Petcrazyson
5000 Club Member
Is the bushy yellow coral an anacro? If it is, lovely colony! Seems its getting lower lighting than other corals idk about flow though?
Smite's Stout CDA - 205g Acropora dominant system 50x38x25"
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OP
OP
Smite
2500 Club Member
Thank you! That's an Anacropora, RR Golden Rod. It's a nice yellow/gold base color with some light pink polyps. It is get a little lower PAR but the flow is pretty decent right there.
OP
OP
Smite
2500 Club Member
It’s gonna be a while before I can set these up but I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to insulate and finish my garage and add a split unit for my boa constrictors. I figure, why not do a nice secondary system out there while I’m at it?
Titan bin and 2) 48x48x16” shallow tanks.
Titan bin and 2) 48x48x16” shallow tanks.
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Troylee
all about the diy!!!!!
I just did some like that for my buddy..It’s gonna be a while before I can set these up but I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to insulate and finish my garage and add a split unit for my boa constrictors. I figure, why not do a nice secondary system out there while I’m at it?
Titan bin and 2) 48x48x16” shallow tanks.
OP
OP
Smite
2500 Club Member
Incredible work Troylee, those look clean! I like the white bottom, bracing and overflow. Lights gonna be bouncing everywhere in those things.I just did some like that for my buddy..
Troylee
all about the diy!!!!!
Thank you! Someday I’ll make my own.. I gotta fill my 300 first
OP
OP
Smite
2500 Club Member
A few macro shots from today
The tank seems to be coming back from a weird TN run. I did a witch hazel treatment for a week. I didn't see much change during it or immediately after. I'm not sure if that treatment helped, or if it was all the good bacteria I was adding, the 50g water change I did at the end or what, but I'm glad to see some pieces looking to have unlocked some new growth. I'll take it
The tank seems to be coming back from a weird TN run. I did a witch hazel treatment for a week. I didn't see much change during it or immediately after. I'm not sure if that treatment helped, or if it was all the good bacteria I was adding, the 50g water change I did at the end or what, but I'm glad to see some pieces looking to have unlocked some new growth. I'll take it
OP
OP
Smite
2500 Club Member
I removed a very large superman type montipora. It had started encrusting the back wall, bottom left corner of my tank. It started making it's way up the viewing panel and made contact with my rock structure. I'm glad to finally be rid of it. Now to kalk paste the portion remaining on the rock so I no longer need to worry about that going to war with my acropora.
My Heliarch millepora is completely browned, so I moved that to a more prime spot. Hopefully it recovers, it was such a nice piece.
My Heliarch millepora is completely browned, so I moved that to a more prime spot. Hopefully it recovers, it was such a nice piece.
OP
OP
Smite
2500 Club Member
Slowly progressing towards more color and now getting some decent growth on certain pieces. TN issues have appeared to stop, so I’m happy about that. Hopefully with time I’ll see some good polyp extension throughout the tank and all will be good.
I lost my filter for my DSLR but I’ll get some better shots up after more improvement, during my day photoperiod.
I lost my filter for my DSLR but I’ll get some better shots up after more improvement, during my day photoperiod.
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Janci
Staghorns will prevail
This picture does not how how big the tank really is.Full Tank Shot from this morning. Excuse the glare from outside, I need to do this at night sometime.
It gives a different impression, but when you check the corals and fish in detail, you realize that these are huge.
Love it.
OP
OP
Smite
2500 Club Member
Thanks Janci!
The tank's dimensions definitely make it appear smaller than it is. Even in person it just looks like a beefy 120g but once you step to the side for a side view there is so much depth to it. It's my favorite part of the tank.
Some of the pieces do have some good size to them now. Maybe palm to open hand size on a few of them. The ORA Frogskin and TGC Orange Creamsicle are much larger than that. With all that surface area, I'm really hoping to see some major growth over the next 6-12 months. I'm in a mindset of just letting it grow, I don't plan to cut anything until I really have to. I'm tempted to take those center pieces down low and move them onto the structure so I can let that center valley fill in on it's own.
The tank's dimensions definitely make it appear smaller than it is. Even in person it just looks like a beefy 120g but once you step to the side for a side view there is so much depth to it. It's my favorite part of the tank.
Some of the pieces do have some good size to them now. Maybe palm to open hand size on a few of them. The ORA Frogskin and TGC Orange Creamsicle are much larger than that. With all that surface area, I'm really hoping to see some major growth over the next 6-12 months. I'm in a mindset of just letting it grow, I don't plan to cut anything until I really have to. I'm tempted to take those center pieces down low and move them onto the structure so I can let that center valley fill in on it's own.
OP
OP
Smite
2500 Club Member
I took some night shots with all lights on so I could avoid some of the glare I get during the day.
400w 14k Hamiltons x2 supplemented by 2 x Quanta OG Pop bars. I've been considering going to a blanket of QuantaPro bars. A mix of Tropic Sun, Meso Blue and my OG Pop bars with 2 x a500x Kessils to mimic my halides. I love these Cozumel Sun reflectors but the 9A load in lighting is starting to cost me in addition to my pool and reptiles. Hard to eat a 2k investment as well though so I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do. I think that LED combo would look outstanding but I just love MH, so it's a tough call for me. Things are just starting to look good, so I'd hate to change anything as well. Maybe I'll shoot for next summer and time for when my bills get higher.
Fish look spooked from lights being on at this time and some of my LPS and shrooms are deflated but I feel the colors are more accurate without the ambient light and the depth of the tank is a little more apparent.
I deleted the center island to allow for more depth and leave room for things to fill in and meet in the middle. If I stay on top of trimming I think that lower center section could really turn out nice in a year or so.
Unfortunatley I did lose my RR Blue Flame millepora due to pulling my po4 down to quickly. The rest of the tank has responded positively though so I'll take it. At least it was a piece I can hunt down again.
400w 14k Hamiltons x2 supplemented by 2 x Quanta OG Pop bars. I've been considering going to a blanket of QuantaPro bars. A mix of Tropic Sun, Meso Blue and my OG Pop bars with 2 x a500x Kessils to mimic my halides. I love these Cozumel Sun reflectors but the 9A load in lighting is starting to cost me in addition to my pool and reptiles. Hard to eat a 2k investment as well though so I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do. I think that LED combo would look outstanding but I just love MH, so it's a tough call for me. Things are just starting to look good, so I'd hate to change anything as well. Maybe I'll shoot for next summer and time for when my bills get higher.
Fish look spooked from lights being on at this time and some of my LPS and shrooms are deflated but I feel the colors are more accurate without the ambient light and the depth of the tank is a little more apparent.
I deleted the center island to allow for more depth and leave room for things to fill in and meet in the middle. If I stay on top of trimming I think that lower center section could really turn out nice in a year or so.
Unfortunatley I did lose my RR Blue Flame millepora due to pulling my po4 down to quickly. The rest of the tank has responded positively though so I'll take it. At least it was a piece I can hunt down again.
JCOLE
Grower of the Small Polyps
I took some night shots with all lights on so I could avoid some of the glare I get during the day.
400w 14k Hamiltons x2 supplemented by 2 x Quanta OG Pop bars. I've been considering going to a blanket of QuantaPro bars. A mix of Tropic Sun, Meso Blue and my OG Pop bars with 2 x a500x Kessils to mimic my halides. I love these Cozumel Sun reflectors but the 9A load in lighting is starting to cost me in addition to my pool and reptiles. Hard to eat a 2k investment as well though so I'm still trying to decide what I'm going to do. I think that LED combo would look outstanding but I just love MH, so it's a tough call for me. Things are just starting to look good, so I'd hate to change anything as well. Maybe I'll shoot for next summer and time for when my bills get higher.
Fish look spooked from lights being on at this time and some of my LPS and shrooms are deflated but I feel the colors are more accurate without the ambient light and the depth of the tank is a little more apparent.
I deleted the center island to allow for more depth and leave room for things to fill in and meet in the middle. If I stay on top of trimming I think that lower center section could really turn out nice in a year or so.
Unfortunatley I did lose my RR Blue Flame millepora due to pulling my po4 down to quickly. The rest of the tank has responded positively though so I'll take it. At least it was a piece I can hunt down again.
Tank is looking good man! I say keep the halides and wait until the summer as well.
OP
OP
Smite
2500 Club Member
Yeah I think that's probably gonna be the call. I may start just piecing it together until then. Get a Parwise so I can match spectrum and par to the best of my abilities.
JCOLE
Grower of the Small Polyps
I think that's a good choice for halide replacement. If and when the time comes, I will look at replacing each of my halides with the A500x or something similar as well.
OP
OP
Smite
2500 Club Member
I've got a few long time stick head reefers local to me who really like Kessils. When I supplemented my T5 with older a360w kessils, they really delivered that MH shimmer that livens up the tank so much. That being said, they are still such a small point of light I dont see them being a 1 for 1 replacement. There's not really a demand for it but I'd love to see some type of bulbous Kessil kit we could plop in the top of a reflector and take advantage of the true spread footprint we get from these MH reflectors.
I used to retrofit high bay metal halides in large commercial buildings. They were basically a similar footprint to a 1000w e39 based mogul lamp covered in LED diodes. They'd throw some crazy light. Bonus was no ballast, direct voltage in a lot of cases. Utilized the reflector and sent light straight down. I'd love to see a smaller reef based company apply solid spectrums to those types of lamps.
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