Luke33's Acrylic 180g SPS Adventures

[luke33]

I feed every other day and feed LRS, mysis, blood worms(training CBB), brine, and other random frozens. Fish are all super thick. Scopas Tang, Two Barred Rabbit, CBB, Kole Tang, Yellow Corris Wrasse, Mandarin Goby(eats frozen). The only fish i've added in the last year or so was the CBB for aiptasia control. I would say my bioload is medium to heavy.

 

[CoralWealth]

Thanks!

How do you run your gyres? Are they your only flow besides your return?

 

[luke33]

I have one gyre 150 in the top left corner running on high constant flow. I have two jebao pp15's on the right side running at 40-50%, one mid back and one high front. The only issue I have with flow is I get some detritus built up under my lps below my gyre. If I were to remove my lps I wouldn't have any issue's with detritus.

 

[CoralWealth]

I have one gyre 150 in the top left corner running on high constant flow. I have two jebao pp15's on the right side running at 40-50%, one mid back and one high front. The only issue I have with flow is I get some detritus built up under my lps below my gyre. If I were to remove my lps I wouldn't have any issue's with detritus.

This is almost exactly what I have going expect the opposite, gyre on the right and 2 pp15s on the left. Since I am not bare bottom, I have a huge bare bottom in the front middle with the sand everywhere else. trying to think what I can put down there on the bottom that is fine with high flow but not very high light.

 

[luke33]

This is almost exactly what I have going expect the opposite, gyre on the right and 2 pp15s on the left. Since I am not bare bottom, I have a huge bare bottom in the front middle with the sand everywhere else. trying to think what I can put down there on the bottom that is fine with high flow but not very high light.

The setup works but in all honesty I will most likely replace the gyre in the future with two powerheads. I may try out the new rossmont powerheads. I like being able to place multiple powerheads in various spots to eliminate all dead spots.

I was going to take a FTS on Tue and noticed my dusk/dawn lights were not on......so had to order a ballast again to replace the bad one. This is the second time I have had to do this. Its pretty frustrating, i figured spending 700bux on an ATI fixture it would work correctly for a bit. But two ballasts in 2yrs is not to impressive. I have an aquatinics fixture thats nearly 10yrs old that still fires up every time. I wish that company was still around!

 

[luke33]

RR OP Daylight and Blue Led











Franklin Redhead















Beautiful Milli











Another gorgeous Milli











Aussie sps











Bonsai











#ReefPets Pandemonium







Nice Tenuis







Shirley Temple

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

RR OP Daylight and Blue Led











Franklin Redhead















Beautiful Milli











Another gorgeous Milli











Aussie sps











Bonsai











#ReefPets Pandemonium







Nice Tenuis







Shirley Temple

WOW! HAWT stuff!!

 

[justingraham]

WOW! HAWT stuff!!

Yea I agree

 

[luke33]

WOW! HAWT stuff!!

Yea I agree

Thanks guys! I have a hard time getting good daylight shots. I think they are good, then i pull them up on the pc and they look dull. I'll figure it out one of these days!

 

[CoralWealth]

Thanks guys! I have a hard time getting good daylight shots. I think they are good, then i pull them up on the pc and they look dull. I'll figure it out one of these days!

If only thats what my "dull" looked like haha, they look very nice.

Did you start this tank with brand new rock, etc or did you use cured live rock? If you started brand new, when did you notice SPS start to take off or has your tank always looked this good from the beginning? I keept getting what random stn and burnt tips even though my parms have been very stable and I am very confused on what is going on. My old system was the exact same setup besides a different city water but my RO/DI always reads 0 but I am still nervous something is getting through as I dont know what else it could be. The new frags look great for 2-3 weeks but then seem to take a hit which I dont get at all.

How far off the water line is your light? Also if you get some time, a FTS would be great

 

[sebastiaan1985]

Great shots and awesome collection of SPS. Following!

 

[luke33]

If only thats what my "dull" looked like haha, they look very nice.

Did you start this tank with brand new rock, etc or did you use cured live rock? If you started brand new, when did you notice SPS start to take off or has your tank always looked this good from the beginning? I keept getting what random stn and burnt tips even though my parms have been very stable and I am very confused on what is going on. My old system was the exact same setup besides a different city water but my RO/DI always reads 0 but I am still nervous something is getting through as I dont know what else it could be. The new frags look great for 2-3 weeks but then seem to take a hit which I dont get at all.

How far off the water line is your light? Also if you get some time, a FTS would be great

Thanks Cody! My lights are around 10" off the waterline. 6 t5's and 2 e5 blue pop

You know I took a FTS over the weekend. I have a hard time getting a good FTS. I'll post them up tonight as I can't use my work laptop.

In the beginning I tried using some ceramic structures I have had for a while but it just didn't turn out very well so I moved to pukani rock. The pukani was in rock bins at Premium Aquatics for 4mths when I purchased it. I would say it took a good 6mths for the sps to start taking off. Some started growing instantly and some took months to adjust, then started growing. I still have some sps in my tank that are nearly 2yrs old that have not grown at all. They are colored up but just laying dormant. It just comes with the territory i suppose.

Once I hit that year and a half mark everything just started coming together, the sps really started to grow and I can throw just about any sps in here and feel confident. Its tough to say why your getting burnt tips but generally that is from alk swings. The other thing that could be causing it could be high phosphate or phosphate swings. But if your parameters have been stable it could just be one of those tough one's to diagnose. Just try and keep the sps with issue's in stable parameters and don't move them. Hopefully they will recover. The only times I worry is if i have to change my bulbs or if i need to move an sps.

It could also be from moving from one light source to another as that generally is a tough acclimation for sps at times. If your worried about your rodi you could always get different carbon and sediment filters. Like a chloromine carbon block if your worried. But it could be the age of your tank as well. Tough to say without knowing your system : )

 

[luke33]

Great shots and awesome collection of SPS. Following!

Thanks Sebastiaan!

 

[CoralWealth]

Thanks Cody! My lights are around 10" off the waterline. 6 t5's and 2 e5 blue pop

You know I took a FTS over the weekend. I have a hard time getting a good FTS. I'll post them up tonight as I can't use my work laptop.

In the beginning I tried using some ceramic structures I have had for a while but it just didn't turn out very well so I moved to pukani rock. The pukani was in rock bins at Premium Aquatics for 4mths when I purchased it. I would say it took a good 6mths for the sps to start taking off. Some started growing instantly and some took months to adjust, then started growing. I still have some sps in my tank that are nearly 2yrs old that have not grown at all. They are colored up but just laying dormant. It just comes with the territory i suppose.

Once I hit that year and a half mark everything just started coming together, the sps really started to grow and I can throw just about any sps in here and feel confident. Its tough to say why your getting burnt tips but generally that is from alk swings. The other thing that could be causing it could be high phosphate or phosphate swings. But if your parameters have been stable it could just be one of those tough one's to diagnose. Just try and keep the sps with issue's in stable parameters and don't move them. Hopefully they will recover. The only times I worry is if i have to change my bulbs or if i need to move an sps.

It could also be from moving from one light source to another as that generally is a tough acclimation for sps at times. If your worried about your rodi you could always get different carbon and sediment filters. Like a chloromine carbon block if your worried. But it could be the age of your tank as well. Tough to say without knowing your system : )

Thanks for the reply. I havent had an alk swing more then .3 in a single day so I highly doubt its that and for the phosphate I dont think it could be that as mine has never been higher then 0.05. I will just continue to keep things stable and hope the frags can recover.

 

[luke33]

Thanks for the reply. I havent had an alk swing more then .3 in a single day so I highly doubt its that and for the phosphate I dont think it could be that as mine has never been higher then 0.05. I will just continue to keep things stable and hope the frags can recover.

Cody, i'd be happy to help you troubleshoot as to whats going on. I'll shoot over a PM.

 

[luke33]

Here are a couple bad FTS, I just can't seem to take a good one.

 

[maroun.c]

Very nice shots. Love how healthy those SPS are.
Tank will look breathtaking after these will grow and fill up.

 

[CoralWealth]

very nice!

So you have the majority of your colonies on the "sand bed" even though I know you are bare bottom. Is there a reason you dont move them higher up or do you just start them down there and then move them up? I know you buy some mari's so maybe that is why they are down there? Or is it because you know the colonies on the rock and the colonies down there will eventually run into eachother and you dont have room on the rock? Trying to figure out why you have some all the way down on the bottom and some on the rock.

I know majority of people say once you place the coral in a spot to leave it there for a long time, but I am always trying to figure out exactly where to place it. Especially since my whole rock only has a highest spot to lowest spot difference of like 5 inches.

 

[luke33]

Very nice shots. Love how healthy those SPS are.
Tank will look breathtaking after these will grow and fill up.

Thanks! Thats what worries me, they are all growing into each other right now and not even full colonies yet : )

very nice!

So you have the majority of your colonies on the "sand bed" even though I know you are bare bottom. Is there a reason you dont move them higher up or do you just start them down there and then move them up? I know you buy some mari's so maybe that is why they are down there? Or is it because you know the colonies on the rock and the colonies down there will eventually run into eachother and you dont have room on the rock? Trying to figure out why you have some all the way down on the bottom and some on the rock.

I know majority of people say once you place the coral in a spot to leave it there for a long time, but I am always trying to figure out exactly where to place it. Especially since my whole rock only has a highest spot to lowest spot difference of like 5 inches.

Well, i should get some close up of the rock structures and you will see why there are so many colonies on the bottom. The rock is absolutely covered with sps so i have zero room to move some of the corals up. I have come to a stop as far as buying sps goes which stinks. Even the BB is getting to the point I really have to make sure the mari's are placed correctly as they like to fight each other. Everything is growing to fast and I need to move a few things to the frag tank.

 

[CoralWealth]

Thanks! Thats what worries me, they are all growing into each other right now and not even full colonies yet : )



Well, i should get some close up of the rock structures and you will see why there are so many colonies on the bottom. The rock is absolutely covered with sps so i have zero room to move some of the corals up. I have come to a stop as far as buying sps goes which stinks. Even the BB is getting to the point I really have to make sure the mari's are placed correctly as they like to fight each other. Everything is growing to fast and I need to move a few things to the frag tank.

I figured that was why, what a good issue to have!