Back in the Hobby Again 60 Cube Thread

[jackson6745]

It's been over 2 years since my last reef. I enjoyed not having the responsibility of a reef but It's time to get back in the hobby before I get totally lost with all the new equipment out there. Actually, I am kind of baffled already:bigeyes:

Equipment List
60 gallon Deep Blue Sea Cube (going to be mostly SPS)
Modified deep blue stand with custom granite top
Skimz 181 skimmer
eheim 1262 return
ATI Sunpower 6x24 lighting
Reefkeeper lite controller
2 vortech mp10
Tunze osmolator
eshopps sump
Phosban reactor
60lbs of Marshall Island and Tonga rock.
Airwaterice RODI

Just about all of the equipment will arrive tomorrow so I will be ready to get things going. I decided to stay with T5's for now because I am not convinced that LEDs are the best option for great SPS colors at the moment. I would love to go back to MH but I don't want to deal with the heat and electric. T5's did great for my last tank (click my sig). Maybe the new radion will make me pull the trigger:screama:

I'll post a bunch of pics and log progress as I go.

 

[duke62]

Have you seen a full Sps led lit tank yet?

 

[jackson6745]

Have you seen a full Sps led lit tank yet?

Not quite. I don't know anyone who has had them long enough to have a full grown SPS tank. I just know what a specific SPS coral can look like under different lighting. The LED's that I have seen (Radions and various DIY) don't do it for me......yet. I'm not saying I won't switch in the future, but so far I haven't seen a tank that make me really "NEED" them, especially since I got better colors than most with just T5's. Not to mention the prices.....

 

[jackson6745]

If you have any links to great SPS LED tanks I would be interested in seeing them.

 

[pecan2phat]

Metal Halides and VHOs :thrash:

 

[E.intheC]

Looks like you're off to a great start. I have the deep blue 60 cube as well. I really like the tank.

Coincidentally, I have LEDs and am contemplating switching back to a T5 unit (6 bulb ATI fixture, actually).

 

[jf2381]

Welcome back dude.
This should be another great tank.
I don't want to turn your thread into a LED vs MH vs T5. I still run halides, but after keeping track of the vivid aquariums experiment I'm almost convince to make the switch. The only thing holding me back in the fact that I don't feel like dropping over 3k to light my tank.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

Welcome back rich. Cant wait to see this tank up n running. No doser? Gonna be doing it manually

 

[duke62]

Hey Jackson if you are ever on LI and want to come by and see I can show you my tank. Running LEDs for 2 years now and Sps for about 1 year 2 months. You can see the growth on my Sps in that time and the colors. All I have is Sps in my system

 

[lfsmarineguy]

Full blown SPS tank under LEDS.

 

[tosiek]

LED SPS tanks are real nice. The LED's grow and color up the coral, the only thing that bothers me is that the color spectrum looks weird over the tanks.

If your used to seeing T5's or MH's with supplimentation over the tank it takes a while to get used to the spectrum. I was playing with my Vega color this weekend to try to get it close to what I remember a 14k pheonix to be like and I got it close but its still not the same. I seen some AI SOL Blue fixtures over a fishstore tank this weekend and was a little unimpressed with the way the lights looked over the tank. Everyone was raving over the light color it produced comparing it to MH's or T5's but the light is extremely monotone. The greens and reds in the new color fixtures, from AI, radion, ect really help bring the white closer to what normal reef lighting is like.

Either way, the LED's are like magic over corals. The coloration is unbelievable and I can deal with the light being a little off from traditional lights over a tank if its making everything pop the way it does.

 

[jackson6745]

Warren, still nothing like 10k's with 4 vho actinic Best spectrum IMO

E.intheC, thanks. The 6x24 ATI did very well on my last tank. They are selling very cheap (used) since everyone is going LED.

Tony, I'll add some kind of triple doser soon. I will also be ugrading my controller in the future. I just want to get things running with the rock right now, then I'll pick your brain about new equipment.

jf2381, thanks for the welcome. I can see that the LED vs other light can get heated . I'm sure once day soon I'll have them on my tank but at the moment I just don't like the colors produced.

duke, thanks man. I'll definitely take you up on that.

lfsmarineguy, thanks for the link. The growth on that tank is insane!!! I am still not impressed with colors though. It's tough to tell because there are all stags. Definitely something I must see in person to make an accurate decision.

tosiek, thanks for your input. I need to see more SPS tanks with radions.

 

[JonnyJ]

In person & Photos on t5 tanks always look the best and colors are not comparable to led just yet.

I'd go ATI t5 and a reefBrite strip.

You'll get awesome color and shimmer.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

LED spectrum is really difficult to capture accurately in pics. The Orpheks look more like really nice halides in person.

 

[duke62]

Not going to make this about t-5 led debate on your tank thread but just showing you my expierence. The first pic was from January i believe i have to go back and check all my frags were 1 to 2 inch. the next pic is a recent picture. like i said ive only had sps since last august when i got my first 4 frags. i waited a month to make sure they were going to do well they the party began LOL. i was running acan 104 series but switched to AI back in february and the corals took off. like the others said its very difficult to capture the colors for some reason when photographing but when you see them in person they look 100 times better. just showing you the growth in the pics of sps

 

[prattreef]

While there is little doubt LEDs can grow coral just fine, and color them up just fine--sometimes spectacularly, my guess is that to "old-timer" Rich's eyes LEDs will not look quite aesthetically right when viewing the whole tank. Even the best I have seen--and they are getting much better-- have a "flat" quality to them ( I'm not talking about glitter lines) that you can get used to over time. It is my one hesitation about switching to LEDs. You can come pretty close on the multicolor units if you turn the blues way down, but in LEDS Blue light has intensity purposes, not merely aesthetic ones and you are sacrificing PAR when you do so.

Just for perspective ,as an longtime MH guy, even T-5 lit tanks though often spectacular, look odd to me color wise. I know many old-timers who feel the same way.

 

[KathyC]

(I totally agree with everything Randy just posted, but want to get the thread back on track too!)

Looking forward to following this Rich - your tanks have always been awesome in health & in color. Great to have you back again! :hug:

 

[nanoreefer22]

Tagging along for this one as well.

Nice to have you back in the hobby

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Rich welcome back! Can't wait to see what you build! Great things are coming!

 

[jackson6745]

Duke, your tank looks fantastic but the color of your photos makes me actually HATE LEDS

Randy, "flat"......that's exactly how I would describe it.
My favorite lighting was 10k ushio and 4 vho's. If you guys search JBNY's 180gal on reefcentral you will see this lighting. I haven't seen any LED come close to this yet. I do believe they will one day soon, and that's when I'll switch

Kathy, Kris, Brandon thanks! Good to be back. Look forward to hanging with you guys at the next swap.