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300 Gallon Disaster Reboot


Sascha D.

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Thanks for the feedback, I know you're a pro and appreciate your opinion! I also submitted a question to the email address on their website and never received a response. A lot of good a two year warranty does if they don't have customer service to use it! I also thought it was strange that they have so much inventory on hand at one time. Either they aren't selling any units or they never update the number. Their most advanced unit came out in 2016 and a high inventory tells me that they have devoted most of their labor to building old models instead of developing upgrades. If they don't respond to my questions, then I think it's safe to strike it off the list. 

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@jolt are you still using the Radions for your tank? I contacted EchoTech to inquite about coverage and they told me that I would need 8 Radion G4 Pro models for my reef. I could probably get by with 5 fixtures and keep the T-5's, but I'm worried about having too many hot spots. The Hydras have the same coverage, so it'd just be a matter of preference. How do you like your models?

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I'm using 5 radion G3 Pro on my tank, no diffusers.  The tank is 6x2x2.  I like them a lot, but they are definitely pricey.  I think if you used the new diffusers the hotspot problem is not so pronounced.  I'm using the difusers on 3 g3 pros over my 4x2 frag tank and the coverage measures pretty evenly on my par meter.

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Awesome! Your corals look great so it must be working for ya. My corals improved a lot when I added the supplements, so I know that I was lacking in PAR. Right now making sure there's enough PAR and not too much heat are my main objectives. 

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21 hours ago, Christyef said:

Nice. Where will you mix the salt?

I haven't quite gotten that far yet. It will eventually be a two barrel system, one for salt and one for freshwater. I'm also going to run lines into the wall and through the attic to fill the tank and reservoir from the mixing station in the garage. I like to vacuum the sand bed and I'll continue to do that once a month during water changes. 

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Hey Everyone,

A couple of people asked me about my feeding schedule after the last video so I thought I would post it. Let me know if you have any questions. 

I installed an Eheim Automatic Feeder with a feeding chimney a few months ago. I have it set to feed one pinch of pellet food, two rotations, twice a day at 12:00 and 3:00. I normally use New Life Spectrum and I'm currently using APBreed Chroma Boost pellets that I won at the last C4 event. I recently dropped my feeder into the water and damaged it beyond repair, but I like it so much that I'm going to order another. 

DSC07785.JPG

My 26 fish get fed 2 cubes of the below frozen items daily on a rotating basis. The items listed are in order of my current rotation, but I'm not really keeping track that closely. :cool:

  1. V2O Mysis Shrimp - Ocean Nutrition and San Francisco Bay are also good
  2. San Francisco Bay Angel and Butterfly Diet
  3. San Francisco Bay Brand Frozen Reef Plankton

I thaw the frozen food for roughly an hour soaking in RODI and the below food soaking products. I started using these products after having trouble putting weight on some higher energy wrasses. My wrasses now have better weight and coloration after using these soaks for the last six months. I added the automatic feeder around the same time, so I'm not sure which contributed more to the improvement. I use one bottle every six months, so it's around $4 extra a month.

  1. Boyd Enterprises Vita-Chem (about 6 drops)
  2. American Marine, Inc. Selcon (0.50ml)

Twice a week I add powdered or liquid coral food. Right now I'm using Coral Frenzy, but probably will not purchase it again. Some hobbyists have reported success using Reef Snow and Reef Roids. I'm sure there are others as well, but I don't have any experience with them. In most cases coral food is largely unnecessary and not recommended for every system. I started using it when my fish population was low and corals began turning white with muted coloration. One container lasts me about a year.

Three times a week I feed 1/2 sheet of Tokyo Nori (roughly 1.25g) attached to a seaweed clip. All of my fish eat Nori and a half sheet lasts about a minute. By this time next year I'll be feeding a half sheet every day along with frozen food. 

Image result for Tokyo Nori

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On 10/26/2018 at 5:38 AM, jolt said:

It's getting serious now!  I don't think I mentioned it earlier, but I am running the SPS AB+ program unmodified at about 85% on my tank.

 

85% intensity? How long did it take you to get up to that power?

I was thinking of starting with settings that already work for someone and modifying from there. A lot of people seem to like the AB+ schedule, but modify it because they say it's very blue. What do you think of modified AB+? I currently run a 10 hour photoperiod at full intensity, but I'm thinking of adding a two hour ramp to go 12 hours. 

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I'm by no means an expert on lighting, which is why I just stuck to their already tested program.  I did not modify it.  I don't find it too blue, but that is personal choice.  I'd be afraid to give you any opinion on any mods you might want to do.  Coral Labs set the relative intensity of the channels in the program with respect to each other based on experiments at their facility.   I scale the program to 85% of the max values they set.  I don't think that comes out to anywhere near 85% of the total power of the unit.    Last I measured par it was around 300 mid tank unadjusted Apogee reading (not the new LED tuned sensor)  I think I went from 50 to 85 over about a month.  I also kept their standard ramp, and run from noon to 9pm.

This is PC rainbow, 8" off bottom of tank, stock SPS AB+ ramped up to 85%, iphone photo

IMG_3895.JPG

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Thanks Jolt! That makes sense. I just called the Echotech tecnhician trying to figure out the coverage of the fixtures. My rockwork is 6" off the back of the aquarium and the tech told me that I should expect good PAR 6" from the fixture in any direction. I think the edge of the light should be 12" from the back and that will give me good coverage towards the front where my corals are. For the sides I'm going to go 11" from the edge of the aquarium. I'm going to install the fixtures and see how it looks before adding the T-5's or anything else back.

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For anyone interested, here is the Reef Wholesale Coral Lab case study used to determine the custom Ecotech Radion programs. I'm going to go with the preprogrammed AB+ schedule from 10:30 to 9:30. Updating the lights takes FOREVER! Mine has been programming the devices for over an hour! They're also surprisingly hot. 

*Morning Update* The devices still hadn't written the program after three hours and I decided to turn everything off and go to bed. I tried again this morning and it programmed in less than a minute. I'm not sure what the issue was. Maybe they sat in a box too long or something. The lights are scheduled to come on in at 10:00, so we'll see if they work!

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My Radions think that I live in Istanbul and two hours of clicking buttons failed to convince them otherwise. It seems like a systemic problem that's occurred for at least three years. Programmers are all the same, better to make a new product than fix what already exists! I decided that I really do live in Istanbul and now my lights are working! The AB+ was too blue for me and I'm testing the 18k that looks more natural. I'll post some pictures of the progress tonight when the corals open up a little bit. 

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Yay on the radions!!! I also got lucky and found a super nice guy willing to work with me and sell me his. I have 3 gen 3 Xr30. I LOVE them.... now. Like you, I had trouble setting them up. I even told a tech on about call number three, that something that costs so much money shouldn’t be so difficult to use. [emoji20]. Not his fault. I did apologize, but I was frustrated. Anyhoo, not sure if you have to program yours with a usb cable or not (I did), but I got a reeflink to control the vortech and radions wirelessly and it’s SO bada**!!!! Before because the tank and lights are so high, I had to put my laptop on top of a upside down laundry basket on top of a dinner tray! [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]. Quite a mess. I agree with you about the preprogrammed settings being too blue. It was a pain to fix with the usb, but with the reeflink I I can take out the blue and lower the brightness. Mine are only running at 55%. Everything is doing awesome except my cyphastrea and the stylo. [emoji37]. I know cyphastrea don’t like crazy light, so they may be too bright. I’ll probably rent the par meter again so I’ll know. Congrats on the purchase! You will be so happy without the bulb changing, too! Lol


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@Christyef It's good to have friends! I wasn't considering Radions because I didn't think they could be so much better than cheaper lights. It's a good surprise even though the software is troublesome. I have a USB extension cable that I use to connect my Reef Angel to my computer and it came in handy for this as well. I actually didn't adjust the colors myself. I used the 18k setting in EcoSmart Live. Click on Live Demo and then Presets. It's pretty awesome because it changes the light on your aquarium as soon as you click it. I adjusted the brightness higher and set the acclimation period to one week. It's at 30% intensity right now and it will go to 45% at the end of the week. 

@Jimbo662 Thanks! I'm mostly being lazy. It's deceptively easy, but I have trouble making decisions lately. It's a simple BeanAnimal drain with an internal overflow box going straight to the sump. I decided to reduce the 1.5" drains to 1" flex to cut down on noise and I'll make the return from the same stuff. The sump has been cryptic for the last three years, but I'm thinking of going back to a lighted refugium. I've been toying with a few different ideas on how best to do it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
11 hours ago, Juiceman said:

Does he mess with anything else?


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I added a few $5 tester pieces last month to see what he might think is food. I've heard they really start sampling everything when they begin changing into adult colors. The zoa's and paly's were definitely food. He didn't touch them for a few weeks and then all four plugs were cleaned in a sitting; around 4-8 polyps per plug. I've had mushrooms and rhodactus in the tank since I've had him and he hasn't touched those. I'm pretty sure he sampled my purple torch yesterday. He hasn't touched the trumpet coral or duncan yet, but I've heard they often eat those. I'm also fairly certain that he has a taste for one of my favia that's been largely closed for two months. 

11 hours ago, Reburn said:

That's the best gif and my favorite childhood movie.

+100 cool points for you sir!!!

He's alive! Haha, that was my favorite movie as a kid too! Still hate that sheriff!

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