My JBJ 28gal Nano Build Thread

[flipsideleo]

Originally Posted by ange062

The GFO reactor is an awesome addition! Historically I have to clean my glass at least every other day since I setup the tank. I added the GFO reactor last Thursday (10/20) and have not cleaned the glass since and it is still perfectly clean!! Still waiting on the GHA to subside though.

Still waiting on my 2nd reactor to show up at the LFS so that I can start running carbon again. Currently I am only running filter floss, GFO, and the skimmer.

Also been reading a lot of pre-release reviews on that EcoTech Radion, really thinking about how to rig one up to the canopy of the NC

Now, you're talking! We have a local reefer that has the new Ecotech Radion over his cube, and he loves it. Since then, I think he even bought their Coral Glue. LOL (I'm going to, too).

[ange062]

Originally Posted by flipsideleo

Now, you're talking! We have a local reefer that has the new Ecotech Radion over his cube, and he loves it. Since then, I think he even bought their Coral Glue. LOL (I'm going to, too).

Where did he manage to snag one? I want to come play with it and see if it is worth the money!

[flipsideleo]

He was a test pilot for Ecotech. I think that one of the pictures on their site, is from his home.

Look up d2mini (Dennis). He did a build here, too. Or, look him up on our home board, MARSH.

[flipsideleo]

Hey dude, this just in!

City Pets has these available right now! You may be able to get Donnie or David to give you a demo!

[bwidner]

I would read up a lot more on this fixture, it is very high in the green/yellow range which does nothing for coral growth, the par produced is fairly low for the price tag and the constant playing with the spectrum and such stresses corals...I would more look a DIY(it uses Cree's anyway) AI Sol or the Kessil A150(which according to spectrum should pack the best growth etc).

http://blog.captive-aquatics.com/cap...nd-a-miss.html
http://blog.captive-aquatics.com/cap...-it-right.html

There are some links with charts and such....while the ecotech is no doubt a great fixture, seems a lot of the power of the lights is lost in non usage color spectrums.

[ange062]

Impulse buy? Maybe... Overkill? Maybe... Regret it? Not yet :-) More to come...

[flipsideleo]

Originally Posted by ange062

Impulse buy? Maybe... Overkill? Maybe... Regret it? Not yet :-) More to come...

Hahaha!

[ange062]

Originally Posted by flipsideleo

Hey dude, this just in!

City Pets has these available right now! You may be able to get Donnie or David to give you a demo!

LOL, before I saw this I actually stopped by there to pick up a phosban reactor and noticed they were hanging two Radions above their SPS tank. Kinda caught me off guard, so I had to inquire if there were more, and of course there were.

So I was forced with making a decision that I thought I wouldn't have to make for a month, and Donnie/David REALLY sweetened the deal to a point that I couldn't pass up.

[flipsideleo]

Yeah, those two do that!

Wait until you see how your SPS responds under THAT light!

[ange062]

So I figured I would post first impressions of the EcoTech Radion XR30 I purchased last night, you can track the thread for long term updates on how it works out.

As you would expect from EcoTech, the packaging and build quality are phenomenal. I was surprised honestly at how little came with it though, it is just the light, power supply, power cords, USB cable, and a small instruction booklet. Not sure what else I expected, just seemed very minimalistic (not necessarily a bad thing). I guess a CD with the software on it would be nice for someone who may not have immediate access to the internet, but that wasn't a concern for me.




When I plugged it in, it came on by default while face up on the table, and scared me with how bright the room got!!! The amount of color temperature adjustability is quite honestly amazing, I really look forward to tweaking those sunrise/sunset cycles and colors, and hope that moon cycles are an added feature later. The amount of functionality just from the 3 capacitive touch keys on the light itself is actually pretty awesome, you can do just about anything right there on the light without having to plug into USB. The fan is almost dead silent which will be a nice change from my fairly loud fans in the stock JBJ hood.

From a trial hang over the tank, I can tell it is significantly brighter (obviously) then the stock 105w PC. It was bright enough to scare the fish into hiding and make some of the corals close up polyp's when held about 6" off the water at 100% brightness (14,000k color is all LED's powered on to max power). The amount of shimmer is insane, something I am not used to in my tank but looks great.

One thing I did notice is that the shaded areas of the tank are DARKER then they were with the PC, there isn't as much light diffusion. One caveat of this is that if you step back and take a look, the tank doesn't actually appear to be brighter, but rather equal to or darker then the stock light. It's a little deceiving and I will have to see how to manage corals in low-light / shaded areas as I may have to rescape to account for this effect. I also wonder long term what impact this will have on SPS that grow and shade their own bases or start to shade over other corals. I think that can be remedied with careful aquascape and fragging, or with supplemental actinic T5HO's.

One drawback is the software, which is still at a very early stage and feels almost like a beta release. The "Natural" mode which is supposed to simulate real daylight cycles and colors from reefs around the world is not yet an available feature, you are limited to the "artificial" mode. I even found some bugs when trying to adjust the lighting schedule (default is 6am sunrise, 7pm sunset) because I prefer my tank to be lit while I am at home (currently run my lights 3p-12a). For example, the 7pm checkpoint will not let you adjust its time for sunset. I found it easiest to just program the light with a time which was -5hrs from the actual time to adjust the schedule according to my tastes. I assume these bugs will be remedied quickly and the increased functionality will hopefully be added soon.

I am currently trying to plan out both a temporary and permanent mounting solution. I am not sure what height I was to hang the fixture at just yet, so I am thinking of using some type of adjustable lamp arm as a temporary solution over the next few weeks to dial it in.

As a permanent solution, I am debating between a wire-suspended ceiling mount, some type of PVC arm mounted to the tank, or something else all together. I also don't like the idea of topless because it limits fish selection (rules out jumpers) and the increased evap, so I will be custom fabricating a lexan (clear acrylic) lid to fit flush into the beveled part of the stock tank rim.

And the last topic is acclimation. I am thinking of starting off the maximum power around the 40% range and bumping up by 10% per week until I find a good stopping point. I doubt I will ever be able to run at 100%, so this in conjunction with the height of the fixture are both going to take some slow tweaking over time.

[flipsideleo]

Can you raise the unit up higher off the water to help with spread concerns and shadowing?

Good plan on acclimation, too.

[sjnovakovich]

Wow! That's some serious cash for a cube fixture.

[tpallas]

Lookin good! It will be nice to see how the light looks.

[NissanVersa1]

Very nice tank, Love the potters angel.

[ange062]

Originally Posted by sjnovakovich

Wow! That's some serious cash for a cube fixture.

Yes but it will port over nicely to a future ADA cube or long "no holds barred" build.

Originally Posted by tpallas

Lookin good! It will be nice to see how the light looks.

Thanks, see below!

Originally Posted by NissanVersa1

Very nice tank, Love the potters angel.

Unfortunately, that guy only made it a few days since I couldn't catch my coral beauty


Anyway, updates from today. My LFS (City Pets) got in my second Little Fishies 150 reactor today, so I swung by and picked it up on store credit! Got it loaded up with Kent Reef Carbon for now, piped in with my existing GFO reactor, and did a water change to "clean" the media. All worked well until I left the drain hose dangling out of the bucket, only to look down to 2.5g of dirty saltwater drained onto my carpet, uggghhh. A big shop vac and a powerful fan should knock that out.

I also spent some time in Home Depot at lunch today brainstorming on a quick, cheap, but not ghetto looking hanging fixture for the Radion. Decided to hang it from the ceiling, which posed a problem because it is in the corner with a column in it for the AC ducts. Worked out a solution, and hung it from some aluminum "L" stock mounted to the drywall with 2x 75lb drywall anchors and 2x 16lb black hanging chain. I still have to tweak it a tad, but I am satisfied with the result for now. Still getting used to the open top look.

The Radion is 6" off the water surface and using the stock "artificial" programming but tuned down to 50% maximum power daytime. I will see how corals react over the next few days and adjust accordingly. Really wish I could just sit here all day tomorrow and watch the whole sunrise / day / sunset cycle!!!

Anyway, you guys are here for the pics. Sorry for the quality, the 20,000k dusk mode really throws the camera off. Hopefully I can snag better pics during a 12k or warmer mode later this week.

Skimmer, reactors, and new light:


Reactor plumbing closeup


The whole setup:


FTS @ 20,000k and low brightness:


And a short vid to show shimmer, etc. Sorry for the background noise:

[flipsideleo]

Absolutely fantastic, man! Great work!

Money well-spent, if you ask me.

[bwidner]

Are you going to be running it at 20k? That seems awfully blue and at least in the pics drowns out some of the amazing color you have in your tank.

[EcoTech Marine]

Originally Posted by ange062

For example, the 7pm checkpoint will not let you adjust its time for sunset. I found it easiest to just program the light with a time which was -5hrs from the actual time to adjust the schedule according to my tastes. I assume these bugs will be remedied quickly and the increased functionality will hopefully be added soon.

On the main screen of the software located immediately above the graph are two drop down menus labeled "Start Day" and "Start Night." To adjust the time of the day/night period, you click on these times and select whichever time you'd prefer. Let me know if this solves your issue.

[ange062]

Originally Posted by EcoTech Marine

On the main screen of the software located immediately above the graph are two drop down menus labeled "Start Day" and "Start Night." To adjust the time of the day/night period, you click on these times and select whichever time you'd prefer. Let me know if this solves your issue.

Wow, flattered to have EcoTech responding directly in my thread, thanks Tim! I tried this approach also when I was first programming it. Problem is that I prefer for "start night" to happen at midnight or later due to my viewing hours, and the tool can't comprehend this. The latest you can set "start night" is at 11pm and you can't select daytime light profiles (12k or others) once you are in the night region.

I am still playing with it and getting closer to a configuration that will do what I want. I have an email open for feedback to EcoTech which I will send once I have had more time to learn the software and tailor it to my tank.

[ange062]

Here is a little lighting profile I plan to upload today, I don't like the stock "artificial" profile because it goes deep blue then back to a sunset mode, so it's like it gets dark then bright again.


Custom1:
10am: off
1130am: 5% deep blue
12pm: 5% 20k
1230pm: 10% white royal
1pm: 20% white red
2pm: 50% 12k
10pm: 50% 12k
11pm: 20% white red
1130pm: 10% white royal
12am: 5% deep blue
3am: off

Keep in mind the colors and intensity blend and ramp between each step, so it creates a nice seamless transition that should be a good rendition of sunrise/sunset color from what I have played around with so far.

A better pic of the tank from a not-so-blue spectrum:

[pnavarro170]

effin sweet, and to think this is their first attempt. wish i knew where we will be in 5-10 years.

[ange062]

Apparently 50% is WAY too much when switching from the 105w PC, got home to 0 polyp extension, even on my softies like xenia and GSP. I cranked it down to 30% and hope that everything can cope there, debating whether to kill the lights until tomorrow morning or let it run at 30% through the rest of today's cycle...

[reefsurfing]

I would try to decrease the light cycle to 5 hours until everything is responding well.

[ange062]

Originally Posted by reefsurfing

I would try to decrease the light cycle to 5 hours until everything is responding well.

I was thinking along those lines also, and started to raise the light up until I realized it would then be exposing the sump area to a lot of light and I don't want to deal with algae issues back there.

[Brando457]

Read the whole thread, very nice tank and I'm excited to see your settings as I also have a nano and prefer the viewing hours to be from like 3 - 12.

Would you say learning to program it is easy? I tried doing it without having my light since im still waiting for it to get delivered and it seemed difficult.