My Official 120 Rebuild New Pics on 9/18

I did not buy mine from reefbreeders. It is the same fixture they sale but it wasn't purchased from them. With this being said, I believe my layout is very similar to theirs. I will have to look again. The LED's are easy to switch out though. Just a little solder

 

By the way, I did notice a little darkness on the ends. I personally removed my optics and I don't notice it now. If you can get the fixture up around 12 inches above the tank, I don't think you would really notice it, even with the 90 degree optics on. Get the 90's though. 120 degree optics is almost like running none at all.

 

well, you answered my question I had for you - how did your fishing go? I've never seen the redwoods....I imagine breathtaking...?

 

Nice info on the LEDS compared to the Halides. While I'd love to run halides over grow tanks, the power bill, the heat and bulb replacement would kill me.

Nice tank!

 

Just a quick update on my tank. I added some gfo about a week ago, woke up the next morning and had several bleached corals. Those that were affected were 3 monti caps, red planet turned pink and my 500 efflo wasn't looking so hot. Some other corals affected were gsp (closed up), xenia closed up, bubble coral was withdrawn and a few others looked a little off. I really only added about 4 fluid oz of gfo. The recommended amount was 8 fl oz. I really don't think the issue was the gfo but the clarity of the water after adding the gfo. I think my lights are what did the damage more than anything. Since then I have turned my lights down a bit, slowed the flow through my gfo and crossed my fingers. My purple monti cap is now a "lavender" color, red monti is now pink, green monti cap looks strange still. My 500 efflo is starting to turn purple at the tips again and my red planet is starting to turn red again. I think it may have been crisis averted but it really scared me.

Battery of tests done today:
Nitrate - 0
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Alk - 9
Ca - 420
Mag - 1450

My powder brown is now eating everything I throw at the tank. Flake, frozen, nori, caulerpa. he really likes it all. I think he is going to do ok.

 

If you were using BRS's suggestion then you can cut it back to 1/4 or less and still do well. I agree that the water became too clear. Glad to hear they are coming back. I would not increase your GFO volume at all. It is better to use a little and change it often than use a lot and change it rarely since it strips the DOCs out so rapidly when you make a change of media.

 

Honestly John, I don't think I will be using it anymore. I have never had water this clear but at what cost? I will be lucky if everything pulls through. I was surprised though because my ricordeas, brains, frogspawn and various others went unchanged. My undata and psamacora sp? which are on the very top were unphased.

 

Some corals are more sensitive to changes than others. Their feeding strategies might have a lot to do with that. You also caught it quickly so that helps too. I stopped using GFO and GAC about 6 months ago and the colors in my tank are the best they have ever been. I still need to raise my T5HO fixture though since some of my LPS and softies look light inhibited still.

 

Wow Daniel, thanks for the update. Hopefully someone else will see this and proceed with caution.

Now that you have made adjustments hopefully that will be the end of it and the corals will regain their coloration eventually.

 

Yeah, I have been running carbon for some time and I really like how clear the water is with it but the gfo, honestly, took it to a whole new level and I don't think I really liked it. My system is currently running at 0 nitrate which means phosphate level is low. I'm going to pull the gfo once this runs its course and just watch it. I honestly shouldn't have messed with it. The tank was looking good.