OP
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Smite
2500 Club Member
I think so too Janci. Could be a cool structure to it, pink floyd like growth pattern maybe.
Smite's Stout CDA - 205g Acropora dominant system 50x38x25"
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- Thread starter Smite
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OP
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Smite
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I struggle with full tank shots but here's some different angles. Taken today with 14k + XHO + OG Pop Quanta Pro bars.
chipchipbro
Valuable Member
dude your tank looks happier each week!
awesome how your acros wake up and color up like crazy
your doing the right things my man!
Im not sure if I need more light though….
awesome how your acros wake up and color up like crazy
your doing the right things my man!Im not sure if I need more light though….
OP
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Smite
2500 Club Member
Thanks man! It's nice to see them starting to do better now.dude your tank looks happier each week!
awesome how your acros wake up and color up like crazy
Im not sure if I need more light though….
From the pictures I've seen your corals look pretty happy to me. I'm pretty surprised I'm getting away with the 2x250w lamps, I thought I'd need 400w but it's all looking pretty good so far.
OP
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Smite
2500 Club Member
Halides - 2 x 250w 14k hamiltons are the primary source of light. I supplement with the reefbrite xho bars and quanta og pop bars.
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Smite
2500 Club Member
OP
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Smite
2500 Club Member
Pretty much ready to roll. The previous owner had a lay in aluminum rack but it was over built. I was able to repurpose the aluminum stock. The L stock I’m using to brace the fixtures together and hang from. I’m using an ATI kit meant for a power module so it should handle this rig no problem. I used some flat stock aluminum and bent some brackets on my table vice for the front quanta bar. I used my speed square to square the stock up to the vice but also to hold against the stock as I pulled to make sure the bend was where intended, not to bow the stock itself, and stayed square. Worked pretty well. I used the square stock from the rack as a large shim for the rear quanta. I screwed to 1” pieces together then mounted it in the adjustable slot of the mogul hanger. This will allow me to slide it into position but also move for bulb changes. I’m using the stock quanta brackets here as you won’t see them in the back. I painted everything and so far it’ll looking fairly clean.
The top is enclosed so I opted to make my own holes to mount into the frame. I left the existing hanger holes open to hopefully create more airflow and cool the fixture.
I need 2 mogul extensions to get the 250w lamp center in the reflector and 4 longer screws for the quanta bar itself and I’m ready to roll
from the looks of these someone didn’t run them too long. Reflectors look new and the bulbs don’t have any burn in marks on the element, still clear pretty much. I plan to keep the radiums as back ups and run the Hamilton 14k to start. They came with icecap ballasts so I’m interested to see how those perform.
The top is enclosed so I opted to make my own holes to mount into the frame. I left the existing hanger holes open to hopefully create more airflow and cool the fixture.
I need 2 mogul extensions to get the 250w lamp center in the reflector and 4 longer screws for the quanta bar itself and I’m ready to roll
from the looks of these someone didn’t run them too long. Reflectors look new and the bulbs don’t have any burn in marks on the element, still clear pretty much. I plan to keep the radiums as back ups and run the Hamilton 14k to start. They came with icecap ballasts so I’m interested to see how those perform.
OP
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Smite
2500 Club Member
Contact with frogskin and oregon tort. This ones really growing. I plan to rehome some frogskin and make room for this one.
BC SunBlaze Spath gaining color and shooting some numbs
BC Skinny Love glowing now. Seems to be growing a bit too
BC Angelica, very light in color. Hopefully it's happy? Encrusting well
BC Hyperberry is gonna be cool when it starts to bridge both tonga branches
It's a fighter, came back from just a few polyps. Starting to reach up now, Lime in the Sky.
Vivid's Rainbow Delight
This might end up cool with some size and more light
What I believe is a spath frag basing out now, sending new nubs and hopefully not getting chewed by it's back drop. It's got a cool yellowish coloration with metallic coloration mixed in.
I picked up this mariculture piece yesterday. It reminded me of BC BubbleBath Unicorn as far as colors go under the LFS radions. It think it's a different structure than BC. Hopefully it does well and colors for me like it appeared under the LED.
I got down and forced myself to citric acid bath my Tunzes and Gyre. A chore I really hate but a huge improvement in flow so all worth it. I've been watching a few maths of cyano get blasted off. Hopefully it'll mostly be gone in the display soon. Then I'll move onto the bryopsis issue.
BC SunBlaze Spath gaining color and shooting some numbs
BC Skinny Love glowing now. Seems to be growing a bit too
BC Angelica, very light in color. Hopefully it's happy? Encrusting well
BC Hyperberry is gonna be cool when it starts to bridge both tonga branches
It's a fighter, came back from just a few polyps. Starting to reach up now, Lime in the Sky.
Vivid's Rainbow Delight
This might end up cool with some size and more light
What I believe is a spath frag basing out now, sending new nubs and hopefully not getting chewed by it's back drop. It's got a cool yellowish coloration with metallic coloration mixed in.
I picked up this mariculture piece yesterday. It reminded me of BC BubbleBath Unicorn as far as colors go under the LFS radions. It think it's a different structure than BC. Hopefully it does well and colors for me like it appeared under the LED.
I got down and forced myself to citric acid bath my Tunzes and Gyre. A chore I really hate but a huge improvement in flow so all worth it. I've been watching a few maths of cyano get blasted off. Hopefully it'll mostly be gone in the display soon. Then I'll move onto the bryopsis issue.
OP
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Smite
2500 Club Member
Thanks!
OP
OP
Smite
2500 Club Member
I've been swamped lately and just doing the bare minimum with the tank but it's looking pretty good. Maybe even better than usual. I'm still battling some algae but the bryopsis if getting knocked back, I think my foxface may be picking at it now.
Paletta Pink Tip/BC Angelica/BC Skinny Love...taking their sweet time
ASD Doomsday made contact with itself. I really enjoy this piece
JF Flame's color is still off but steadily making improvements now. Hopefully I'll get that nice base color back over the next few months
New mariculture piece settling in - I thought it looked like bubblebath but it's going a different direction. Still pretty cool looking!
Stay weird, Weirdo! (no blue in it, it's just reflecting the blue bars)
This one is growing crazy fast. You can see it's larger but it's also getting very thick. The edges make me check for TN but it's just new growth. Almost looks more clathrata acropora to me than millepora?
BC Sunblaze Spath
RR Blue Flame tricked my camera into making the image more blue. I shot in auto today instead of setting a kevlin. I gotta say most turned out more accurate this way. Doesn't work so well for blue pieces though.
Paletta Pink Tip/BC Angelica/BC Skinny Love...taking their sweet time
ASD Doomsday made contact with itself. I really enjoy this piece
JF Flame's color is still off but steadily making improvements now. Hopefully I'll get that nice base color back over the next few months
New mariculture piece settling in - I thought it looked like bubblebath but it's going a different direction. Still pretty cool looking!
Stay weird, Weirdo! (no blue in it, it's just reflecting the blue bars)
This one is growing crazy fast. You can see it's larger but it's also getting very thick. The edges make me check for TN but it's just new growth. Almost looks more clathrata acropora to me than millepora?
BC Sunblaze Spath
RR Blue Flame tricked my camera into making the image more blue. I shot in auto today instead of setting a kevlin. I gotta say most turned out more accurate this way. Doesn't work so well for blue pieces though.
OP
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Smite
2500 Club Member
Well my SCOP kept getting lighter and lighter. Moved it low and sent off an ATI ICP. It shows 12 ug/l of nickel, 40 ug/l molybdenum and elevated bromine and boron. I started checking pumps and sure enough a cord hard cracked and exposed wires where it met the motor of my tunze pump. I bought 2/3 used when I set this tank up so now I'm worried about the other one going. I'm considering trying some IceCap 4k pumps in place of the 2 but not sure yet.
My game plan is several medium water changes over this week while watching my parameters/nutrients. I'm tempted to try a metal remover but just not sure I want to risk stripping other trace elements. In hindsight I feel like that is part of what got me so messed up with Tin at the beginning of this build. I plan to do a full bucket of red sea over the next 7-10 days pending on how things react. My RO/DI showed 100% clean so that's a relief.
HOpefully the SCOP makes it, but it's looking very rough over the last few days. My Bahama Mama hasn't shown any real polyp extension. I thought it was light adjustment from T5 but this could be the culprit there too.
I've been watching the tank and can't seem to find who is taking out the bryopsis. It has me wondering if maybe that algae is sensitive to these elevated levels too. I remember there was something in Kent's Tech M that would take out bryopsis.
Glad I caught it. Not so glad I gotta splurge on some new pumps!
it does have me wondering how nice the tank will look once this is corrected, fingers crossed
My game plan is several medium water changes over this week while watching my parameters/nutrients. I'm tempted to try a metal remover but just not sure I want to risk stripping other trace elements. In hindsight I feel like that is part of what got me so messed up with Tin at the beginning of this build. I plan to do a full bucket of red sea over the next 7-10 days pending on how things react. My RO/DI showed 100% clean so that's a relief.
HOpefully the SCOP makes it, but it's looking very rough over the last few days. My Bahama Mama hasn't shown any real polyp extension. I thought it was light adjustment from T5 but this could be the culprit there too.
I've been watching the tank and can't seem to find who is taking out the bryopsis. It has me wondering if maybe that algae is sensitive to these elevated levels too. I remember there was something in Kent's Tech M that would take out bryopsis.
Glad I caught it. Not so glad I gotta splurge on some new pumps!
it does have me wondering how nice the tank will look once this is corrected, fingers crossed
chipchipbro
Valuable Member
oh brother, thats some heavy news!
But pretty good you caught the issue early.. I hope you can get the SCOP back to health, it looks pretty rough though.
What pumps are you going to grab?
I cant wait to see the tank when things are corrected man!
But pretty good you caught the issue early.. I hope you can get the SCOP back to health, it looks pretty rough though.
What pumps are you going to grab?
I cant wait to see the tank when things are corrected man!
OP
OP
Smite
2500 Club Member
@Jacked Reefer Thanks man!
@chipchipmofo
Yeah I'm glad it caught it. Looks like the SCOP is my canary piece for metal issues.
I'm leaning towards going with gyre style pumps. I'm trying to figure out if they still come with back up blades for cleaning ect. They'll be a little lower profile and I think easier to dial in when things really start to grow. Keep high flow up top without directly nailing pieces. I'm sure I'll still need some narrow flow, directional pumps at some point though.
I'm also eyeballing the hydros wave engine v2. I've been considering transferring over to hydros when my apex starts to crap out on me and that might be a good thing to feel the gear out on without going all in.
Same here. First 40g water change complete
@chipchipmofo
Yeah I'm glad it caught it. Looks like the SCOP is my canary piece for metal issues.
I'm leaning towards going with gyre style pumps. I'm trying to figure out if they still come with back up blades for cleaning ect. They'll be a little lower profile and I think easier to dial in when things really start to grow. Keep high flow up top without directly nailing pieces. I'm sure I'll still need some narrow flow, directional pumps at some point though.
I'm also eyeballing the hydros wave engine v2. I've been considering transferring over to hydros when my apex starts to crap out on me and that might be a good thing to feel the gear out on without going all in.
Same here. First 40g water change complete
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