My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics
- Thread starter slief
- Start date
Customers always right until their wrong lol then it's your fault lol!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
slief
RC Sponsor
Yep. Torn down and moved yesterday. Wiring cleaned up last night. Rock structure built, tank filled and Apex programmed today. And I even cleaned up most of the mess and boxes from this acquisition I had in the other room. Still have to monkey with the Reeflink and get the Radion and MP connected. I've got Reeflink setup but it doesn't see the lights or the MP40. I'm sure I need to reset the lights and MP. Just didn't get a chance to do that today. I wish I had a WXM module but then again, I might just sell the MP40 and use a couple Tunze 6105's I have here as spares for my big tank. The Tunze's will give me better control over flow since in terms of being able to eliminate dead spots with two pumps. Plus I have a ton of profiles and programming which I could just copy and paste and modify as needed. Since I plan on switching the Mitras 6200 or LX7, selling the MP40QD ultimately makes more sense as the Reeflink would go too.
Speaking of Mitras.. I mentioned earlier that I'm running a GHL Mitras LX7 on my frag tank. I've got to admit, I am REALLY surprised and impressed with this light. Everything I've put in there under that light is doing well. I don't what this is. I forgot. I bought it from a backyard frag swap a couple weeks ago. Not only has it spread a lot on the frag plug but it's color totally changed. It was grown under T5 and I got a quarter sized piece of it. It's color has totally changed. The guy I got it from used an LED Pen to make it pop and it was purple with green polyps. Under the Mitras, it's totally changed to pink, this crazy color combination. The pictures are completely unaltered. The first two were taken looking through a very thin glass. I don't have a coral viewer so this was make shift. Still a bit blurred but that was the best unaltered picture I could get that shows its colors. It's doing so well under these lights that I'm going to hold off putting it in the big tank until I can get a frag of it to put in there under the Kessils.
These are without the glass.
Last edited:
slief
RC Sponsor
I took some pictures tonight. These were all taken with my iPhone 7 Plus. It has a remarkably good camera that gives a real good true to life picture. No filters used.. The first is one of a large strawberry shortcake acro colony under my Kessil 360WE's in my main display. I post this because it shows the colors of this coral under the Kessils. I will note that this coral is a bit whiter in real life as this was taken through the viewing pane. That said, I can see myself upgrading the lighting on the main display to Mitras LX7's in the not so distant future.
These two are Strawberry Shortcake frags. The tiny one of the left was an accidental frag from the colony above that I broke yesterday and placed in the frag tank under the LX7. The color difference under the two lights is nothing short of shocking. The bigger one looks just as nice and is encrusting the frag plug pretty quickly. The following shots were taken from a coral viewer looking through the surface of the water and these colors are about what I see when I look at them.
Scoly under the LX7
I forgot what this coral is (I wish I remember). I got it about a month ago. Since putting it under the Mitras, its spread to cover nearly the entire frag plug but and the colors completely changed from blue and a bit of yellow to this crazy rainbow color. I am absolutely in awe with how this coral has colored up under the Mitras and how fast it's encrusting the frag plug.
Next up, my branching hammer frags. These things look amazing under the Mitras and they are opening like never before. Completely different than what they look like under Kessils where these hammer corals were grown over the last couple years. I can't begin to tell you how impressed I am with these Mitras and how the corals have responded to them. Not only are they happy as can be but I'm seeing colors I've never seen before.
I've been pretty careful not to over do it with intensity and I used spectral charts from Advanced Aquarist that shows the peak spectral curve for photosynthesis in corals to come up with my present mix. My project is loosely based on a 21,000k setting which I then modified with a peak between 420 and 460nm. Given that we know what nm diode is at each channel, it made it somewhat easy for me to come up with a lighting mix that provides a good light curve for coral growth with a bit of UV, Red and Green to help bring out colors. I have the UV diodes set low but the rest of the diodes are adjusted such that I have what I believe to be a good light curve to not only provide good coloration but also provide the needed spectrum for great coral growth. Bare in mind that I've been using LED's for the last 6.5 years and am very comfortable with LED's in general. I've got a 12 hour photo period with only 4 hours at peak intensity which is well below 100% on the highest channel. The rest of the photo period is a nice ramp up and ramp down.
Some other random shots of corals under the Mitras. All true to life color under them without any editing.
These two are Strawberry Shortcake frags. The tiny one of the left was an accidental frag from the colony above that I broke yesterday and placed in the frag tank under the LX7. The color difference under the two lights is nothing short of shocking. The bigger one looks just as nice and is encrusting the frag plug pretty quickly. The following shots were taken from a coral viewer looking through the surface of the water and these colors are about what I see when I look at them.
Scoly under the LX7
I forgot what this coral is (I wish I remember). I got it about a month ago. Since putting it under the Mitras, its spread to cover nearly the entire frag plug but and the colors completely changed from blue and a bit of yellow to this crazy rainbow color. I am absolutely in awe with how this coral has colored up under the Mitras and how fast it's encrusting the frag plug.
Next up, my branching hammer frags. These things look amazing under the Mitras and they are opening like never before. Completely different than what they look like under Kessils where these hammer corals were grown over the last couple years. I can't begin to tell you how impressed I am with these Mitras and how the corals have responded to them. Not only are they happy as can be but I'm seeing colors I've never seen before.
I've been pretty careful not to over do it with intensity and I used spectral charts from Advanced Aquarist that shows the peak spectral curve for photosynthesis in corals to come up with my present mix. My project is loosely based on a 21,000k setting which I then modified with a peak between 420 and 460nm. Given that we know what nm diode is at each channel, it made it somewhat easy for me to come up with a lighting mix that provides a good light curve for coral growth with a bit of UV, Red and Green to help bring out colors. I have the UV diodes set low but the rest of the diodes are adjusted such that I have what I believe to be a good light curve to not only provide good coloration but also provide the needed spectrum for great coral growth. Bare in mind that I've been using LED's for the last 6.5 years and am very comfortable with LED's in general. I've got a 12 hour photo period with only 4 hours at peak intensity which is well below 100% on the highest channel. The rest of the photo period is a nice ramp up and ramp down.
Some other random shots of corals under the Mitras. All true to life color under them without any editing.
slief
RC Sponsor
I'm loving them! I'm seriously thinking about switching my main display from the Kessils to the Mitras. I love the Kessils but I'm seeing colors in my corals that I've never seen before. Damn Photobucket is down for maintenance but once it comes back online, you can see what I'm talking about from the pictures that aren't yet showing above.
zachxlutz
New member
slief
RC Sponsor
I think you're right! Thank you very much! When I bought it at the frag meet, the guy told me the name, but I remember names about as well as I retain water.
deaclauderdale
Lover of Fishies
Looks more like the Looney Toon stylo to me.
Reef keeping is life!
Reef keeping is life!
zachxlutz
New member
LOL! Of course! I only know because I just got a "Meteor Shower"! It appears to be an extremely fast grower and has been responding well to small particulate food feedings.
zachxlutz
New member
Looks more like the Looney Toon stylo to me.
Reef keeping is life!
Shoot! I may be wrong then! That looks very similar!
deaclauderdale
Lover of Fishies
There is a meteor shower variant, but if it is the stylo that is one super sweet score there for Scott. But me in line for a frag.
Reef keeping is life!
slief
RC Sponsor
Looks more like the Looney Toon stylo to me.
Reef keeping is life!
All these "looney" designer names they come up with for these corals is insane. I don't think the guy I got it from represented it as a stylo but it certainly looks like it could be one. When I was trying to figure out what it was, stylo was one of the possibilities.
deaclauderdale
Lover of Fishies
Yeah all these designer names with the designer prices. Whatever it is its a really nice piece.
Reef keeping is life!
Reef keeping is life!
slief
RC Sponsor
What's really surprising is how the colors have changed since I got it a few weeks ago. It was grown under T5's but the colors completely morphed under the Mitras 7206.
zachxlutz
New member
I wonder if the water parameters in your tank influenced the color morph or if it was more so the lights. The more I learn about Growth vs Coloration the more I realize how many of the subtle differences in our tanks can completely change the way our corals look.
slief
RC Sponsor
Its possible however, the frag tank is connected to the main display and shares the same water. If it had to do with water, I would expect the Strawberry Shortcake colony to look just like the frags in the other tank. The morph of that one coral could however have something to do with water quality or a lack of?? I use the cheap (non reef version) Instant Ocean Salt. My system is now around 700 gallons and I change out 5 gallons a day or about 140 gallons a month which isn't a lot considering I have about 60 fish (many of which are large) in my system and feed very heavily. I don't dose anything nor do I add coral specific foods. The only I do is add some iodine and keep my calcium reactor full and flowing.
