Larry Grenier

I wanted to resurrect this thread to see if any of you have any updates on this. I

I used 80degree optics with my lights towards the front and tilted slightly inward and get alot of shimmer.

Maybe mine does this as a "survival" reaction, it thinks I'm going to kill it. 1st the top split so I cut-off the dangling participle, glued it to a stone, and now it is a healthy 2nd creature. Now the original is extending a 2nd foot and the top looks like it's dividing. so I'll soon have another. Yes, I know I need to get my camera out if I can find it.

Can't answer all your questions but I put 12 3w blue leds on a 36" piece of aluminum square bar. (Like C-channel but 4 sides & open down the middle). Put a small fan blowing air into the open end at one end. I used 80 degree optice for maximim spread; I would think 20 degree would be too narrow. Mine replaced two 95w VHO actinics and blows them away. Mine supplement only 4 39w T5s so I would think you'd want 2 strips of 12 3W blues. A guy that goes by dakotasreef used 24 3w blues along-side his 8 54w ATI fixture and seems very pleased with it. Hopefully he will chime-in on this dicsussion.

Yes, mine is recovering from "My neglect". Algae, aptasia, low-ph, hyper salinity... No polyps showing for weeks. Slowly improving environment thru water changes, GFO, new lights... Now it's growing a 2nd foot & I can see where it "plans" on dividing. Resilient critter.

+ 1 on NAGA. I own 3 acrylic tanks built by Jeff; top quality. Yes, he does glass too.

I was going to add screw the law but you may remember things like the idiots who threw the snakeheads from their aquariums into local waters and the nimrods who threw the Lionfish in the Florida waters and the doodads who threw the caulerpa into a marine area where nothing ate it...

I still need to get picks but these 12 LEDS completely blows-away the 2 X 95w VHO actinics that they replaced!

IMO, ratings are meaningless. I've seen skimmers rated at half other models and they pull more stuff than the one that is rated at twice the load and that's running side-by-side on the same tank.

All I can say is WOW & Outstanding! Sure would like to see a FTS and a description of your methods. This tank also has my vote for "Tank of the Month"!

Says this on the web-page sounds cool. Mine clicks on-&-off-&-on-&-off... because of movement in the sump.

OK, so it was a kit so maybe it doesn't quite qualify as DIY but sort-of. First I want to start with a big thanks to Chris(dakotasreef) who's design I basically copied, Rob(zygote2K) a general LED inspiration, and Mike at Rapid LEDs who answered a zillion emails as I went thru the decision and build processes. I purchased this kit from Rapid LEDS, all blue. I've had experience with LEDS with my other part-time business as a DJ so I was already sold on LEDS in general. I'll get my camera out of mothballs to take pics. 1st I gotta say, these aren't yo mamma's little LEDs or the ones you see in cheapo moonlights. These Cree 3w leds are bright! When I plugged it in sitting on my work-bench I had to look away and saw spots for the next 10 minutes after they were off. I think I'd like to do another with blue & white and one with warm white for my FW planted tank. I mounted the 12 blue LEDs on a 36"L/1"W aluminum square bar at 2.5" intervals and used 80degree optics. I'm about to put the bar in my hood with a 2" fan at one end blowing durectly into one end of the bar; you can feel a little air movement at the other end. This 36w light-strip is replacing 190watts of VHOs. It is brighter than the 2 VHOs and of-course also produces less heat in my hood. My tank is a NAGA custom 42"W/24"D/22"H tank. More to come when I find the camera.

So, what Refractometer do you carry & is it in-stock?

Johnny & Ozzie, 1)When do you guys expect to get the Geisman Aquablue+, 36", 39W in? 2) Do you guys stock a decent not-overpriced Refractometer? What model? Thanks,

I asked about brand because there are several: NP-Reducing by Eddid Van Halen I mean D. van Houten, Vertex, Brightwell Aquatics' Katalyst...

Rob & folks, What brand of Biopellets are you using? Do you believe it's OK to mix Biopellets and carbon in the same reactor?

Way to go Chad! Thanks for sharing your experience. I periodically go to the Avast site and think to myself, "Maybe I should try that".

It's on the web-page

Ha, you thought this was a complaint I had to recover from a catastrophy quickly so my wife stopped-by BRK to buy a pump and a heater yesterday. I compared prices to Mar___ Dep__ and one was about the same and the other was a little cheaper and I didn't have to pay for shipping. Way-to-go BRK! I'll be in for more soon.

Not these folks!

Dah-um! I'm out of my league Thanks Chad, I'm about to do a 12-led kit too. I'll tackle a nuclear reactor later

I asked my wife to stop-buy to pick-up a few things for me since I can't be there before 6:00pm which is when the web-page says you close on Thursday. The recording says that you close at 8:00pm on Thursday. So, what is it? OK, I talked to Ziggy who says the web-page is correct and the recording is out-dated. So, my wife can see the fishies without me.

The last 3 pics look excellent. No over-use of solder yet thurough, and looks like no cold joints. I agree, I prefer good solder joints over wire nuts.

Jeff (NAGA) recently said he had a surplus of acrylic and was making sumps & medium-2-small aquariums cheap. Just a thought.

That's cool (pun intended). I plan on working on my 1st LED job this weekend. Here is an interesting build thread Mike from RapidLeds sent me.