howdy All!

Wanted to introduce myself. My name is Stephen and I use to have full 90 gal reef system with Metal halides and Actinic lights with 1/4hp chiller. Went on a weekend camping trip and lost it all, returning to a real mess. Anyways at that point sold everything and went back to a fresh water setup that I have had since.

Just recently have decided that I wanted to convert my fresh water over to a salt reef. Been doing a lot of research to see if I could avoid the problems from my past. Found an abundance of information on you tube, especially the video's BRS have published. The amount of information is so amazing and now feel like a reef system is something I can do confidently.

I look forward to getting to know everyone and will post when I convert my freshwater tank over to salt. If anyone has suggestions please let me know.

Thanks,

Stephen
Click to expand...
Hello my dude, welcome to the community!
 
WtR2R 8.jpg
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
Ecoscape Reef Rock
stephenwjr said:
This subject still makes me sad but happy to help others if possible.

My reef crash was due to the temperature getting to hot.

I went on vacation camping with the family. Had setup what I thought were precautions to keep my reef alive. Purchased a 1/4 or 1/2 HP chiller(so long ago do not remember) to keep the tank cool. On top of that installed AC unit in the window to keep the room cool. During my vacation the temperature spiked to almost 110 deg. F. The AC and chiller were still not enough and I came back to reef soup. Was so upset having lost about $3000 from the investment I sold everything. Set my fresh water tank up and have had fresh water since. That was back in early 90's.

Since then I had seen advancements in the LED lighting and know they are not a giant source of heat like my previous setup of two 175 Watt Metal Halide and two 125 Watt actinic lights. May have gotten the wattage of the actinic wrong but was a long time ago.

My love of the sea and wanting to bring this back into my home gave me the inspiration to do some research and found some very helpful information thus deciding it was time to give salt water another try. BRS was by far the most helpful and they mentioned R2R and came here to further my education on the subject.

This time I really want to get it right and take my time doing so.

Stephen...aka 1NC0GNITO <--- might change my user to that...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the back story and sorry for your loss.

It really seems like you did everything you could at the time. so no need to beat yourself up over that. Live and learn.

These days its all about the controllers and If, Then's! If your tank temp gets to >80 then lights OFF ! or UV OFF, AC skimmer pump, or anything else that generates heats. Those fish dont need light and the corals could go a cloudy day or two and be fine. I myself was having a tough time with my 55watt UV this summer. Its a constant heater that keeps my tank at 3-4 degrees above ambient. Plus the tank sits on a wall that is hit by intense sun outside so that raised the temps even when AC was working fine.

Welcome to the group and thanks again for sharing your experience. It really helps us to be better refers ourselves!
 
BRS
Dinkin's Aquatic Gardens

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
See comments…

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