ritter6788's 75 gallon sps

ritter6788 · Oct 13, 2011

Hello all! Here are some pics of my 75 gallon set up in May 2009. I've gone through lots of stages from soft corals to LPS to SPS. I still have a lot of the corals when I was a beginner in 2008 and I'm proud of that. Many fish/corals/inverts have been traded here and there but the basic set up has been the same since 2009. The tank is a 75 gallon display with; 2x Evolution LEDs, 2x Koralia 4's. 29 gallon sump/fuge/frag tank with a par38 led, Octopus skimmer, JBJ auto top off dosing kalkwasser, reef keeper lite. Here are a few shots of my tank.

Edit: Current FTS 3/16/14

FTS 1/26/14 by ritter6788, on Flickr

ritter6788 · Oct 13, 2011

ritter6788 · Apr 15, 2012

Updated pics of my tank. Everything is going through a nice growth spurt lately. Even sps frags on my frag rack in less light are growing nicely with good color. I've paid more attention to stability lately instead of just keeping parameters "in range" and it's paying off.

revhtree · Apr 16, 2012

Wowee! Beautiful coral colonies!

bige · Apr 16, 2012

Very nice. Those red z/p really stand out.

ritter6788 · Apr 16, 2012

Thanks rev!

bige said:
Very nice. Those red z/p really stand out.

Thanks bige. Those Palys are the fastest growing thing in my tank. I've fragged several times but in a few days you can't even tell.

SeaMonkey · Apr 17, 2012

Love your tank! Hope I can get mine nearly as nice in the future. Can I ask what LED you switched to (and if not to much to ask, how much it cost, about)? I love the coloring it gives the tank.

You mentioned you are focusing on the stability of the tank instead of just keeping parameters within range, how do you do that? What are you doing differently? Also, how do you control your nitrates? I realize your tank is much longer established than mine. How did you manage to stabilize your parameters?

Your corals are looking beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

BarbH · Apr 17, 2012

Beautfiul looking corals

ritter6788 · Apr 17, 2012

SeaMonkey said:
Love your tank! Hope I can get mine nearly as nice in the future. Can I ask what LED you switched to (and if not to much to ask, how much it cost, about)? I love the coloring it gives the tank.

You mentioned you are focusing on the stability of the tank instead of just keeping parameters within range, how do you do that? What are you doing differently? Also, how do you control your nitrates? I realize your tank is much longer established than mine. How did you manage to stabilize your parameters?

Your corals are looking beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the compliments! I'm using the Evolution 120w leds 14,000k. I love these lights. They don't look very bright but for some reason they just work. I have no trouble growing clams and sps on the bottom. I think they were about $300-$350 each with shipping. With the blues only on it's an amazing color you just can't photograph very well.

Alkalinity has always dropped quickly in my tank so I was dosing baking soda in my ATO but calcium usage was slower so water changes were keeping the numbers up. Since the coral load has increased I was dosing calcium manually but not often enough so my numbers fluctuated. I've added a BRS dosing pump for calcium and since my numbers are more stable I can see much improved growth in my sps corals. I'll put up some growth shots if I get a chance soon. For nitrates I have a HUGE skimmer for my tank size. It's rated for a 250 gallon tank. I use Chaeto in the sump and change 15 gallons of water every other week. Phosphates are important to keep track of in my tank so I run a small amount of GFO in a reactor. If I don't see daily growth on some of my sps I know it's time to correct something.

BarbH said:
Beautfiul looking corals

Thank you!

ritter6788 · Apr 17, 2012

Couple of growth shots. I don't have exact time frames on some of these but I've had these lights for one year and that's when thing took off. I went through 2 rough spells last year with alk burn and some other problem with kalk I never figured out but most of this growth in within the past 6 months when I got my water parameters right. Not the most recent shots. The blue milli and the red planet are growing like weeds. It's nice to see day to day growth on some sps.

ORA Blue Milli

ORA Red Planet

Ponape Birdsnest (Lost this one to alk burn)

tuanc704 · Apr 17, 2012

Nice tank and rockscape. Awesome corals as well. Stunning

ritter6788 · Apr 17, 2012

tuanc704 said:
Nice tank and rockscape. Awesome corals as well. Stunning

Thank you for the nice compliment.

TankScraper · Apr 18, 2012

Very nice .....

Mike Cruz · May 1, 2012

Love the huge colonies of zoas! BEAUTIFUL!

Good luck with the contest!

ritter6788 · May 1, 2012

LEDTRiC said:
Love the huge colonies of zoas! BEAUTIFUL!

Good luck with the contest!

TankScraper said:
Very nice .....

Thank you both!

ritter6788 · Jul 2, 2012

Well...over 3 years this tank has been up and running. Final pics from the 75! I'm starting a new build on a 140 gallon. I broke the 75 down yesterday and moved it across the room to make space for the new tank. Sad to take it down but I know the 140 will be better!