Where we at these days???

[mojoreef]

Ok so I have been out of the main stream of the latest things reefers are doing, so fill me in??

Last I remember zoevit was all the rage, HGH was in, high alk and calcium. whats everyone doing these days?? tell me what the levels are in your tanks, what methods are you using??

Mojo

 

[Krish]

I've seen a bit of talk about this zeovit, but never really looked into it although I kinda have an understanding of what it is about. Still same old "ole faithful" for me. Give me a bare bottom tank, tons of flow, a skimmer and some live rock and I will do the rest. We'll see how good my regular method works in this nano I am setting up. This will be my smallest tank yet.

Anyone out there using zeovit since Mojo brought it up?? If so, how are you liking this method??

 

[Scooterman]

Heck, Frankie is our Zeovit Expert here, he loves it! I have a few locals on it, from what I saw up close, it is like sps in steroids! Colors pop, grow like weeds, it is crazy!
One of the latest things I see these days is the big LED craze, I think this is getting better and better daily, more power and the prices are slowly coming down, Sslooooly! LOL
I've seen some testing from individuals that in some cases match if not beat the Mh's, well at least the blue MH's!

 

[Krish]

Does this zeovit have anything to do with adding beneficial denitrifying bacteria to the tank or is that something totally different?? I think I do remember reading that it brings out the color in your corals etc but in any event, I think we need to get some people chime in zeovit. I'm kinda in the dark when it comes to it and I'm sure some others as well. Would be good to get the run down on it and discuss the pros and cons of using it

 

[bigblue141]

i LOVED Amino+ by..... Mmmm can't remember. Hopefully someone knows what I'm talking about and will help me out.

Very spendy and works very well by Brightwell Aquatics.

Been away from home for way to long...

 

[mojoreef]

I am not sure what it has evolved into now days, it was fairly new a few years back and was getting alot of flack from the good ole boys.

From what I remember the concept was to strip out the nutrients and then dose a more specialized nutrients back in. It was kind of tough to dig deep on what was in those nutrients.

On the LED, Hmmm I would probibly need a few thousand??? lol

 

[Krish]

LOL!! Metal halides haven't done me wrong yet so I haven't even given the L.E.D lighting any thought. Seems like they are they way to go in terms of power consumption and so forth, but for me, no urge yet to try them out.

 

[Scooterman]

LOL!! Metal halides haven't done me wrong yet so I haven't even given the L.E.D lighting any thought. Seems like they are they way to go in terms of power consumption and so forth, but for me, no urge yet to try them out.

You can't get something for nothing, these LED produce heat at the high output levels, with heat is losses, thus inefficiency. So the determination of how much then and then a comparison would be in order. People produce these test but only show the obvious numbers but fail to give the real values that matter, power consumption, heat loss, cost and everything, including apples to apples ie. kelvin MH to the blue LEDs!

 

[Krish]

You can't get something for nothing, these LED produce heat at the high output levels, with heat is losses, thus inefficiency. So the determination of how much then and then a comparison would be in order. People produce these test but only show the obvious numbers but fail to give the real values that matter, power consumption, heat loss, cost and everything, including apples to apples ie. kelvin MH to the blue LEDs!

So do LED's put out more heat than an equally comparable metal halide would?

 

[Scooterman]

So do LED's put out more heat than an equally comparable metal halide would?

I don't know that, I wish we had a good comparison to see if they did or not. These LEDS are driven by drivers, so they consume power also, a better driver will consume less than an inefficient driver.

 

[CarlaW]

So do LED's put out more heat than an equally comparable metal halide would?

Maybe we could get Sanjay to do a webinar for us on the LED lights?

 

[Frankie]

Yep, zeohead here
In 2008 I got board, and tired of battling with my nitrates and decided to give zeovit a try.
With the great help from a few people (one of our own, boomer being one of them) I ventured into the world of probiotics.
Basically the purpose of the system is to create a low nutrient, near natural levels, environment.
The goal is to reduce measurable levels of nitrate (NO3) and phosphate (PO4) without
lowering the levels of important minerals, like calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg),
Potoassium (K+) and carbonate hardness (KH), such that addition of these trace
elements is minimal.
The zeolite are used for not only filtration (heated topic) but also provide an ideal surface area for bacteria to populate on. This "mulm" growth is then released by agitating the stones and providing food for the corals and distributing the bacteria throughout the display tank.
There is a carbon source dosed daily along with possibly food, for the bacteria and trace elements that can be use to target colors in the coral tissue.
Heavy skimming is involved along with the strict regiments of GAC.
I am currently building a zeovit system for growing out corals. 60 gallons, perfect size for the slow economy and my hurting wallet.
Zeovit has come a long way in the past few years and now you can even use it to cycle a new system in 14 days. I will be learning this method and explaining it as I go in a few months after I finish my build. You can follow along in this thread here:
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f13/60-gallon-frag-system-build-58022/

The nano beast

 

[DolphinLVR]

So do LED's put out more heat than an equally comparable metal halide would?

I am running LED's since I built my tank earlier this year. I can tell you for a fact that they do not generate heat anywhere near what a MH does, As far as power consumption, I did all the figures befor I bought thes and they consume far less that what the MH does.

As far as the amout of light these put out, I can run my lights anywhere from 13K to 23K.

There have been a few fellow reffers that have seen my setup and can tell you I am definatly getting enough light.

I just put some SPS in about a week ago, so we shall see how they do under the LEDS.

Check out my build thread if you want to see the LED's

 

[dieden]

Plasma is the future of large reef lighting. Those things are AMAZING!!

 

[mojoreef]

Hmm sounds interesting Frankie, I know it was a very heated topic back a few years ago, seemed folks either loved it or hated it. I am not sure what trace elements or bacteria would have to do with color or what mulm is, but it sounds like something cool to look into.

Dolphin I havent read to much new stuff on Led's but I do see its once again become a popular item. I agree that I dont think they would create the same heat nor use the same energy as MH. From what I remember it was always about Photon penetration and then the overall cost of the units. ANy info on this?? Oh yea I beieve their was some issue with spectrum also right?? have they gotten past this yet??

Plasma??? ok you have to tell me about that!! got a link??

 

[returnofsid]

Since we're discussing "new" trends, in our hobby, I'll bring up a couple.

With lighting, I do believe that things are moving away from Metal Halides, even though they are still a tried and true lighting source.

More and More, people are switching to T5HO, LEDS and now we're starting to hear about Plasma. I think more improvements need to be made with LEDS and Plasma before I'll make such a drastic jump.

On a much smaller scale, Vodka Dosing has been becoming more and more prevalent lately. I've experimented with it, with great success, and will be starting it back up again, on the 200, soon.

Another trend, that's received a bit of notice lately, is Vitamin C dosing. Having tried it, for several months, about a year ago, without seeing any results at all (positive or negative), I discontinued it.

 

[Ichthys]

Webinar

Maybe we could get Sanjay to do a webinar for us on the LED lights?

+1 excellent idea

 

[cptbjorn]

So do LED's put out more heat than an equally comparable metal halide would?

LEDs are just starting to surpass MH in terms of raw efficiency

But the thing about LEDs is they emit close to 100% of their light within 45 degrees of straight down, while the vast majority of the heat is transferred to the heatsink they are attached to. You can hold your hand half an inch away from an array running full power and just feel the warmth of the light being absorbed by your hand. While MH emits heat and light in all directions and the reflectors you use to direct the light into the tank also tend to direct a lot of heat that way too.

All my LED builds are over picos so far but I believe the general consensus is that it takes about 20-24 xr/xp crees to hit the par levels of a 150w halide and 30-36 for a 250w. I will know more when I finish my current project though, which will be 24 over a 24x24x16 tank.

The problems most people are having are more with bleaching and color loss than not getting enough light.

 

[Scooterman]

But the thing about LEDs is they emit close to 100% of their light within 45 degrees of straight down, while the vast majority of the heat is transferred to the heatsink they are attached to. You can hold your hand half an inch away from an array running full power and just feel the warmth of the light being absorbed by your hand.

That is good to know but what about the drivers? How much power is consumed to equal a MH of same Par?

but I believe the general consensus is that it takes about 20-24 xr/xp crees to hit the par levels of a 150w halide and 30-36 for a 250w.

I find this misleading, what mh are you comparing to? i.e. 10k, 15k,20k and what ballast are you comparing, reflector used, name brands of each? Also what driver for the LED what LED types are you using? Too many variables to make that statement without a clause to what you're comparing to.

 

[cptbjorn]

The comparisons to MH are just what I have heard suggested and I'm curious myself, like I said I'll know a lot more once I finish my current project because I have a 150w icecap pendant+ballast with a phoenix 14k bulb that we are going to compare side-by-side with 16 cree xp-e royal blues and 8 xp-g neutral whites.

at full power it should draw about 100-110 watts from the wall, but I suspect it will match the output of the halide at significantly less than full power.