Reef nutrition

Alex’s IM 150 EXT

The (almost) final piece to my new lighting setup, two Helix Meso Blue dimmable light bars, arrived today.

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They are already connected to the 0-10V (Hydros) and work well, are (independently) dimmable through the Hydros controller (same as the ATLAS) - or through a separate manual controller which comes with the light.

We (not me...) will mount them later when lights are out directly onto the ATLAS with a 3d print from a Quanta Lights recommended vendor/Kris: http://clev.ca/Shop/?fbclid=PAZXh0b...sYoHl_hO1HFgLbqp70_aem_-yQjcET0wfSKqCYgqJACHA

The one thing which is unneccessarily complicated are the light settings, specifically if you use the BOLUS light settings - 2h @120% desired light intensity, 3h @100%, and then ramp down. Pictures of the schedules setting both ATLAS and Helix independently from each other.

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Alexander1312 said:
It took a while to get to this point, but I am super happy with the outcome of replacing my Reefi lights. For the record, the Reefi lights are great and much less obtrusive than these lights. They have their own control app and can change the light spectrum, which these do not have.

The current setup is the following:
- Hydros X4 controller
- Two Quanta ATLAS, 240W max per light, 14k non-adjustable spectrum. I have limited their max power currently to 150W (manual setting on the light).
- 0-10V dimming on the Hydros with BOLUS light schedule alignment, starting with 80% of 150W per light for 2 hours, followed by 3 hours of 66% of 150W, and then ramping down until the end of the light cycle.

Since there is now a mounting solution available to mount the Helix light bars to the ATLAS directly, I have also ordered two 35-inch Helix Meso Blues for front and back (currently discussing with Luca if I should do the Helix ReefCrest instead since I prefer the less blueish light, but he previously recommended this setup/combination of lights to me.

There are more details to this setup if anyone wants to use these.

This is an early morning shot 5 minutes after the lights turned on (no filter was used).

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Sweet !! Your sticks should grow like weeds with them cans! Would be nice if they had a few old school retro color choices on the reflectors but they probably can be easily painted..
 
PjFish said:
Sweet !! Your sticks should grow like weeds with them cans! Would be nice if they had a few old school retro color choices on the reflectors but they probably can be easily painted..
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Thanks. Unfortunately, there is always a trade off. Gonies were (very) happy for almost two years until I started increasing the lights already with the Reefis and now even more with these. Acros love it, gonies hate it, and I have to find a different place for them - they currently only get about 160-180 PAR, the lowest PAR in the tank.

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The (almost) final product. No camera filter was used.

It doesn't look sleek, but given the limitations of the tank's location in terms of mounting options, it will have to do for now.

The 3d prints to mount the Helix bars to the ATLAS turned out to be a bit tricky to install, but once you know, it is doable.

The outstanding item I am waiting on now is a 3D print that allows me to mount the ATLAS to a 2040 bar. The ATLAS are currently mounted with cable ties to the bar. This will arrive in a few days, as Kris only came up with a solution for this problem a couple of days before the Hurricane, and we had to wait until he was able to ship it.

I have not discussed the costs for this setup, and I usually do not. However, since lights are often the most expensive item we purchase, I thought I would reflect on this.

While I certainly do not mind reducing my expenses for this hobby, I did not buy the Reefis previously, and now these lights to save money—at least, that was not the primary objective. However, these lights, i.e., Reefi / ATLAS / Helix seemed to deliver an exceptional product for an affordable price, which questions the purchase of far more expensive and well-known options. And this is when I became cheap.

Now, I admit that mainstream options have many benefits that, if money is not a consideration, could still justify going with them. They often have a very low/sleek profile and use an app that, even if not great, still does the job, and many folks out there can provide guidance. Also, customer service is often well-established. Reefis comes much closer to some of these advantages, but to this day, I wouldn't say I like their web interface.

Let's talk about costs (excluding mounting):

ATLAS (2) with Reflector - USD 499 each = USD 998
Helix - 35 inch (2) - USD 194.99 each = USD 390
Hydros X4 - USD 350
Hydros quad cable (0-10 V) - USD 10

Total costs for this light setup that should be able to provide high/very high wall-to-wall coverage at an outstanding spectrum for a 150-gallon tank: USD 1,748

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Measured PAR today.

Main change by adding the light bars was an increase of the mounting height from 10 inch to 16 inch above the water line while keeping the ATLAS intensity the same, plus the added PAR from the bars. My thought was that the higher mounting plus the bars would (ball park) offset each other.

10 inch above the water height seemed to close for maintance work etc given that the light mounting sits on the tank etc. Also, someone else (Insta polypguy) had them mounted 20 inch above the water (3 ATLAS, plus two Helix) and had 400-450 PAR ad mid tank level by setting the ATLAS at 50% at their lowest level (150 watt limitation).

I currently run both the ATLAS and Helix at 50-66% of their (ATLAS minimum) power - BOLUS adjusted light curve - and get between 500+ PAR on the upper tertile, and 300+ PAR on the lower tertile of the tank. So, there is still lots of power left to crank up light post the 30-60 day acclimation period (and after I have ‘rescued’ my gonies).
 
RIP Blenny (Ecsenius stigmatura) - yes, we give our fish very creative names.

We had him first in our very first Reef Tank (launched in September 2022, see picture below from Feb 2023). He died very quickly, tried to hide in a hole in one of the rocks (which was not his typical behavior) but had to get out and move to another rock because it was occupied by a crab (live rock hitchhiker). Within 45 minutes he was dead.

He was one of our first fish after the clowns, and we had him for two years and a few days, originally from Aquatic collection, and he seemed already fully grown so not sure how old he actually was when we got him.

I read that they would only live for 2-5 years, but not sure if this is true. He certainly had to go through a lot of ups and downs in my little over 2 year reefing journey, which might have not extended his life expectancy.

A very fun fish with lots of personality.

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Alexander1312 said:
RIP Blenny (Ecsenius stigmatura) - yes, we give our fish very creative names.

We had him first in our very first Reef Tank (launched in September 2022, see picture below from Feb 2023). He died very quickly, tried to hide in a hole in one of the rocks (which was not his typical behavior) but had to get out and move to another rock because it was occupied by a crab (live rock hitchhiker). Within 45 minutes he was dead.

He was one of our first fish after the clowns, and we had him for two years and a few days, originally from Aquatic collection, and he seemed already fully grown so not sure how old he actually was when we got him.

I read that they would only live for 2-5 years, but not sure if this is true. He certainly had to go through a lot of ups and downs in my little over 2 year reefing journey, which might have not extended his life expectancy.

A very fun fish with lots of personality.

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Did the hitchhiker crab get him? I've been actively catching those gorilla type crabs whenever I see them since they have been pretty aggressive.

Also any full tank shots with the par measurements written on them? Just curious what you're getting on the edges and sand. Still need to figure out what lighting I go with too.
 
Darkxerox said:
Did the hitchhiker crab get him? I've been actively catching those gorilla type crabs whenever I see them since they have been pretty aggressive.

Also any full tank shots with the par measurements written on them? Just curious what you're getting on the edges and sand. Still need to figure out what lighting I go with too.
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We believe this is unlikely since he did not go to bottom before, and he made it out, but of course not an impossible reason. We took out several gorilla crabs already, and only saw this one still being in there yesterday. I assume it is not the only one - there are other crabs in there too, like the one which is using its arms to filter out particles from the water - do not have the name ready.

Regarding the light measurements - no, not with the current setup, only from a week ago when I had the two ATLAS (without Helix) mounted 10 inch above the water level, at the same settings as previously stated. Given the wider body of my tank compared to how long it is, these three data point measurements are not perfectly precise, but it does give you an idea. Will update them when I am doing this next time again. Just did some brief measurements today.

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