victoly

Your right it is not a type of skimmer, but back to the OP they state "What would you recommend?" And their recommendations are no skimmer. Not gonna argue hair styles or colors because it doesn't pertain to the topic at hand. *just being an advocate, I have a skimmer on both systems... one does better than the other. The Tunze being the weaker of the two.* patrick seems to be doing just fine advocating for himself. I'm confused as to why he needs help, especially from someone who runs a different type of system than the person he's "advocating" for?

no skimmer isn't a type of skimmer just like bald isn't a hair color.

OK I will look a little deeper into what I am going to do. The first Kessil I mentioned, the A350w is dimmable by using two knobs on the top for either channel 1 or 2. So I thought that was the only was the Kessil could be dimmed. But is an apex or something similar can over ride and still do automated dimming, that might be the way to go. Thanks again for everyones input. I will do some more reading and let everyone know which unit I decide to go with. Ah, i overlooked the A350w. It looks like you in fact can manually dim, but I don't see any product specs that say that you can remotely control the dim. I don't mean to push you in the direction of tank automation, I've just noticed that as people's tanks increase in complexity, they frequently tend to end up with a tank controller, whether it be APEX or one of the other controllers. There is a community of people on ARC who are proficient in the setup and can help you if you choose to go that way. Good luck on the light search and let us know!

However, you can dim the AI fixtures via the VDM port on the apex. It's basically a wire that goes into your LED driver, and connects to your apex with a cat5 connector. However, if you don't plan on doing some heavy automating and want to start off more simply, the AI supplied controller would be more than adequate. If you get the kessil, a manual timer will be more than adequate.

Yeah, if the light doesn't have a built in control, but is dimmable, you have to have a method of dimming the LEDs even if it's a constant, manual dim. There aren't any fixtures that require an APEX per se, but there are fixtures that require a dimming device to operate. The way the dimmable drivers for LEDs generally work is that you apply a voltage of 0-10v to 2 wires on the driver. 0 corresponds to 0% brightness and 10 corresponds to 100% brightness. That being said, kessils are NOT dimmable fixtures, so they're just going to have on/off capability.

Here's all you could ever want to know about H2S in the reef http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/rhf/index.php#14

I won't be tweaking it all the time. Just until I find the look I want. Main reason for ramp up/down is for the mid day being a little warmer to help with coral growth. This is all just from info I have read through various forums and gathered from talking to others. But a lot of people seem to agree that the warmer light will aid in growth as the bluer light look really nice but doesn't grow quite as fast. I would like to have a nice automated mix of the two. During the day when I'm not home to view the tank, the lights would automatically change to the warmer light to benefit the corals. As the day ends and I am home with my family, I'd like the light to go to a bluer look before moon lights come on. Yeah, that seems to be the prevailing opinion. However I don't know that you need to necessarily turn down the blues during the day. They still provide usable light. What the most common approach is, in terms of timeline : blue -> blue+white -> blue -> moonlight.

they allow you to remotely monitor and control anything that can be plugged in. you can control the speed of your ecotech mp's or dim/brighten your LEDs. it's a pretty incredible tool and there is a dedicated forum section for it. Reason I ask is, if you choose to go that route later, a controller for the light unit itself is redundant, because the light can be controlled via the apex.

It's the beauty of genetics.

yeah, this is nice because you can increase the amount of time your tank is lit without running into some of the heat/algae problems that you might encounter if you ran all lights 100% during your photoperiod. best of both worlds IMO.

The only thing that I have to add to what mike said is that the differentiating factor in the super high end fixtures (radion comes to mind) is that you can split the color channels and tweak to your hearts content. While this may be necessary for very finicky aesthetists, seems that most people just pick the color spectrum they like and stick with it and aren't constantly tweaking.

Not stored "dry", a PH probe should have a cap on the end with liquid in it to keep it wet. If it doesn't have the cap you should avoid it. This guy speaks the truth. I tried to find one used when I was putting together my apex, and came to the realization that I spent 500 bucks on a controller, god knows how much on my livestock and I'm going to skimp on a used temp probe/ph probe?

are you going to use a contoller like an apex at any point in the future?

yeah, that's the issue. the mask is bad. I had the same problem when i switched from TWC to uverse. the ip should be 192.168.1.XXX vs 192.168.0.XXX. The gateway will probably need to be switched to 192.168.1.254 as well, if yours is anything like mine.

we are doing a tour with one of our sponsors in the next week or two (buildmyled.com) and they do custom units for a pretty cheap price.

I personally like sunrise sunset because it gives you a longer photo period where you can view your inhabitants. As for storms, totally unnecessary and IMO don't look good as well as having a tendency to freak out fish. In terms of kessil, and I'm just conjecturing here, but you may need 2 kessils to fully cover a 4 ft tank. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You better get behind the scenes and start making deals before he puts them up for auction, things might get crazy.

With respect to steering people down to "it's out of line" to steer people " to high nutriant biothemes" I ask you, why can you justify that your opinion is more justified than my opinion. I hear the hi-tech logic. I also hear your strength in conviction in everybody else is doing it. One does not need to intimately know the names of complex bacteria to use them. Only to provide the conditions that they require to perform, this is not rocket science. As I see it, because you are of superior intellect, you no longer have a need to know something that you did not consider important from your education and experience. The world around you has more truth than your experience and education. I consider that "arrogance of youth". We will agree to disagree. La bonne temps roulee, Patrick Right, so you can ad hominem by calling me arrogant and then take the high road by agreeing to disagree. The reality is that just because I am not old enough to draw social security does not mean that I don't have world experience. You have no idea who I am, where I've been or what I've accomplished. The title of the thread is "what skimmer should I get", not why should I use a DSB.

shamless plug. SHAMELESS.

duly noted. haven't unlocked since I ran my iphone 2 on tmobile

lemme know

I don't know how many ways I can say this, but very few people on ARC are keeping high nutrient lagoon biothemes. A majority of club members are running mixed softy/LPS/SPS reefs that work better low nutrient with steady parameters than the converse (myself included in this category). I'm not saying your methods don't work, and I'm not saying that it's out of line to suggest them. What I do assert is that to steer every new member in the direction of skimmerless DSBs with no automation whatsoever is a path to failure for all but the most experienced hobbyists who are capable of troubleshooting and maintaining a complex biological filtration system. If the end goal is to have low nutrient with even a moderate component of SPS, i feel that a skimmer is the best path to achieve low nutrients and stability. That being said, the OP is asking for skimmer recommendations, not why skimmers suck and DSBs are preferable.

for a pH probe, just buy a new one or one that has been unused. temp probes don't really ever "go bad" like pH/ORP/SpC/DO do, so if you could find used it should be fine. For simplicity, I'd just contact one of our sponsors and see what kind of deal they can cut you.

So whose going to be the first ARC'er to procure one?

Are you asking me or is directed toward someones post? At this point, I plan to have a tank, stand refugium, sump, light, rocks, fish corals and water. Everything else is still in the air. I was being mildly facetious. In the long run, if you do not have significant denitrification, you will continually have to dilute your tank with partial water changes. The built in requirement to do partial water changes tells me, the method is flawed. I provide sufficient nutriant pathways with DSB and mud filters. No skimmers, no partial water changes, water from the Trinity Aquifer goes straight into the tank. When you operate large systems with 1000G, I question any assertion that tells me it is good husbandry to throw away good tank water. Patrick I disagree. A water change isn't a flawed method. It's a time tested method that 95% of successful aquarists use. Not everyone has access to well water vs city water, and not everyone has 1000 gallons to do water changes on. You have to consider that not everyone has a system like you, and your method may not be the best for any and all scenarios.