Finally joined the MH club! (Lots of pics)
- Thread starter greg1786
- Start date
greg1786
Active member
First off thanks alot! I searched for over a year looking for an oregon tort. Ever since I saw it in a thread here on RC I was in love. I came across a ton of ppl who claimed they had it but most were not the real deal and others were simply outta my price range like 100$ for 1/4". I ended up getting this one from a fellow reefer here on RC named stonecold. He has a thread in the sps forum showing his tank and corals. Not only was he a great guy but his tank and acros are absolutely stunning. I deove about 1hr 45 minutes to see him and get it but well worth the drive for the price and quality of the frag!
greg1786
Active member
Thank you very much! I actually just switched last sunday. Its been 8 days. My t5 fixture blew out on friday and I picked the fixture up sunday morning. Its mind blowing how quickly I saw a positive response from my corals and tank in general. Ive really been babying everything though and only running the lights for a few hrs at a time. I have been running the 150watts for 5 hrs total and adding in the 250watts an hour after the 150s come on and only keeping them on for 3 hrs. Im going to increase each set by 30 minutes each week until I get the to 8hrs for the 150s and 6hrs for the 250s. Does that seem like a reasonable amount of time for me to be running the halides in the end?
greg1786
Active member
Holyhands22
New member
that oregon tort is sick. Nice looking stuff.
greg1786
Active member
greg1786
Active member
Thank you sahin! I cant wait for it to fill in.
The 125 has been set up for about 14 months. It started as a zoa and lps tank because I transferred the LR and corals from my old 55. After being set up for about 2 months I started realizing how addicted I was to acros! Once I came to my senses, the entire outlook for the tanks future had to change. I currently have about 250 lbs of LR in the display and about 30lbs in the sump/fuge. Lights are metal halide obviously 72" fixture with 3 250watt 14 phoenix and 2 150 watt 14 k phoenix bulbs. I have one wp40 and one koralia 1400 for flow. I have a reef octopus nwb 200 in my sump along with a basketball size ball of chaeto that is lit by a worklight from hd and a 6500k cfl bulb. My return pump is a mag 12.
As far as dosing goes, I use seachem reef fusion 1 and 2 for two part. Both are hooked up to brs peralistic dosing pumps controlled by individual digital timers each with 24 on/off cycles. I vodka dose to keep nutrients down as well. 2.3ml daily dripped in sump over 4 hr period. I dose red sea coral colors A,B,C,D tues-sun for trace elements in between water changes. I do 10% water changes in my display and frag tank every monday so I do not dose the trace elements on that day. Lately I have been finding it necessary to dose magnesium as well which never used to be a concern until about 6 weeks ago. For mg I use brightwell aquatics Hydrat-Mg. I also use red sea reef energy A&B for aminos and vitamins since I vodka dose I feel with the low nutrients it helps keep the corals healthy and colorful. I think I covered everything but if you have any more questions im happy to share! Thanks again everyone!!!
greg1786
Active member
Anytime! Im thrilled to be able to share my tank and daily routines with you guys. It means a TON hearing compliments from all of you in the sps forum. My inspiration for my tank comes from all of you guys. If it werent for the sps forum here on RC and all the knowledge you guys have given me via your own tank threads I never would have made it this far!!
kaserpick
Keeping it Simple
Tank and corals look awesome! You've got to love halides. I'm building a T5/LED fixture at the moment, but I'm probably going to miss my halides. :lmao: I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but if your Phoenix's are too white, then your ballast may drive the Radiums, so that they're too white as well. The two bulbs are not the same, but they behave similarly. If on electronic ballasts, they're more blue. If on M80 ballasts, they're more white. Either way, you can't go wrong with a Radium (I'd personally say the same thing for a Phoenix). But, if you're looking for more blue already (without supplemental lighting), you may want to consider running bluer bulbs in some of the sockets. XM 20k's are not amazing for PAR, but they're pretty blue. You could try a mix.
kinibay reefer
New member
also just dumped my t5's
for MH , cant beat that shimmer
for MH , cant beat that shimmer
Peter Eichler
New member
Yes, the Phoenix and Radiums are supposed to be run with "HQI" ballasts. But, the M80 wouldn't work out so well for the 150w Phoenix bulbs he's using...
Peter Eichler
New member
Thanks for all the compliments guys!! My fixture is set up similar to yours johnike- its also 5 bulbs- 250-150-250-150-250. I hope my ballast can run radiums biggles! I always hear that you cant beat radiums! I hear you on the clams biggles they are quite expensive but my gf loves them so i try to buy her stuff for the tank to keep her happywe all know how important a happy mrs is in this hobby lol
Are you 250w Phoenix mogul based or DE? If they're DE then we have some bad news for you, Radiums only come in mogul base. Also, don't put a whole lot of confidence in the k rating of a bulb from a manufacturer. Phoenix 250w bulbs are every bit the 20k+ bulb that radiums are, but I do much prefer the Radiums in appearance and highly suggest trying them if you can make them work with your fixture and ballasts.
greg1786
Active member
Thats upsetting. All five bulbs are DE unfortunately so i guess that means no radiums for me
. Thanks for the heads up peter
greg1786
Active member
Thanks for providing the setup details.You have a lot more liverock than most people use these days.
No problem. Yea I definitely use a good amount of LR! I actually think I may take some out now that I have the mh fixture. I used so much before so I could get all my acros up high enough under the t5s so they had adequate light which is no longer an issue
