Kinetic's ELOS 120

[sfsuphysics]

I think you made the right choice, RE: LEDs, Art. It's a hard sell now to say "I'm going to be committed to this exact lighting setup for the next 5 years so it can pay itself off", especially as technologies change it's like buying a computer and having it be obsolete the minute you walk out of the store, at least with halides they have been pretty consistent you're not going to get a halide that magically produces twice as much output light in a year or two or three, and every 9-12 months you always can change the spectrum of your bulbs if you don't dig it.

 

[Gomer]

I think you made the right choice, RE: LEDs, Art. It's a hard sell now to say "I'm going to be committed to this exact lighting setup for the next 5 years so it can pay itself off", especially as technologies change it's like buying a computer and having it be obsolete the minute you walk out of the store, at least with halides they have been pretty consistent you're not going to get a halide that magically produces twice as much output light in a year or two or three, and every 9-12 months you always can change the spectrum of your bulbs if you don't dig it.

Highly relevant
http://www.theledlight.com.cn/led-light/306-knowledge-SSL-LED-roadmap-recommendations.html

Although we are a far way away from the theoretical maximum efficiency, it is going to take a revolutionary change to improve efficiency to anywhere near it. On our current evolutionary pathway, we only have asymptotic gains.

 

[sfsuphysics]

I'm curious it shows the dotted line (I'm guessing that's projected outputs), but it stops in 2005, where is the output now? Is it anywhere near the 140 lm/W output they projected?

 

[Gomer]

Cree's current high power leds (Power chip?) are around there (R4 XP-G's). They are about right on their roadmap. I'm not sure what current their spec is for so it is hard to directly say . I know that cree has some low power LEDs in the lab at around 150-160 lumens/watt

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/4103/fluxxb0.jpg

XP-G R4 at 350mA is 3.2V so 1.12watts and ouput 130 lumens minimum -->116lumens/watt. Their efficiency gets better at lower currents.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Well I just bought one of those screw in LED flood lights for my fuge area (I know you hate me Tony ) and according to the specs it puts out about 50 lumens per watt, which is on the low end to be sure but it focuses it all in one direction. I just want to see if it'll grow chaeto and caluerpa (although I'm tempted to throw a few junk frags/corals just to see if they'll grow under it as well

 

[Gomer]

I don't hate you for that reason. I hate you cause you have the mike-mar tank and I don't!

 

[sfsuphysics]

Hey I have been thinking of building a shallow top view similar to the one section of the Steinhart you can see from the 1st floor... but I just rebuilt the tank and don't think it'd be prudent to build another

Also looking at your list the Osram Ostar has 1120 lm output at 700ma? Assuming a 3.2V across it that's 500 lm/watt output for the QZ bin ones... what's up with that? Or am I reading the numbers wrong?

 

[Gomer]

Multi emitter chip.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Ah.. ok.

 

[kinetic]

I've decided on getting a Bubble King 160 to replace my ELOS and a Giesemann Infinity 2x250watt hqi + 4x54watt T5 fixture to replace my Aquactinics.

The 1500K 175watt Iwasaki's are nice and bright, but they start yellowing quick and the fixture I have now only has two T5's that I have the ATI Blue+, but they're just not strong enough. I'm thinking of just going with the Giesemann and since it comes with lamps use that for awhile (unless it really sucks), then switch to a DE combo and do some cool combos with the T5's.

My ELOS Skimmer started kicking really well today, but then stopped completely and the bubbles aren't even close to the cup anymore. It started producing a lot of bubbles, even coming out of the outlet as well, when I slightly touched something, not sure what that was. And then it just stopped working. Really sad, I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Maybe I should try another Eheim 1250... anyone have an extra one I can fire up? If it really is the pump, I should just go buy a new one.

 

[kinetic]

So I went by Neptune Aquatics today on my way down to dinner in San Jose after the BAR meeting and after oogling at Karson's Aquatic Collection (hehe) and put in an order for the Geisemann and Bubble King. Never actually met Robert before, but he is a super nice guy.

Anyway, amazing corals at both places. I still remember when Karson had his setup in Alameda in his business partner's garage, now he has quite the store!!

I also picked up a blue tort that looked really nice from Neptune. Following Paul's advice from the talk today, put it right behind my monti setosa, hopefully those are gonna make each other pop in color.

I also checked out my rockwork today, looks decent... but the urge to redo it is really brewing. Sand... I have none... but he's right, the sand makes a big difference. With a nice Bubble King, maybe it's worth a try?

 

[kinetic]

Amazingly my ELOS skimmer kicked in hard the past few days. Half a cup of wet skimmate! Nice work ELOS! FINALLY!

Unfortunately this is after I put in the order for the Bubble King. Hopefully the bubble king does better. Not sure if I'll sell the ELOS yet though, I put it up for sale recently but didn't get any bites.

 

[GreshamH]

I got no bites either, and i was willing to ship

 

[kinetic]

I got no bites either, and i was willing to ship

yeah sucks! maybe I'll just keep mine for a future frag tank or something.

 

[GreshamH]

The venturi clogs often so every other week or so you'll need to run some water through it I gave up on mine, and had a friend give up on his as well. Now I am sitting on two of the 1000's with extra large cups.

 

[kinetic]

Yeah, I have to turn the pump off, unscrew the venturi line and just run it through some RO water. does that happen with all skimmers? Or moreso with the ELOS Naturals?

You have extra large cups? Custom from ELOS?

 

[kinetic]

Tank Params for today:

po4 - undetectable (need to check this)
Ca - 485ppm
KH - 8.0 dKH
Mg - 1800ppm
SG - 1.026
pH - 8.22

I just setup a Hannah pH probe in a high flow area of my sump, connected to my AquaController III. I'll see what the Datalog says in a day to see what kind of fluctuations I get. Sitting around 8.22 right now, so that's good. I used a pH calibration fluid of #7 and #10 to calibrate, that was pretty easy.

I have another neptune lab grade ph probe coming this week, accidentally ordered calibration fluid #4 and #10 instead of 7, will that work? I'll use this one in my Ca reactor.

The Ca reactor I have needs to be setup. I think I have everything in place, just need to get the Co2 filled tomorrow (quoted $13 at a local welding place) and then I'll be ready to go.

never setup a Ca reactor before. I'm not sure how to tune this thing yet. I know that the bubble counter will dictate how much pH change is needed, since that's how much goes through the reactor, and the effluent dictates how much Ca / ALK I need? Is that the basics of it? It seems like the reactor will always be around 6.5 to 6.9, dissolving at 6.5 if I setup the pH probe correctly (the one mounted inside the reactor). And that the effluent basically says how much to pump out. This will help from high pH, but what about low pH? Will I need Limewater or something?

it seems like such a fine tuning process between how much Ca the effluent releases, and how much Ca is needed to be dissolved.

 

[GreshamH]

Yeah, I have to turn the pump off, unscrew the venturi line and just run it through some RO water. does that happen with all skimmers? Or moreso with the ELOS Naturals?

You have extra large cups? Custom from ELOS?

The cup isn't custom, it's an add on (extra). It's taller. The venturi issue is more of a problem with Elos naturals, but all venturis do clog at some point. The Elos just does it the fastest I have ever seen. That is the main reason I am ditching them, well that and they just don't seem to work all that well. I love the craftsmanship and design though wish it performed better

 

[sfsuphysics]

Yeah my sedra pump venturi clogs quite a bit... luckily I have the perfectly sized drill bit to fit in it ... however it might go up in the FS section quite soon.

 

[kinetic]

Tank Params 10/18
ALK - 7dKH
Ca - 500ppm (off the charts?)
pH - 8.45
Nitrites - undetectable
Nitrates - 2ppm

Notes: dosed 20mL of B-Ionic Part 1


Tank Params 10/19
ALK - 9dKH
Ca - off the charts
pH - 8.52
Nitrites - undetectable
Nitrates - 2ppm

Notes: yikes on the ALK, yikes on the pH =X


What's going on here? My pH is so high these days, my ALK fluctuates so badly even with just 20mL. My Ca is off the charts! I put in 1mL of the Ca Regent 2 in my salifert, and it still didn't turn blue. My pH is high now a days, sitting at 8.5 at night, 8.4 in the day. This is a recently calibrated Hannah instruments standard grade pH probe.

I just got my Neptune Lab Grade pH probe, but got a #4 calibration and a #10 calibration, will that work? If so I'll try it out and compare. My day vs. night pH levels are weird, and my Ca is weird.

No changes to my tank otherwise. Still doing continuous water changes with my LiterMeter III.