FarmerTy's 215-gallon SPS Tank

Hey Ty, how high are you mounting those lights off of the water? I am trying to get a feel for how high to mount a T5 hybrid w/o too much light spill.
Thanks!
The reflectors aren’t the greatest in the fixture so I don’t see too much spill from the T5s. I have them pretty low... 14” roughly. Par in the bottom tank is like 625 peak.
Tired Wake Up GIF by good-morning
 
That would be an interesting thing to find out. The speciosa I remember seeing before didn’t look like these variants from “Malaysia”. It’s really the polyp color contrast that is so visually amazing in person. Just gorgeous and nothing like anything we’ve seen in the hobby. I’d collect them all if I could. They seem to be finicky about parameters though. I heard Shane lost his main colony of his that he was selling. I lost my Brain freeze when I switched to the denitrator. They don’t seem to be the most durable but maybe some more time getting used to aquacultured conditions will help ease that as time goes on.
The Brain Freeze I got from you about a year ago is doing fantastic. My first cut is going to my ”bank” for obvious reasons and then I’ll have some available. My love of these Speciosa come from the odd growth structure combined with the absolutely breathtaking colors. It’s in my top 5 favorite sticks
D47F457F-639B-4C0A-A813-54D515EDDFC0.jpeg
 
The Brain Freeze I got from you about a year ago is doing fantastic. My first cut is going to my ”bank” for obvious reasons and then I’ll have some available. My love of these Speciosa come from the odd growth structure combined with the absolutely breathtaking colors. It’s in my top 5 favorite sticks
D47F457F-639B-4C0A-A813-54D515EDDFC0.jpeg
It’s glorious! I miss you buddy!
 
The Brain Freeze I got from you about a year ago is doing fantastic. My first cut is going to my ”bank” for obvious reasons and then I’ll have some available. My love of these Speciosa come from the odd growth structure combined with the absolutely breathtaking colors. It’s in my top 5 favorite sticks
D47F457F-639B-4C0A-A813-54D515EDDFC0.jpeg
Beautiful! So can you share what's working for you? What PAR and lighting is it under? Flow, ALK, NO3 and PO4? I had a frag of Half Baked, and it was amazing when it came in, but slowly wasted away over the course of a month. Brandon keeps his mother of Rock Candy in 200-250 PAR in a blue spectrum. I chatted with Shane yesterday, and he has lost the mother colony of Half Baked... Here's a pic of mine when it was looking good RIP.
SBB Half Baked.jpg
 
So I wish I had some pics of my old speciosa . I don’t but it was alongside my wild ice fire and I kept it under 200 PAR with partial shading as I was running 400 watt ushios with 4 T5’s .

I always found they did expectionally well under high flow like all my smoothies . Oh and they did very well with high nutrients in tanks too but hated swings in any form

This was my ice fire in highest flow possible but low light of around 200 PAR

BE5E50A1-D0A4-472A-BCFE-07798D8D14D7.jpeg
 
Beautiful! So can you share what's working for you? What PAR and lighting is it under? Flow, ALK, NO3 and PO4? I had a frag of Half Baked, and it was amazing when it came in, but slowly wasted away over the course of a month. Brandon keeps his mother of Rock Candy in 200-250 PAR in a blue spectrum. I chatted with Shane yesterday, and he has lost the mother colony of Half Baked... Here's a pic of mine when it was looking good RIP.
SBB Half Baked.jpg
Thanks Bill! I run the Aquatic Life hybrid. 2 Blue+, 2 Aquablue Specials with 4 AI Prime pucks. The BF is in between 2 LED’s with a light diffuser on top of my screen top. PAR is around 400. Good intermittent gyre flow. Alk stays at 8.9 using a Trident and DOS. NO3= 5-12 & PO4=.02-.06 most of the time. I fight to maintain nutrients and only run my skimmer 2-4 hrs a day. This coral has been a beast for me. I made a huge mistake in December and added a sea hare. I believe my wrasse attacked it and it released its toxin in the tank. I lost about $3,000 - $5,000 worth of acro colonies. The toxin didn’t even begin to effect the BF or my Jumanji. Very strange how some people have had difficulties with them.
 
So I wish I had some pics of my old speciosa . I don’t but it was alongside my wild ice fire and I kept it under 200 PAR with partial shading as I was running 400 watt ushios with 4 T5’s .

I always found they did expectionally well under high flow like all my smoothies . Oh and they did very well with high nutrients in tanks too but hated swings in any form

This was my ice fire in highest flow possible but low light of around 200 PAR

BE5E50A1-D0A4-472A-BCFE-07798D8D14D7.jpeg
Wow! That’s gorgeous!
 
Wow! That’s gorgeous!
Yeah I have had so many ice fires over the years but nothing quite like that wild . The body was so creamy almost white and the tips were as blue as possible with PE rivaling my millies . Sadly lost it in my tank transfer . Am still in the hunt for a similar one but haven’t found one quite like it :( . Sadly the Tyree one doesn’t come close to it
 
Thanks Bill! I run the Aquatic Life hybrid. 2 Blue+, 2 Aquablue Specials with 4 AI Prime pucks. The BF is in between 2 LED’s with a light diffuser on top of my screen top. PAR is around 400. Good intermittent gyre flow. Alk stays at 8.9 using a Trident and DOS. NO3= 5-12 & PO4=.02-.06 most of the time. I fight to maintain nutrients and only run my skimmer 2-4 hrs a day. This coral has been a beast for me. I made a huge mistake in December and added a sea hare. I believe my wrasse attacked it and it released its toxin in the tank. I lost about $3,000 - $5,000 worth of acro colonies. The toxin didn’t even begin to effect the BF or my Jumanji. Very strange how some people have had difficulties with them.
Thanks for the tips. I also just got a frag of Jumanji. How is that one doing for you?
 
Thanks for the tips. I also just got a frag of Jumanji. How is that one doing for you?
Jumanji is doing OK. He slowed growth a bit after the toxin incident but he’s held color and is back to encrusting now.
98CE3173-E4C1-47BD-BE4F-6F4B1BB0DF16.jpeg


Since we’re already hijacking Ty’s thread I figure I’ll throw this pic out too...
ADD0213A-96EB-4F43-A60A-542D37766D7E.jpeg

2” Disc here. Doesn’t appear to be doing as well as Ty’s but considering what my system went thru, I am completely happy with its progress. BTW, I purchased this after the incident, but I may have still had some trace amount in the system.
 
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The Splice is pretty tough, so I'm sure it will come around. Color looks great! My Jumanji is very pale, but the polyps are out. I moved it down to some lower PAR to see if that helps. OK back to our original programming. Take it away Ty...
 
So I wish I had some pics of my old speciosa . I don’t but it was alongside my wild ice fire and I kept it under 200 PAR with partial shading as I was running 400 watt ushios with 4 T5’s .

I always found they did expectionally well under high flow like all my smoothies . Oh and they did very well with high nutrients in tanks too but hated swings in any form

This was my ice fire in highest flow possible but low light of around 200 PAR

BE5E50A1-D0A4-472A-BCFE-07798D8D14D7.jpeg
I’m pretty sure I had this one too. Crazy bright blue, long branches. It was better than my aussie echinata and Tyree Ice Fire.
 
The Splice is pretty tough, so I'm sure it will come around. Color looks great! My Jumanji is very pale, but the polyps are out. I moved it down to some lower PAR to see if that helps. OK back to our original programming. Take it away Ty...
Screw that. You guys are welcome to hijack any day if people are posting gorgeous acro pics and talking husbandry. If this keeps going, I might even follow my own thread just to get updates.
 
Screw that. You guys are welcome to hijack any day if people are posting gorgeous acro pics and talking husbandry. If this keeps going, I might even follow my own thread just to get updates.
Am so lazy to start my own build thread . Then can I start posting pics here and make it a community build thread ? I promise to show all the ones I got from you first though lol !!!
 
Am so lazy to start my own build thread . Then can I start posting pics here and make it a community build thread ? I promise to show all the ones I got from you first though lol !!!
I can so relate. Not a ton of motivation on a build thread when you are over a dozen years late in doing so. It is more fun to "squat" on other's build threads.
 
I can so relate. Not a ton of motivation on a build thread when you are over a dozen years late in doing so. It is more fun to "squat" on other's build threads.
season 5 goo goo gas GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants
 

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