The Upgrade Build... From 110 to 180

[Janci]

It makes more sense to get 3 (or 4) A360x.
They can handle the depth of the tank and will help to light the coral from more angles to avoid shadowing.
Will you combine them with some T5 or go pure LED?

 

[Dj City]

It makes more sense to get 3 (or 4) A360x.
They can handle the depth of the tank and will help to light the coral from more angles to avoid shadowing.
Will you combine them with some T5 or go pure LED?

I'm not sure yet.
Right now I have the Reefbreeders Photon 50 V2+. I have 1 lumenbar (hi octane uv) mounted to the front of the Photon and 1 Sunblaster T5 fixture (ati actinic bulb) mounted to the rear.

I don't know yet if or how I could keep those lights because of how my canopy is.

I will take a pic of how my lights are inside the canopy a little later so you can see what I'm talking about.

Thanks to the power of "edit" I can show the lights and canopy now.

 

[Dj City]

It makes more sense to get 3 (or 4) A360x.
They can handle the depth of the tank and will help to light the coral from more angles to avoid shadowing.
Will you combine them with some T5 or go pure LED?

My reef is 30 inches deep.
You think 3 kessil a360x's will be enough to reach the bottom of the tank?

 

[Janci]

That canopy does not make it easy for mounting the lights, but there is sufficient room to hang them somewhere.
The Kessils might be close to the water surface though.
With 3 A360x you might have enough for this height. Especially if you support them with another light source.
But still, 4 can be the best option.
I am thinking on them myself for my next tank. I will go with 4, but that is because my tank is 32" deep

 

[Dj City]

Well...
I purchased a 4th A360X.
I figure between the 4 kessils, the T5 and the Lumenbar, I will have more than enough light for the reef.
I'm not worried at all about the lights providing the right spectrum and PUR. I just hope I like how the kessils make the tank look.

@TheWB
You know this is your fault right?
You just had to get different lights and got me bit by the upgrade bug.
Lol...

 

[TheWB]

Well...
I purchased a 4th A360X.
I figure between the 4 kessils, the T5 and the Lumenbar, I will have more than enough light for the reef.
I'm not worried at all about the lights providing the right spectrum and PUR. I just hope I like how the kessils make the tank look.

@TheWB
You know this is your fault right?
You just had to get different lights and got me bit by the upgrade bug.
Lol...

I know, I’m quietly a bad influence.

 

[Dj City]

I've got the upgrade bug!

I have the 4 A360X's and a great way to neatly mount whatever supplement light I want. A 5th A360X is not out of the question as I "might" be getting an additional one for free.

I'm thinking I can do better than the single T5 fixture and the violet/uv lumenbar that I have now.

I'm thinking of replacing the supplement lights with Reefbrite actinic strip led's.
I don't know if I should get two of the Lumilite Pros or two of the XHO's.

I don't want tooooooo much light but I want to have more than enough for now and in the future.

Advice is very welcome.

 

[Janci]

Not really solid advice, but upgrading for free is always a good plan.
The BRS test of both lights show that the XHO outperforms the Lumi Lite by only a couple of %.
I would go for the Lumis, they are cheaper, have an inline dimmer and in the end, they will be the additional lighting source, not the main.

 

[Dj City]

Not really solid advice, but upgrading for free is always a good plan.
The BRS test of both lights show that the XHO outperforms the Lumi Lite by only a couple of %.
I would go for the Lumis, they are cheaper, have an inline dimmer and in the end, they wil be the additional lighting source, not the main.

I have a feeling that's the way I'm going to go.

What I will do is mount the 4 kessils, set them to the color and intensity I ultimately want them to be then take par measurements. This should let me know if I need the Lumilite Pros or the XHO's.
I will then start an acclimation period with the kessils to last at least a month so my corals don't get shocked too much by the new lights.

I think it's probably going to be the Lumilite Pros that win out because I expect to get good par from 4 kessils on a 5ft tank.

The 5th kessil for free is a no go. It would have been nice though.

 

[Dj City]

Update...

I went on vacation for a week. Everything survived but my ato pump. I have an xpaqua duetto and the pump died.
The water level was only slightly low. No biggie there.
All corals and fish were just fine.

I got a film algae explosion though. Glass, sand and rocks were covered in brown film. Pretty much everything was covered in it. Scrapping it off the Glass was harder than I thought it would be.

I'm going to do a Dr. Tim's Dino treatment. That will kill off whatever it is weather it be dinos, cyano or film algae.

I'm going to put the kessils on the tank before I do the treatment. I'm not going to turn them on until after the 3 day blackout period though.
This way, when the lights come back on after the 3 days, it will be the new lights.

I tried to get the reefbrite Lumilite Pros during the memorial day sale at marine depot but they were out of stock. They are in stock now so I'm going to call them and see if they will give me the sale price since it was out of stock.
EDIT:
Reefbrite Lumilite Pros ordered and I'm waiting on delivery. They are honoring the 20% off sale price. Apparently, the lights were in stock but had not been updated on the site. Adam at marine depot helped me with this.

Well...
That's the update for now.
I will update again after the Dr. Tim's treatment.

 

[TheWB]

Update...

I went on vacation for a week. Everything survived but my ato pump. I have an xpaqua duetto and the pump died.
The water level was only slightly low. No biggie there.
All corals and fish were just fine.

I got a film algae explosion though. Glass, sand and rocks were covered in brown film. Pretty much everything was covered in it. Scrapping it off the Glass was harder than I thought it would be.

I'm going to do a Dr. Tim's Dino treatment. That will kill off whatever it is weather it be dinos, cyano or film algae.

I'm going to put the kessils on the tank before I do the treatment. I'm not going to turn them on until after the 3 day blackout period though.
This way, when the lights come back on after the 3 days, it will be the new lights.

I tried to get the reefbrite Lumilite Pros during the memorial day sale at home depot but they were out of stock. They are in stock now so I'm going to call them and see if they will give me the sale price since it was out of stock.
EDIT:
Reefbrite Lumilite Pros ordered and I'm waiting on delivery.

Well...
That's the update for now.
I will update again after the Dr. Tim's treatment.

Bummer about the film algae. Didn’t you just do a 3 day blackout fairly recently or am I misremembering?

 

[Dj City]

Bummer about the film algae. Didn’t you just do a 3 day blackout fairly recently or am I misremembering?

I did a 3 day blackout just about a year ago when I had dinos.
I don't think I have dinos this time but I'm doing the treatment just to be on the safe side.
It can't hurt and using the re-fresh and waste away can only be helpful to the reef.

 

[Dj City]

Well,
Due to life, I was not able to mount the kessils before the blackout but...
I mounted them today!
I have major wire management to do but I don't think that will be difficult at all.
What I need to do is figure out a way to make sure all the kessils are pointing straight down. Again, I will figure something out.
If anyone has suggestions I am all ears.

Today ended the 3 day blackout. Everything looks good except one of my acros but it kept getting knocked over by my a$$hole clownfish. I will see if it recovers in short time.

My Reefbrite Lumilite Pros will arrive today. I will most likely mount them tonight and start the new lights tomorrow.
I've got my par meter ready.

For now, the Reefbreeders Photon still lights the reef but it is lowered to accommodate the kessils that are above it.

 

[Dj City]

I need a little help or maybe an idea or two.

So I have the 4 kessils mounted to the top of the canopy using the hooks and triangles. This puts the lights 8 inches above the water surface.

How can I get them to be straight and even pointed straight down?
They all are at the same height but getting them to all point straight down is proving to be a problem.

Oh...
I got the Reefbrite Lumilite Pros mounted today.
All I have to do now is dig into the controller cabinet to disconnect the Photon, the lumenbar and the T5 and replace those with the kessils and the Lumilite Pros.
It's a task I'm not looking forward to.

And help on how I can get the kessils to be aimed straight down will be very welcomed.

 

[Janci]

I need a little help or maybe an idea or two.

So I have the 4 kessils mounted to the top of the canopy using the hooks and triangles. This puts the lights 8 inches above the water surface.

How can I get them to be straight and even pointed straight down?
They all are at the same height but getting them to all point straight down is proving to be a problem.

Oh...
I got the Reefbrite Lumilite Pros mounted today.
All I have to do now is dig into the controller cabinet to disconnect the Photon, the lumenbar and the T5 and replace those with the kessils and the Lumilite Pros.
It's a task in not looking forward to.

And help on how I can get the kessils to be aimed straight down will be very welcomed.

The new light setup looks good.
It seems you used the hooks and triangular rings that came with the box?

These are indeed hard to align.
Isn't it an option to used cable ties instead of the round hooks? These can be much easier adjusted and if you can get the UV resistant ties, they will be more then strong enough.

Another option is to get or make these small adapter plates:

 

[Dj City]

There is no way to use cable ties as there is nothing to strap the cable tie around.

What is your idea using the bracket?

 

[Dj City]

Update...

I've got all the new lights mounted and pulled the old lights.

The reef looks fantastic!
I have not done a par reading yet but honestly, the 4 kessils alone light the entire reef. I have light in parts of the reef that have never been really lit before.
The Lumilites might be overkill but it's nice to have them.

I don't know if my camera can capture what I see.

I am cleaning my pumps so I will try to take some pics on a day or two after I have all the pumps back on.

I also got another Battlebox!
This should arrive tomorrow. I can't wait to see what new coral will show up.
Adam never has never disappointed me and I'm sure I will be happy.

 

[Dj City]

Wire management done.
4 of 6 circulation pumps are clean. The last two will be clean by tonight.

Battlebox delivered.
8 corals altogether. 6 new and two duplicates that I asked for.
They are in the sump right now getting temp acclimated and will be going into the display within the next half hour.

I have the kessils in acclimation mode. 50% lower than my programmed schedule and it will ramp up to my scheduled intensity in 15 days.
I was going to acclimate for a whole month but the kessils don't seem that far off of what I had before.
I will do a par reading in about 10 days to see where I'm at. Will do another at day 15 and adjust either up or down if needed.
I have the Lumilite Pros on their lowest setting and will turn them up as this 15 day acclimation progresses.


New coral names...

BC Yellow Planet
High light, high flow, hardiness , growth rate

Peril Betty
High light, high flow hardiness 5 of 10, growth rate 4 of 10

Blueberry Nasuta
High light, high flow, hardiness 7 of 10, growth rate 6 of 10

BC Efflo 2.0
High light, high flow, hardiness 8 of 10, growth rate 8 of 10

Bohemia
High light, high flow, hardiness 7 of 10, growth rate 7 of 10

Ultimate Festival
High light, high flow, hardiness 6 of 10, growth rate 4 of 10

Duplicates...

Confetti
High light, high flow, hardiness 6 of 10, growth rate 6 of 10

BC Bliss
High light, high flow, hardiness 6 of 10, growth rate 4 of 10

 

[Dj City]

I couldn't help it...
I did a par reading and I'm getting an average of 250 par throughout the entire reef. This is without the Lumilite Pros.

I will do a detailed par reading in about a week or two.

I think I'm happy with the kessils.

 

[Dj City]

I got a Purple Tang yesterday.
I've wanted another one ever since I lost my old one a few years ago.
It's about 3 inches and seems very healthy.
I acclimated the Tang, turned the lights off and dropped him in the tank.
I had stuff to do yesterday that took me out the house till late last night. When I got home and looked into the reef, I saw him swimming around but he got a bit tattered up. It's my Scopia Tang that keeps after him. That little Tang is a terror.

I am pretty sure the other tangs will accept him in time but he gonna have it ruff for a minute.

I also added more pods to the reef. 2 bags of Tisbe pods.

I plan on taking pics tomorrow.
I will take pics of the lights, the Purple Tang, the Blonde Naso Tang and the reef in general.