Oldude SPS pix

Moonlightreef · Feb 22, 2015

Oldude said:
Here's a couple of polyp extension shots

first of all amazing tank , love everything about it , second of all those are some super hairy millis , let me know if you need a trimmer

Oldude · Feb 25, 2015

Moonlightreef said:
first of all amazing tank , love everything about it , second of all those are some super hairy millis , let me know if you need a trimmer

Thanks for the compliment and for taking the time to have a look.

Oldude · Feb 25, 2015

tripdad said:
Hey, thanks for the response. It is a nice color mix, guess I will just have to keep my eyes open. You certainly have a nice collection.

Thanks again, good luck

Oldude · Feb 25, 2015

Pedoconfuego said:
Oh man I love the growth form on this, is it a floridia? I would love to find a nice chunk of this type of acro. Beautiful colonies as well, your tank is very cool!

I am not 100% sure - very hard to get a decent look at the corallites but I would guess either that or hyacinthus.

Acrononomus · Feb 25, 2015

By far one of the nicest collection of sps I have seen!!! Nice work, wish I could get a frag of each!! Rockwork is amazing, but hey, clean that skimmer...

Oldude · Feb 27, 2015

Acrononomus said:
By far one of the nicest collection of sps I have seen!!! Nice work, wish I could get a frag of each!! Rockwork is amazing, but hey, clean that skimmer...

Thanks for the compliment & generous remarks.

Oldude · Feb 27, 2015

Fighting for space - but it looks like they agree to disagree :nod:

just moved the little purple dragon from the prop tank to the display - grow baby grow!

kacrocorals581 · Feb 28, 2015

I never get tired of looking at your tank just phenomenal

Oldude · Mar 1, 2015

kacrocorals581 said:
I never get tired of looking at your tank just phenomenal

You are very kind, thank you.

Oldude · May 14, 2015

A few updated pix

Oldude · May 14, 2015

SPS_ · May 14, 2015

Awesome work man!

heathd.hd · May 14, 2015

Every time I look at this thread it makes me sad. I feel like I should just drain my tank and forget being in this hobby you have set the bar 2 high! Hahhah. Awesome as always!

Apisto · May 14, 2015

Great color, nice acropora selection and simply a very beautiful tank. It is extremely difficult to have a tank running successfully for so long to fill in that well. That is a credit to your skill.

Lbfnp · May 14, 2015

Absolutely stunning. Great job.

luke33 · May 14, 2015

Beautiful tank and well done! I have a few questions for you about your thoughts. So what have you found to be the most difficult sps to keep? Do you have much trouble with sps growing together, any warfare or sps that are just deadly to others(besides hydno)? On the side with the radion, have you noticed any difference in growth rate or color vs the rest of your tank? I have really enjoyed the thread and its very nice to see such a gracious and mannered person.

Oldude · May 15, 2015

SPS_ said:
Awesome work man!

Thanks

heathd.hd said:
Every time I look at this thread it makes me sad. I feel like I should just drain my tank and forget being in this hobby you have set the bar 2 high! Hahhah. Awesome as always!

Thanks. The grass is always greener/the corals always bluer on the other side. I feel the same way when I look at some of the tanks around.

Apisto said:
Great color, nice acropora selection and simply a very beautiful tank. It is extremely difficult to have a tank running successfully for so long to fill in that well. That is a credit to your skill.

Thanks, glad you like the reef.

Lbfnp said:
Absolutely stunning. Great job.

Thanks much.

luke33 said:
Beautiful tank and well done! I have a few questions for you about your thoughts. So what have you found to be the most difficult sps to keep? Do you have much trouble with sps growing together, any warfare or sps that are just deadly to others(besides hydno)? On the side with the radion, have you noticed any difference in growth rate or color vs the rest of your tank? I have really enjoyed the thread and its very nice to see such a gracious and mannered person.

Thanks for the compliments. My "nemesis" coral seems to be acropora Plana - I am not sure why but I always seem to struggle keeping them long term. Some corals like the Radion and some appear to prefer MH or T5 but the corals I keep directly under it presently are doing really well with pretty good color. The growth rate is a hard thing to compare because so many corals grow at different rates no matter what but I think the LED & MH are quite close as far as growth goes. Corals growing into each other are always a challenge - some I let duke it out and some I trim back if one is much more aggressive and looks like it will kill the weaker one and take over.

Oldude · May 15, 2015

hatfielj · May 16, 2015

This tank is too amazing. It just makes me want to quit!

Are u still running the same lighting set up? What's ur photoperiod/schedule?

Oldude · May 16, 2015

hatfielj said:
This tank is too amazing. It just makes me want to quit!

Are u still running the same lighting set up? What's ur photoperiod/schedule?

Thanks - but don't quit, I feel that same way when I look at some of the tanks out there. The grass is always greener.

Here is my lighting schedule:

8:00 AM - 12:00 AM (on all day for that little extra)
LED moonlights are made up of "Reefbrite" 3 watt diodes x 18 & an extra strip of 1 watt x 12 diodes.

9:30ish AM - 11:00 PM - T5 actinic & Fiji Purple (4 bulbs) start - stay on all day (runs for 14 hours)

1:00 - 1:20 PM all remaining lights come on & run until 9:00 - 9:15 PM.
The T5's and the Radion are on the same timer and come on at 1:00 PM.
The metal halides are divided amongst 2 timers and set up with the two outside lights together & the two inside lights on the other timer. This provides a better sunrise/sunset affect - the inside two stay on about 15 minutes longer since in my opinion this gives a more natural appearance resembling the last minutes of sunlight shining through a section of reef with the rest going darker. At this stage it is back to the four T5 actinic/Fiji purple bulbs & LED moonlights until 10:30 PM when it turns to just the LED moonlights and the reef goes dark at midnight.