My 156 in-wall (rock cave) mostly SPS reef

[giants4pc]

I am always looking in this forum to get ideas and admire all the amazing SPS reefs. Mine pales in comparison to some of the ones on here, but I finally got some good pictures and figured I would post. I did on my local reef club site and got great compliments. This current system just hit two years of maturity.



















Frag system plumbed in:

 

[Elton Wng]

How is the size of this tank? Equipments?

 

[giants4pc]

156 gallons. 60x 24
Lighting- 2 x 250 watt radiums under lumenbrights supplemented by 2 140 watt vho blue actinics
Skimmer- octopus sro
Refugium
Flow- 2 vortech mp40's and 1 mp10
Supplement with 2 part

 

[cFloor]

beautiful tank, some nice large colonies in there!

 

[Mel 2038]

Very nice tank, it really makes a statement in your room. Just wondering what the two round structures of coral are. I was thinking Frogspawn and GSP???

 

[wireefman]

I love the large colonies...

 

[blakers82]

Yes, some nice size colonies in there.

 

[giants4pc]

Very nice tank, it really makes a statement in your room. Just wondering what the two round structures of coral are. I was thinking Frogspawn and GSP???

The three masses are frogspawn, hammer, and not GSP, but another hard encrusting coral...unsure of the name. All coral has been grown from small frags

 

[tuanc]

what a beautiful tank,

 

[jroovers]

Very nice, looks fantastic in that room

 

[TheAquatect]

Beautiful tank. My only complaint is that the wall looks like it could have housed a larger tank!!

 

[Michigan Mike]

The three masses are frogspawn, hammer, and not GSP, but another hard encrusting coral...unsure of the name. All coral has been grown from small frags

Duncan? On the right? Its hard for me to tell.

Is that large green SPS colony a hydnophora?

Looks great!

 

[giants4pc]

Duncan? On the right? Its hard for me to tell.

Is that large green SPS colony a hydnophora?

Looks great!

Far left is a Duncan mini colony. My only true regret is that the tank is too small. I really have no chance of upgrading though. I could go with more length but would not want to cut the wall and go through all that. The fish room behind is only 4 feet wide so I am limited with depth.

 

[giants4pc]

Yes, the center green is hydrophora

 

[starkii]

I've never seen a photo do a system justice and your looks amazing from the pics so you should be really proud.

 

[humaguy]

I am always looking in this forum to get ideas and admire all the amazing SPS reefs. Mine pales in comparison to some of the ones on here, but I finally got some good pictures and figured I would post. I did on my local reef club site and got great compliments. This current system just hit two years of maturity.



















Frag system plumbed in:

killer....keep any angels in your dt?

 

[giants4pc]

I used to keep a lamarck's angel that was great. When I moved into this new house, he got caught up in my birdsnest coral a d damaged his eye. I put him in quarantine where he stayed for a while. He is still alive but in a friends tank

 

[rlpardue]

The tank looks great! My vision for my tank is not entirely unlike yours; I want to place a number of corals along the back and side walls to give a "cave-like" appearance while still conveying a sense of openness in the middle. Then watch it all grow in together as a big block of calcium carbonate.

If you don't mind, would it be possible for you take a couple of shots closer up so we can see how you decided to place corals along the back wall? I'm a little puzzled on what to put there - a table would shade everything beneath it, and if I glue stags back there, I may end up having just the less-colored shady zones facing the front of my display. Have you thought about these kinds of things, and what did you decide would work best?

Sorry to hear about the Lamarck's - what did he think he was doing all up in that birdsnest?!

 

[giants4pc]

I have additional pics I will post soon. My computer is not connected as I am redoing floors. To be honest, I have plenty of areas where corals have grown and shaded what is beneath....hard not to with the size tank. I guess I tried to be strategic but also wanted a variety of coral so when I placed them I gave growth a consideration but not enough. For example, I like the cloves a lot, but the way they spread, it interferes with the bases of some sps. The funny thing is when guests come over, they are far more drawn to he basic Lps than they are the Color sticks.

 

[diciple]

Really nice aquascape .whole tank looks greAt