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New to the Area, Not the Hobby


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Hello all!

 

I'm Nikki, and we are currently en route to our new home in Fairfax Station. I've been in the hobby for 11 years, and I used to run a small coral rescue out of my home.

 

I'm bringing my quarantine tanks with us along with our 120g rimless. The plan is to set up the QT first, get my corals shipped here from our previous home (LFS is holding a just few of my favorites), and then set up the 120g as time permits.

 

Once we're settled, I'll be looking for high end SPS and any damaged/dying coral as I'd like to keep rescuing.

 

Enough about me. Look forward to getting to know you all!

 

- Nikki

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We're coming from Las Vegas, NV (although that's not "home".)  We're on the road, and we'll arrive later this week!

 

I've attached a few photos of my favorite rescues.  I've got hundreds of these, so if anyone needs help dealing with various diseases/parasites/etc., I'd love to help!

 

 

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Ugh, don't remind me! I've only ever made the 2010 MACNA. They always seem to be coming wherever I'm leaving (maybe I need to shower more....)

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Welcome, Nikki! Glad to have you here. Yes, a few of us will be headed to LV in September for MACNA. However, we do have a meeting coming up on July 22 that, when you join, you'll want to attend. It's our annual fragfest and our speakers will be Ned and Anna Deloach. I hope that you'll be able to make it.

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July 13 should be totally doable, so I'll plan on that!

 

The movers lost half of our stuff, which included my tanks and stands (but I have my Apex and Vortechs!) Ugh. There goes the idea of having my tanks up by mid-July. (The movers did find our stuff, but it's all still in Vegas with no estimated ship date.)

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  • 2 weeks later...

We're coming from Las Vegas, NV (although that's not "home".)  We're on the road, and we'll arrive later this week!

 

I've attached a few photos of my favorite rescues.  I've got hundreds of these, so if anyone needs help dealing with various diseases/parasites/etc., I'd love to help!

These saves are amazing! Would love to learn lots from you once you are set up!

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Thanks for the welcomes! I wish I could've made the meeting (on the 22nd), but we had company in town. Plus, the movers were coming the next day.

 

My sump arrived destroyed, and my stand was pretty beat up. Thankfully my tank and equipment was good (although I couldn't find my Apex or Vortechs for a while and was stressing!) I've had rock cycling in a cheapo tank for a few weeks, so I'm hoping to get set up in the next week or so.

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  • 3 months later...

I just found your sps photos... I see that we'll need to chat soon!

I just got my corals shipped to me a few weeks ago, and my 120g is cycling! We're rockin!

The third pic is of my Jason Fox Fire Ecinopora on display at MACNA. The setosa was shown in one of the display tanks at MACNA as well.

Who all is in my neck of the woods? I need to find some folks that aren't all the way over in MD! Screenshot_20181010-164551_Gallery.jpegScreenshot_20181016-151654_Gallery.jpegIMG_86011.jpeg

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Um, I’m in love with that DT. Going to need to see photos when it was setup! K?Thx!Bye!


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Thank you! That system (or at least parts of it) date back to 2009. We built the stand back then with an enclosed hood (when metal halides were all the rage) in 2009 for a 150g tall tank.

In 2016, we switched to a 120g rimless, so we built the suspended hood to match.

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I ran a DIY LED setup for it for five years (it was my thesis in school...lol). It grew SPS amazingly well, and I had better results than with metal halides (I ran a design of experiments between the two systems, controlled parameters, and considered success off the increase of elements used.)

After five years, that system was aging too much for SPS, so I just switched to two XR30 Gen4 Pro. They were roughly $1500 versus my DIY setup that cost $1200 in parts back in 2013. I just don't have time to redesign and build a new system nowadays.

Keep in mind, there are cost savings over the life with LED. I did some break-even analysis, and my DIY setup was cheaper than metal halides around the 2-year point.

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I also occasionally have a bug to build another DIY led fixture.  I'm really liking the heatsinks that StevesLEDs now have and they've gone over to using Meanwell LDDs like most others.  My current 8-way T5 works well, but gets very warm compared to the LEDs I had previously.  Also uses a more power.  

When I price out what I'd really want to do for DIY, though, I end up at around 70% of the price of Radions, without all of the customer support and software, so I'll probably just wait until I can swing some Radions.

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AlanM, that was my thought process too. I was going to be in the parts so much... and all of my design/build time... and no support... and then all the Apex coding without quite the fancy interface... ugh.

It was fun five years ago, when there weren't many good systems.

I analyzed various heat sinks for thermal conductivity, and my design incorporated a safety factor for heat dissipation without active cooling (fans) just in case they failed. I can't remember the brand I used, but every other design failed with the number of LEDs I needed to run.

I seriously wonder what safety factor the radions use, as mine are ridiculously hot, even with the fans. The leds heat up my tank about two degrees, whereas I never had a heat increase with my old design (running the same wattage approximately).

Anywho... that's enough nerd rambling...

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