PurpleMonster's 36X30X18 SPS Domination!

[PurpleMonster]

Whats up guys and gals, just found this site looking up some stuff through google and a lot of my findings bring me here so figure why not join!

So here is the breakdown, been reefing for a little over 8 years started like most softies and worked my way up to the Stix! this is a great addiction and as long as my kids keep supporting me i will continue lol.... the wife is on the fence always haha.

Tank: 36X30X18 Acrylic with silent overflow 1 full siphon, and second is just open drain with ball valve.

Lighting: Custom 36X17X2 IceCap Illumination that i retro fitted 48LED's into and running 2 over driven T5 Purple Plus. All the LED's are currently running with no optics, and im waiting on my low profile optics from reefledlights, 70* for the XRE and 80* for the XPG R5's.

Flow: Dual MP40w's

Circulation: Eheim 1262 - Feeds the Display, Frag tank, GFO Rx, and Ca Rx.

Skimmer: BM 180CS cone(replaced my BK Mini 200 it was too big hardly ever got anything in the cup)

Reactors: AAT Calcium Reactor, TLF(Carbon, GFO, Bio-Pellets(made a cone out of acrylic for the TLF rx for better upflow) )

Control: APEX runs the Rx, LED's/T5's, Frag tank light, other things.....

System has been up and running a little over a year now, and have grown all my corals from 1/2" to 1 1/2" frags, all babies and am very proud to see them where they are now. Still have a long way to go and am excited to see them fill the tank eventually!

Fish list: Yellow Coris wrasse, Mystery wrasse, pair of Bartlet anthias, Hippo tang, Perc pair, 4 trimma/eviota gobies, there are more i just cant think of them right now lol.

ok enough talk here are some pictures :

FTS

Side

My baby: Tyree Purple Monster

Sump

Its a little older picture but only difference right now is i moved the reactor to the upper right side of sump, and the bottle went to where the reactor is sitting in this picture. Also my BubbleKing Mini 200 is no longer there. After the frist few cups i emptied it slowed a lot on the skimming and started collecting mostly at the neck lol, so it was time for a smaller skimmer. Went down from 1000lph of air to the BM 180CS cone which pulls 500lph.

LED Fixture:

Comments are welcome suggestions deff welcome and dont be afraid to say u hate it .

Thank you.

 

[PurpleMonster]

Doble Post.... blaah already messing up lol.

 

[Dave3112]

Looks great to me! Welcome to R2R Also!!

 

[PurpleMonster]

Thanks Dave much appreciated!

 

[gar732]

Nice, another CT reefer! Awesome tank. How long have you had the LEDs?

 

[PurpleMonster]

For sure!

The LED's have been on the system for over 5 months now, initially it was in my canopy that i had on there but i got tired of how bulky it was only housing a few LED's lol. So I decided to retro the lights into a T5 Fixture, i got for Free-Ninty-Free lol.

The fixture however has only been online for 3 weeks so T5/LED's.

Thanks.

 

[lps1212]

Lookin good Purp. Love the mystery wrasse one of my faves has soo much personalty also you sps is lookin healthy great colors in your tank n welcome to the site

 

[PurpleMonster]

Thanks bud, I am hoping the addition of the purple Plus T5's will color up all my reds and pinks since they faded once I installed LED's lol.

 

[Troylee]

Thanks for joining us man!!!!! Gotta love the diy and sticks the only reason I'm in this hobby lol.... Welcome..1smile1

 

[PurpleMonster]

Thanks Troy!!! glad to be here!

 

[ricwilli]

Welcome. You have a Beautiful tank. Can't believe the growth on the sps's. Was all the growth of the stix under this same lighting?

 

[PurpleMonster]

Thank you very much, i would say about half the growth is... I have made several frags as well after adding the LED's and they heal fairly quickly as well as color up too.

Thanks!

 

[fsu1dolfan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef Purple - You tank is looking great and i dig the LED fixture. The sps colonies are beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

 

[cdness]

Really like the LED light you built. What kind of enclosure is it? Also what ratio white/blue do you have going?

Is your blue and yellow Damsel a good citizen in the tank? My fiance wants one really bad but I have yet to find a damsel that is a good citizen in the tank. That one is supposed to be peaceful I think.

 

[skinz78]

Welcome to R2R and great looking tank!

 

[PurpleMonster]

Welcome to Reef2Reef Purple - You tank is looking great and i dig the LED fixture. The sps colonies are beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

Much appreciated!! i am deff. loving the LED's myself

Really like the LED light you built. What kind of enclosure is it? Also what ratio white/blue do you have going?

Is your blue and yellow Damsel a good citizen in the tank? My fiance wants one really bad but I have yet to find a damsel that is a good citizen in the tank. That one is supposed to be peaceful I think.

Thanks bud, The fixture is an old IceCap Illumination that was 48" had 4 T5 bulbs and 4 LED T5 Style bulbs.... I cut the fixture down to 36" and added some fans to help with cooling. The yellow damsel is the most peaceful fish in the tank. Alone they are great in a reef, add more than one and you have a problem. of course unless you have a giant tank .

Welcome to R2R and great looking tank!

Thank you!

 

[PurpleMonster]

Here is the filtration as it stands right now, will be cleaning it up a bit this weekend.

Out with the New, and in with the new NEW lol.... The Nac7 came off the system after only being used for 7 days. I got a wicked deal on the BM 180CS, dont miss my bubble king anymore.

Thanks.

 

[turbo21]

Very nice tank. What camera and lens are you using for your photos, they look really good

bob

 

[PurpleMonster]

Bob thank you much for the compliment, as i have always taken horrible pictures. The lense is the stock Rebel Xti(2008 or 9 model) 18 - 55 F4.8 or something like that, the biggest thing i have noticed in the last few weeks is i have been playing around a lot with exposure times, and white balance. Although i still cant get a good white balance achieved with all LED's on specially the blue. I have to turn off one set of blues in order to take the pictures, Thank you for the compliment once again.

Question for you guys using LED's, so far i love it bc i dont need to use any Chiller and i dont need to have my 12k btu A/C on all day long while at work. I added the 2 T5's to my fixture bc I want to be able to give my Red's and pinks more coloration. I chose the ATI purple + bulbs and they are great but in turn i have to turn down my Whites to about 400ma, i am not sure if i am loosing too much par since the tank is only 18" deep and with water level probably only 16" between the sand and water line. I am tossing around the idea in my head that i will just set my whites to 100% and use 2 ATI Blue + to get more 20k look in the tank. You guys think this will be a better idea than using the 2 Purple + bulbs im currently running? .... I would love to just put in 4 T5's and run 2 blue + and 2 purple + and in the center do a total of 60 LED's but the fixture i just not wide enough to support 4 T5's + the LED's unless i completely redo my LED rig and go with some C-Chanel which i have also really thought about lol. I would be able to get more LED;s in the rig, and i already have the fans that keep my current heatsinks cold(well i cant feel any warmth) to the touch.

Woah sorry for all the words lol, if any of u guys have suggestions for this it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[swannyson7]

Tank is looking great buddy!