My new lights are finally here!!

[funkpolice]

I just got done setting up my new api 6X54W fixture. WOW, it's really bright. My old lights were two crappy 2X65W pc fixtures. MY wife thinks they are too bright, so I'll have to make a sheild for them. I'm using 5 pcs of vinyl window screen to help acclimate, and honestly I'm not sure it's enough. I'm thinking of removing one screen a week.I'm hoping to gain acess to a par meter on sat. to find out for sure. Afer the acclimation I'm going to dip my toes in the sps world, so If anyone has a good suggestion I'm all ears. I'm leaning toward a monti. If anyone is considering API I can say the unit is buily pretty well, and the fans are silent. This also means my old lighting is getting new bulbs and going over my new frag tank, so I'll probably spend all night fragging and clearing out most of my xenia. I'll post some pics in a few days, my computer is getting repaired at best buy so I can't load pics. Later,
bill

 

[BigAl07]

GREAT job Bill You do realize you're already OVER-DUE for pics we need some before, during (with screen) and after

I love Monti Make sure you have plenty of flow and your params are stable and ready.

 

[funkpolice]

I'm looking at 5 weeks until I make any new purchases, so I've lots of time to learn. I think my current and parameters are good to go. Should I expect an alge outbreak, and is there anything I can dure to prevent it? I don't have any nussance alge in my display now, except for a tuft of HA on each koralia, and I have a bunch of cheato in the fuge.

 

[BigAl07]

It's very possible that you may get an algae bloom from the new lights. I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[funkpolice]

Well, no pics yet, but I did some par testing. I did 9 readings in a grid at a few differnt depths.
The old lights (2 130w pc fixtures.)
at 4" below the surface
159 160 152
163 170 159
145 150 149

and at 8" below surface
75 78 63
60 79 70
56 60 59

Nothing to write home about.
Here's the new ligts (ATI 6X54W t5s) I had the unit about 6" above the surface so I had room to manipulate the probe. I'll run them about 3" lower, so these readings will be a little higher.

At 4" below surface.
476 482 480
490 506 492
472 491 487

at 8" below surface
389 400 389
390 405 387
380 390 379

at the bottom 16" deep
211 220
223 239
205 224 207
I couldn't get all the reading due to rockwork.

After some experimenting with screen I found that three layer pretty much cut the par in half, so I have three layers of screen on the tank now, and I'll remove one layer a week until I'm at full power. I wish I would have taken some reading with just acticnic lighting, but I didn't think about it until it was too late. I anyone could let me know how these numbers compare to MH I would be interested. I'm guessing it's about a 250 watt MH. I also did a few readings on my new 20 gal frag tank, with the old pc fixture on it, but with brand new bulbs. At 4" deep (the depth of most of my racks) the readings were all around 300. I promise I'll put up picks as soon as I get my computer back I've taken quite a few.
bill

 

[yungreefer2410]

nice sounds good

 

[charlestonemt]

Wow...the difference in par readings is amazing! Nice to see since I'm considering switching to some sort of T-5 setup.

I'm by no means an SPS expert, but I've heard monti is a good one to start with.

 

[SeahorseBT]

Cool, new lights are always fun. Any pics?

 

[Ratpack]

I just turned on my TEK 6x54 this week and I agree, it is like the sun is shining in that room. I can't wait to move my corals from my old tank into this tank and see what they do.

How do you have the window screen on the tank, just draped over or did you build a frame to hold it? I have all the screen I could ever use so I may try this method as well.

 

[funkpolice]

i put the screen on top of some egg crate material. if the screen is going ton interact with th water at all, make sure you use nylon. good luck,
bill

 

[funkpolice]

I got my computer back, so here's some pics.

this shows the layers of screen for acclimation

first, the before 130 watt pc

for some reason I can't find any before pics so that will have to do.

here's a few with the new light at partial power

and with the night lights

the new frag tank

complete setup

you can really see how much better the new lights look next to the old on the frag tank.

I wish I would have taken a pic before I cleaned out all that xenia, it looks sooo much better now. I also scraped the back glass for the first time in a year, big difference. These new lights have really ratcheted up my excitement level, I'm fighting my urges to go buy a zillion sps frags now. Slow and steady, slow and steady.
bill

 

[funkpolice]

lol the pic I posted for my old lights looks better than the new ones. When I took that pic I played with the light balance forever, and really worked on composition, so it's a nice pic. trust me, the new lighting looks a thousand times better in person.
bill

 

[funkpolice]

the leather on the right is starting to show signs of bleaching, I'm going to try to shade it somehow.
bill