My 120 filled mostly with SPS

[jroovers]

Thanks guys.

Keep it coming, I look forward to the new FTS and scape. Here is my LED/T5 DIY/retro on my 120 that was partially inspired by yours. 2 blue + and 2 Coral + in addition to my "full spectrum" LED fixture that was originally on my 75 as the sole lighting source. I have already seen improvement in my coral color, be it the T5s or just the change in system, I'm happy.

Looks great! My corals seem pretty happy with the combo. This week however I left the LEDs on over night after doing some scaping. That, combining with all the commotion of stirring things up, and a few corals look none too pleased. Long term, I'm sure you'll be happy with the LED and T5 combo.

 

[Parker0824]

This tank is awesome.

 

[Showdizzle]

The contrast of that green cap and purple colony look super nice. beautiful tank.

 

[gordonheimer]

Your tank is amazing! I am setting up a 120 soon and I hope to get to the way yours is!

 

[jroovers]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Been a while since I posted a FTS. Currently, my colours are the best they have been in a long time. I have been skimming wetter than usual, and I took my carbon and GFO offline. So I'm not sure if I have more or less nutrients - maybe more phosphate, but a bit lower overall nutrient load? Anyhow, not sure if I am going to put the carbon and GFO back on line.

 

[frankyrivera]

I've stopped my gac and gfo about 6 month ago tank never looked better

 

[jroovers]

I've stopped my gac and gfo about 6 month ago tank never looked better

Do you measure your phosphates? If so, what are they at? I've always been at 0 with the hanna checker (recently anyway), we'll see where it goes though.

 

[jroovers]

Colour wise, my pink lemonade is currently star of the show. Demonstrating amazing growth, and unbelievable colour.

My Palmer's Blue is growing like crazy, even with regular prunings.

My Palmer's has nothing on my prostrata, it is incredible, I don't know how many times I've pruned and fragged this thing, it just keeps growing like a weed. It is at least 12" by 12", if not bigger.

This acro is one that is on the top of my left pillar, it is really purple/blue with green polyps. I refer to it as "my pet monster". As best I can tell it is a humilis, but I'm not positive on that - def likes the high flow and high light.

A nice ric shot to boot

 

[frankyrivera]

My phosphates are at .08

 

[frankyrivera]

Here's a FTS not as pretty as yours but thriving non the less lol

 

[jroovers]

Here's a FTS not as pretty as yours but thriving non the less lol

Looks awesome franky! I'm surprised your sps are happy at 0.08! I thought 0.03 was sort of the upper threshold. Is that with a hanna checker, or other test? Your SPS looks really happy.

 

[frankyrivera]

Nope .08 both Hanna checker and Red Sea test kit. I just skim and run a fuge with cheato water changes about every 2-3 months no problems

 

[jroovers]

July 2011

July 2013

 

[frankyrivera]

Holy cow what are you feeding that tank growth hormones lol that is incredible growth

 

[jroovers]

Some shots over time...

July 2011

May 2012

November 2012

July 2013

 

[jroovers]

Nope .08 both Hanna checker and Red Sea test kit. I just skim and run a fuge with cheato water changes about every 2-3 months no problems

Thats crazy. So much for conventional wisdom!

 

[MammothReefer]

so clean. Really dig this tank, great job!

 

[tang daddy]

I enjoyed reading through your journal and seeing the pics. Some good growth you have been having. I have a few questions, did you notice your corals have better colouration after switching from mh/t5 to t5/led?
Also 2 part liquid can be expensive, do you dose the dry stuff and how much are you dosing daily?

Reason I ask these questions is because I am just starting up sps again, 75g with 33g sump. I was running a 6bulb t5 and now have an 8bulb and was thinking of adding a few led strips to get the extra pop in the sps. I was running ai sols for awhile but noticed that long term Lps health was declining (bleaching over time) so I made the switch back. Another reason for t5 was I liked the pastel colours of the sps however I still miss the pop from the blue LEDs. I am currently running 5 blue plus 1 Fiji and 2 coral plus but wanna add some LEDs and drop 1 blue and add 1 coral so I can get more growth.

I also notice I am going through lots of ca alk and mg for the sps I have and they're no where near the size of your colonies, I just bought a doser so roughly 100ml of each daily to keep levels stable...

 

[dvanacker]

Looks great Jordan. ToTm material IMO. Now would be a good time... its fully grown in and the colours are kick'n. Nobody takes a better pic either.

 

[dvanacker]

Thats crazy. So much for conventional wisdom!

I think .08 is still bording on problems otr future problems at minimum. Not all sps brown out at the same level of phosphate.. so perhaps he has acros that are not that sensitive. I think much higher and he will stsrt to notice. Its still better to keep it lower and your tank shows that.