[Brian_Cali77]

What's up TPT!!!

So I got excited with the release of the new Ecoxotic E-Series (here) and was able to snatch one up for my 60F. I was pretty pleased with running dual Current Sat+, I thought this would be an awesome upgrade.

Long story, but I went out of town for a month and came home to a pretty nasty 60F. Algae everywhere and most of my plants died. I managed to kill off most of the algae and save some plants. This tank actually stayed up as a grow-out tank (another long story), but this was the old thread when it looked its best....

----HERE-----

But that was then and this is now... maybe by the end of the year, we'll rescape this tank and get it looking pristine again. For now though, I kind of slapped a quick scape together with what extra substrate, stones, and plants I had laying around. Mainly for the purpose to "test" the new light and try out its growing capabilities suspended fairly high off the tank.

So here are some quick details:

Aquarium: ADA 60-F (24"x12"x7" = 8.6g)
Lighting: 18" Ecoxotic E-Series (24W: 10 white + 4 RGB chips)
Filter: AC20 HOB (temporary)
CO2: Aquatek mini paintball regulator w/ NAG-aqua music note diffuser​

So for now, here's the FTS. I'll update this post with the latest FTS as time and growh progresses.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

More pics

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Why thank you, OVT

 

[Brian_Cali77]

pretty excited for this Brian. I'm alway subbed to your threads and this one is no different! Interested to see how this light does. Been debating on getting a Sat+ or this light for my 45P.

Scape looks great!

Hey CB, thanks for the sub. If the E-Series is within budget, I'd definitely go with it. It's dimmable so you can pretty much have any light level you need depending on your plants. Plus the integrated ramp timer is cool! But don't get be wrong, the Sat+ is still a good option. You can start with one and if you need more light you can what's double up.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Nice tank and I like the new stone over the okho. Your camera takes awesome pictures btw!

Thanks! yeah the seiryu is a change. Ohko is still a favorite but it can get old looking at it. However, I'm still using those in my 60p though.

Thanks for the compliment on the photos. They were taken with a NX300 with a 30mm f/2. It's my other relatively new hobby.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Very nice tank! How did you decide how far the light was going to be from the tank? I am a little confused because 60F are so shallow (7") that the light needs to be higher in order to not have crazy high PAR at the substrate?

I just took a guess really. I did raise it from when I was using a Ray 2. I also dimmed my daylight setting on the W channel to 75% starting from the Orange preset. Also, my photoperiod is 7 hours. I'm just going to have to observe and dial in my light intensity, duration, and CO2 rate. But the advantage of using the E-Series is that you can dim the light. So even so you don't get the distance quite right, you can throttle the light down. I just need to find that sweet spot... which will take some time.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

damn brian.. good job on the tank!!!

Thanks, bro! Your tank is looking sick too... maybe we'll see some Finnex fixtures in the classifieds and a new E-Series in your near future?

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Well I'm still assessing the light.. But so far I really like it. But time will tell, especially when the HC rebounds and starts spreading. I'll also be curious to see how red the AR 'mini' can get under this light.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

I'm going to make some slight changes in the plants in here soon. I'm also tempted to re-setup my can and Cal Aqua Lily pipes.. or just be lazy as stick with the HOB, which I'll just remove for photos. Ahh, decisions decisions...

For now, one more photo.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Looking very nice Brian! It looks very bright for such a small compact fixture, I like the slim profile. For the super-high tech folks out there, I'm sure a few of these babies on a tank will get you in the category of Metal Halide without the bulk and power consumption.

Drools....

Good point, bro.. can't wait to try one of these on my 60p

 

[Brian_Cali77]

looks good. Just curious though....how much processing was done to those pictures? I'd love to see some basic, non-worked pics if there has been any.

almost no processing other than the internal jpeg engine inside the nx300. I just cropped some, resized and adjusted contrast a bit in post processing. I usually shoot RAW now but didn't feel the need to pull out any more detail. It's all in the glass.. It's a 30mm f/2 shot wide open for shallow DOF.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

What's your camera equipment you're using?

 

[Brian_Cali77]

The light comes with adhesive stick-on Velcro. No videos, yet.

 

[Brian_Cali77]

Couple of shots in one of the dim cloud cover settings