Smite's Stout CDA - 205G

drexel

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Everything is looking great! They'll be some nice millies once they take off and get bigger, then the chromis will have some nice hidey-holes.
 

Smite

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Not bad for just the MH on. This thing spreads light pretty well. I may build a bracket to hold 3 bars per side. If I do, I'll be mounting some Reefcrest or Tropic Sun quanta pros for better blending/coverage.
MH FTS.jpg


Theres a reflection making my water look like shit, but it hasn't been as clear as I'd like lately. I need to get back on my coral snow regimine, maybe add a sock for a bit.
 

Smite

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It's nice to be able to leave my camera on auto white balance and have it come out looking natural. The motion of the tank is much more lively. Been a few hours and the fan has yet to turn on too. I'm hoping with the quanta OG pop in tandem with the XHO, I'll be able to get better all blue pictures as well.
 

drexel

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Yeah, I think a few more Quanta bars and you'll be covered for sure. I bet the fish are looking pretty good under the halides too.
 

Smite

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Yeah, I think a few more Quanta bars and you'll be covered for sure. I bet the fish are looking pretty good under the halides too.
Oh yeah, they are looking great. Whole tank is looking alive now.

The color temp is about the same as it was before with all the bars on but much more vibrant looking.
 

Smite

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Looking good man. I'm going back to MH from LEDs in a week or two from not liking how the fish look. Fried almost all of my SPS trying emulate the look from MH.
There is no beating MH in my opinion. LEDS can look pretty close and T5s grow as good if not maybe better but don't have the look MH have to offer.

What pendants/fixture are you going to use?
 

tripinpn01

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There is no beating MH in my opinion. LEDS can look pretty close and T5s grow as good if not maybe better but don't have the look MH have to offer.

What pendants/fixture are you going to use?
I'm going back to the cheap Chinese 250w MH/T5 fixture that I was previously using that came with the tank when I bought the setup used. I forgot the name though. Coverage isn't great but luckily its only lighting up a 2x2x2 tank. Holding off on a new setup until I upgrade to a 3x2x2 setup next year.
 

Smite

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I'm going back to the cheap Chinese 250w MH/T5 fixture that I was previously using that came with the tank when I bought the setup used. I forgot the name though. Coverage isn't great but luckily its only lighting up a 2x2x2 tank. Holding off on a new setup until I upgrade to a 3x2x2 setup next year.
Nice man! If you end up needing a different reflector let me know, I have some stored away :)
 

Gedxin

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Goodness those are exquisite coral colonies. Your photography skills really impress. I'm looking forward to seeing how your tank adjusts to the MH. Lighting changes seem to cause reactions in corals, or at least I've noticed this anecdotally. I've recently reduced my LED intensity and am running T5s longer - which has led to a number of my Acros starting weird bulbous growth activity. I think it's good, but my Alk uptake has slowed, so I'm unsure if it's all positive.

You noticing any nutrient export changes?
 

Smite

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Goodness those are exquisite coral colonies. Your photography skills really impress. I'm looking forward to seeing how your tank adjusts to the MH. Lighting changes seem to cause reactions in corals, or at least I've noticed this anecdotally. I've recently reduced my LED intensity and am running T5s longer - which has led to a number of my Acros starting weird bulbous growth activity. I think it's good, but my Alk uptake has slowed, so I'm unsure if it's all positive.

You noticing any nutrient export changes?
Thanks Gedxin!

I'm pretty sure the transition will go smoothly. I might have to rearrange some pieces if need be, that ATI was a PAR monster so I'll be keeping a close eye. That being said I don't think anything will be shocked by the change. My nutrients have been lower lately no3 around 5ppm and po4 .03-.06 so I'll be keeping a close eye on those as well as Alk consumption.
 

Smite

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Yeah, that frogskin and Oregon tort are gonna start battling soon, but they look awesome!
Oh yeah they've been going at it for a bit now. So far playing nice with no TN . The tort seems to grow over the frogskin, so I'm good with that. The millepora is getting pretty close too, I may have to move it.
 
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