250G DD SPS Reef

jeremy · Jan 12, 2014

Looking good!!

hung · Feb 6, 2014

How's everything going with the tank? I finally finished plumbing my tank to use that Trigger systems sump I bought from you way back. How do you like the T5's and Radion Pro combo? I am probably going that route also.

Also has it been running the Ecobak?

Dan1789 · Feb 6, 2014

Also looking at going radion/t5 combo so interested to see how you're liking it.

Vmacisback · Feb 7, 2014

hung said:
How's everything going with the tank? I finally finished plumbing my tank to use that Trigger systems sump I bought from you way back. How do you like the T5's and Radion Pro combo? I am probably going that route also.

Also has it been running the Ecobak?

Tank is doing well, just over 2 months and still breaking in. Battling a bit of algae here and there but nothing crazy.

As for the lighting combo I am pretty impressed. I am running 2 radion pros 9" over the tank with 4x80w t5s and I think it has turned out to be a great combo. the radions run from 9am to 11pm and hit 50% intensity at max. I run the t5's for 5 hours at this point but would like to get them up to 7hrs a day in the future. I will also slowly try and increase the intensity of the radions as well. As for growth i think they are close but not all the way as good of growers as my previous halide/t5 setup. I still feel like it is hard to tell cause the tank is so new and hasn't really taken off yet. Frags that were glued down from the start of the tank have encrusted bases which to me is a good sign. Colors on the corals has shifted slightly (only talking about SPS corals) most have gotten better, some may have to be moved to get more light, hoping running the t5's longer will help with this. Also the appearance of the tank is much more appealing when it comes to viewing at night and in the day, especially with the sunset mode turned on, it really makes the corals glow. I am pretty happy overall.

AS for the Ecobak, it has been running from the start and does a good job at keeping the nitrate to minimal levels, I still fun GFO and have to change it out every month or so to keep up with the phosphate and keep it at 0 or close to it. I do dose Zeobak in conjunction with the Ecobak. Hope this helps.

butters417 · Feb 18, 2014

looking good! what program do you have your radions set at?

Vmacisback · Feb 19, 2014

butters417 said:
looking good! what program do you have your radions set at?

Just running them at 50% all colors at 100% except for red and green and running cool white at about 60%.

skinz78 · Feb 19, 2014

Nice looking reef!

hung · Feb 19, 2014

Any pic updates?

Vmacisback · Feb 25, 2014

Updates 2/25/14

Things are going steady. Still battling Ich with the tangs and trying to feed heavy to help boost their immune system. As for the lighting I am going to switch back over to MH. Will be running 2x250w 20k radiums. Will give another update after i make the transition. The Radion pros work well but I feel the growth is slowed with sps and the color shift that it brings out in the corals is not really to my liking. Plus MH is proven and will hopefully get the results I am looking for with the switch.

Vmacisback · Feb 25, 2014

Updates 2/25/14

couple more

Andrew9 · Feb 26, 2014

Vmacisback said:
Here are some of the transformation shots of the sump. Got it from a buddy for free and spent about $100 on baffles and glue. Turned out great.

wow that sump is sweet, that must have been a really nice buddie you have

Sahin · Feb 26, 2014

Your tank is looking sweeeeet bro! Love the Zoas on the branch rock. :D

Zack · Feb 26, 2014

Vmacisback said:
Things are going steady. Still battling Ich with the tangs and trying to feed heavy to help boost their immune system. As for the lighting I am going to switch back over to MH. Will be running 2x250w 20k radiums. Will give another update after i make the transition. The Radion pros work well but I feel the growth is slowed with sps and the color shift that it brings out in the corals is not really to my liking. Plus MH is proven and will hopefully get the results I am looking for with the switch.

Ive seen a lot of people who keep sps change back to MH or T5 ftom leds. Myself included. Cant beat sps color under MH or T5! :)

revhtree · Feb 26, 2014

Great job!

revhtree · Feb 26, 2014

Andrew9 said:
wow that sump is sweet, that must have been a really nice buddie you have

Welcome to R2R! :D

Vmacisback · Feb 26, 2014

yea he is one good dude.

Vmacisback · Feb 26, 2014

revhtree said:
Great job!

Thanks Rev!

Vmacisback · Feb 26, 2014

Zack said:
Ive seen a lot of people who keep sps change back to MH or T5 ftom leds. Myself included. Cant beat sps color under MH or T5! :)

I hate to see what happens to my energy bill but I think the die hard SPS people know why I am making the change. There is nothing more fun to me in the hobby than buying some frags and watching them encrust, color up and grow. With LEDs i wasn't really getting that excitement, I would have frags glued down for months and they would look great, just would never grow. I dunno maybe my reef is not mature enough for stuff to really be taking off but at the same time a year ago on my MH tank my experiences were very different. I feel like with LEDs i could literally have a frag garden for years with literally no growth. On the other end some corals are growing well i just dont have the money to buy 2 more Radion Pros to give more spread, so to me its really not all that great of a savings or a benefit.

Vmacisback · Feb 28, 2014

updates 2/28/14

Decided to make so aquascape changes, I felt like after adding more rock I was moving in the direction of the dreaded "rock wall". With that in mind I wanted to add some more space for corals and negative space for fish, pretty happy with how it turned out in just 2 hours....thats a record for me.