Jump to content

Stu

BB Participant
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    521

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Stu

    guaranteed way to rid your tank of nuisance algae in one day

    in General Discussion

    While I agree that this is certainly true, I have never seen a number density of benthic species anywhere near that high (or 1/10th that) on any actual reef while snorkeling or scuba diving. I realize it isn't apples to apples, but the disparity is very high.

     

    It's funny you mention this; I go down to the Florida Keys several times a year, and see the same lack of concentration on the reef.

     

    Go inshore, however, just to the tide's edge in areas with jetties or other rocks, and you will literally find thousands of blue legged hermits, cerith snails, and every other scavenger you can imagine covering these structures. You can grab at least 50 hermits with one scoop of your hand across the rock face. In July, I was snorkeling collecting some inverts and I came across 15 emerald crabs on a 2'x2' rock.

     

    I think it goes to show how unrepresentative of actual biotopes the typical mixed reef can be. Not that I really care, as long as it looks good ;)

    Neto's 20 gallon Shallow Reef

    in Nano Tanks

    Wow! What a great build. I love how clean it all is. What tools did you use to build the tank and keep the glass at right angles? Did the glass company bevel or polish the edges for you? Also, how did you affix the birch panels to the frame? I don't see any holes or screws (a good thing!) Sorry for all the questions; this is a very impressive project.

    DC8 Issue... Again.

    in General Discussion

    Mine went on the fritz a few months ago, with some things not turning on when they were supposed to. Turns out it was the data connection from the unit to the DC8 (telephone jack-looking port). After troubleshooting with customer service, determined that there was a bunch of dust in there and it wasn't communicating properly. I shop vac'ed the whole thing, wiped it down, used a compressed air duster, etc. and it worked fine after that.

    Who has DIY LEDs

    in General Discussion

    Hey, Stu.

     

    Thanks for showing me your setup last night. Awesome tank and very clean build! I appreciate it.

     

    No problem and thanks for the compliments. I enjoyed chatting with you about your build, and looking forward to seeing the finished product!

    Bent tubing light tree

    in General Discussion

    It's terribly easy. Conduit is very cheap as well, so if your bend doesn't turn out just right you can always cut another and try again. I bought a pipe bender, conduit, black spray paint, and a carriage bolt to cap the end of the pipe for a cleaner look. You could probably also use some sort of plastic plug. I also bought 2 brackets that I screwed into the back of my stand that held the pipe, and could be tightened and loosened with wingnuts. It was very easy to move the lamp up and down.

    Chad's LED fixture

    in Do It Yourself

    This is going to look great, Chad. Nice to see you're paying as much attention to the exterior as the interior--by the looks of it, this will rival many of the expensive LED fixtures both in performance and appearance.

    DIY LEDs--Read this first

    in General Discussion

    Has anyone else here used reds or warm yellows (whites)? I haven't put together my last purchase yet, but my first one had zero color pop on the red and yellow corals / fish. It looks very washed out and bland. I went with cool white and royal blues on that one, but I'm going to need to mix it up a little.

     

    I understand the desire to experiment with warm whites, but as an FYI, NW's (which are I believe ~2000k higher than WW's) are VERY yellow. Some of the guys on nano reef experimented with WW's and attempted to balance them out with RB's/B's, and the outcome was "Wonka-like" (not in a good way). I'm never one to discourage experimentation, but I don't think going much lower on the Kelvin scale than NW's will be very aesthetically pleasing.

     

    The key to adding reds (which many people scrapped) seems to be driving them at a lower current (not sure if this is the right terminology). Essentially, running even one LED at the same intensity as the other LEDs in the array was enough to give a terrible "disco-ball" look...think red bouncing all over the sand from the shimmer. I have, however, seen a few builds where a 1W red was added (amongst 3W LEDs), and the effect worked. All this to say that I also had the problems with red/yellow color pop, and it was instantly cured by replacing a few royal blues with blues.

     

    See this post for some other clarification on mixing whites:

     

    http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=246394&view=findpost&p=3314433

    DIY LED Help!

    in Do It Yourself

    Anyone know the color temperature of a RB or B CREE LED? I can find the peaks, but I am trying to guestimate overall color temperature for various combinations.

     

    RB is very purple to my eye. This is why I added a few B's to tone it down and smooth out the contrast between white and RB. In my opinion, solely using RB's as a source of blue light casts a purplish hue that can look artificial and overpowering. While using too many B's does create a windex look, adding the right amount takes some of that overpowering purple and balances it out with the bluer "20k" look. I can explain/show you what I'm talking about when you stop by this week.

    DIY LEDs--Read this first

    in General Discussion

    Yea, I have 12rb and 12cw right now. I placed an order for 4 warm white, 4 neutral white, and 4 blue. I want to play around to get the best combo while maintaining 24 led's in total. I am leaning towards the following setup:

     

    6cw

    4ww

    2nw

    8rb

    4b

     

    Let me know how it goes. Unfortunately with these builds it seems playing with combinations is the only way to truly get a customized product. I just wish it wasn't so time consuming/semi-permanent!

    DIY LEDs--Read this first

    in General Discussion

    Has anyone else checked out the above link? I skimmed through all the posts. One main thing they figured out was a 2:1 ratio of Blue to white and mixing royal blue with blue because the blue brings out colors in some coal that the royal blue does not. This is completely got me back to the drawing board for my LED set up. Thanks Stu for posting the link!

     

    No problem; I hope it helps. Replacing just 3 RB's with blues in my array made a big difference, particularly with red corals.

    DIY LEDs--Read this first

    in General Discussion

    It seems like a lot of WAMAS members are doing DIY LED builds, and consequently have a lot of questions about color mixing.

     

    For anyone attempting a DIY LED build, I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend reading this thread first:

     

    http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=246394

     

    It's very long, but is extremely informative, and it was an immense help in planning my build. Several people participating in the discussion have done pretty extensive testing of different LED colors, and posted their results. Cool white, royal blue, neutral white, blue, green, red, UV, etc. are all covered. It takes a while to read through, but once you do, you will be glad you did. I consider it an excellent primer on the aesthetics of different LEDs over a reef tank.

    Who has DIY LEDs

    in General Discussion

    My DIY retrofit has 10 NW's, 17RB's, and 3 CB's. I started with 20 RB's and 10 NW's, but added the 3 CB's for extra pop for red/pink/orange corals. I've been very pleased with it. You're welcome to come take a look if you want. I spent a lot of time researching/tweaking plans, so I have some trial and error experience that might be helpful in planning your build.

     

    I think Bill is spot on about smoothing out the spectrum, and I have been thinking about replacing a few more LEDs with the colors he talks about. The peaks in RB and whites are very tight and unforgiving in my opinion.

    My DIY LED build

    in Do It Yourself

    Nice job on the color mix. I ended up adding NW via DIY to my AI Sols. It helped a lot. Next I am going to DIY some magenta to hang on there. I really miss seeing bright reds in my tank.

     

    Thanks! It seems that lots of commercial fixtures initially went with the CW-RB combo, and are switching to NW (and other colors--Cyan, magenta, red, etc.) as they start to see the benefits that other colors bring out. I think this is one major drawback of LEDs as compared to other lighting sources like MH. MH has a very wide spectrum and can bring out a lot of colors, while most of the LEDs available now have fairly specific spikes in the spectrum. So it can be tough to bring out all the colors in a reef.

     

    For example, I was in Petland the other day, and was looking at their LPS under LEDs. **Shameless plug: Petland has a killer selection right now and Ben and Billy are doing a great job** One lobophyllia that was red with a green center was off-the-charts screaming red and green. Just down the tank under the same lights, a deeper red chalice with teal streaks appeared very dull and muted. While both are "red", one looked incredible while the other looked, well, not so much. I know for a fact that this chalice was not inherently dull, as I used to have the same thing under t5s a while ago and the thing was fire engine red--deep red and gorgeous. So one "red" coral and another "red" coral can look great or dull depending on which "red" it is.

     

    So in that respect, LEDs can take some tweaking (as I did with swapping out the 3 RBs for CBs). It sounds like you're on the right track for dialing in the right color. I saw some pics of corals under magenta and I'm very intrigued. I have a feeling it could do wonders for warmer colors if used in moderation.

    My DIY LED build

    in Do It Yourself

    Oh, on a side note, sadly both wrasses jumped 2 weeks ago.. I am still pissed about that. If I dont go with a rimless tank, I will DEFINITELY be getting a canopy, so tired of fish on the floor, luckily my dog has no interest in them.

     

    Bummer. I wonder if something spooked them or if they just got the urge to take off. If I can put my two cents in, I think despite the risk of jumpers, a rimless tank looks so nice that it's worth it.

×
×
  • Create New...