650 SPS Reef Panorama

[DanCorals]

Finally got panorama shots with my iPhone to catch both sides of the reef. The reef is 130'' x 36'' x 32'' with a number of young colonies of Acropora. Lighting by Ecotech Radions and a few 250W Ushios. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this all grows out in another 24 months!!!

I am adding a 300 gallon Fish only aquarium that will be connected into the same filtration as the main tank... Look forward to shots of that soon!

In Room View

Hallway View

 

[dave.m]

Looks excellent. It could maybe use a few more fish to give it some movement.

Dave.M

 

[DanCorals]

I always think about adding more fish but I have over 20 in there now... Three tangs (yellow, purple, and Achilles), copperband butterfly, lyretail anthias(3), talbot damsels (10), azure damsels (10), six line wrasse. I used to only have the tangs so its better than it was!!!

 

[ace_92101]

Very nice. I really like the caves/over hangs.

 

[DanCorals]

Thanks! The caves and overhangs are great for the fish and shrimp but the downside is that there are a lot of shady spots where I can't place coral. Someday when the colonies grow large it won't matter, but for now it doesn't look as full as it could. I'm constantly working on it though.

 

[bigrock]

Looks great now but will look spectacular when it all grows out. Want to share info on your set up?

 

[AkoAung]

hahaha another insane tank.

 

[DanCorals]

Hmm.. Where to start??

It's a custom starphire glass tank built by AGE in Texas and shipped to me in Chicago. I moved in 2012 so this tank was built to consolidate my two old reef tanks after the move. so this tank is about 18 months old. Dimensions are 130" x 36" x 32". I have had good success with deepwater acros so I like to fill in much of the tank with tabling acros like acropora caroliana and lokani. I have about 50 species of acropora in the tank but my favorite is a foot wide "Hawkins echinata" that was my first Sps coral. I bought a 1" frag in 2008. The coral are growing a lot faster now that I automated dosing and added the calcium reactor.


Specs are:

8 Ecotech Radion LED fixtures
4 250MH HQI running Ushio 20K
4 Ecotech MP 40's
2 Ecotech MP 60's
Skimz 302 protein skimmer
Geo 818 Calcium Reactor
~100 gallon sump/ Refugium
1/3HP arctica chiller

 

[Oldude]

I like the lay out of the reef, it looks great now so in another 6 - 12 months it should be stunning once things fill in!

 

[Tahiti]

That is a huge tank! What % are you running your Radions at?

 

[DanCorals]

The Radion Levels are a work in progress. I tried to create custom programs and ended up cooking a lot of the acros so first I raised the Radions a bit higher off the tank.. But now I seem to have found a sweet spot when using the "Shallow Reef" Template that is pre-built in the program, at 6 Ft depth, with brightness at 85%. I still have to watch the coral a bit since some really like a lot of light but the majority fade out unless I move them lower in the tank. Even so, I can keep any Acro right at the bottom and they keep their color at this Radion setting because the light penetration is pretty high. (Thats 32'' of water + 16'' above the tank)

One thing I need to point out. Acros like "Red Planet" and Tenuis seem to not get their stunning coloration under my Radion settings because of all the blue and the high PAR. Even though the LED doesnt look brighter than MH, the light is more intense. I keep certain coral under the metal halides in specific areas of the tank because I dont want the color to change. Red Planet became peach under my radions vs. deep red under the metal halides. Radions are definitely a lot stronger.

 

[afishionado]

It's not so much that they're stronger, per se, but that the light is spotlighted onto the corals at a much stronger optic angle ...

Think propagating an ORA Red Planet in an outdoor raceway flat, under natural sunlight. Akin to MH

Now, place magnifying glass above that same propagation raceway, housing the original ORA Red Planet, under same exact conditions otherwise. Akin to LEDs with anything under 120* optics, unless there's significant water depth !!!

What will happen ? Exactly. You're going to acutely burn/bleach that Acropora specimen ... Yet, the source of light is still a constant (very statistically similar) variable.

People don't are not aware of/do not understand this information about LEDs and its causing unnecessary issues/deaths. Spread the word

 

[afishionado]

Anyone coming across this thread/post in the future ...

Feel free to reproduce the message/analogy (in verbatim please) of this post to help inform others of this information/phenomenon.

HTH

 

[Pushwood]

You have a very beautiful tank! I love the mixture of SPS you have selected and I always love seeing Achilles Tangs. Very nice!!

 

[AkoAung]

very impressive. any build pictures or thread? I'd like to see what you did to get that monster inside lol.

 

[DanCorals]

No build thread since there was too much going on at that time for me to post...but here are some build pics! I had to hire a moving company that specializes in heavy things like jacuzzis, safes, etc. The freight company held it at their terminal and the movers went there to unpack the tank and inspect it for damage. Then they crated it back up and drove it over to my home. Once the tank was rolled into the garage, they wrapped it a LOT...and then carried it down the stairs by hand!! Since its a glass tank it weighed about 2000 lbs. Once in the basement, the tank slid pretty easily on moving pads right into my home office. Then they used a hydraulic jack to lift the tank...and pure manpower to slide it onto the stand. Here's the pics:

 

[tgn225]

Nice