Juiceman Posted July 2, 2018 Author Share Posted July 2, 2018 Upon the eve of having to buy new bulbs for my fixtures, I’m thinking long term on saving some money and going back to all LED. Someone talk me in our out of it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 14 minutes ago, Juiceman said: Upon the eve of having to buy new bulbs for my fixtures, I’m thinking long term on saving some money and going back to all LED. Someone talk me in our out of it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Hybrid? Just not as many bulbs to change. I'm loving the Aquatic Life fixture with the XR15s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 2, 2018 Author Share Posted July 2, 2018 Hybrid? Just not as many bulbs to change. I'm loving the Aquatic Life fixture with the XR15s.I have a hybrid now. I’m looking at Radion Pros with the Light Diffuser. Very natural looking and uses half the power I use now for the same par.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 But you have had really great results with the ATI fixtures ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 2, 2018 Author Share Posted July 2, 2018 But you have had really great results with the ATI fixtures ...There’s no doubt that ATI grows and colors coral great. We’re at the point where I’m thinking about long term cost and future goals. Once we start a family I’m going to be trying to cut cost. I have to buy bulbs tomorrow or Wednesday if I’m keeping these fixtures for another year, and will continue to as long as I have them, not to mention the added electrical cost. So double the power usage all year plus an extra $400 every summer.Idk, plus with my future plans, I want a bigger Tank and can just add a radion or two vs having to have new measurements of ATIe and even more cost and power.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 9 minutes ago, Juiceman said: I have a hybrid now. I’m looking at Radion Pros with the Light Diffuser. Very natural looking and uses half the power I use now for the same par. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Can't go wrong with the Radions and the diffusers. You can really see the difference as soon as you put them on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 I love my Radions too, but the up front cost was pretty big. But just about the time I bought the g3 pros they came out with the g4 pros. I'll bet the g5 is not too far away and will have built in diffusers. I never did a break even calculation for leds versus t5 for power and bulbs, but I would have to think it would be at least a couple of years, especially if you already have the t5 fixture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Get a nano Rory. [emoji23] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 6, 2018 Author Share Posted July 6, 2018 I love my Radions too, but the up front cost was pretty big. But just about the time I bought the g3 pros they came out with the g4 pros. I'll bet the g5 is not too far away and will have built in diffusers. I never did a break even calculation for leds versus t5 for power and bulbs, but I would have to think it would be at least a couple of years, especially if you already have the t5 fixture. 6.5 years to make back the cost of not having T5s. Life of Radions is 5-10 years depending on use. I also just looked into if I did like a XR-15/T5 combo just to keep the blanket of T5 but with a better more rounded LEDs. Just not sure. As of now I ordered new bulbs for my ATIs. I think I’m going to go to MACNA/ wait out for the new Version Radion and then make a decision.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 6, 2018 Author Share Posted July 6, 2018 Made a post on the SPS swap page about it, and there are mixed thoughts.But an additional cost difference that was presented was the Heat difference from the all T5 fixtures vs majority LED and the AC Chiller cost from that being put into the scenario also.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 That’s also the struggle of a 7’ tank. T5 goes up to 5’ which spreads ok on a 6’ tank, not sure on a 7’. So like if I was to do 2-3 60” at-5s on each side with 4-5 XR-15s, would it basically be what I have now but way better. Less replacement bulb cost and less power, but more cords. Or I’d have to still do 4 sets of 36” T-5s. Idk Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 Oops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 1 hour ago, Juiceman said: That’s also the struggle of a 7’ tank. T5 goes up to 5’ which spreads ok on a 6’ tank, not sure on a 7’. So like if I was to do 2-3 60” at-5s on each side with 4-5 XR-15s, would it basically be what I have now but way better. Less replacement bulb cost and less power, but more cords. Or I’d have to still do 4 sets of 36” T-5s. Idk Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk You're more than welcome to come by and see my lighting setup with the Aquatic life hybrid and XR15s. Yeah, you'd need to do either two 3ft fixtures or a 3ft and a 4ft to get the full coverage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 7, 2018 Author Share Posted July 7, 2018 You're more than welcome to come by and see my lighting setup with the Aquatic life hybrid and XR15s. Yeah, you'd need to do either two 3ft fixtures or a 3ft and a 4ft to get the full coverage.That’s not dimmable though is it?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo662 Posted July 7, 2018 Share Posted July 7, 2018 11 hours ago, Juiceman said: That’s not dimmable though is it? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk no it's not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 10, 2018 Author Share Posted July 10, 2018 Well.. I didn’t even know this was possible but Live Aquaria “cut me off”. From those of you who know my history of fish loss over the past 1.5 years, it’s been pretty bad. First I’ll talk about what happened, then I’ll talk about what I learned. Summer of 2016 I lost all of my fish stock to Brookynella. I had all of my fish in tubs while I was working on a new stand and couldn’t see that a newer fish I’d added to help with Algae was infected, I came home from band camp to 12 dead fish, and the rest on the way out. I had no clue what it was at the time and was just throwing medications in a qt in panic. It’s possible I could have saved the fish I had left had I just been more educated in QT. So I left the Tank Fallow for the time period it took to kill Brook. I started the stocking process with a large order of fish directly from Sea Dwelling Creatures (wholesale) I basically lost the entire batch. I was running the QTs like my display and not monitoring Ammonia, and medicating with Para Guard and Prazi. Fail. I then decided, I’ll just only buy from Divers Den and from people who had the fish already. So I stocked up pretty fast with that, so I thought, then I had another fish die off due to Velvet from a Hippo Tang from Divers Den. So I then had to treat everyone for Velvet and leave the Tank fishless again for Velvet. I began the process of Trying to stock back up in a separate fish tub while waiting for the 56 days or whatever for Velvet. Then I began to put fish back in. And once again started losing fish like crazy! I took an infected fish to the vet at Austin Animal Hospital, and he said it was ICK, I told him I’ve never seen a strain of Ick strong enough to kill healthy fish. It was killing like Velvet! My thought is that what I thought was just Velvet was actually a combo of strong ICK and Velvet together. So I started the process of catching all the fish again, treating, and holding in the tub again and waiting the full 76 days to allow everything to die off. I literally treated every single fish with Chloroquine Phosphate or Cooper, Prazi, and Anti Bacterial. For those of you who haven’t done this, it’s pretty harsh on the fish. I was still having maybe 50-60% loss on each order, which Love aquaria was refunding me due to mostly bacterial infections after the spores of ich and anything else we’re getting infected. At the end of the 76 days I waiting a few days and went for it. I had an Ick Free tank!, for about a month. Eventually I started to see some ick on my powder blue and came to the realization that my roommate when feeding the fish must have cross contaminated while feeding. I decided oh well, I’ll just keep the fish healthy and it’ll be ok. And that’s where I am now. I continued to have high losses in QT, even as far as losing whole orders once bacterial infections took hold, which seemed to happen in every order from LIve Aquaria. In about March I decided I was no longer going to Medicated until I saw something that warranted medication since I already had ich in the Tank anyway, and began using display water to start the QTs. My losses decreased significantly, to the point where I would lose no fish or one. The only exception was a recent order of Anthias where I basically lost all of them. Well I Placed another order for More Anthias and Live Aquaria called me and told me this would be my last order and they wouldn’t allow me to order live stock anymore. I told the representative everything that had happened was well as each time a fish died, I’d update of what I was treating with, and etc. They started asking me if I was using 0 TDS water and if I could get water from somewhere else, I was like no, I have a great RODI system that produced good water, I have a thriving sps dominant tank, some I’m fairly certain that’s not the problem. The end of the conversation is that they “are thinking of taking care of the livestock” no duh! And once you’re cut off that’s it. I can still order supplies, food, etc, but no livestock. Didn’t even know that was possible. Told them every order was given the best care and effort to keep everyone alive! If they really told the truth, they don’t want to lose anymore money from them having to pony up the 14 day guarantee money. But it’s a business and I get that. Next post about what I learned from all of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 10, 2018 Author Share Posted July 10, 2018 What I’ve Learned from my QT trials.. - Use cycled water if possible or allow the QT to be running for a while to help there not be a cycle.- Don’t QT too many fish at once. 3-4 max.- Don’t mix medications until you research if you can do so or not.- Learn about the signs and symptoms of common fish diseases, flukes, Ick, Velvet, Brook, Bacterial, fin Rot, etc. they all require different things and I could have saved several fish had I just had the correct diagnosis. Reef2Reef has been a great source of info.- Don’t treat everyone with CP/Copper unless you have to. They are harsh treatments and weaken their natural immune systems to fish off secondary infections.- use an ammonia detector so you know when to do a water change or dose bacteria.- if a fish is infected with a bacterial infection but the rest aren’t, pull that one fish to treat separately so as to allow the healthy fish to not have to endure treatment for nothing.- Research what medications work with each type of fish. Some do well with Copper, some don’t. Some can’t take CP, etc.- don’t mix anything between QTs and Display. With the exception of using water from a healthy display to supply your QTs.- use a larger tank if you have the space. 10 gallons are ok for 1 fish temporarily, but if you’re doing 30 days, that’s stressful and harder to maintain levels. I’ll add more if I think of any. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gig 'em @ NDstructible Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Bummer man. That sucks that you're cut off, but I kind of respect that they are willing to identify a possible poor caretaker and refuse to supply them any longer. Now we all know that's not the case with you, you got incredibly unlucky with a long string of unfortunate events. I'm sure they see a fair amount of people who just don't know what they're doing and don't have the time to truly thoroughly research each case individually. Granted, it may not solely be the ethical standpoint of keeping animals alive that drives this policy, but like you said the 14-day guarantee. Sill, if they're going to continue offering that generous guarantee, they can't afford to continuously supply free fish to someone who has a track record of killing fish. I think you just happen to be the rare case that your situation was all due to luck and not neglect or ignorance, which is unfortunate to say the least. At least Austin has a decent number of good LFSs to fill the gap? [emoji51] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BobcatReefer Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Hate to hear that, Juice. Sorry man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 10, 2018 Author Share Posted July 10, 2018 The good news is that I'm basically done with Stocking, but they can't see that. Current Stock Purple Tang, Yellow Tang, Dussumieri Tang, Desjardini Sailfin Tang, Chevron Tang, Achilles Tang, Powder Blue Tang, Blonde Naso Tang, Tomini Tang, Atlantic Tang, HIppo Tang, Foxface Lo, Yellow Longnose Butterfly, Copperband Butterfly, Red Sea Regal Angel, Emperor Angel, Flame Angel, Red Headed Solon Wrasse, Cleaner Wrasse, Melanarus Wrasse, Yellow Coris Wrasse, Christmas Wrasse, 11 Female Lyretail Anthias, 1 Male Lyretail Anthias, 3 Carberryi Anthias, 1 Green Mandarin, 1 ORA File Fish, 1 Snowflake Orange Clown, 1 Snowflake Black Clown. Still Seeking Moorish Idol, Sohal Tang. And a few more Carberryi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 10, 2018 Author Share Posted July 10, 2018 Just got a pretty nice set of Wild SPS. Some pretty cool colors. Well see what I can do with them!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post +brian.srock Posted July 10, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted July 10, 2018 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 10, 2018 Author Share Posted July 10, 2018 All this talk of possible light changes had me curious about what PAR i'm getting. This is with the LED's at 70% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 10, 2018 Author Share Posted July 10, 2018 The bane of a T-5 user!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted July 27, 2018 Author Share Posted July 27, 2018 Welp..... Looks like I'll be buying bulbs every 18 months from now on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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