50 gallon cube SPS dominant

cpark645 · Jan 14, 2018

About time for an update. Been fighting algae issues for the past 6 months, just starting to win back the fight.

cpark645 · Jan 17, 2018

Trying to learn how to take photos with DSLR.

cpark645 · Jan 17, 2018

Some more:

teen · Jan 29, 2018

Nice updates seems like the tank is healthy. Hows the t5/radion Combination working out? I have a 60cube and I'm running t5/halide combo and I'm thinking about switching my halide out for a radion. My lights are about 18" above the water and I don't think I'm getting good penetration into the water with a 250w halide.

cpark645 · Jan 29, 2018

teen said:
Nice updates seems like the tank is healthy. Hows the t5/radion Combination working out? I have a 60cube and I'm running t5/halide combo and I'm thinking about switching my halide out for a radion. My lights are about 18" above the water and I don't think I'm getting good penetration into the water with a 250w halide.

Thanks! I haven’t run any par testing, but things are growing and coloring up pretty nicely. I run my lights about 12 inches off the water. I’ve never used halides, are you running the lights 18 inches off because of the heat?

teen · Jan 29, 2018

My tank is in my kitchen/ living room so I was trying to keep the light "spill" to a minimum so that my whole living area isn't lit by the fish tank. Also to keep the rimless look I built my canopy so that it's elevated off the tank and at the same time I wanted it to hide the bulbs so when you're sitting on the couch ( down low) you're not being blinded. I was able to achieve all of this but the end result were lights tucked up high in a canopy.

I used to have a radion above my last tank and I liked it. Corals all seemed healthy I just wasn't getting the growth from sps I used to get with halides on previous tanks. Hence why I ended up with a halide on this tank.

Can you attribute any change in the tank since adding the t5s?

cpark645 · Jan 29, 2018

teen said:
My tank is in my kitchen/ living room so I was trying to keep the light "spill" to a minimum so that my whole living area isn't lit by the fish tank. Also to keep the rimless look I built my canopy so that it's elevated off the tank and at the same time I wanted it to hide the bulbs so when you're sitting on the couch ( down low) you're not being blinded. I was able to achieve all of this but the end result were lights tucked up high in a canopy.

I used to have a radion above my last tank and I liked it. Corals all seemed healthy I just wasn't getting the growth from sps I used to get with halides on previous tanks. Hence why I ended up with a halide on this tank.

Can you attribute any change in the tank since adding the t5s?

Huge growth spurts. I can’t say if it was just the t5s, but I think it did help a lot.

SWSooner · Feb 7, 2018

cpark645 said:
Huge growth spurts. I can’t say if it was just the t5s, but I think it did help a lot.

First off, your tank is looking awesome! What t5s are you using and what kinda schedule are you running with the t5s and radion. I have a 60gal cube running a Radion gen3 xr15 on the ab+ schedule and was thinking about adding a hybrid t5 for my sps.

cpark645 · Feb 7, 2018

SWSooner said:
First off, your tank is looking awesome! What t5s are you using and what kinda schedule are you running with the t5s and radion. I have a 60gal cube running a Radion gen3 xr15 on the ab+ schedule and was thinking about adding a hybrid t5 for my sps.

Thank you!

Right now I'm running b+, c+, p+, b+ front to back, all ATI bulbs. Radion is running ab+. I'm actually thinking I want to try actinic bulbs to replace either the c+ or p+ though... Still playing around with different bulb combos but for now this combination has been yielding decent results.

I actually have a 60 cube too, I didn't name the thread correctly

SWSooner · Feb 7, 2018

cpark645 said:
Thank you! Right now I'm running b+, c+, p+, b+ front to back, all ATI bulbs. Radion is running ab+. I'm actually thinking I want to try actinic bulbs to replace either the c+ or p+ though... Still playing around with different bulb combos but for now this combination has been yielding decent results.

I actually have a 60 cube too, I didn't name the thread correctly

Are you running your t5s all the time or do you have a schedule for them? What are you using to control them?

cpark645 · Feb 7, 2018

SWSooner said:
Are you running your t5s all the time or do you have a schedule for them? What are you using to control them?

I'm running my radions: noon - midnight
B+: 2pm-8pm
C+,P+: 3-7 pm

I don't have dimmers on my t5s, I just turn it on/off. Using reefkeeper lite to control the lights. RKL is good enough for my current needs, but I think I want to purchase an apex or profilux for my next build.

KTTX · Feb 24, 2018

Cpark, what is your overall intensity and run times on the ab+?

TIA

cpark645 · Feb 25, 2018

KTipp said:
Cpark, what is your overall intensity and run times on the ab+?

TIA

I’m running it from noon to midnight, overall intensity is 80 I think?

cpark645 · Apr 10, 2018

Tank is doing really well recently, so I picked up a couple new frags from a local SPS guru

shoutouts to @Mr V

Pics taken with iphone 6s and orange filter glasses.

SWSooner · May 22, 2018

Did you ever decide on switching out one of your c+ or p+ bulbs for an actinic?

cpark645 · May 22, 2018

SWSooner said:
Did you ever decide on switching out one of your c+ or p+ bulbs for an actinic?

Yeah actually, I ended up swapping out the c+ for an actinic. Just judging visually I prefer it over c+, it's definitely more dim to the naked eye and less white. The c+ was too white for me.

SWSooner · May 23, 2018

cpark645 said:
Yeah actually, I ended up swapping out the c+ for an actinic. Just judging visually I prefer it over c+, it's definitely more dim to the naked eye and less white. The c+ was too white for me.

Nice. I'm wanting to follow your example and add t5s to my cube to help out my Radion. Hopefully I'll get results like yours. Love the color in your SPS.

cpark645 · May 23, 2018

SWSooner said:
Nice. I'm wanting to follow your example and add t5s to my cube to help out my Radion. Hopefully I'll get results like yours. Love the color in your SPS.

Thank you for the kind words!

SWSooner · Jun 20, 2018

Did you change your lighting schedule/duration any when you switched out the Coral+ for the Actinic? I got my lights set up and am trying to figure out my schedule and acclimate to my final schedule.