HD Video of my 240 G SPS dominated reef
- Thread starter akaimal
- Start date
Mike Johnson
Well-Known Member
Love the fishes. :bow:
sirrealism
Well-Known Member
Very nice. Any chance you can take another were the corals are the stars? Would love to see the corals. Is this a 6' or 8' tank? There is a really nice harmony with your fish that i would not have expected with a purple tang in there.
Thanks Guys!
I wish I could take another video like that. The camera was my brothers and he took the video while he visited me. I have good pictures of the corals that I will post soon. The tank is 4' * 4' *2'. The purple tank goes nuts sometimes. Frequent feeding of algae keeps him calm
I wish I could take another video like that. The camera was my brothers and he took the video while he visited me. I have good pictures of the corals that I will post soon. The tank is 4' * 4' *2'. The purple tank goes nuts sometimes. Frequent feeding of algae keeps him calm
sirrealism
Well-Known Member
Very nice. Yes would love to see some pics of the corals. Yes it seems the only way to keep a purple tang chilled out is a lot of algae. Thats a great sized tank. I bet its a little tough to clean.
Here are some pictures of coral growth from 2008 to 2013:
2008-0717
2008-1231
2009-0325
2009-0718
2009-1024
2010-0810
2010-1022
2011-0227
2012-0123
2012-0712
2013-0313
sirrealism
Well-Known Member
Now thats what i am talking about. I will take a frag of everything LOL Very nice tank!!! i love how it started with about half softies and then over time converted to SPS as the SPS grew.
sirrealism
Well-Known Member
Well maybe not half but you know what I mean. Can you tell me what your running. Lights, filters, reactors, Are you running a calcium reactor? Give me a run down of your hole system and maint. I ask because when I see a nice SPS system i like to know what they did to get there. I make notes as i am setting up a new 300g SPS tank. I have notes on about 8 other really nice SPS systems. What do you do for flow? ect. Thanks. I have a really nice 40b full of SPS just waiting for me to finish the 300. if you were to do it over again what would you do different?
Lighting
In the center I have 3 Apollo LED dimmable fixture controlled by Apex
On both sides I have 2 DIY LED fixture that I built using components from ReefLedLights.com. It consists of a 36 inch heat sink with
1) 12 XTE Royal Blue LED
2) 12 XPG Cool White Premium 7.5K
3) 8 XP-E blue
4) 2 XP-E red
5) 2 XP-E Green
6) 12 Violet UV LED's
7) 24 XRE Royal Blue
8) 12 XRE Cool White
In between the fixtures I have two 4" giesemann actinic plus
Filtration
The tank employs biological and mechanical filtration.
The biological filtration consists of more than 250 pounds of live rock, 1 inch of sugar fine aragonite sand, 20G refugium filled with a 12 inch deep sand bed, Chaetomorpha and live rock. For mechanical filtration, the water passes into the overflow then into the sump via a 100 micron filter sock. Next, the water passes through two separate chambers. The first area houses a heater, live rock and skimmer. The final area accommodates the return pump.
I also run highh capacity GFO. Change it once in 6 months.
Flow
To help maximize the flow from the return pump I employ two Wavy Sea wave makers. They keep moving back and forth evenly distributing the water from the sump. I currently use two Vortech mp60wes pumps and a Reeflo dart return pump. I have been extremely happy with this combination.
Feeding and maintenance
Every days I feed Rods food. 70% Calcium and Alkalinity are maintained using a Geo Calcium reactor with an additional DIY chamber. Rest is provided by automatic dosing of BRS two part.
Salinity is maintained by top off using a Litermeter pump.
I change the filter soaks once in 7 days and also clean the skimmer cup once a week. Chaetomorpha in the refugium is trimmed once in 2 weeks. I record KH once in two days and test phosphates once a week.
I do a 50Gallon water change once a month. At this time I also vacuum the sand bed and run carbon when needed.
I clean the skimmer and soak the Vortech wetsides in vinegar once in 6 months.
I also have a 1/3 hp Teco chiller. It keeps the temparature of the tank below 78.5 degrees.
akaimal - absolute gorgeous reef & fish - Cheers for sharing !!!
sirrealism
Well-Known Member
Thank you very much. I see a few of the same things that I see on just about every great SPS system. 1st is Wavy Sea wave makers or seaswirls- seasweeps. "I just purchased 2" and am looking for a good deal on more. 2nd is if your running LEDs there has to be a lot of low 400nm in the fixture. I see your running just as many UV as your running of any other 1 color accept XRE Royal Blue. I will say that most of the systems I have asked for a run down on are using T5. Have you been running LEDs for a long time? Do you see the same growth and color as before? i know it can be done with LEDs but it harder to get them dialed in. 3RD and seems like the most important one is the calcium reactor. I believe the calcium reactor is the most important because you get proper amounts of trace elements put back in the tank. Something dosing cannot do. Thank you very much for taking the time to type all of this out for me and everyone.
I am running 400nm LED at 30%, since I have to many of them. You dont need that many. Also 2 purple t5 bulbs ae good enough.
I have been running LED only for the last 1.5 years. Before that I was running 1 400 W Radium on light rail and 4 T5's running on ice cap 660. I got the best growth using this combination. Growth of some corals have slowed down under LED. But at the same time some corals are growing faster under LED's. To be honest I liked the look of the tank under halide & T5. At the same time I am ok with the LEDs.
sirrealism
Well-Known Member
Thanks again for all the info. I am setting up my 300g 8' and had thought about a light rail for a 400w radium. I will be running 8 x 54w T5s and had thought about LEDs for the rest but I see so many running MH and the colors under the radium is spectacular. There is a local guy here in FL named Emmit who has a 180 SPS only who runs 4 t5s for about 10 hours and runs 3 400w radiums for 3.5 hours. He sells a lot of coral but he doesnt want anyone to come to his house till 5 when the MH come on. Well i got to his place a little early and he let me in and the tank was great so we went into his frag room to look at other coral and when we came back to the DT the MH were on and OMG what a difference they made. It was spectacular unlike anything I had seen before. His SPS are so thick that he can not fit his hand in the tank and the corals are growing right out of the water. His power bill is a bit high but the corals he sells pays for it many times over. After seeing this tank is when I thought I would do MH but hate the idea of the heat and elec costs. Putting the MH on a rail helps a lot. Do they sell light rails or did you make it your self?
For good growth, I think MH is still the King. I have saved my MH fixture, just in case. My corals are fully grown, so I really dont need too much growth right now.
This is what I used for moving the light.
http://hydrobuilder.com/6-rail-w-10-rpm-intelli-drive-motor.html?dzid=csegps_LR3.510SYS&gclid=CjwKEAiAvvyiBRDzrYuuldy6wB8SJABPJWObBNCOQSjQPNKtJVQDyaboCR3g7xpShulbM781WBtA6xoC2rDw_wcB
sirrealism
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the link. I will be buying one. I see it says 6' yet your tank is 6' did you have to put some sort of stops in to get it to not hit the end? i would think a 5' would work for a 6' tank? I need to put this over an 8' tank. But if i center it and it ran to the ends it would be perfect with a 1' gap at the ends.
They sell it stops at both ends. Mine is only 3' I think. your idea is perfect. 5' would work for a 6' tank. You dont want the light to fall outside of the tank.
My tank is 4' and not 5'. Light moves 1.5 feet back and forth across the center point of the tank.
sirrealism
Well-Known Member
AHHHHHH ok thanks. My tank is 8' so a 6' rail should be fine. I was thinking you had a 6' tank since the link you gave me was for a 6' rail. thats what had me a bit confused but thanks again.