Dan H Posted April 23, 2016 Author Share Posted April 23, 2016 Thanks! I would agree that generally there is good color and good growth. But what I'm noticing is that the Acros that aren't directly below, or very close to directly below the Kessils are not growing as fast as those that are directly below. Also, I'm noticing some of my acros are "reaching" for the light, and are growing towards the Kessils as if they are wanting more. My hope is to even out the light distribution and increase the availability of higher PAR light. My theory is that some of the Acros are teetering on the edge as they have been the ones that have been most sensitive to Alk or Mg issues. Plus to be honest I just like tinkering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Thanks! I would agree that generally there is good color and good growth. But what I'm noticing is that the Acros that aren't directly below, or very close to directly below the Kessils are not growing as fast as those that are directly below. Also, I'm noticing some of my acros are "reaching" for the light, and are growing towards the Kessils as if they are wanting more. My hope is to even out the light distribution and increase the availability of higher PAR light. My theory is that some of the Acros are teetering on the edge as they have been the ones that have been most sensitive to Alk or Mg issues. Plus to be honest I just like tinkering. Those all sound like good reasons to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 I wouldn't say kessils ever had the reputation of being par monsters, they have great color and the single-source light and shimmer were their main selling points. Color reproduction was always great if you get enough of them in a tank. When you have as many as you, coverage on a tank that size is just about right with the BMLs filling in the gaps. I don't know how much punch the BMLs add as I've never measured their par separately but I would imagine substantial. The reefbrites to me are more supplemental bulbs than anything. Honestly, if it were me, I wouldn't invest in PRO version of the reefbrites. Their par is on the low side, despite their exuberant price for them. They got a great reputation from their blue supplementation that is becoming the industry's modern version of the VHO Super actinic bulb for you old MH users but otherwise, I find their full spectrum fixtures lacking in color reproduction and par, especially for the price. Ever thought to do T5 retro? Maybe 2 bulbs spanning the entire length of your tank? You can measure my T5 output on my 3 that I added to get a baseline for what it would add to your system if you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 23, 2016 Author Share Posted April 23, 2016 The BML's added close to 100 par directly below them, so they definitely help fill the gaps. I added the reefbrites to act as actinics, just like you said so I think we're on the same page there. I wouldn't want to add their full spectrum, but their blues are supposedly really good for helping get better color. I've considered the T5 route, but I just hate the idea of changing out bulbs... Getting anything to span all the way across the tank will be difficult. I had to do 2 36" reefbrites so that I could mount them as far to the front as possible and not overlap the BMLs. I REALLY want to avoid having to take off the canopy to do any changes. The prevailing thoughts in my mind are: Double the Kessils. Swap the reefbrites for their XHO models (Most likely going to happen no matter what) Add 2 more reefbrites for a total of 4 Add BML-like 12" lights between each of the existing BMLs. This could be a problem since BML is gone and I don't like any of the other designs that are similar. T5's BLEAH! Lower the existing Kessils (more par, less coverage so not ideal) I'm leaning towards doubling the Kessils... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardlaw Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 I'm not sure how DIY you want to get, but BML still has the horticulture fixtures. Maybe you could purchase the fixture and then make the necessary changes by swapping out whatever diodes you desired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 23, 2016 Author Share Posted April 23, 2016 I would rather avoid going to that level... I wouldn't mind sometime playing with building my own from scratch, but not for my display tank. That's more just for fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 For the reefbrite XHO model, I have the full spectrum version, 50/50 blues/whites, and I was reading 150 par near the surface and about 50-75 par about 26" below surface of the water if that helps you for any potential calculations. That was with the old apogee sensor. You can actually borrow the 48" 50/50 reefbrite if you want to just throw it on there and see what potential par difference you would get. I have it pulled off my tank already since I threw the T5s on in their place. Just let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 23, 2016 Author Share Posted April 23, 2016 I might take you up on that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnM Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Doesn't kessil make a longer fixture you could fill the gaps with? Or maybe different led fixtures with a higher par output? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 23, 2016 Author Share Posted April 23, 2016 Kessil has a larger fixture, but it would be more expensive and more work to put those in rather than just adding more A360WEs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnM Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Why not move one of your existing kessils to where the new one would go. Look how it looks and measure par. Then you would know what you are at before you bought new ones. Not sure the coverage over the bigger kessil fixture but would selling a couple kessils you have and using the bigger ones as main lights then supplementing the new ones with the left over kessils. I don't remember how many you said you already had. Went and looked at price of the ap700 wow it is up there. What about a different fixture then kessil altogether to up the par? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 23, 2016 Author Share Posted April 23, 2016 I may try that - move 2 kessils to simulate what I'd like to try, then measure PAR. I'm totally open to other fixtures, but I don't really see any others on the market that I'm a fan of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnM Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 I am just getting back into the hobby and my knowledge on led is very limited. I got out of the hobby when mh/t5 combo were the it thing and led were just being introduced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 23, 2016 Author Share Posted April 23, 2016 I'm in the same boat. Left the hobby over a decade ago, got back in about 1 year ago. I did a ton of research prior to getting back in and I decided that I liked the Kessils best. It just turns out they aren't as powerful as everyone says. I remember someone saying it creates a "cone of death" and bleaches everything directly below it. Lol. Nope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShawnM Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 I know a couple. Radions, ai sol/vega, max spect razor (or something) Brs has an led video if you wanted to get some ideas Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 Have you considered maybe selling the a360W units and replacing each one of those with 2x the 360N units. I understand they have substantially more punch than the wide angle ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 24, 2016 Author Share Posted April 24, 2016 Funny enough, yesterday while digging around a little, I was looking into the 360Ns. The only catch with that would be testing it beforehand. I am going to try setting up 2 of my existing 360Ws next to each other in the configuration I would have under that plan, and test what it's PAR is then. I suspect that might be the ticket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 I run 4 narrows and 2 wide. Next weekend I could get par readings for each if that would be helpful at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 24, 2016 Author Share Posted April 24, 2016 That would be fantastic! Thanks Kim! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 25, 2016 Author Share Posted April 25, 2016 Re-calibrated the pH probes today... So the main tank probe was only off by a little ~0.05 so not too bad... The CaRx probe was off by a whopping 0.25! Woah! This may have had something to do with my very high CO2 consumption, we shall see once it gets back down to 6.5. I'm curious to see how much this will alter the effluent speed on the CaRx. I'm guessing I will be able to slow it down quite a bit, and if so, I *should* be able to slow down the CO2 dosing. Time will tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Re-calibrated the pH probes today... So the main tank probe was only off by a little ~0.05 so not too bad... The CaRx probe was off by a whopping 0.25! Woah! This may have had something to do with my very high CO2 consumption, we shall see once it gets back down to 6.5. I'm curious to see how much this will alter the effluent speed on the CaRx. I'm guessing I will be able to slow it down quite a bit, and if so, I *should* be able to slow down the CO2 dosing. Time will tell. Haha, nice! I just recalibrated my probes today as well. Great minds man! [emoji13] Main probe drifted 0.1 and the CaRX probe drifted 0.05 in about 6 months. Not terrible. For your CO2 consumption, to keep the same level of supply to match your uptake in your tank Dan, you'll need to reprogram your new pH operating range on your Apex. The only difference is your probe reading, your actual pH needs to stay the same or else you'll start producing less supplementation and your alk will drop. If you want to actually consume less CO2, you can always slow down your effluent flow and lower your pH so that you are producing a much more concentrated effluent. That's what I did when I switched from my old CaRX to the newer one and I run a lot less bubbles/sec now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Nevermind, I didn't catch that you were going to slow down the effluent speed anyways. [emoji4] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 25, 2016 Author Share Posted April 25, 2016 Yeah, I'm planning to leave the programming the same which will effectively lower the pH since the old calibration was running high. I already slowed the effluent and will have to check the alk and mag frequently for a few days just to be safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Yeah, I'm planning to leave the programming the same which will effectively lower the pH since the old calibration was running high. I already slowed the effluent and will have to check the alk and mag frequently for a few days just to be safe.Yeah, this is always the scary moment for me... I just refilled my reactor media so its holding like 3x the media now than it was this morning. I increased my pH but always scared I'm going to nuke the tank with too much alk. [emoji15] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted April 25, 2016 Author Share Posted April 25, 2016 Yeah, this chart shows why I'm going to be watching closely... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.