SPS spacing... how’s mine look? Pic heavy.

[Williamson’s Reef]

I see a lot of pruning in your future.
I would love to see this tank in a year or 2.
These things get massive. They will sit there for a while then exponentially grow.

I don’t mind. I can’t wait for the day actually...lol. I’ll put the t5s back on once I get any shadowing.

 

[DancingShark]

I don’t mind. I can’t wait for the day actually...lol. I’ll put the t5s back on once I get any shadowing.

Hehe.

The day will come when it gets tiring and you'll probably be like be and just let them fuse together.
PC Rainbow right, tri color left. Burnt tips cuz I had to deal with dinoflagellates. Lucky got rid of them.

 

[Williamson’s Reef]

Hehe.

The day will come when it gets tiring and you'll probably be like be and just let them fuse together.
PC Rainbow right, tri color left. Burnt tips cuz I had to deal with dinoflagellates. Lucky got rid of them.

Lol..Glad you beat Dino’s ... That could of been a nightmare

 

[Wolfman238]

My 2 cents on your tank is it looks great u will just have to adjust your trimming by how fast and how they grow

 

[TyHiggin]

That’s a great idea. I was able to move my cheap test SPS and others that I had epoxied. The whole chunk of epoxy came right off. So I used that again on most of the new ones. Some I did super glued. I’m going to rent a par meter when there back in stock at BRS. I changed my lights two weeks ago from two Kessil Ap700s in a aquatic life hybrid fixture. To three Radion G5’s in the same fixture. I don’t even have the t5s on as the G5s are enough right now.

Hey there. Big tank = lots of room to fill. Getting back into the hobby last October after 15yrs, I decided to start back small with a JBJ45 as opposed to the 65 I was eyeing for that very reason. I just knew I would race to fill it up ($$$)!
Q: I know you’ve ‘upgraded’ your lighting to the G5, but how did you like and how did the AP700/Aquatic Life perform for you? I have been in this conundrum for a couple weeks of ‘complimenting’ my 3 month old AP700 with an Aquatic Life or 2- 24” Reef Brite XHOs. I installed the Reef Brites Friday. The change/difference is as dramatic as when I upgraded to the AP700. Previously, running the AP700 8” above the water @ 70% on Blue 1 the top acros in the tank were hitting 340 PAR, front corners of sandbed were getting 220. I have a total of 21 acros, some euphyllias, couple cyphastreas, three montis, a leptastrea, a duncan, a pocillapora, a hydnophora, a stylophora , a seritophora, a goniopora, a favia, three mushrooms and 4 fish. I haven’t re-tested the PAR levels with the additional lights but I want to be over 400 along the top Acro ridge. Running the AP700 still at 70% but on Deep Blue setting the whole time instead of Deep Blue mornings and afternoon with Blue 1 for four hours mid-day.
Guess I’m just wondering how much growth you saw with the AP700/AquaticLife setup and if I made the right decision with the Reef Brite combo. With the AP700 alone my cyphastreas, leptastreas, montis, pocillapora and seritophora noticeably grew in size in three months. The first two groups have covered their plugs and started spreading on the rock in that time. Some acros have encrusted the top of their plugs while others have grown up about an 1/8”-1/4” but not encrusted. Only a few acros seem to not have grown at all. All have ‘colored up’ a lot under the AP700. I know there are other factors to these things like nitrate levels and feeding but when I got back in this hobby I noticed so much emphasis being put on lighting for coral growth and color.

 

[Williamson’s Reef]

My tank has two center braces. They're clear but I also have screen tops. With the bracing and metal framing from the screen tops I had shadowing. The AP700 is a great light. I also had good growth and the shimmer is amazing. But after renting a par meter and moving my lights around in the aquatic life fixture...I just couldn’t line the pucks up right to get proper coverage and no shadowing. That’s the reason for the light upgrade. Everything not shadowed grew great though. I ran the t5s from the start. My tank is 72x30x28. My over flow is inside the tank and comes in 6in. So I mounted the lights centered a extra 6in from the back tank wall. 3 -XR30 G5s fixtures line up perfectly on my tank with the bracing. There is also a better blanket of light compared to a puck style light. I have them mounted in the same Aquatic life hybrid fixture I had. It looks and sounds like you have great growth. I wouldn’t make any changes. Lighting changes can kill everything quick. Especially if you run low nutrients and higher Alk. I had a lot of losses after renting the par meter and moving my lights up down and all around. Changed intensity for measuring par also. Burned up my coral. I now run higher nutrients and 8 Alk. Zero issues with my light change. Taking the intensity slow. And won’t turn the t5s on until shadowing starts from growth. I have to say my corals have never looked better. Here’s a pic for reference on the old Ap700 setup and bracing.

 

[Nilo]

I started my tank in Aug 2018 and had a couple of crashes due to stupidity on my end but luckily has now been stable since 1 year ago. I did pretty much the same spacing as you but now wish I gave the sps more room. It’s been only a year and I’ve already needed to frag a bunch of stuff as the fast growers were starting to crowd the slower ones. Here’s a comparison pic between May 2019 and March 2020

 

[Williamson’s Reef]

I started my tank in Aug 2018 and had a couple of crashes due to stupidity on my end but luckily has now been stable since 1 year ago. I did pretty much the same spacing as you but now wish I gave the sps more room. It’s been only a year and I’ve already needed to frag a bunch of stuff as the fast growers were starting to crowd the slower ones. Here’s a comparison pic between May 2019 and March 2020

Very nice! What did you take the photos with? I should of had just the blues on for my pics. The G5 Blue xr30 are very white under peak hours. That green coral in the front has grown crazy fast. I took out all my montis so that should help. But I also have 7 more SPS on the way..lol. We all seem to go through growing pains eventually.

 

[Nilo]

A couple more pics showing how the corals are growing into each other after ~11 months

 

[Nilo]

Just my iphone6 and a generic orange filter. I don’t have a fancy camera nor the skills to take better pictures

 

[Nilo]

I thought 5” was enough space and I wanted to pack as much frags as I could but looking back I probably should have planned better. But the tank’s been stable and looking good so I’m not complaining

 

[Williamson’s Reef]

A couple more pics showing how the corals are growing into each other after ~11 months

A couple more pics showing how the corals are growing into each other after ~11 months

I still think it looks great. Good mix of colors. I’m trying to do the same.

 

[sawdonkey]

Its fascinating how the branches will grow and curve away from eachother. Encrusting montis for sure must be planned properly!



I've put valuable nub sticks within 2 inches of eachother on premium rock with high par. When i get a colony growing well, i will move down or out of the premium space. I like to try and keep the rock moveable that the colony encrusts on. I will glue frag to a rock anf then glue the rock to the bigger rock, ect.

I do this exactly. It keeps them movable for months until they grow off the small rock. To the original poster, is say you’re too close, and I get it....I’ve grown out my tank three times and each time I say “not to close this time.” But, each time, you guessed it....too close. Yes, a lot of acros a slow, but there are many that grow fairly quickly And take up a ton of space. 1.5 years after rebuilding my tank, I have stuff touching everywhere.

 

[Nilo]

That green coral in the front has grown crazy fast. I took out all my montis so that should help. But I also have 7 more SPS on the way..lol. We all seem to go through growing pains eventually.

The green coral is just a common green birdsnest. It definitely is my fastest grower. I've fragged that multiple times. Surprisingly, my montis have been very slow growers for me. You can see them in the full tank shots, they haven't grown as much as the acros. Probably because I purposedly kept them on low light and shaded areas. . They're the orange ones, a forest fire digi, regular orange digi, bubblegum digi, and a setosa. I've kept them because you won't find any bright orange acro as these guys are.

 

[Nilo]

I do this exactly. It keeps them movable for months until they grow off the small rock. To the original poster, is say you’re too close, and I get it....I’ve grown out my tank three times and each time I say “not to close this time.” But, each time, you guessed it....too close. Yes, a lot of acros a slow, but there are many that grow fairly quickly And take up a ton of space. 1.5 years after rebuilding my tank, I have stuff touching everywhere.

I love these tanks that keep the back wall clean

 

[madweazl]

My opinion, if you have acroporas within 10-12" of one another, you've messed up. An acropora will grow to 5-6" in diameter in two years. If you want to incessantly prune corals and prevent them from becoming remotely small colony sized, go ahead and place them closer together. Way to close together if you ask me.