Coral Beauty & the Clown Fish (Innovative EXT170)

LeeLoo Lola

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Beautiful fish and coral! Jealous of all the reefers over in Charlotte lol it's been a ghost town lately in Central NC. Reefsmart even merged with the Aquatic Expo over there in Charlotte so we don't even get an expo anymore!
Thank you! We grew up in Central N.J. and reefed there for so many years. That is really sad to hear.
 
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JM302

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And look who I finally caught! Crabzilla fought valiantly, but the temptation of a silverside finally got him.

I’ve been chasing this guy so long I developed an attachment to him. So in the sump he goes. In one of those battles he must have lost a claw. He’s really big. I should have held up a quarter for reference. By far the biggest we caught. One more crab left that I’m aware of.

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How did you mount your xr15s? I am about to order lights - stood up my 170 EXT today - I didn’t realize there is ‘t a lip to mount the arm. So hang kit?
Still debating between xr15 and xr30. I could get away with 2 xr30s. Maybe.
 
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JM302

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How did you mount your xr15s? I am about to order lights - stood up my 170 EXT today - I didn’t realize there is ‘t a lip to mount the arm. So hang kit?
Still debating between xr15 and xr30. I could get away with 2 xr30s. Maybe.
I use two RMS arms with a 60.5" RMS Track.

I also had a friend print off two of these:

They give me piece of mind, but I don't think they're necessary.

IMG_5854.jpg
IMG_5855.jpg

Lighting the tank is a bit trickier because of the 30" depth. If you intend on a SPS dominated tank, you'd be best with XR30's with the long side of the light perpendicular to the front of the tank. If you run them long side parallel to the front, the front and back of the tank will be relatively dark.

The XR15's are square - so no option to orient them in a more convenient way. However I have 48" blade glows on the front and back of the XR15's. I love the coverage / light / color.
 

alpenreef

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I use two RMS arms with a 60.5" RMS Track.

I also had a friend print off two of these:

They give me piece of mind, but I don't think they're necessary.

IMG_5854.jpg
IMG_5855.jpg

Lighting the tank is a bit trickier because of the 30" depth. If you intend on a SPS dominated tank, you'd be best with XR30's with the long side of the light perpendicular to the front of the tank. If you run them long side parallel to the front, the front and back of the tank will be relatively dark.

The XR15's are square - so no option to orient them in a more convenient way. However I have 48" blade glows on the front and back of the XR15's. I love the coverage / light / color.
That would be quite an investment. 2 or 3 xr15 AND 2 blade glows.
Anyway, I’ll have to research eurobrace mounting, I didn’t realize that is a problem.
 
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JM302

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That would be quite an investment. 2 or 3 xr15 AND 2 blade glows.
Anyway, I’ll have to research eurobrace mounting, I didn’t realize that is a problem.
Yes, lighting this tank was particularly expensive.

I started with (3) XR15's. Realized the front and back of the tank were dark. I also had some crazy shadowing going on.

Decided to try 1 blade glow for the front of the tank. It made it look fantastic but really highlight the fact that the back of the tank was obviously dark. This forced me into another blade glow.

You could go 3 Blades - 2 glows, 1 grow. That would give good coverage and color.
 

alpenreef

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Yes, lighting this tank was particularly expensive.

I started with (3) XR15's. Realized the front and back of the tank were dark. I also had some crazy shadowing going on.

Decided to try 1 blade glow for the front of the tank. It made it look fantastic but really highlight the fact that the back of the tank was obviously dark. This forced me into another blade glow.

You could go 3 Blades - 2 glows, 1 grow. That would give good coverage and color.
Blades only? I hadn‘t considered that hmmm. I guess I knew what I was getting myself into here with a 30 inch wide tank.

I have a friend who runs 6 ai prime 16s on his 5 ft tank. That would still be (marginally) cheaper.
 

X-37B

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Blades only? I hadn‘t considered that hmmm. I guess I knew what I was getting myself into here with a 30 inch wide tank.

I have a friend who runs 6 ai prime 16s on his 5 ft tank. That would still be (marginally) cheaper.
Everythings expensive, lol.
I was going to do 5 xr15's in an aquatic life t5 hybrid. Decided to go all led and did not want bars on this build.
I went with 2 RB 50's so alot of light and no shadowing.
I will be using 2 xr15's on my ext 50 frag system and have 3 spairs from another old build, lol.
I have ran 16hds, 8 actualy on 3 different systems. I would go with 32's or 64's if you want to run AI's.
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9
 

alpenreef

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I use two RMS arms with a 60.5" RMS Track.

I also had a friend print off two of these:

They give me piece of mind, but I don't think they're necessary.

IMG_5854.jpg
IMG_5855.jpg

Lighting the tank is a bit trickier because of the 30" depth. If you intend on a SPS dominated tank, you'd be best with XR30's with the long side of the light perpendicular to the front of the tank. If you run them long side parallel to the front, the front and back of the tank will be relatively dark.

The XR15's are square - so no option to orient them in a more convenient way. However I have 48" blade glows on the front and back of the XR15's. I love the coverage / light / color.
What kind of bracket do you use to add
the blades to the xr15s
 
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JM302

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What kind of bracket do you use to add
the blades to the xr15s


I like these a lot better than the hybrid mount system from AI. They allow you to angle the blades rather than just aiming them straight down.
 
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JM302

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Day off today…. Woke up, checked my apex. Doesn’t everyone check their alk trends first thing in the morning?

I noticed that my pH was climbing. Morning low is usually around 8.20 and this morning i noticed it was a bit over 8.25. Thought nothing of it.

Got out of bed, walked down the stairs and noticed my tank was lit. Yep. The Mobious date/time bug strikes again. It affects so many people yet they won’t acknowledge or fix it. Do better.

IMG_5860.png

I seriously hate Mobious. And for those that inevitably ask ‘Did you open a ticket with Ecotech?’ Many many times is the answer to only get the same response from their response ‘oh. Reboot everything. Oops’.
 
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JM302

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Tank is just doing well... everything is growing. Fish are happy. I've started to dose TM Bacto Balance which isn't exactly keeping my nutrients in balance. I had a steady .06-.08 po4 and 10ppm no3 until I started with bacto balance. Within 2 days my nutrients went to ZERO. I am dosing both no3 and po4 as needed to maintain my levels.

I am only dosing BB to try out this whole feeding the corals via bacteria idea. I can't say that I see a huge difference, but it's possible I've seen an improvement.

I ran an ICP recently and found that my trace elements were ZERO as well. I have since started to dose TM K+ Elements as well. The tank, especially the Goniopora, seem to be appreciating the trace elements.

I've been struggling with daytime SPS poly extension. Not sure what the deal is. The few acros I have are wide open at night.

I know most of you will call me crazy, but I have a huge fish order coming in from Dr. Reef in a few weeks or so. I'm struggling to keep my nutrients up so I figured, what could another 12 fish hurt? LOL. I'm praying the trigger works out - and the blue tang will be re-homed when necessary.


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Few pics for fun:

Foxy says nom nom nom
IMG_4739.JPG

IMG_4738.JPG
 
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JM302

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Where are you buying your fish?
I buy all my fish from Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish. I've always had great luck with them.

 

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Tank looks amazing! I'm the process of building a 200 EXT. I also plan to utilize Dr. Reef for all the fish too
 
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JM302

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Tank looks amazing! I'm the process of building a 200 EXT. I also plan to utilize Dr. Reef for all the fish too

Thanks! I wish I had the room for the 200... My office had the perfect wall for the 5ft tank, not a 6ft. I would have had to rearrange the whole office to accommodate so I kept it simple. The 30" depth of these tanks is EPIC.

You can't go wrong with Dr. Reef.
 

alpenreef

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I buy all my fish from Dr. Reef's Quarantined Fish. I've always had great luck with them.

I may have to try them, i built a QT just for observation and have 5 fish (tangs and a wrasse) in it. What I didn‘t expect was one of them breaking out with white spots 3 weeks in. Started copper quarantine today and reset to 4 weeks to go.
 
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JM302

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I may have to try them, i built a QT just for observation and have 5 fish (tangs and a wrasse) in it. What I didn‘t expect was one of them breaking out with white spots 3 weeks in. Started copper quarantine today and reset to 4 weeks to go.
Yeah, I was going to do a large quarantine batch myself - I just realized it wasn't worth it and at the end of the day, not any less expensive. All of the meds + potential loss + all the work...... no thanks.
 

alpenreef

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I mean it’s not exactly a hassle to have my QT next to my tank and watch these guys all day. But yeah. At the end of it not that much cheaper.
IMG_1087.jpeg
 

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