Toms SPS Dominant Reef

[tommyboynj]

So, I had a thread in the large tank forum. But honestly, this is where i spend most of my time (and money). I'm quickly realizing im becoming an sps junkie.

My current tank is my third (an according to the wife) my final tank. I prefer to refer to it as my final "system" as this gives me some wiggle room when trying to explain why another tank made it into the fish room.

My first two tanks where really mixed reef. I had a few colonies that id bought on the sps side but never really focused on them. I made the decision with this tank that i would grow alot of SPS but from frags only. I still have a few zoas, and lps but the plan is to have this thing bursting with SPS within the next few years of grow out.

So, what led to this third and final system. Well, last year we finally decided that we were not moving into a bigger home because we loved the neighborhood etc. So, we set to work to have a significant addition put on the back of our ranch. Somehow i convinced my wife that a large tank and fish room was a critical component to this. So, in September, we broke ground and managed to get it all done the week before xmas!

After the holidays were over it was time to set to work on the tank:



The tank is a custome starfire which i got for a steal from a reefer moving out of town. Dimension are 48*30*27 with a ctc external overflow plumbed herbie

The fish room is directly behind the tank through the door on the left. Excuse the mess. This was right after we got her up and running so i have since cleaned the cable spaghetti up with conduit:



With the sump and fuge total water volume right now is around 200 gallons. I have a frag tank on order so that will increase it a little further.

My plan for this system was to follow the methods on one of my buddies who has had some of the most healthy sps tank ive seen. Massive skimmer, fuge and heavy feeding. The skimmer employed for this system is a reef octopus 3000 external. Rated to 400 gallons. I changed the orignal feed to a dc pump to reduce noise and power consumption and am very happy.

My fuge is a diy acrylic tank is used and a frag tank on an old system. It has some macro and some mangroves and is lit by a AI Sol White running at 100% for 10 hours a day opposite my display lighting schedule

I have also implemented a continuous water change system utilizing a neptune DOS. I change 10 gallons a week right now and am keeping my nitrates close to 0 and no phosphates. I feed 2/3 times a day with LRS and will occasionally put in a nori sheet.

Lighting over the display is 3 AI hydras. At my peek ramp period Im getting about 150par on the sand, 250par 1/3 the way up and about 350par 1/3 from the surface. So far im finding this spread of par is giving me plenty of room to accommodate light needs suited to individual corals. Lighting over the frag tank will be another hydra in order to maintain consistency.

Heres the tank the day of set up. With the added space, i was lucky that i could move all of my live rock over to the sump (100lbs) along with all my fish and not worry about a cycle. Unfortunatly, i was starting from almost scratch coral wise. Knowing that i was going through the renovation, i sold alot of stuff from the old system last fall and only kept a few sps, lps and gorgs in the tank.



And 2 months later here is how the tank looks now:

[drawman]

Looks nice so far! Is that a DIY light hanger? It almost looks like a separate fixture.

[Johnv281]

Looking good. Im diggin the tank's dimension and stand. Ever thought about removing the rim?

[tommyboynj]

Originally Posted by drawman

Looks nice so far! Is that a DIY light hanger? It almost looks like a separate fixture.

Nope. It's an old AI rail kit.

Originally Posted by Johnv281

Looking good. Im diggin the tank's dimension and stand. Ever thought about removing the rim?

I did but then I actually added the wood you see now. The tank is eurobraced and having owned rimless before I actually prefer this. I was always fussing over keeping the glass clean at the water line. This just prevents my ocd

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[tommyboynj]

So after 3/4 years of trying to figure out these leds im going back to T5. I figured that now was the time to do so as the tank was still young and the corals havnt grown out yet. I love the shimmer and controlability of LEDs but multiple people i know that have been in this hobby a lot longer than me have gone back to T5 or T5/MH after long stints with LED. Iv seen their tanks before and after and while they always looked good under LED the growth and coloration they got after a few month back into T5 was enough to convert me.

I opted to go with a ATI 8x39w Dimmable and will be running the following bulb combo:

2x Geismann Super Actininc, 2x ATI Coral +, 4x ATI Blue+

I bought a couple of extra bulbs so i can play around abit but love this combo on the tanks iv seen. I should have the light by the end of the week and will get some picture up once its up and running.

[reefmutt]

Very nice tank!
Love the peninsula style.
You'll love the new fixture and bulb choice.
Do you use Carbon?
That room shot, through the tank makes the water look green.. Don't know if it's just the camera..
Looking forward to watching this baby grow up.
And welcome to the sps forum.
You can check out anytime, but you'll never leave!

[Myka]

Originally Posted by tommyboynj

So after 3/4 years of trying to figure out these leds im going back to T5.

Good call! I you'll love the fixture. It is quite powerful, I have the 36" 6-bulb version. I like your bulb combo too. Mine is similar, but I have a KZ 10,000K in my line up and I use the ATI Actinics.

Originally Posted by reefmutt

That room shot, through the tank makes the water look green.. Don't know if it's just the camera..

Matt, that's just the camera's white balance settings.

[j_mazzy]

I'm loving it. Any chance you can increase the vertical height of the piece closest to the wall? kind of a more sloping effect?

[Usernam Invalid]

Nice start following along

[tommyboynj]

Not really. It would mess with the flow from the gyre. My hope is that long term it will fill in with sps as the frags I have up there grow out. I'm doing this whole tank from frags so it will take some time

In the past month iv really dialed in my calc reactor. Corals are starting to encrust, coralline is taking off. Unfortunately there was a delay getting my fixture here so I won't be getting it up for a few weeks. It's being delivered Monday but I go on vacation the end if the week and won't make a big change like lighting when I can't be around to see the tank daily. Right now my LEDs run up and down over 12 hours and hit there peak for 5. I'll probably start with the actinics on for 2hrs either side of all bulbs for 4 and work my way up to a longer photo period.


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[rholguin]

Great looking tank. I really like dimensions and the rock work.

[Magem]

Nice tank.
I did the same change from hybrid led+t5 to full T5.
The reef is brighter...


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[tommyboynj]

Alrighty. T5 is up and running. I went with the following bulb combo (front to back):

Ati blue+
Ati coral+
Ati actinic
Ati blue+
Ati blue+
Ati coral+
Ati actinic
Ati blue+

Defiantly a change from the LEDs but I'm pretty happy with the bulb combo. I'm going to play around a purple plus and a few other clubs to see how it looks. But I do love the blue look



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[reefmutt]

Looking good!

[tommyboynj]

So far I'm happy with the t5 switch. Corals are coloring up better, I'm seeing less algae issues on the sand and growth is starting to accelerate. When you look at the tank everyday you don't realize how much growth happens. Here's some growth shots

March 7th


July 10th


April 14th


July 10th


March 3rd


July 10th


Also got my frag tank set up.



And finally, couple of other random shots





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[choco24]

Nice looking set up.

[tommyboynj]

Really happy with how things are going. Quickly losing count of all the frags iv glues in. Upward of 40. I've got my calc reactor dialed in, frag tank is up and running and is quickly become a home for acans and clams (flame angle has a thing for them). I was getting annoyed with the front end of the tank substrate always blowing around and didn't want to cut my flow back so I threw some reborn calc media down there. Heres a quick video.

https://youtu.be/PNZhrg45IsA

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[reefmutt]

Looking good. Great scape.

[2wheelsonly]

I like the canvas in the fish room

[Wrangy]

Coming along really nicely mate!! Some great looking fish in the tank too

[tommyboynj]

Tank is now around six months old. For the last 3 months my nitrates have been around 10ppm. Wasn't really concerning me as everything was doing fine.

Then in the space of 2 weeks it's dropped to 1/2ppm. Havnt really changed the feeding (I feed a lot) or my maintenance routine. Guess the tank must just be maturing.

I only tested becuase a few of my sps started to demonstrate Burt tips. My alk has been rock solid so I guess the drop in nutrients meant that keeping alk at 8.5dkh was a little high. I the past I have run tanks with biopellets and the ulns meant I had to keep alk lower. I guess the same applies if you go from 10 to 1ppm.

Other than that the tank is doing great. I do however have the itch to add more fish. Current stocking is a tomini tang, flame angle, marron clown, LN hawk, 3 LT anthias, 2 wrasses and a goby. I like smaller active fish and was also constipating adding another trio of anthias.



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[patekphilippe]

nice tank

[tommyboynj]

Been a while since an update. Tank has been rolling along nicely. Really happy with the switch to t5 back in July.

https://youtu.be/LhCOJMvYN0s

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[HuskerBioProf]

I switched from LEDs to a T5 setup with LED supplements about a month ago and I was amazed at how fast the color and growth started improve.

[ADVRESOURCE]

Originally Posted by tommyboynj

Tank is now around six months old. For the last 3 months my nitrates have been around 10ppm. Wasn't really concerning me as everything was doing fine.

Then in the space of 2 weeks it's dropped to 1/2ppm. Havnt really changed the feeding (I feed a lot) or my maintenance routine. Guess the tank must just be maturing.

I only tested becuase a few of my sps started to demonstrate Burt tips. My alk has been rock solid so I guess the drop in nutrients meant that keeping alk at 8.5dkh was a little high. I the past I have run tanks with biopellets and the ulns meant I had to keep alk lower. I guess the same applies if you go from 10 to 1ppm.

Other than that the tank is doing great. I do however have the itch to add more fish. Current stocking is a tomini tang, flame angle, marron clown, LN hawk, 3 LT anthias, 2 wrasses and a goby. I like smaller active fish and was also constipating adding another trio of anthias.



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Did you do anything to rectify the burnt tips?