Graham’s (GWS3) Eye Candy Thread – Best of the Best

[BranchingHammer]

WOW! Your reefs look amazing. The size and quality of your colonies is extremely respectable. Keep it up!!

 

[Reefahholic]

This is my larger display tank under blues.

I run different radion profiles based on if and what I'm supplementing them with. On the 300 gallon in the pic below I also run t5 blue plus and reefbrites. On this tank the radion profile is:

Cool White 60
Blue 100
Royal 100
Red 100
UV 100
Violet 100
Cyan 50
Lime 50

Have you measured PAR on this system.? That thing is crazy!

 

[Reefahholic]

I just had to change my old hydra 52 hds and went with 2 xr15 g6 pros for my 50g 24” cube. I was pretty shocked how low the par on these is as well…..even at 100% intensity.

PAR is lower but the spread is the same as T5. I do wish they had a bit more horsepower.

 

[1ocean]

super awesome tank !!!!!!!

 

[drawman]

Nice writeup on the ROTM. I'm curious what are you using to add Potassium, Strontium, and Iodide to your Calcium 2-part?

 

[coral reeftank]

Awesome stuff Graham! I see that some of my pieces have grafted in your tank! The only one that developed grafting for me was the RR Euphoria while the freakshow and others did not develop the grafting. I believe battlecorals had managed to graft my rainbow explosion somehow too.

P.S. I definitely think the rainbow explosion is the nicest acro out there

It’s great to know some of my classic pieces are growing out into wonderful colonies in your care, I’ll have to grab some back down the road!

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I just had to change my old hydra 52 hds and went with 2 xr15 g6 pros for my 50g 24” cube. I was pretty shocked how low the par on these is as well…..even at 100% intensity.

Problem solved

 

[SamMule]

Have you, by chance, ever put RR Bleeding Avenger and BSA Acid Rain side by side?
They seem very similar from the pics I've seen.

 

[gws3]

Nice writeup on the ROTM. I'm curious what are you using to add Potassium, Strontium, and Iodide to your Calcium 2-part?

Thanks! I use Bulk Supplements KCl (food grade so I figure safe for reef, can find on Amazon), ESV Strontium Chloride 20%, and Seachem Reef Iodide.

Awesome stuff Graham! I see that some of my pieces have grafted in your tank! The only one that developed grafting for me was the RR Euphoria while the freakshow and others did not develop the grafting. I believe battlecorals had managed to graft my rainbow explosion somehow too.

P.S. I definitely think the rainbow explosion is the nicest acro out there

It’s great to know some of my classic pieces are growing out into wonderful colonies in your care, I’ll have to grab some back down the road!

Thanks Hung. I've gotten a lot of nice piece from you over the years!

Have you, by chance, ever put RR Bleeding Avenger and BSA Acid Rain side by side?
They seem very similar from the pics I've seen.

Yes, I have actually. They are very similar corals. I dug up this pic of them side by side I took a year or two ago. Avengers on left, Acid Rain on right. Slight differences.

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

Hey GWS3. Love going through all your new sale threads, photography amazing as always.

Lighting question for you. If I understand correctly you used to run metal halides. Do you run halides over anything anymore? Have you considered going back to them?

Thanks, you're a huge inspiration for me!

 

[gws3]

Hey GWS3. Love going through all your new sale threads, photography amazing as always.

Lighting question for you. If I understand correctly you used to run metal halides. Do you run halides over anything anymore? Have you considered going back to them?

Thanks, you're a huge inspiration for me!

Thanks for the kind words. I got rid of all the halides a few years ago. There are some sps that did better under them, and I do miss the more natural look. But the pros outweigh the cons for LEDs.

It would be tough to go back to them since the no longer make radiums. Not sure if there are other good options still.

 

[Troylee]

Thanks for the kind words. I got rid of all the halides a few years ago. There are some sps that did better under them, and I do miss the more natural look. But the pros outweigh the cons for LEDs.

It would be tough to go back to them since the no longer make radiums. Not sure if there are other good options still.

But they do still make radium’s! The factory is back open and producing bulbs! They can’t get away from us that easy! Haha..

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

Yes - Exactly what Troylee said. They are available again! I've always been a halide skeptic since I joined the hobby and only use LEDs. But lately I've been questioning myself.

I was at a frag swap with Allan @coral reeftank and one of the vendors there had ridiculous looking frags under an LED (radion xr15 i believe). His PC Rainbow for example had an amazing metalic yellowy sheen to it. Allan actually immediately recognized it, intuiting they were grown under MH, and asked the guy, and he's like "Yeah, these were grown under metal halides and I just stuck them under LEDs for the show".

I just ask because the coloration you get in your corals is awesome, I understand there is a big photography component as well. You seem to get a nice metallic sheen too on some of them. Overall, I think you could potentially get nicer colors blasting MHs during the day, then presenting/photographing under solely blue light.

I do overall agree though regarding LEDs vs MH, and that's why I only use LEDs. Thx for the response.

 

[exnisstech]

I’m mostly speechless but I’ll just go with WOW !

Same, as I hang my head in shame looking at my pitiful attempt at sticks

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Thanks for the kind words. I got rid of all the halides a few years ago. There are some sps that did better under them, and I do miss the more natural look. But the pros outweigh the cons for LEDs.

It would be tough to go back to them since the no longer make radiums. Not sure if there are other good options still.

This is the best LED set up I’ve had so far.
Xr30 gen 6 blue with the high intensity lens
2 blade grows
Mounted on the orphek universal tank mount. The par is insane compared to my previous 3 xr15 pros

 

[gws3]

But they do still make radium’s! The factory is back open and producing bulbs! They can’t get away from us that easy! Haha..

Good to know, I kept a few reflectors and ballasts... maybe one day I'll set one back up over a frag tank.

Yes - Exactly what Troylee said. They are available again! I've always been a halide skeptic since I joined the hobby and only use LEDs. But lately I've been questioning myself.

I was at a frag swap with Allan @coral reeftank and one of the vendors there had ridiculous looking frags under an LED (radion xr15 i believe). His PC Rainbow for example had an amazing metalic yellowy sheen to it. Allan actually immediately recognized it, intuiting they were grown under MH, and asked the guy, and he's like "Yeah, these were grown under metal halides and I just stuck them under LEDs for the show".

I just ask because the coloration you get in your corals is awesome, I understand there is a big photography component as well. You seem to get a nice metallic sheen too on some of them. Overall, I think you could potentially get nicer colors blasting MHs during the day, then presenting/photographing under solely blue light.

I do overall agree though regarding LEDs vs MH, and that's why I only use LEDs. Thx for the response.

I'd say overall my colors are better now than when I had mostly halides. But there are some corals that seemed to like halides more, and some that like LEDs more for me. Halides always presented a challenge with spread for me. Even with the reflectors known for spread there is still a lot of drop off at the edges. I still run a number of tanks on T5s as well, which are just about the best for spread.

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

Good to know, I kept a few reflectors and ballasts... maybe one day I'll set one back up over a frag tank.


I'd say overall my colors are better now than when I had mostly LEDs. But there are some corals that seemed to like halides more, and some that like LEDs more for me. Halides always presented a challenge with spread for me. Even with the reflectors known for spread there is still a lot of drop off at the edges. I still run a number of tanks on T5s as well, which are just about the best for spread.

Thanks, I appreciate the color (pun intended).

 

[REEFRIED!]

You have some of the best corals I have ever seen. Great job. The whole grafting thing that seems to happen on your tank is unbelievable. Quick question, how do you get the black background in most of your pictures?

 

[VDC]

Amazing