The Stony Shallows

Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
Introduction:
Guess what guys and gals, it's here! After a few months of sorting out permissions and getting the tank ready, it's in and it's wet!!
The very first thing I want to be noted about this build is the insurmountable amount of gratitude and thanks to Andrew :) Not only has the poor sod put up with my constant texts and questions but he was also crucial to this build as, well, this glorious tank some of you might recognise. I am completely over the moon with tank and I'm going to do everything vested in my reefing powers to make this a stunning tank filled with life (and no algae... lol)!
I'm still amazed this didn't happen sooner, I came close a few times to going bigger but now that I'm finally out of home and was actually in need of moving the tank I guess there's no better time than the present! :) I'm really looking forward to what all the extra space is going to bring and the fish it opens up to me as there's a few I'll finally be able to cross off my list now!

System Objectives:
What we all really want, a glorious tank thriving with life and of course amazing acro's!

System Type: SPS, SPS and a few more SPS!


Display System:
Strike up Date: Today :D 7/06/16
Display Tank: 1000x600x450mm or 40x24x18" for some of our metrically challenged friends across the big lake. 250L or 65g :)
Display Lighting: 2ft Hamilton Cebu Sun. 250w Radium + 4x24w T5's
Stand: 1000x600x100mm (40x24x40")
Hood: Hoodless, lights will be hung from the light hanging kit as I want ease of access and don't mind being able to see it all.
Sump: 1000x500x350mm; ATO, frag section and the rest! Final design yet to be revealed.
Refugium: No weeds here!


Support systems:
System Water: Blue bucket, don't mess with success!
Display Water circulation: A duo of RW-8's to start with and a 6025.
Return Pump: Waveline DC6000
Skimmer: RLSS R6-i
Evaporation Top Up: ATO, Kore 5th or Tunze. Not sure yet.


Chemical Support:
Good old tasty 3-part with some koral colour and maybe a little replenish.

Planned Water Chemistry:
Nitrates:
0-5ppm
Phosphates: 0-0.05ppm
Alkalinity: 7-7.5dKH
Calcium: 420ppm
Salinity / Specific Gravity: 35ppt
Magnesuim: 1200ppm
Potassium: 400ppm

Equipment Plan:
With a new tank comes a new excuse to buy more equipment ;)
The most immediate upgrade or purchase for the tank is the new sump that's currently in the design phase :) I have the dimensions for it 1000x500x350mm and the sections are going to include a frag section, an ato reservoir and then the usual's with the filter socks being before the return and not at the overflow input for ease of sump cleaning and no dead friends if they go over into the plumbing!

The next set of upgrades I'm making are to the return and the flow! I want to get myself a really solid and reliable DC return and so far the winner of that race is the M1 Vectra. The other water moving part I would like to add to the tank is a XF150 Gyre to get some nice broad flow going, combined with a couple of other powerheads on the back of the tank.

I want to do some pretty big overhauls on the lights but that's a while off! Get a 3ft Cebu Sun unit, add a 400w Radium to it and then get myself two of those really nice 3ft Reefbrite XHO blue strips to just finish everything off to perfection!

Scaled Friends:
Now this is where the real fun begins as I've leaped forth in tank size and it opens up a world of new possibilities for whom I will be able to keep! My current friends will be coming across:
- Female Bellus
- Kole tang
- Black ear wrasse
- Possum wrasse

But these guys are going to look vveerrryyy sparse in such a nice big new home for them :) They're not going to know what to do with themselves! This of course means they'll be getting some new buddies! I have a few thoughts on this but there's still a few gaps in the complete fill in:
- Half a dozen anthias or so, p. lori or p. flavoguttatus or even p. pulcherrimus. Something nice from Deer park either way!
- Another bellus would be really nice.
- I'd love a mystery wrasse but I don't think that will bode well with my black ear due to some vague similarities but we'll se.
- There is one fish that will definitely be happening and that will be the show piece of the tank! It will be in the form of one of two species of roap butterflies! That's one fish family that I've always wanted and the specific species are c. tinkeri or c. mitratus! These are a very long time want of mine and I will definitely be adding one of these gorgeous fish down the line, the polyps won't be happy but are they ever really happy on the reef? lol
- No other thoughts yet.

I suppose I better cut the rambling and start with some pictures ;)
I think the hardest part has been organising and moving all the crap I need lol it was a bootful and then all the other dozen trips of bits I'd forgotten lol


10L of matrix including! I cannot wait to get that rumbling!


I've done some playing with the scape and I'm starting to get an idea of what I'm after. The height is definitely right, it's not taller than 6" as I want to keep it low to allow for the fish to have plenty of open swimming space :)


From the doorway


Right side from above, the scape is a little unusual as I want to include lots of swim throughs that turn to caves once the acro's are in and growing.


And now we're getting salty! Still needs a little more water but that's coming in tomorrow :) Of course I'm running sumpless for a little while till I have a sump but that's no drama :)


One amazing aspect of the many about this build is the size of the cabinet... "there's so much space for activities"! The shelf will be holding my doser, dosing containers and of course the two 8 socket PDU units :D oh my oh my!


And finally, just the amazing view right from my desk :eek1:
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Some observations on your new setup...

Overall I think your on the right track, but I do see a few things you should reconsider.

I think your going top find the lighting with only a single 250w mh bulb is going to be disappointing. Your asking it to span a tank that is 40 inches long. This is going to give you dark corners, and low light there.

The upgrade fixture you want would contain two 400w mh bulbs. Now this would give you plenty of light, but your going to have a tremendous amount of heat from them. In a tank that size, you'll likely need to install a chiller.

With either system your electric company will love you. The power consumption for two 400w mh bulbs will be close to 900w per hour even on electronic ballasts. I don't know what electricity costs where you are. Where I am it's about 12 cents per KWH.

Lets do the math...

900w per hour * 10 hours a day * 30 days a moth = 270,000w or 270 kwh per month.
at 12 cents per kwh you'll spend about $32 a month or $384 a year just to run the mh.
I'd estimate the two T5s would add about 10% more to that total.

You'd also need to add bulb replacement costs and the cost to run a chiller.

I think you can see where I'm going with this. I think you'll actually spend less money to use high end LED lighting from a major manufacturer, like Kessil, AI, or EcoTech. You'll also have a lot more control over the lighting, as you can set color spectrum, and intensity.

On the sump, you plan for a frag section and an ato section. Yes you do want them in that general area, but don't build them as part of the sump. Sometimes you need to drain or remove a sump for repairs or other maintenance. Don't put all your eggs in the same basket. Use separate containers or tanks for the frag tank and ato.

If your going to use filter socks as the first thing. You want to remove all the large pieces of whatever before the water gets into the skimmer area. some algae or something can really clog a skimmer pump. You'll also reduce the amount of skimmer cleaning you'll need to do. Now some people don't use filter socks at all. This is ok, but you'd better keep a close eye on your pumps.

You seem to have a very limited amount of live rock. Yes, I know you want swimming space, and all that, but your also going to need enough rock to support the biological filtration needed. This is going to be critical if you want lots of SPS corals. Typically over here we'd say about 1 pound or rock per gallon of water. This roughly works out to about 31 kg of rock for a 250 l tank.

On thing I have noticed is that very few fish like to be out in the open. Many when they do come out stay very close to the rocks. This gives them a place to duck if they feel threatened. You may actually see the fish out more if they have more places to hide.

I'd think twice about 6 anthias. That is a good number of fish but it's going to tie up a lot of space in the tank and they do have some feeding requirements. I'm not saying don't get them, just be sure you are up the requirements.

Selecting a c. tinkeri or c. mitratus as a show fish can be a mistake. Yes, they are fantastic looking fish. However, at least here, they are extremely expensive. Do you really want to invest that much in a single fish? Keep in mind that most people, even most reef keepers, unless they are into butterfly fish, will have no idea about what they are looking at. Also, if you loose it, even if you did everything right, it's going to be one of those oh ---- moments. My personal choice would be to keep a different fish.
 

Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
Cheers cobber :)

Some observations on your new setup...
Overall I think your on the right track, but I do see a few things you should reconsider.
I think your going top find the lighting with only a single 250w mh bulb is going to be disappointing. Your asking it to span a tank that is 40 inches long. This is going to give you dark corners, and low light there.
The upgrade fixture you want would contain two 400w mh bulbs. Now this would give you plenty of light, but your going to have a tremendous amount of heat from them. In a tank that size, you'll likely need to install a chiller.
With either system your electric company will love you. The power consumption for two 400w mh bulbs will be close to 900w per hour even on electronic ballasts. I don't know what electricity costs where you are. Where I am it's about 12 cents per KWH.
Lets do the math...
900w per hour * 10 hours a day * 30 days a moth = 270,000w or 270 kwh per month.
at 12 cents per kwh you'll spend about $32 a month or $384 a year just to run the mh.
I'd estimate the two T5s would add about 10% more to that total.
You'd also need to add bulb replacement costs and the cost to run a chiller.
I think you can see where I'm going with this. I think you'll actually spend less money to use high end LED lighting from a major manufacturer, like Kessil, AI, or EcoTech. You'll also have a lot more control over the lighting, as you can set color spectrum, and intensity.
First off thanks for the awesome reply Dave :)
Unfortunately a 250w unit is all I have at the moment and as the adage goes "it's better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick", due to funds and such it'll have to tide me over for a little while. I will be adding 4x 39w T5's to get some better spread but it's all until I can upgrade properly as I mentioned in the post. I think 2x 400w would be way overkill on the tank as I've seen it with a single 400w and t5 supplements and that was more than enough, I'll also be going one further by adding some blue led strips to the tank as well as I do miss the pop! The end goal for lighting on this tank is:
- 1x 400w Radium
- 4x 39w T5's (may end up being more)
- 2x 3ft Reefbrite XHO Blue led strips (~90w ea.)
Can you send me your power!?! I think ours is around 25-30cents per KWH. Seeing as this is going to be all sps and having run led's for a few years, I won't be going back to just leds but I will be adding them for supplementation as they are an invaluable light source!
If I need a chiller during summer then I'll be getting one but I'm willing to put up with the running costs, replacement costs and heat issues for the unbeatable results you can get from MH :)

On the sump, you plan for a frag section and an ato section. Yes you do want them in that general area, but don't build them as part of the sump. Sometimes you need to drain or remove a sump for repairs or other maintenance. Don't put all your eggs in the same basket. Use separate containers or tanks for the frag tank and ato.
If your going to use filter socks as the first thing. You want to remove all the large pieces of whatever before the water gets into the skimmer area. some algae or something can really clog a skimmer pump. You'll also reduce the amount of skimmer cleaning you'll need to do. Now some people don't use filter socks at all. This is ok, but you'd better keep a close eye on your pumps.
It's a good thought and I've given my ideas and suggestions to my lfs and he builds some of the best sumps I've seen so whatever he comes back with I'm happy. I also like the simplicity of having one glass box even if it does mean a little more work to do.

As for the filter socks I only plan on running them part time (I don't use them at all on my current tank), after a water change or a clean up, periods where sediment might be higher than usual. Because of this it's going to mean the crude will be getting into my sump when they're not being run, by having them at the end of the sump, I can do my clean up in the tank then give the sump a really good stir up and have everything clean and remove the socks again after 48-72hrs. There is some method to my madness.

You seem to have a very limited amount of live rock. Yes, I know you want swimming space, and all that, but your also going to need enough rock to support the biological filtration needed. This is going to be critical if you want lots of SPS corals. Typically over here we'd say about 1 pound or rock per gallon of water. This roughly works out to about 31 kg of rock for a 250 l tank.
On thing I have noticed is that very few fish like to be out in the open. Many when they do come out stay very close to the rocks. This gives them a place to duck if they feel threatened. You may actually see the fish out more if they have more places to hide.
Yep, there's about 18kg in there as I wish to achieve a minimal scape to allow for plenty of acro placement and swim space. The trick to this is the 10L of Seachem Matrix media going into the sump that will greatly make up for the lack of rock in the tank. By moving the bulk of the bio-filters to the sump it means I can go minimal in the tank and Matrix like Siporax is a very porous material. This should cover my needs adequately and if need be I can always add more to the sump.
The scape does look very open and lacking of hiding spots but the reason for this is because I have it planned out with the "acro-scape" in mind, once the acro's are back in and growing there will be a great deal more hiding places, with overhangs, caves and the works. The last thing I want with this tank being shallow is to have it filled with rocks and somewhat ruin the look of the tank and reduce the amount of acropora I can place.

I'd think twice about 6 anthias. That is a good number of fish but it's going to tie up a lot of space in the tank and they do have some feeding requirements. I'm not saying don't get them, just be sure you are up the requirements.
Selecting a c. tinkeri or c. mitratus as a show fish can be a mistake. Yes, they are fantastic looking fish. However, at least here, they are extremely expensive. Do you really want to invest that much in a single fish? Keep in mind that most people, even most reef keepers, unless they are into butterfly fish, will have no idea about what they are looking at. Also, if you loose it, even if you did everything right, it's going to be one of those oh ---- moments. My personal choice would be to keep a different fish.
They are definitely going to add a very large bioload to the tank but I will be choosing smaller more peaceful species to make for a slightly easier addition, well as easy as anthias can be! The moto for this tank is going to be put in as much nutrient as possible while removing it as efficiently as possible! Acro's love huge input/output tanks :)
Don't worry they're not cheap here either! It is definitely a great risk adding such an expensive fish and also one that can be borderline reef safe but then again, they've been a very great personal wnat of mine for as long as I've been in the hobby. I simply adore butterflyfish and even if I'm the only one that knows the true value and can appreciate the fish, it is my tank so that's what matters to me lol non-reef keepers don't even get sps and that's pretty much all the tank will be so I'm not fussed what others think of the tank lol. The other reason for choosing such a fish is I love the roaps butterflies and these guys can fit appropriately into a tank of this size, which is hard to come by in butterflies!

Once again thanks for the huge reply Dave :)
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
I would say one 400w mh would give you the same problem as one 250w. All the light in one place, and dim corners. You'd get much better results with two 250 w MHs, and much more even light. Yea, this means two ballasts and consumes a little more power, but the light would be a lot better.

LEDs have made tremendous advances in the last few years. Do check them out again. Not too many years ago, I'd have agreed with you about MHs being the best if your willing to put up with the cost and heat issues. Today I no longer find this to be the case. I will say that manufacturers do tend to be very optimistic when rating their fixtures. If they say you need two, you may find you need three or four to get the results you want.

"By moving the bulk of the bio-filters to the sump it means I can go minimal in the tank and Matrix like Siporax is a very porous material. This should cover my needs adequately and if need be I can always add more to the sump."

I would consider this to be a major mistake, especially with an SPS tank. Such media will become a dirt trap, and major nitrate factory. This media is really a major pain to clean, and not kill off the bacteria in the process. Unlike live rock in the tank, you can't blow it out with a powerhead. You'll also find that the media will become a major oxygen consumer. In the tank, you can easily add circulation pumps to keep the LR from trapping too much dirt. You can't do that in a sump. If you happen to have a redox meter, you can actually see the lower quality of the water. Years ago, with I was using bioballs in a trickle filter, I had some of them that were underwater. I figured this made little difference, since it was only about 15% of the total. I added another grid of eggcrate to lift the bioballs out of the water, and saw a major jump in redox.

Add more rock, skip the Siporax. You can remove some of the rock from the bottom of the stack as the SPS gets growing.

I like butterflies too, but once I wanted corals, I had to give them up. If I were going to have them I'd set up a tank for them. It would mostly be a FOWLR, and maybe have a few fast growing soft corals for the butterflies to eat.
 

Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
I would say one 400w mh would give you the same problem as one 250w. All the light in one place, and dim corners. You'd get much better results with two 250 w MHs, and much more even light. Yea, this means two ballasts and consumes a little more power, but the light would be a lot better.

LEDs have made tremendous advances in the last few years. Do check them out again. Not too many years ago, I'd have agreed with you about MHs being the best if your willing to put up with the cost and heat issues. Today I no longer find this to be the case. I will say that manufacturers do tend to be very optimistic when rating their fixtures. If they say you need two, you may find you need three or four to get the results you want.

"By moving the bulk of the bio-filters to the sump it means I can go minimal in the tank and Matrix like Siporax is a very porous material. This should cover my needs adequately and if need be I can always add more to the sump."

I would consider this to be a major mistake, especially with an SPS tank. Such media will become a dirt trap, and major nitrate factory. This media is really a major pain to clean, and not kill off the bacteria in the process. Unlike live rock in the tank, you can't blow it out with a powerhead. You'll also find that the media will become a major oxygen consumer. In the tank, you can easily add circulation pumps to keep the LR from trapping too much dirt. You can't do that in a sump. If you happen to have a redox meter, you can actually see the lower quality of the water. Years ago, with I was using bioballs in a trickle filter, I had some of them that were underwater. I figured this made little difference, since it was only about 15% of the total. I added another grid of eggcrate to lift the bioballs out of the water, and saw a major jump in redox.

Add more rock, skip the Siporax. You can remove some of the rock from the bottom of the stack as the SPS gets growing.

I like butterflies too, but once I wanted corals, I had to give them up. If I were going to have them I'd set up a tank for them. It would mostly be a FOWLR, and maybe have a few fast growing soft corals for the butterflies to eat.
Not once you add in t5's and led's. The light spread will be quite decent by the time all that is done :) I have a friend who has double this sized tank and that's got 2 400w bulbs over it, it would be overkill for this build. I'd rather add a few more t5's than another 400 watts of MH if need be and don't plan on acro's being in the corners of the tank lol

I'm not doubting the abilities of LED's :) I know they can grow fantastic tanks and they do time and time again but they still don't quite live up to the abilities of MH when it comes to growing acropora and the shimmer from MH is much nicer than the LED disco ball effect too. I usually come close to doubling what manufacturers recommend when it comes to led's as they are very liberal with their estimates! I won't be using led's for this build though and if MH is too much then I'll move to T5's :)

Not really, matrix/siporax function in exactly the same way as live rock does but it is far more efficient and consistent in the amount of porosity it has compared to live rock. They are all a media that contains a porous structure that allows for the growth of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria that process nutrients for energy. The main difference besides the size between LR and the media's is that the media are far more porous than live rock.
Yes if left unchecked it can become a detritus sink just like live rock can be but stirring it even just once a week can nearly completely alleviate this problem. They are small and pores could clog but the same applies for live rock too :) And if need be adding a small powerhead or pump to the sump is an easily accomplished task :) Overall I think it makes for an apt replacement for live rock when looked after correctly.

As for the butterflies, I'm completely aware of the potential difficulties but there are many tanks out there happily homing butterflies and the even the far less coral friendly ones :) Roaps tend to be "safer" than other species of chaetodon and with lots of food temptation should be reduced again, hopefully!

This build is the culmination of a few years of research so I feel confident in all the aspects of this build and my choices. And if things go wrong you can say I told you so ;)
 

Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
Ammonia still 0ppm this morning after a few big pinches of food last night and one this morning :) Skimmer will be going online on Sunday morning and phos remover will be going in Monday/Tuesday too :)
 

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
Not once you add in t5's and led's. The light spread will be quite decent by the time all that is done :) I have a friend who has double this sized tank and that's got 2 400w bulbs over it, it would be overkill for this build. I'd rather add a few more t5's than another 400 watts of MH if need be and don't plan on acro's being in the corners of the tank lol

I'm not doubting the abilities of LED's :) I know they can grow fantastic tanks and they do time and time again but they still don't quite live up to the abilities of MH when it comes to growing acropora and the shimmer from MH is much nicer than the LED disco ball effect too. I usually come close to doubling what manufacturers recommend when it comes to led's as they are very liberal with their estimates! I won't be using led's for this build though and if MH is too much then I'll move to T5's :)

Not really, matrix/siporax function in exactly the same way as live rock does but it is far more efficient and consistent in the amount of porosity it has compared to live rock. They are all a media that contains a porous structure that allows for the growth of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria that process nutrients for energy. The main difference besides the size between LR and the media's is that the media are far more porous than live rock.
Yes if left unchecked it can become a detritus sink just like live rock can be but stirring it even just once a week can nearly completely alleviate this problem. They are small and pores could clog but the same applies for live rock too :) And if need be adding a small powerhead or pump to the sump is an easily accomplished task :) Overall I think it makes for an apt replacement for live rock when looked after correctly.

As for the butterflies, I'm completely aware of the potential difficulties but there are many tanks out there happily homing butterflies and the even the far less coral friendly ones :) Roaps tend to be "safer" than other species of chaetodon and with lots of food temptation should be reduced again, hopefully!

This build is the culmination of a few years of research so I feel confident in all the aspects of this build and my choices. And if things go wrong you can say I told you so ;)

There is a such thing as too much light.
Are you/ will you be measuring PAR?
 

Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
There is a such thing as too much light.
Are you/ will you be measuring PAR?
That is very true lol not going to be measuring PAR though, I'll be doing it by sight and Coral response :)
The scape is no taller than 6" so it's still 12" from the top of the tank and the lights will probably be 6" off that once mounted, so the reason for so much light is I want to cover all the lighting bases but also have the tank lit so I am able to place acropora at any point in tank. I can always cut back if it's too much :)
 

Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
3e96f2737b6f7489ec6fb787cfac8d88.jpg


Well moving on...

Last night brought on the very first additions to the tank and the fish I wanted to get in first and foremost :) It meant removing most the rock from the cade but it made it a whole lot easier and with my brothers help my Bellus angle and Kole tang were caught :)
Fast forward to this afternoon, they're both still very very shy but both out and swimming around and they've both had some food too which is amazing as I was expecting a few days of protest lol. All signs are healthy and good and so that means zoa's will be going in tomorrow or Friday and the other fish on Saturday and I'm not quite sure when I'll do the clams yet, maybe the little guy on Friday and my big maxima I have no idea yet lol.
Either way I am absolutely over the moon and so happy to have my babies back with me!!
 

rostervandross

Active Member
Great work man I'm looking forward to seeing this next habitat come together! I loved the look of your cube so I am anticipating another stand out reef no doubt.

I just got a 30"x30" aquarium myself and have plans to replicate a few looks from your old one, such as red and orange corals here and there and hopefully some fun little fish like a hawk fish. I'll have to go back and look at some of your pictures .

Oh yea I just thought I'd ask how the season is currently down in Aus , I always get to thinking about how its nice and summery down there when it's winter time here. Now summers getting into full swing here i wonder how you like this time of year down there?
 

Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
Great work man I'm looking forward to seeing this next habitat come together! I loved the look of your cube so I am anticipating another stand out reef no doubt.

I just got a 30"x30" aquarium myself and have plans to replicate a few looks from your old one, such as red and orange corals here and there and hopefully some fun little fish like a hawk fish. I'll have to go back and look at some of your pictures .

Oh yea I just thought I'd ask how the season is currently down in Aus , I always get to thinking about how its nice and summery down there when it's winter time here. Now summers getting into full swing here i wonder how you like this time of year down there?
Thanks matey :) I'm excited to be building it and having a tank again! Both fish have settled like champs but I knew that would be the case lol that's why I chose those two :)

Hawkfish still have to be one of my absolute favourite fish going around :) They're really awesome looking fish with the best personalities! Especially if you have a pair of them (make sure you cover the tank though!!)

Nice and cold :) Just the way I like it! Winter isn't in full swing yet but the nights are getting cold and the days are staying cold, I can't wait till mid winter when it's cold, rainy and miserable all the time!! My favourite type of weather lol
 

Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
I spent some time today doing some work on the stand and I think it's going to turn out just as I'd like :)
I've still got to mount the second PDU (power distribution unit) in line with the one that's there on the other side up the top. I'm going to screw the dose into the bottom of the shelf so the shelf is clean and free and the doser is mounted securely.
I also screwed in an Ikea led strip of lights which worked out really well and
lights up the stand perfectly :) Overall I'm really happy with how it's coming along and should look quite nice once I organise my cable management! :)
 

anarchy

Well-Known Member
Wait youre putting a 400w halide 6" over the water? If i understood that correctly i think youre way too low and youll fry the coral. My 250 over the 30 is 10-12" off the water and about the same over my 93 and the par ranges from 100-450. I would suggest checking par if you plan on having the light that low especially if youre going to supplement with t5 and led

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk
 

Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
Wait youre putting a 400w halide 6" over the water? If i understood that correctly i think youre way too low and youll fry the coral. My 250 over the 30 is 10-12" off the water and about the same over my 93 and the par ranges from 100-450. I would suggest checking par if you plan on having the light that low especially if youre going to supplement with t5 and led

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk
6" was a rough estimate number that came to mind and not the exact plan lol :) The lights will roughly be about 2' away from the structure but again that'll need some testing lol
 

anarchy

Well-Known Member
6" was a rough estimate number that came to mind and not the exact plan lol :) The lights will roughly be about 2' away from the structure but again that'll need some testing lol
Yeah i would suggest a par meter so you know exactly what kind of light your coral are going to be getting. Id hate to see you guess and do it by eye and kill anything

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Wrangy

Acropora Nut
RS STAFF
PREMIUM
Yeah i would suggest a par meter so you know exactly what kind of light your coral are going to be getting. Id hate to see you guess and do it by eye and kill anything

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk
Everyone always starts low and moves up so I'll know when there's too much light. Par meter doesn't really give much info as we don't actually know how much par these corals get in the wild and that can be up to a thousand and more lol. I'll take things slow and in the beginning they won't be getting any more light than they already do :)
 
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