FarmerTy's 215-gallon SPS Tank

[FarmerTy]

Looked back through my pics and found one of an ATI. Green is ground wires, Red is a wire nut to tie them together.

At the connector that is mounted to the chassis, the center one is ground. You can run that end of the wire right into that ground slot! (forgive me for the crude drawing...was doing it on my phone with a finger, so the green wires aren't very exact, lol)

Oh man, you rock! Nothing like giving a rookie a photo diagram so he doesn't screw it up! [emoji23] Thanks for taking the time to draw on your phone and potentially risk coworker ridicule just to give me an illustrative instruction manual.

 

[Caravanshaka]

lol, I work from home...my dog may ridicule me, but I think I can handle that

no need for the rubber mats, the chassis is grounded with that screw that holds the connector down in the bottom left. It just seems that the HEP ballasts are a little more stable when grounded using the grounding pin on the power connection side than they are just having the metal body grounded to the chassis. I've only seen the problem once, but the result was ballast issues similar to yours...it can't hurt to do this, and you will already have it cracked open, so think of it as more preventative than anything else.

 

[FarmerTy]

lol, I work from home...my dog may ridicule me, but I think I can handle that

no need for the rubber mats, the chassis is grounded with that screw that holds the connector down in the bottom left. It just seems that the HEP ballasts are a little more stable when grounded using the grounding pin on the power connection side than they are just having the metal body grounded to the chassis. I've only seen the problem once, but the result was ballast issues similar to yours...it can't hurt to do this, and you will already have it cracked open, so think of it as more preventative than anything else.

[emoji23] My dog ridicules me a lot when I'm drawing on my phone. You must have a nicer dog. Thanks for the knowledge today sir! I'll be giving it a try this weekend! [emoji106][emoji106]

 

[NY_Caveman]

Top down video of the tank. Easily the best view of the true beauty of the corals.

Incredible as usual.

What is this? Turbinaria or Montipora?

 

[FarmerTy]

Incredible as usual.

What is this? Turbinaria or Montipora?

Thanks!

Yellow scroll coral... Tubinaria. Good call! Had it for 10 years now I think.

 

[Maritimer]

Tank is looking absolutely gorgeous - healthy, curious fish and brilliant corals!

One of these days, I'll have to re-read the thread, and see if I can figure out what gives you such jewel-like color.

~Bruce

P.S. - you've also just put efflo on my chart of desired SPS.

 

[FarmerTy]

Tank is looking absolutely gorgeous - healthy, curious fish and brilliant corals!

One of these days, I'll have to re-read the thread, and see if I can figure out what gives you such jewel-like color.

~Bruce

P.S. - you've also just put efflo on my chart of desired SPS.

Thanks for following along Maritimer! I guess you noticed my scribbled angel wondering what I was doing with the camera at the beginning of the video. [emoji23]

Easy for nice colors, just look from the top down. [emoji12]

Nothing really special, just lots of fish and standard SPS parameters that most run. Once the tank hits stride, then the colors start popping. Usually takes me a year before it really gets there honestly so I think most just aren't patient with it enough until you get rewarded.

I love my efflo! Glad you see some charm to them too now!

 

[Fudsey]

Come on Ty.... you're making the rest of us look bad and lazy.....;Yuck;Yuck

Tank looks awesome as usual ! ! !

 

[FarmerTy]

Come on Ty.... you're making the rest of us look bad and lazy.....;Yuck;Yuck

Tank looks awesome as usual ! ! !

I quit my day job to be a full time build thread poster so don't feel terrible. The pay is awful and the coworkers don't say much. [emoji12] Just kidding.

Thanks Fudsey!

 

[bubbaque]

Ty, do you use leds on your frag tank? If so, can you tell any difference in coral color from those under the t5's?

I'm thinking about setting up another frag tank and going led this time.

 

[FarmerTy]

Ty, do you use leds on your frag tank? If so, can you tell any difference in coral color from those under the t5's?

I'm thinking about setting up another frag tank and going led this time.

I use cheap modified Ocean Revive LEDs exclusively on my frag tank. They aren't Radions or anything but do the job nicely for 1/4 the price. I may try Radions in the near future to see if I'm missing anything.

I'm still trying to tell a difference... Its hard because my frag tank is only 10" deep so comparing front views of both is hard. I'll see if i can take some top down views of both systems with the same corals I may have in both and see if I can tell.

 

[FarmerTy]

Posted in the confetti thread but figured I should post it here too.

Finally got a good shot of the VividAquariums Confetti with my 55mm-200mm zoom lens and a 12mm extension tube. I uploaded the original with a laptop too instead of tapatalk. What a difference just changing those things.

You can now see the green growing edge I couldn't ever show before and the kind of aqua coloration in the deeper portions of the colony.

 

[sawdonkey]

Wow! That is a dope coral!

 

[FarmerTy]

Wow! That is a dope coral!

Hey Sawdonkey! Good to see you around! How's the rebuild going?

Thank you sir!

 

[FarmerTy]

So under the tutelage of @bubbaque, I've been working on my photography game a bit more. I ordered some extension tubes for my 55mm-200mm zoom lens and began using Adobe Lightroom to edit my pictures instead of using an app on my phone. I also have been uploading my pictures directly from the laptop instead of using Tapatalk to upload and compress the pictures.

Let me know what you guys think? This is my first run at Lightroom though @bubbaque made it dummy proof because he literally showed me how he edits on video and well... monkey see, monkey do.

 

[bubbaque]

Absolutely beautiful photos! That efflo is very nice! Is that the hungs rainbow next to the pink caddy?

 

[FarmerTy]

Absolutely beautiful photos! That efflo is very nice! Is that the hungs rainbow next to the pink caddy?

Thanks bud! I owe it all to you! Thanks for taking this rookie under your wing. [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

That's actually a WWC Blue Monster I got from Peng as a freebie. I love it!

 

[bubbaque]

Then we need a new pic of the hungs rainbow, lol.

 

[FarmerTy]

Then we need a new pic of the hungs rainbow, lol.

I think you've more than earned the right to request pics! I'll take one this weekend sir!

 

[FarmerTy]

Did you remember to check the PAR over the efflo? I went ahead and moved mine up and am already seeing lighter shades appear on it.

I'm a slacker but I did finally get it done.

It is at a much higher par than I thought. 300-350 par... And that's with two bulbs out from the ballast shorting so only 6 bulbs instead of 8.