Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
Dory’s getting cramped...
Patrick's 81G - the last dance
- Thread starter FinalPhaze987
- Start date
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
Thank you for the offer. Ill keep it in mind if the replacements can't get here fast enough.
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
After some back and fourth with ATI, it was discovered that the light was out of warranty (1 year) and if have to pay for the parts. Sucks because the actual usage of the light was less than a year, but they go by purchase date.
They did offer a discount, so it all came out to $175. Im hoping the new driver fixes things. Im hoping it comes in by Monday atleast.
They did offer a discount, so it all came out to $175. Im hoping the new driver fixes things. Im hoping it comes in by Monday atleast.
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
Let there be light!
Driver came in today and straight on the tank it went. All previous programming was wiped, but happy its back up and just needs tuning.
With the kessils alone I was seeing a peak average par of around 200 at 100% intensity. Since it sat in that light for nearly a week, I'm planning on turning up the Straton at 50% of the target intensity of 60% for a week, giving it an average of ~400. Ill crank it up next weekend depending on how things react.
With the light acclimation, I'm going to take the opportunity to use some bluer presets. The kessils produced some amazing color on some pieces on their own and id like to ride that wave and see how things pan out.
Throughout the whole ordeal, I had 1 frag rtn but did have alot of algae growth die off. I kept a close eye on alk and had a significant decrease in utilization in the past week, so I'll have to observe again and ramp up accordingly.
Huge shout out to @MichaelB , @SupraSaltyReefer , and @Royce023 for offering up lights incase the driver solution didn't work. I appreciate yall!
Driver came in today and straight on the tank it went. All previous programming was wiped, but happy its back up and just needs tuning.
With the kessils alone I was seeing a peak average par of around 200 at 100% intensity. Since it sat in that light for nearly a week, I'm planning on turning up the Straton at 50% of the target intensity of 60% for a week, giving it an average of ~400. Ill crank it up next weekend depending on how things react.
With the light acclimation, I'm going to take the opportunity to use some bluer presets. The kessils produced some amazing color on some pieces on their own and id like to ride that wave and see how things pan out.
Throughout the whole ordeal, I had 1 frag rtn but did have alot of algae growth die off. I kept a close eye on alk and had a significant decrease in utilization in the past week, so I'll have to observe again and ramp up accordingly.
Huge shout out to @MichaelB , @SupraSaltyReefer , and @Royce023 for offering up lights incase the driver solution didn't work. I appreciate yall!
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
With my sons basketball season coming to a close, I finally had a free Saturday to do some much needed maintenance.
Gave a bunch of corals haircuts to keep them from touching. Early on, I knew this would be a problem, I guess I just underestimated how often I would have to do it.
Diatoms finally cleared from the sandbed after adding TLF reborn. Nothing is blowing around, so mission accomplished on that end.
With all the light tinkering I've been doing lately, Im in search for a clean solution to add some intensity to the ends of the tank. I have pieces there that are growing, but I feel color would be better with a better spread. I like the results the kessils have given me, but they do create one hell of a hot spot where the reflectors focus dead on. Like a par of 800 kinda hot spot. I can probably remove the reflectors, but the light spill in the room is too much for me.
Ive also been rethinking some filtration.
1) I removed the filter roller- I anticipated a rise in my nutrient levels after doing so, but surprisingly its been the opposite. Ive been having to dose po4 and no3 regularly now to keep them from bottoming out. The sump area looks way cleaner with out it anyway. In place of it I put some maxspect bio balls to add some surface area.
2) I'm thinking about pulling the algae reactor off line- with my struggle keeping nutrients up, this seems to be ducking up everything I dose, along with a whole hell of of a lot of iron and manganese. It helped a whole lot when I didn't have much coral, but now that things have settled in, this may be the next to be gone.
Gave a bunch of corals haircuts to keep them from touching. Early on, I knew this would be a problem, I guess I just underestimated how often I would have to do it.
Diatoms finally cleared from the sandbed after adding TLF reborn. Nothing is blowing around, so mission accomplished on that end.
With all the light tinkering I've been doing lately, Im in search for a clean solution to add some intensity to the ends of the tank. I have pieces there that are growing, but I feel color would be better with a better spread. I like the results the kessils have given me, but they do create one hell of a hot spot where the reflectors focus dead on. Like a par of 800 kinda hot spot. I can probably remove the reflectors, but the light spill in the room is too much for me.
Ive also been rethinking some filtration.
1) I removed the filter roller- I anticipated a rise in my nutrient levels after doing so, but surprisingly its been the opposite. Ive been having to dose po4 and no3 regularly now to keep them from bottoming out. The sump area looks way cleaner with out it anyway. In place of it I put some maxspect bio balls to add some surface area.
2) I'm thinking about pulling the algae reactor off line- with my struggle keeping nutrients up, this seems to be ducking up everything I dose, along with a whole hell of of a lot of iron and manganese. It helped a whole lot when I didn't have much coral, but now that things have settled in, this may be the next to be gone.
I don't think filter rollers have much of an impact on nutrient levels at all - I had the same experience with mine. All it really does it keep the sump cleaner - which is maybe worthwhile. I just didn't want all the good stuff filtered out as well, so pulled mine a long time ago.
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
Seeing all the crap it pulled out had me thinking it was helping to keep my nutrients down...man was i wrong. I still saw a gang of crap settle in my sump with it on. I just got tired of fixing it everytime it jammed and having to smell it in my living room.
It would be nice to be able to bypass it and use it intermittently to polish water.
RandyC
Supporting Member
If you're bored and wanted to be able to do it via a flick of a switch, you could get a two 1" motorized ball valves, hook them up to a tee and replumb it. But if you're just using it to polish once in a while, you probably should just use a sock.
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
I thought about it and concluded that the juice ain't worth the squeeze. I dont really find an urge to polish the water all that much unless I'm throwing in some coral snow, and you're right, its nothing a sock can't handle.
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
The roller just reduces the effect of the skimmer, so it is not a surprise that your nutrients go down with its removal. I currently have a similar issue with ozone.
Good idea to remove the algae reactor also.
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
Install coming soon...
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
Got to work on prepping the lights for install. Still in the works. Although I could probably get these up tonight, I dont think I have the patience to spend an additional hour tuning them and running all the wiring.
Pretty excited to see the spread on these things.
Compared to the Straton Pro Gen 1s, the LEDs appear to be set in further.
My current light set up. Really looking forward to getting rid of all the light spill from the kessils, but I will say, they did a hell of a job growing corals when paired with the straton.
To be continued...
Pretty excited to see the spread on these things.
Compared to the Straton Pro Gen 1s, the LEDs appear to be set in further.
My current light set up. Really looking forward to getting rid of all the light spill from the kessils, but I will say, they did a hell of a job growing corals when paired with the straton.
To be continued...
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Straton Xs!!!! So nice!!!
Dibs on your Gen 1s lol
Dibs on your Gen 1s lol
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
Im running a Geo AR618. It does a pretty good job at keeping levels low, but left unmonitored, can bottom out NO3. Depending on my PO4 levels at that time, I'd dose NO3 or cut the lighting schedule to keep both from bottoming out.
I try to shoot for a 5-10 range for NO3 and 0.06-0.12 PO4.
WC schedule is 40% every 3-4 weeks since I've been running Reef Moonshiners. Although the program discourages waterchanges, I feel things look better after one.
I held off on installing the new light for a while while pulling the reactor off line to see how it impacted things. I found levels rising as high as 20 NO3 and 0.15 PO4 till I threw it back online and let the levels fall naturally.
Kensington Reefer
Supporting Member
I do love me some large WC!!
FinalPhaze987
Supporting Member
My daughter's spring break came to a close and dropped her off to the airport. Put the baby to sleep by 9pm and finally had an opportunity to work on the tank.
Pulling out the old set up was a PITA. Wire management is nice till you gotta change out equipment. I hung the new stratons and fired them up at 60%. Initial thought was how even the lighting appeared end to end. I dropped the PAR sensor in to see what numbers it was pulling and found this at the sandbed:
Halfway up the rockwork:
After toning it down, i settled on an average of 500 on the rockwork and 300 on the sandbed. These little suckers are pretty powerful, considering its running at 50% and pulling only 150w between the two of them.
What I like:
-ATI's new app feels more like an app rather than a C++ program
-they increased the blues in the X and reduced the UV LEDs that I didn't run much of.
-less power draw to accomplish similar results
-the spread is incredible with 2 fixtures
-2 fixtures are less than half the weight of the gen 1.
-no glare at all, even when sitting right in front of the tank working in the sump.
-way less light spill.
What I dont like:
- although the app is updated, it still sucks.
-only comes in anthracite. I would have likes a white option.
-no wifi option. Only uses Bluetooth, so you have to be really close to the fixtures to configure.
-not as much shimmer when compared to the previous set up, but it would be hard to expect anyone to come close to kessils shimmer.
Pulling out the old set up was a PITA. Wire management is nice till you gotta change out equipment. I hung the new stratons and fired them up at 60%. Initial thought was how even the lighting appeared end to end. I dropped the PAR sensor in to see what numbers it was pulling and found this at the sandbed:
Halfway up the rockwork:
After toning it down, i settled on an average of 500 on the rockwork and 300 on the sandbed. These little suckers are pretty powerful, considering its running at 50% and pulling only 150w between the two of them.
What I like:
-ATI's new app feels more like an app rather than a C++ program
-they increased the blues in the X and reduced the UV LEDs that I didn't run much of.
-less power draw to accomplish similar results
-the spread is incredible with 2 fixtures
-2 fixtures are less than half the weight of the gen 1.
-no glare at all, even when sitting right in front of the tank working in the sump.
-way less light spill.
What I dont like:
- although the app is updated, it still sucks.
-only comes in anthracite. I would have likes a white option.
-no wifi option. Only uses Bluetooth, so you have to be really close to the fixtures to configure.
-not as much shimmer when compared to the previous set up, but it would be hard to expect anyone to come close to kessils shimmer.
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