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Mike's 17gal tank


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Despite some corals not making it for faults of my own, the two below seem indestructible.  These corals have been in the tank about a year, and the tank is now about one year old.

 

Setosa, and this one has been fragged a few times:

10078592864_c361a589b2_z.jpg20131003_213849-1 by mteske1, on Flickr

15317746526_8327e07397_z.jpg20140923_200629-1 by mteske1, on Flickr

 

Mystic, this one has bleached and come back:

9861343876_3d2e6d5234_z.jpg20130921_161942 by mteske1, on Flickr

15154248057_545cdc6d6d_z.jpg20140923_200909-1 by mteske1, on Flickr

 

I wish I could say all the corals on the previous pages have grown like these two pieces, but that is just not the case.  Many of the SPS I have lost, and recently added some more sticks.  Hoping for more success with better husbandry.

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  • 1 month later...

Turns out my par was 40-60 where my corals are placed with my most recent light swap.  So, I ordered my third light for this tank.  Arriving tomorrow will be a 4 bulb powermodule running two Coral+ and two Blue+ bulbs.  Hopefully the third time is the charm for me.

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You went from the razor to a 250w halide to ATI 4bulb t5, right?

 

The ATI should be perfect. Surprised the halide wasn't enough.

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You went from the razor to a 250w halide to ATI 4bulb t5, right?

 

The ATI should be perfect. Surprised the halide wasn't enough.

That's correct.

 

The halide had 1800par at fixture, but at about 15" off water (to avoid heat) left me with 50ish par at corals.

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Here is this tank in its original state.

 

2 blue+, coral+, purple plus. All I had was an ac50 hob. Noob days

fts0624.jpg

fts1215_zpsf06e2de1.jpg

d61e0e0e.jpg

fts0525.jpg

fts0910.jpg

fts0501.jpg

 

Sorry for the photo bomb. Got caught up reminiscing

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Brad, no need to apologize.  I like the pic's!

 

Matt, that's what I was thinking as well.  However, I just plugged it all in with the new lights and love it!  I really enjoy the combo of two blue+ and two coral+.

 

I also added another powerhead (wp10) and have been siphoning out the crushed coral with each water change.  I enjoy tinkering, but really looking forward to what the next year has to bring.  I want to get this tank on track by MACNA next year, then move up to a 40 breeder or something.

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Well the ATI is def more powerful.  12" off tank I get good numbers (around 250 at top and 100 at bottom) and down at 4" off tank I get 200+ PAR on the sand and almost 400 in the top few inches of the water.

 

I am going to start with only 2 bulbs for the first week, then add the other two, then begin lowering from 12" down to it's final TBD position.

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If you want to try using some window screen to decrease the intensity let me know. I was able to use all my bulbs, and the light schedule I wanted with it over the tank.

I started with two layers, and removed one every 2 weeks. One layer decreased PAR by 40%.

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I used the old bulbs that came in my fixture. I have only seen 1 monti starting to bleach. I'll hang it higher when I have my new bulbs in, but I plan on blasting light in this tank.

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I used the old bulbs that came in my fixture. I have only seen 1 monti starting to bleach. I'll hang it higher when I have my new bulbs in, but I plan on blasting light in this tank.

Mine is only a 24wX4 bulb so I was surprised how bright it was.  I wasn't expecting 200+ PAR on the sand, even in my 14" deep tank.  You will def be able to blast away.  This thing is much more powerful than my 150w metal halide in terms of PAR while using less watts.

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I used the old bulbs that came in my fixture. I have only seen 1 monti starting to bleach. I'll hang it higher when I have my new bulbs in, but I plan on blasting light in this tank.

I recently upgrated to a 6x24w powermodule and I did experience this on my tank and according to the PO, the bulbs are over a  year old.

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Mine is only a 24wX4 bulb so I was surprised how bright it was.  I wasn't expecting 200+ PAR on the sand, even in my 14" deep tank.  You will def be able to blast away.  This thing is much more powerful than my 150w metal halide in terms of PAR while using less watts.

We need pictures!

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Thought you might find this interesting

Seems like all the T5 PAR measurements I have come across are done with large multi lamp fixtures. Many of us here (including me) have smaller tanks and just cant fit 6 or 8 lamps over our tanks.  So... I decided to purchase an Apogee Quantum SQ-120 Sensor to measure the output of my ATI 4x24 Dimmable.  I took 4 depth measurements at 3 different locations across the light. The center measurement is self explanatory, the left and right are right at the end of the reflectors. The depth measurements are in inches from the splash shield.  The fixture is hanging 5" from the surface of the water. All pumps were off during the test. The 24W lamps are 2 ATI Blue+ and 2 ATI Coral+. I took each reading numerous times and the numbers below are the average of each.  Cross posting in the T5 HO information thread as well.

 

 

ATI_PAR1.jpg

 

Note: Lamps are 3 months old and have been running with a 1 hour ramp up and a 1 hour ramp down.

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  • 1 month later...

Things appear to be turning around with that new light! Looks good!

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Looks great. Are you still dosing kno3?

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

No, I stopped that quite some time ago.  I haven't measured phosphates in a long time either.  I am just focusing on Alk and salinity for the most part.

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  • 1 month later...

Well, two bulbs won't turn on as of last night.  Need to mess around with the fixture to see what's going on.  Going to take it down clean it, swap bulbs, try other outlets etc...

 

On the bright side the tank has been doing wonderful.  Here are some close ups.

16485183430_a9cd2c6536_c.jpgsetosa by mteske1, on Flickr

16465303707_6661435158_c.jpggreen slimer by mteske1, on Flickr

16465303787_870a0ff497_c.jpgblue tip by mteske1, on Flickr

16671576182_53f97cec5b_c.jpggran by mteske1, on Flickr

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