15gal SPS dominated nano

SCMatt · Jul 31, 2014

Got a box from Marine Depot today....this ensued. I think all boxes with reef toys and frags glow like this.....or at least should.

New toys!

So not to long ago I noticed my red planet was just not getting the red color like it does in high light, same with a few other acros. They were growing just showing signs of low light. Even with my DIY LED basically right on top of the water cranked to 100%. Also the DIY LED seemed to be flickering the past few weeks, no idea why. So I upgraded, might as well. Now I'm wondering why it took this long. Put this fixture up today, only problem was it seems to have a dead fan....I have a line open with Ecotech and hope to reach them tomorrow about this. No big deal, not worried I know Ecotech will come through. And I'm not blasting them to begin with so the fixture won't overheat. I have this fixture set 8" off the water with the standard lenses and running at 25-30% and its just as bright as my DIY fixture at 100%, wow. And the control this one has, I can control it from my iphone from my office......what?!?! Crazy. I see many threads about people having problems with the software and struggling to set these fixtures up but to be honest it took maybe 10mins for me? Super easy, no problems with the software and I actually find it quite easy to use. First impressions apart from the fan have me impressed. Now lets just see if the coral like it.

SkipperTheSohalTang · Jul 31, 2014

Awesome! The DIYs usually flicker if the auto top off plug is by there. Have fun with the radions! Love your corals

SCMatt · Aug 1, 2014

Thanks. Heard back from Ecotech this morning. Fan is working as intended, it only kicks on in high heat so I have nothing to worry about with the light.

SCMatt · Aug 5, 2014

So far this light is AWESOME! My LPS are puffier and looking more lively, my SPS seems to be putting out growth spurts, and the control and having it on a schedule is just sooooo much better and easier for me. Love it so far. Since I updated the Angels and Demons thread I might as well post here too.

Here it is June 28th

And here it is today Aug 5th, I tried white balancing to more daylight this time. I've got 3 new shoots popping up around the outer ring that look to go vertical in addition to the great encrusting going on the rack. Its about time to move this guy I think. Its been under Radion XR15w Pro for a couple of days now instead of my DIY LED.

Here is a shot of the left side of my frag rack. From top L to R: Copps Hulk Millix2 baby frag and small colony, Blue tenuis, Angels and Demons Milli, Pink Lemonade X2 (both look a bit different but were both sold to me as pink lemonades, kinda weird. The burn on the right one is from my rainbow table on the other side of the rack. Put it next to the other pink lemonade and it seems to be growing back slowly), Red dragon and Rommels Rainbow Milli.

jservedio · Aug 5, 2014

lol love the strobe in the box! Tank is looking awesome so far. Definitely one to follow. I have the xr30 pro over my 20g (wish the 15 was out about a year ago) and my acros love it. My biggest problem is keeping nutrients in the water column after a couple years and have been dosing potassium nitrate along with heaps and heaps of food and still have trouble keeping them readable.

What are you feeding/doing to keep some nutrients in the tank?

SCMatt · Aug 5, 2014

Thanks! Just feeding the fish and letting the fish poop, thats about it. Every once in a while I'll feed Reef Roids as a broadcast to the coral.

SCMatt · Aug 10, 2014

Cali Tort

Updated shot of my CC Oakland A's

Red Planet (still doesn't really look like Red Planet to me)
Before

Now (Polyps not really extended)

Hawkins before

Now

SkipperTheSohalTang · Aug 12, 2014

When are ya gonna throw some frags this way?

SCMatt · Aug 14, 2014

I wish I had big enough colonies to frag already tbh!

jcloutie80 · Aug 14, 2014

Amazing photos!

Lilmatty5dimes · Aug 14, 2014

Awesome tank. Think I'm going to start something similar to this.

Daniel@R2R · Aug 15, 2014

We need an updated FTS with all these new frags!

SCMatt · Aug 15, 2014

Thanks all. I will work on getting that FTS.

SCMatt · Aug 20, 2014

New FTS. Finally glued some frags onto the rocks after I cut a bunch of those overgrown palys off. Back wall is basically hands off. Thats the grazing area for snails and the blenny, just letting the coraline take over the green and its slowly coming along. Still have a lot of loose frags I need to glue if I have room.

Some top down shots. The retina blaster got a few knicks while moving it around thats what the white spots are. CC Retina Blaster on left, Hawkins on right.

CC Okaland A's, Copps Hulk Milli x 2 on right, ORA purple Plasma on left, and CC Teal Tip Stag in middle

Copps Hulk Milli, love the colors on this one.

Some sort of sunrise or sunset milli, forget really. Growing great.

SCMatt · Aug 21, 2014

Just noticed how much of a difference you can see from the FTS of May and the FTS of August. Especially in the Green Slimer growth.

classklown90 · Aug 21, 2014

SCMatt said:
Just noticed how much of a difference you can see from the FTS of May and the FTS of August. Especially in the Green Slimer growth.

Wow nice growth. Looks great

Velodog2 · Aug 22, 2014

I like the tank! I'd like to know details about the DIY light you were running. How many emitters, what mix of colors, what amperage ballasts? Are you getting the improved coloration you were hoping for from the Ecotech?

SCMatt · Aug 22, 2014

Thanks all. The DIY light consisted of 15 total LEDs. 3 UV, 3 Royal Blue, 6 whites, and an "Ocean coral white" from LED Group Buy. They were driven all with 3 700 mA buckpucks connected to a 24v 6.5amp power supply. I use the buckpucks instead of meanwells because I'm just more familiar with them really. As far as the new Radion goes I absolutely LOVE it. Totally worth the upgrade IMO. I'm seeing much more visible growth, like daily growth than I was. I'm running them at 50% right now and thats brighter than my DIY was at 100%. So I still have room to crank it if I ever wanted to. Color on the coral seems to be good. Better than the DIY, I think so....tons better? Hard to tell. Gaining more control, wider spectrum of color adjustments, and more punch for getting as good if not better color was worth it though. And the thing is smaller and lighter than my DIY fixture, runs cooler as well.

On another note, I had a clown jump last night. I have a screen top but he went out right by the filter where theres a space. Luckily I had just gone to bed and there was a styro cooler by the tank he landed on. Heard a flopping or tapping sound on the styro cooler and got up to check it sure enough theres a clown so I scooped it up and back in the tank he went. Doing find today. Just thankful for that cooler, otherwise theres no way I would of heard it. I need to rig up something to cover the filter space now.

Velodog2 · Aug 22, 2014

Ok thanks, that DIY does sound a little underpowered for sps. I'm trying to do a similar tank using an old via aqua 18 but have stuck with my DIY lighting, so far.

I have a lot of experience with unwanted palys and found the best way to be rid of them is to inject them directly (and carefully) with straight muriatic acid using an insulin syringe. I use no more than 0.2 ml per day in two 0.1 ml sessions. It takes very little - about as small a push on the plunger as possible per polyp. I can kill 10 or more a day using this method, although even with the powerful acid fragments often survive and need a second hit a week or so later. The acid also seems to neutralize the palytoxin so my other corals are not affected in the same way as when I tried injecting them with just vinegar.