When shopping for LED's you want to get at least a unit that says the LED's are 3w each. The 1w and .5w LED's are worth a darn to us.

 

Yes i payed attention to that reefing and i got a fixture with 55 3 watt LED is this OK? an thanks for the info about drying seawater to make my own salt mix beaslbob also do any of you guys have an ATS running? an advice on this topic would be great

 

That light should do ya fine.
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...ping.com/saltwater-aquariums/mega-powerful-nitrate-phosphate-remover-diy-18000/

 

WOW i read every word of that thread and saw every picture .....AMAZINGG!:shock2: that an awesome thread thanks so much for that reefing. After i had read the first page i got to work on my DIY scrubber and now all that is left is plumbing it to the tank i highly recommend everyone to read that thread and then i more highly reccomend to make a DIY scrubber for your tank.... You´ll thank yourself for it and so will your corals and fish!!

 

You can preach it Tim, but every system is different. You should run some kind of sump in order to have a ATS. And then the size of the system and water parameters is going to dictate just how big that ATS is going to be. Don't get me wrong here, those things are great, but, its just like have a sump, its gotta be the right sized one versus your DT water volume, or it will only help, not completely scrub the water.

 

Yes i completely agree with you except for the point about the sump... you don't need one ...here have a look at this diagram

and according to me its a lot easier than a sump too.....
some examples of DIY scrubbers ....

Please do have a look at that thread if you haven't already... im not trying to prove you wrong or anything, after all you've been in the SW hobby far longer than me
You can even build a scrubber in your tank underwater!! Or just in a bucket...the material used for the screen can be virtually anything and there are many benefits of having a scrubber.... I myself feel this is a perfect solution to many of the problems reefers are facing and the working of these has been proved 1000´s of times. again i am not speaking against you or anyone else. All im saying is that these are what i think is the perfect solution to many problems facing reefers today.... benefits of an ATS include

o Allows you to feed very high amounts without causing nuisance algae growth in the tank.

o Can replace waterchanges, IF THE PURPOSE of the waterchange is to reduce nitrate or
phosphate or algae growth. Otherwise, it does not replace the water change.

o Grows swarms of copepods.

o Increases pH.

o Increases oxygen.

o Will NOT spread algae into the tank. It removes algae FROM the tank.

o There is no odor from the algae (only a slight ocean smell when cleaning it).

o Is very quiet when flowing, similar to a tabletop decorative waterfall.

o Introduces no microbubbles when adjusted.

o Removes ammonia too.

o You can even make a portable bucket! Just unplug the lights, lift up the pump
out of the tank water, and go put it in your next tank (or your friend's tank).
Don't let the screen dry out though.

o Works in saltwater or freshwater.
* this is all from santa monicas thread

 

Yes i completely agree with you except for the point about the sump... you don't need one

Just to get really really nerdy and technical a sump by definition is the lowest container in the system. With a refugium, or in this case, an ATS ( and every other container) above the display the display itself by definition becomes the sump.

And just like any other system one adjustment is to insure that should the drain becomes blocked, that container does not flood. So some use an additional emergency overflow/drain to prevent that from happening.


That said the ats/refugium still has many many benifits to the system.

my .02

 

Tim, without a sump you can't make your ATS big enough to be completely useful. It would look totally gaudy hanging from the top of the tank like your thinking about. The ATS would sit in its own sump, thats how big i am talking about.

 

I'm prob going to be trying this at some point. Starting to have to battle that green algae on my glass. My snails are getting fat and happy but it needs to be scraped every other day at times. I'm going to try cutting feeding back though first.
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