WD's 150g SPS Peninsula

[ScottB]

Thought I'd share some par numbers I took today. Tank is 48x30x24, completely SPS dominant tank.

Lights are mounted 16 inches off the water

Two orphek compacts v2
Two orphek or2 blue bars.

channel 80%
100% channel 2 and 3
25% channel 4

I think I hit my goal of following bulk reefs supply's 200-300 par throughout the majority of the area where SPS is. I'm debated bringing the lights down slightly, or in the future adding a 3rd compact as recommended by brs for this size tank. I feel like my numbers are about right where the brs spotlight video had them.
Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated, cheers!

Excellent even spread. Well done on the DIY with 80/20. Strong, lightweight, minimum visibility. Like it a lot.

 

[WDKegge]

Excellent even spread. Well done on the DIY with 80/20. Strong, lightweight, minimum visibility. Like it a lot.

Thanks, I didn't want a ton of cords hanging from my ceiling and wanted something clean looking, it also only cost me around 70$ in materials to build.

 

[ScottB]

Thanks, I didn't want a ton of cords hanging from my ceiling and wanted something clean looking, it also only cost me around 70$ in materials to build.

Really nice.

Any concerns about longevity and repair needs on the Orpheks (not the bars)?

I've read multiple threads on the diodes dying and needing to be replaced with DIY soldering. Are you comfortable that it has either been resolved, or is less common than it appears, or is something your comfortable performing? Just curious. There is a lot I like about those fixtures, but I got scared off.

 

[WDKegge]

Really nice.

Any concerns about longevity and repair needs on the Orpheks (not the bars)?

I've read multiple threads on the diodes dying and needing to be replaced with DIY soldering. Are you comfortable that it has either been resolved, or is less common than it appears, or is something your comfortable performing? Just curious. There is a lot I like about those fixtures, but I got scared off.

My profession has me working with electrical and I'm experienced in DIY and soldering, if it comes to that I would have no problem opening them up for any repairs.

 

[Janci]

I have been searching for recommendation on this Orphek Atlantic's ans now stumble on your thread. Following along from now on.
I like what you did with the 80/20 profiles, very clean.
You PAR values are looking great. I would not change anything for now and see how everything reacts.

 

[WDKegge]

I have been searching for recommendation on this Orphek Atlantic's ans now stumble on your thread. Following along from now on.
I like what you did with the 80/20 profiles, very clean.
You PAR values are looking great. I would not change anything for now and see how everything reacts.

Welcome to the party

 

[WDKegge]

Decided to throw on two tunze 6095s on the tank to get a little more water flow in the tank. Been following a bunch of successful sps tanks here and on YouTube and a constant I'm seeing in all the tanks is much more flow that I currently had.

I love the wide flow on these guys, I set them up with the apex to anti sync eatchother going from 30 to 100%.

 

[WDKegge]

This is what the template looks like that the pumps will run.

 

[Janci]

Those Tunze Turbelle are the best wavemaker. They are a little bulky, but they do what they say they should do.
I was struggling with MP40's till I changed out with 2 pieces of Tunze 6155... all problems solved.
And the corals loved it.

 

[WDKegge]

Those Tunze Turbelle are the best wavemaker. They are a little bulky, but they do what they say they should do.
I was struggling with MP40's till I changed out with 2 pieces of Tunze 6155... all problems solved.
And the corals loved it.

Yeah, I've always been impressed with the tunze pumps over other brands, both maxspec and ecotech, these two pumps I feel push more flow than the gyre 350s.

 

[WDKegge]

So taking a page out of my own book I decided to remake my "chaeto lawn". After the last emptying of my fuge I noticed chaeto would just float to the top and burn under the kessil.

To deal with this I redid my own diy solution, egg crate sandwich which holds the chaeto down and allows it to grow up towards the light, when you need to trim you can just cut it with scissors and give it a haircut.

 

[Okinawa_reefer]

Very nice looking tank. Following along!

 

[WDKegge]

Few new tank residents added today.

A pair of banggai cardinals and a long nose hawkfish

Was hard to pass the guy up when he was staring at me like this.

 

[WDKegge]

Currently in the middle of painting the stand, I had wanted to do this from the get go, but figured I could just paint it later.

I've always felt a bright stand helps make the tank stand out.

 

[WDKegge]

Very happy with how the stand came out.

 

[WDKegge]

8 Month tank update.

Tank has been doing fantastic. I was worried for a bit after I swapped out the lights for the orpheks when all the sps began to bleach/pale out. It happened slowly over the course of 2 weeks so instead of trying to change it I just let it ride out, after about two weeks I started getting great polyp extension and color started to come back. I'm now seeing daily growth and am having to bump the calcium reactor output up once a week.

All the SPS are nicely encrusted and I'm just biding my time till I start to get new branches.

I feel like the tank is ready for another batch of SPS, I only have about 10 or so frags atm and these were all the original testers to see how they would do in the tank. I'm ready to start adding some high ends in.

Happy reefing everyone!

 

[Janci]

They all look nicely encrusted.
Do you have a favourite supplier for the high end?

 

[WDKegge]

They all look nicely encrusted.
Do you have a favourite supplier for the high end?

Have some local friends that are in the sps game that have all the fire.

 

[WDKegge]

Added some heat to the tank tonight.

Angry Birds
Fresno Jawdropper
Cherry Bomb
Hung's ultimate rainbow
Walt Disney

I have been trying to slowly raise my alk to 9 DKH from 8 and seem to only be chasing down keeping it at 8!

Two days ago my alk was at 7.8, added 30ml of bulk reef liquid alk, and bumped the calcium reactor output by a few ml/min, checked the alk later that night was at 8.1.

Two days later again, back at 7.8, add another 30ml of liquid alk and up the doser again!

Two days later, finally only dropped to 7.9, again, added another 30ml of liquid alk and raised the calc output, I am finally finding a sweet spot to keep up with all the growth.

I have several sps at what I would call "mini colony" stage, and quite a few still encrusting to the rockwork, several have new branches.

This is my favorite view of the tank so far, I have taken to grabbing a empty bucket of salt nearby and siting at it watching the fish and corals. I'm excited for the future of this tank, finally getting to a point where I see daily growth, healthy colors and it's been a long time since I could say that about this hobby. I've had lots of ups and downs in this hobby in the last few years, I'm glad to have a tank I'm proud of.

Quote this post when I get tank of the month next year!

 

[Janci]

Looking great. Now to keep things stable and running