• Welcome back Guest!

    MARSH is a private reefing group. Comments and suggestions are encouraged, but please keep them positive and constructive. Negative threads, posts, or attacks will be removed from view and reviewed by the staff. Continually disruptive, argumentative, or flagrant rule breakers may be suspended or banned.

180 Gallon Tank Build (1 Viewer)

Users who are viewing this thread

OP
OP
AquaNerd

AquaNerd

Guest
Joined
Apr 29, 2007
Messages
4,581
Reaction score
0
Location
Humble, Texas
ok, i got all three lights up and running. the tank and color looks GREAT!!! i have all three dimmed all the way down and i think i might leave it that way. the tank is still well lit, but the color is so blue and bright. i've got some pics, but i'm too lazy to upload right now.
 

i_am_poor

Supporting Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
Messages
1,366
Reaction score
192
Location
290/West Rd
Think Marsh could purchase some equipment such as that or a phosphate photometer to loan out to member? haha
 

tas5tas

Guest
Joined
Mar 23, 2007
Messages
753
Reaction score
0
Location
Lumberton, TX
You lose 35% by dimming the ballast all the way. So it's the same as running 162.5w bulbs instead of 250 watt bulbs. BTW....Coralvue is sending me new bulbs because mine shifted color horribly about 2 weeks ago after only 250 hours of burn time. It took some complaining, links to my build thread, and the explanation of the algae bloom I had and I sent them photos of the now yellow bulb when not dimmed. As far as par numbers....you can get the numbers from the lumenbright thread on RC and just subtract 35% from them since the ballast dims 35%......to go the other way you would just add 10% since they only overdrive the bulb 10%.
 

tas5tas

Guest
Joined
Mar 23, 2007
Messages
753
Reaction score
0
Location
Lumberton, TX
I didn't start dimming them until after they shifted. I know that if these bulbs they're sending me shift, I'll be switching to Radiums since with our ballasts we can overdrive them to the prefered HQI levels. I can't complaing about the growth or color from the bulbs before they shifted, but I had heard horror stories of them shifting after only 2-3 months of use. At least mine didn't go pink like I've heard of some peoples doing.
 
G

Guest

Is it the zeo that is making the corals not show the rich colors that they normally have?

Not knocking you or anything but I am wondering if what you have pictured is the product of zeovit dosing. They all have taken on this pastel glow now which is really weird but cool in it's own way.

How many Vortechs are you running on this tank and how do you like the flow?

I am getting ready to install a second on my 6ft tank due to lack of flow with just a single vortech.
 
OP
OP
AquaNerd

AquaNerd

Guest
Joined
Apr 29, 2007
Messages
4,581
Reaction score
0
Location
Humble, Texas
the zeo does give the corals a pastel look. however, the old light setup was just too yellow and the colors of the corals couldn't achieve their potential.

with the new lights, i've seen so much more color because i have the bulbs dimmed down to be as blue as possible.

additionally, i have pretty much stopped dosing zeovit lately. i still dose twice a week, and occasionally in between, but i cut back because i am going to break down and redo the tank.

as for flow, i love the vortechs, but they are not enough for a 6 foot tank by themselves. i have a tunze 6105 on there that is simply amazing. it puts out 3434 gph...which is about 234 more than the vortech. i have it on the left side of the tank and it has created a hole in the sand (all the way to the glass) on the front right corner of the tank.
 
G

Guest

Hmm... Right now I have one Vortech on my 125g with a second on the way as well as a modded TUnze 6025.

I am hoping that the flow is sufficient.
 
Top