Reefcowboy’s 150 gal SPS System

[Reefcowboy]

Absolutely love that aquascape

Bpnb, thanks I was actualy enjoying your tank thread last night! Love what youve done! Thanks for the compliment.

 

[Bpb]

Bpnb, thanks I was actualy enjoying your tank thread last night! Love what youve done! Thanks for the compliment.

I appreciate it! I took interest in yours especially because I have an empty SCA 150 in my garage and about 150 pounds of mixed shelf rock I’ve been slowly trying to chisel, saw, and cement into the perfect sps scape. Yours has offered considerable inspiration. I love how your sump takes up the entire stand but has space for literally everything you’d need

 

[Reefcowboy]

Still following along! I'm still in the research stages of setting up the same tank, though I know it will never look as good as yours but at least I have something to strive for!! Lol

Research, research,research! Thats all Ive done for the last two years
I had my tank in a box since Jan 2016 and sometimes I would open it and look just for encouragement, I even thought it would never become a reality.

One of the most rewarding things for me is watching everything now work as I visualized on paper. I watched many tank threads and copied things I liked from some and that trully gave me inspiration. Do things slow and you will end up with something that you are really proud of.

 

[Reefcowboy]

You said it, not me. LOL. Since you did I will say, looking at your aquascape and frag placement plan, I was thinking about the relationship between OCD and successful SPS reefing. The potential is obvious and it seems to be growing as I watch the image. Great job!

NY Caveman, thats a funny thing. I was never an OCD type guy, my tanks actually were pretty laid back before. When I decided to buy this house and start things from scratch I figured would do all things I regreted not doing with the previous set ups.

Thank you for the kind words

 

[Reefcowboy]

I appreciate it! I took interest in yours especially because I have an empty SCA 150 in my garage and about 150 pounds of mixed shelf rock I’ve been slowly trying to chisel, saw, and cement into the perfect sps scape. Yours has offered considerable inspiration. I love how your sump takes up the entire stand but has space for literally everything you’d need

I wanted to level the aquascape so most sps would get the same par. With the Spectra i knew about halfway it would be what I needed to grow the sticks and I wanted the most room to fill in with corals.

Take a look at the set up Marco Rocks had at reefapalooza Orlando...it was such inspiration for me. The way these rocks are shaped and how they stack well really helps us come up with ideas that make the tank look very natural. Lots of companies are going for the flatter look, like TLF’s Stacks and others.

 

[fishybizzness]

I've been practicing with my current setup for over a year now. It's a 55 dt and a 30 gal diy sump. Hopefully by the time I get the 150 I will have enough skills to avoid alot of the beginner issues..

Sent from my FRD-L04 using REEF2REEF mobile app

 

[rickster]

Thank you Najer,

Im a bit OCD so a disorganized sump with wires hanging among salt creep would make me go nuts, LOL.

I think the hobby evolved to extending the beauty of tanks from the actual system and animals to the sump area and equipment as well.
I apreciate a clean organized system as it is safer and easier for maintenance, allowing the hobbyist to enjoy more while keeping up with the chores of the tank.

As far as the scrubber, I started slow with lights on for only 6 hours on and didnt see any growth. I also only started building my bioload now with the addition of a small tang and a pair of clowns. I decided to run the Scrubber leds 24x7 until I get some growth and then Ill tapper it down as required.

I read even algae needs time with lights off, so at least 6 hours off and maybe 18 hours on will be the definite schedule.

I started to see algae growth on the screen but very little this far.
Ill take a pic later and post it. A good thing was to build a reactor with a clear acrylic enclosure so I can follow growth without having to take the cover off.

I absolutely love how you built that scrubber into the sump, I'm trying to make one myself, but I don't have the room you have in your sump so I'm making a smaller DIY one in my sump. I'm definitely following you on the orange plumbing to match my Apex., I even found some orange 45 & 90's. I only hope my rebuild can be half as organized as yours. Something to aspire to. I also found some orange braided wrap to cover the dosing lines.
For the scrubber I heard that you have to rough up the screen with sandpaper so the algae will stick better. You would think with all those lights you have on the scrubber ,algae would be sprouting up like mad! let us know what happens. Happy reefing!

 

[Reefcowboy]

I absolutely love how you built that scrubber into the sump, I'm trying to make one myself, but I don't have the room you have in your sump so I'm making a smaller DIY one in my sump. I'm definitely following you on the orange plumbing to match my Apex., I even found some orange 45 & 90's. I only hope my rebuild can be half as organized as yours. Something to aspire to. I also found some orange braided wrap to cover the dosing lines.
For the scrubber I heard that you have to rough up the screen with sandpaper so the algae will stick better. You would think with all those lights you have on the scrubber ,algae would be sprouting up like mad! let us know what happens. Happy reefing!

Thanks Rickster,

The issue with my scrubber is I havent had PO4 or NO3 until hopefully now with the addition of two tangs(got a chocolate yesterday and a fat powder blue today that got in the tank and started eating right away ) Two clowns were not enough of a bioload this far and I was feeding them just a tad of mysis to allow the biologic filter to catch on slowly.

I added a mini reactor with GFO under the capacity of my tank, so I can feed the algae. I get nervous not controlling PO4 at all in a new system.

Im also watching as I have six led bars in the acrubber so I dont overpower the algae as it grows It appears there is a balance between nutrients and light available on the scrubber or we bleach them and hinder their growth, just like our corals.

These leds are from a company with lots of success with scrubbers so I know as long as I get nutrients, it will sprout!

 

[hatfielj]

Incredible build. I thought I was OCD, but wow, you make me look like a slob, lol! The attention to detail in that sump is really something. Great work!

 

[Reefcowboy]

Incredible build. I thought I was OCD, but wow, you make me look like a slob, lol! The attention to detail in that sump is really something. Great work!

Thank you hatfielj!

 

[Reefcowboy]

So talking a bit about lighting...
The Spectra fills all my expectations of the kind of light I want to see over my corals, except for not having blue leds which are an absolute must in my book. Ive probably ran every light fixture available in the hobby, and am very happy with MH’s. The tank is in the first floor of my house and I found the perfect house A/C temperature to get my tank to run between 77-79 degrees everyday when all lights are on.

I had planned to retrofit kessills to my fixture for this build.
Someone once did it successfully and it looked really cool(pics below).
I find the Spectra such a beautiful fixture, would hate to add led bars and ruin its look. The addition of the Kessills have been on my radar, but thinking more about it made me realize I might be better off going a different direction.

Having the kessils inside a Mh fixture without a fan would worry me. Long term the unit coud get overheated and burn led chips. Not a great thing when you spend $700 solely to add dusk/dawn and night viewing enjoyment.

So looking at my options I think adding led bars are my only option. I kind of like the new Orphek OR Series, which are strips that mount to the fixture, similar to the Reefbrites. I had a chance to see closely the orphek at RAP NY and liked it overall. They are more powerful than reefbrites, their color matches the color of my Spectra(OCD kicking in) and the combo of blues with cyan color leds make corals really pop!
The fixture itself is well made and I migh be pulling the trigger soon.

 

[pelphrey]

Great thread! I love how you put new floors down and pulled them back up for the sake of the tank! Following along!

 

[Reefcowboy]

Great thread! I love how you put new floors down and pulled them back up for the sake of the tank! Following along!

Thanks pelphrey,

The idea of piles of wood shims underneath the tank were giving me real bad thoughts! Long term I would have regreted! It was a lot of work, but Im so glad now when the tank is perfectly level.

 

[Reefcowboy]

Got the Orphek Led OR strips today! Coralust overnighted me two strips and I couldnt wait to put them up! Ordered the “Sky Blue” versions, with blue and cyan leds. They do a great job with pop, and Im very happy with them. Tomorrow ill post pics of the fixtures themselves so others can learn more details about them..


Little progress every day, soon the tank will get where I want

 

[Chef Tommy]

Just ordered my sky blue last week!

 

[Reefcowboy]

Just ordered my sky blue last week!

Im very impressed with them. Their design is also very cool and the fixture is well made. You will like it

 

[Reefcowboy]

Some pics of how the Orphek 48" strips can be mounted on the spectra. No drilling required. I modified the included brackets and painted them to match the color of the fixtures.

The OR bar fixture color matches exactly the Spectra, a dark grey color. The look is better than of the Reefbrites as the Orpheks have a more rounded shape and don't look as odd.

The overall look of the tank with the blue sky units is of a blue plus bulb but with lots more pop, and the shimmer of leds.

Here are some pics, sorry had to use yellow filter so the pics wouldnt have too much blue glare.

The real color is very nice. The halides were off because they put too much light on the camera.

My t5s are 2x coral+'s and 2x aquablue specials. The halides are radiums . Lots of full spectrum light, the way I had most success with sps.

 

[Reefcowboy]

Some new coral...
This would have been strictly sps...but I saw this hammer today and had to have it it's almost yellow. Still adapting to flow but it is probably 6".

Added some small pink gonis, chalices, montis and zoas.

 

[Chef Tommy]

Some pics of how the Orphek 48" strips can be mounted on the spectra. No drilling required. I modified the included brackets and painted them to match the color of the fixtures.

The OR bar fixture color matches exactly the Spectra, a dark grey color. The look is better than of the Reefbrites as the Orpheks have a more rounded shape and don't look as odd.

The overall look of the tank with the blue sky units is of a blue plus bulb but with lots more pop, and the shimmer of leds.

Here are some pics, sorry had to use yellow filter so the pics wouldnt have too much blue glare.

The real color is very nice. The halides were off because they put too much light on the camera.

My t5s are 2x coral+'s and 2x aquablue specials. The halides are radiums . Lots of full spectrum light, the way I had most success with sps.

Thanks so much for the info!! Just received notice my light arrives Monday and just ordered it last Fri. Your tank is looking great btw, I just switched my Jeabos out for a gyre too!

 

[Reefcowboy]

Thanks so much for the info!! Just received notice my light arrives Monday and just ordered it last Fri. Your tank is looking great btw, I just switched my Jeabos out for a gyre too!

Awesome! That was quick being they manuafacture it and ship from Hong Kong after you place the order. I lucked out as I met the owner of Coralust at RAP NY and learned they are a Orphek distributor.

Keep us posted in your tank. I really like the gyres. They put out a different, needed type of flow. I also like the MP40’s with a more gentle, broad one. I thought of adding a third MP40 on the left side of the tank, might do that down the line. I think flow was an aspect I was mistaking on in my previous set ups. I spoke to Jason Fox for hours at RAP and he brought importance of hight flow up many times for sps. I thought I had high flow, but according to him sand has to move around, lol.

Im glad I used coarse crushed coral, but it still moves away in this set up. On a good note, many frags are already encrusting, which is good news as they were added a week or so ago