Choff's RSM 650 Build

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LakeLivin

LakeLivin

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Makes sense, I did not think about your scape being centered in the tank rather than up against the back wall. That bubble tip looks great... How did you get him to stay in one place? As you can see from the pic below one of my clowns has been sending hints that she wants an anemone to host but I know they tend to wander and could end up in a place you don't want them.
[URL=http://s422.photobucket.com/user/armyranger10/media/IMG_0394.jpg.html] [/URL]
 
Choff

Choff

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Oh sure tim, come on my page and brag your clowns want to host lol. My bastiges want no part of hosting anything. My first pair I moved down into the fuge and was hopeful my new pair would take up residence in either of my 2 nems. No such luck.

As far as placement, I got really lucky on the big rose. I was like a school girl holding a worm when I put that in the tank. I couldn't get it out of my gloved hand fast enough. He never moved from the first spot I put him. Since then I have touched it many times and it's hardly a sting, more of a warm sensation . My second one, the Colorado was a different story. I really thought out where I think he would be happy and again scored, he hasn't moved an inch. I tucked him into a nice protected cup structure. The only bummer about his spot is you can't really see his great coloration. I put him in sans gloves by the way. <flex>

I say get one. I was afraid for so long, worried he would move all over the place leaving a waste land of dead corals. That has not been my experience at all. Find a nice spot that provides a lot of light and flow as well as offers come protection . They want to sink that foot as deep into a rock as they can.
 
LakeLivin

LakeLivin

Active Member
HAHA They will probably keep hosting that coral and ignore any anemone I get. I've had them before when I was reefing and I found that if you can keep the anemone in or near where your clowns usually hang out they will eventually start taking an interest in it. Later this month I'm going to be going to a couple LFS stores that have excellent corals so I may end up picking one up. One of the stores was featured on that show "tanked". I have not been there yet but they are supposed to have some really good stuff. I need to add some bright yellows and oranges to the reef to balance everything out better so I'm hoping to find some good specimens.
 
Choff

Choff

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Tim, see if any have a Colorado sunburst nem. They are incredible. Gonzocoralfrags.com has them, but pictures don't do them justice. People say they are just rainbows with an inflated price tag. They are not. I saw them side by side with rainbows at macna and there is no comparison. Stunning and worth the price IMO. Hopefully mine starts to clone and I will be able to make money on it.

...stupid auto correct
 
Choff

Choff

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Took this insane pic doing some after dark recon looking for bs wrasses



If you can't see it, that is a black fang blenny sleeping behind my very large rbta. This is the rbtas home he didn't just move in on the blenny.



...stupid auto correct
 
Choff

Choff

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I'm just blown away by this. Is this something anyone else has ever seen?

...stupid auto correct
 
Oxylebius

Oxylebius

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It is not uncommon to find fish other than clownfish associating with anemones. The fish in my avatar associates with anemones as young of the year and juveniles, they sleep at the base of the anemones at night. The adults don't.

This is awesome to have a fish associate with an anemone in your tank.
 
Choff

Choff

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One of the biggest lessons I have recently learned was that I was making far too many changes in my tank. In the first 2 years in this hobby I never really saw good coral growth. If I wasn't constantly changing my scape, I was moving corals around to different locations. My focus really was working on my system and the livestock took a backseat. I was constantly tweaking and playing around with all of my modifications and new gadgets. It took me 2 years, but I am finally done with all of that. I finally have a scape I love and for the first time I locked in my corals with superglue. I have seen more growth in the last 2 months since I have done all this than I did in the first 2 years. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I finally have frags that are actually growing off of their bases and onto the rock.

I can't solely attribute the growth to the stabilization of the changes. I also made 2 other significant changes. I finally started to take my water chemistry seriously by dosing for a short period and then bringing my Ca reactor online. I also went with the combo of LED/T5 lighting. I can't really say if any one of these have played a larger role than the other, but my tank is finally growing and while it still looks like a big frag tank I am optimistic for the first time that it may actually grow into a reef tank sooner rather than later.

Bryan (PSU4ME) has been a big help and a great sounding board the last half of year or so. A big thanks to his guidance.
 
Choff

Choff

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Joeys Tank said:
Love the chronicle, Mike.

Still pleased with the vidarock?
Click to expand...

Thanks Joey, I love it more each day. With the real coralline algae starting to take hold it has a mottled real rock look to it now. It was the single best purchase I made for the tank.
 
Oxylebius

Oxylebius

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Choff said:
I also went with the combo of LED/T5 lighting. I can't really say if any one of these have played a larger role than the other, but my tank is finally growing and while it still looks like a big frag tank I am optimistic for the first time that it may actually grow into a reef tank sooner rather than later.
Click to expand...

I'm still not sold on LEDs for sps growth. I won't be changing out my T5s anytime soon. But, may eventually go the combo of T5s and LEDs.... T5s just provided such a large spectrum of light that sps love!
 
reeferman

reeferman

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im completely sold on leds for sps growth[acropora specifically].ive been led for about 4 years and the color and growth is excellent.
Bryan[PSU4ME]and Mike[Choff] can attest to my growth and color.leds are absolutely a very viable light source for sps.
 
StirCrayzy

StirCrayzy

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Oxylebius said:
I'm still not sold on LEDs for sps growth. I won't be changing out my T5s anytime soon. But, may eventually go the combo of T5s and LEDs.... T5s just provided such a large spectrum of light that sps love!
Click to expand...

If you go by strictly spectral values of specific LEDs and compare to natural sunlight or T5, you definately have some talking points that make sense. However, when viewing the results of LED use in tanks, the spectral graphs seem of far less value when seeing things thrive under mathematically inferior lighting. Now of course I concede that corals under Bryan's and Reggie's care are at a chemically superior advantage ;) but nonetheless, a percentage of the equation is still lighting.

I wasn't fully sold when I built my fixture, so I left room to add my current T5 back in if I wasn't seeing the growth like these guys have. I havent used it yet and as young as my new reef is, it's having some stellar growth so far. Coral coloring is my next challenge, something production fixtures definitely have the advantage on.
I'm sold now, and can't wait til I have time to add some extra color to mine just to see if I can get full color back from my sps.
 
reeferman

reeferman

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i built my own fixtures and only use royal blue,cool whites and warm whites.you dont need any other colors,theyre just for our viewing pleasure
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

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RS STAFF
I get lost in all this... but here a great :read: Mike wrote (mojo)
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...ussion/72692-how-lighting-effects-corals.html

and here is a post about the newest leds he is building...

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/oceans-design/92910-next-gen-led-lighting.html#post1273928

Do know Reggie (reeferman ) has always had a tank full of beautiful flourishing SPS too ;)

then we have GlennF's super sps tank running T5's

makes one think the husbandry skills play a HUGE part in SPS coral success
 
Choff

Choff

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All I can say is Reggie has probably the most incredible sticks i have ever seen. The color and health are bar none. You've all seen Bryan's (PSU) incredible tank, a lot of that is from Reggie.

The proof is in the pudding. I question these people that are blaming their switch to led lights as the sole reason why this sudden drop in growth. I'd also like to see hard stats or are these impressions or excuses?

One thing is certain, if you convert to led of course some coral that was growing like crazy has slowed or even died. You made a change to that sweet spot of light it was in. You placed all your corals based in your current t5 setup. Now you are making a change and the light distribution has just been changed to, you need to rearrange your corals accordingly.

If I had a tank full of good sized colonies i would think real hard about converting anything if I was already having success. If you are not willing to move those corals around, that's a recipe for disaster if you are switching to halides, led, plasma or solar channeling (yes, I made that one up).






...stupid auto correct
 
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