60 Gallons of Barebottom, Metal Halide Rockin, SPS Dominant Cubeness

[RCS82]

Another week gone by. Tank is over a month old and no ugly phase still. Two urchins and two dozen snails are doing what they can. Nothing much new to report. Added a couple more sps frags but don't have room for too many more so being extra picky these days. Everything is looking good with no real casualties, just 1 small urchin and 1 sps frag didn't make it. Even have 12 fish in there now. Will post some pics this week if I can.

Maybe an equipment list, which will be pretty short and sweet. This tank is simple and more in line with the berlin style I think. Lots of live rock, a skimmer and strong lights and flow

-60 gallon cube
-Diy sump, 20"x22" app.
-roughly 80 lbs live rock
-Hamilton MH 12"x12" fixture
-14k 250W Phoenix bulb
-2 XHO Reefbrites from an XR30 kit
-Eshopps S120 gen 3 cone skimmer
-Sicce 3.0 return pump
-Fluval heater 200W
-2 Icecap 2k gyres
-Tunze 3155 ATO
-Pinpoint Ph monitor

Using Fauna Marin Pro Salt and will start Kalk through a doser soon when Alk demand picks up.

 

[RCS82]

5 week mark today. Coraline growth has taken off. Added a few more sps frags. I'll list here, mainly so I can keep track of what I've added.

JF Homewrecker
PC Rainbow
TGC Orange Creamsicle
ASD Rainbow Milli
Sunset Milli
A purple Milli
CC Purple Haze
Jimmybean (RR I think)
JF Fox Flame

And a Kung Pow Monti and a Wolverine Favia

I'll post some pics soon. Just glued them all down and had to rearrange some rocks and stuff.

 

[RCS82]

6 weeks now and pretty much on autopilot and watching paint dry lol. No real growth yet as I've moved and rearranged most things in the tank but everything is in its place now so will be keeping my hands outta the tank. Next task is to set up a kalk reservoir and a dosing pump as the alk creeps down. Also need to get better with the pics. Will add a couple shots of some of the newest frags.

Here's 3 healthy specimens from Frag Garage (Victoria, BC, Canada), crappy focus on the cell phone pics though.
Left to right is ASD Rainbow Milli, PC Rainbow, and TGC Orange Creamsicle.

And I tracked down a JF Homewrecker

 

[RCS82]

Played around with the cell phone with the Reefbrites on.

Got room for a few more but time for some grow out with these frags.

 

[Hugster78]

Looking good. Just my opinion. Montis become Realastate headaches/nitemares. Put them on the bottom or there own rock.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Looking good. Just my opinion. Montis become Realastate headaches/nitemares. Put them on the bottom or their own rock.

I totally agree…..the only better idea would be to not have any at all. Mine have become a pest in my 50g cube. I constantly have to cover parts of them with epoxy

 

[RCS82]

Thanks for the comments. Totally understand and this tank isn't a longterm setup. Plus they are off to the side in their own area anyways. Ones a Kung Pow whichn I wouldn't mind if it grew like crazy. A red cap or something similar, different story, wouldn't plunk one of those in a small tank like this.

 

[RedoubtReef]

Love the Phoenix 14Ks. Ran them for years. It's great to see a tank that isn't washed out in blue and needs filters to get a decent pic. Really good looking tank you go there.

 

[RCS82]

Love the Phoenix 14Ks. Ran them for years. It's great to see a tank that isn't washed out in blue and needs filters to get a decent pic. Really good looking tank you go there.

I still play around with a filter when the reefbrites are on but I much prefer a daylight look. The Phoenix bulbs I love, but not sure if they're still being made. Just saw these by chance at a local pet store so I grabbed them. In canadian dollars that's fairly cheap lol.

 

[RedoubtReef]

I think they have been discounted but they're still in stock at a few places. Hamilton still makes te ones you have there and Ushio makes a 14K you can order direct from them: https://www.ushio.com/product/aqualite-metal-halide/

 

[RCS82]

Hamilton I'm fully aware of and have heard great things from others using their bulbs. And Reefbrite is putting out a lot of awesome metal halide products. Just in Canada here the selection is limited, but all good.

 

[RCS82]

Two 24" light bars added-

 

[RCS82]

Not much to report. 8 weeks now. Added the new light bars to brighten things up in the mornings and evening.
A new ruby red dragonette, Ska jackpot, dynamite chalice RR wolverine, rainbow loom, golden rod anacropora.
Everything's been awesome.

 

[RCS82]

2 new 24" bars

15" Reefbrites

Metal Halide

 

[RCS82]

Haven't been updating this too much lately. Tank is humming along and doing great. 3.5 months old and nothing for ugly phases or nuisance algae. Changed out my Phoenix 14k bulb for a new Hamilton 14k. Can not tell the difference between the two, both are fantastic.

 

[RCS82]

The lighting setup.
Hamilton Cayman Sun Reflector with 14k, double-ended, 250 watt Hamilton bulb
Two 15" Reebrite XHOs from an XR30 kit with two 24" bars similar to an Orphek

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Haven't been updating this too much lately. Tank is humming along and doing great. 3.5 months old and nothing for ugly phases or nuisance algae. Changed out my Phoenix 14k bulb for a new Hamilton 14k. Can not tell the difference between the two, both are fantastic.

Your tank looks incredible!!

 

[RCS82]

Your tank looks incredible!!

Thanks for the comment. It's a work in progress lol. Has had water in it since October and has done well.

 

[RCS82]

This ASD Rainbow Milli is doing awesome

 

[RCS82]

Orange Passion frag