Oceanic 215 with Solaris Build

[Me No Nemo]

Well, this is 100% blue and 65% white.

 

[bbehring]

looks great and there is some shimmer there! Might just have to consider the solaris?

 

[Me No Nemo]

It'll will be fun to see how long it takes for that vase coral to fully color back up. Some of the coral I"ll be putting in will be browned out or low color so I can track the coloration under LED's.

 

[tangers]

looks great Marcye! love the chocolate tang. their adult colors are absolutely fabulous!

 

[bbehring]

keep postin them pics!

 

[Me No Nemo]

Thanks James! He ate like a champ tonight, both Frozen Formula 2 and mysis. Everything is very expanded, polyps all open and seem to be doing well. I'm going to wait until tomorrow to move anything else in...give the tank a bit of space to catch up and equal out.

 

[bbehring]

any new updates? new full tank shot without your old tank in front?

 

[Me No Nemo]

We're at day 14 and we just got the Vortech's in place. We tried them in various areas around the tank and decided on the back glass on the inside of the overflow boxes. All the fish and the anemone have been transferred over from the old tank (yesterday) and we finally got all the old equipment out today. I'll try to post some new pics up in an hour or two. Everything's doing amazing so far!

 

[jmchzn]

WOW! I have 48" Solaris on Oceanic 90 Tech Tank. Now I want a 210 thanks!Looks great and I've had Solaris for over a year and its a great great light. All the hype is 100% true! Keep us posted w/ more pics
joe

 

[Me No Nemo]

So, after placing the Vortech's and turning them on...wow! I think I have the cleanest rock in the hobby! The Vortech's took all the silt and debris off the rock and into suspension in the tank. The sand is gently moving on top and all the coral seems to be moving well. I think we have the flow perfect between the Vortech's and the Flow Accelerators. Still love the lights. There is one minor negative to the lights: near the top there are some areas that have patchy light due to the LED's not having reflectors. Doesn't bother me, but I could see this as a negative to some that want to build right up to the surface. I always keep my rock lower in the tank. The postive aspects of the lights certainly outweigh that one negative IMO. All my parameters are staying stable:
Salinity: 1.024
Calcium: 460
Alk: 10
Magnesium: 1420
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Temp: 77.5-79.5

Here are some pics from yesterday and today:

Moving the anemone:

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A couple hours later:

 

[Me No Nemo]

Blue Spot Jawfish:

Lots of silt and detritus in water after adding vortechs

 

[Me No Nemo]

Just an update: so far so good! The only problem so far has been that I lost some tissue on the tip of the Suharsonoi as I think it was too close to one of the Vortechs. I had a slight diatom bloom on the sand and added 5 Tongan conchs and it was gone in a day and a half. The anemone is doing well and ate two silversides and some scallop last night. It settled nicely right where I wanted it so I'm really happy about that. I added my pair of Bellus Angels and the female is hanging out with the female maroon clown which makes me nervous as they are very close to the anemone. I usually don't worry about fish getting close to it since the clowns chase them off...but they don't seem to mind the angel being right there. I also added a second female Pseudanthias pluerotaenia (Squarespot anthias) and am waiting on a super male to finish up the trio. I've had the first female about 5 years. I had a male as well but I lost him to lockjaw. After extensive research I now make sure that I feed lots of good veggies (love Julian Sprung's Sea Veggies) as I think the lockjaw was caused by a vitamin deficiency. Over the past 5 years I've only lost two fish: the male anthias and a midas blenny. The midas was startled when the lights went out and dove right into the anemone. Now I always make sure my moonlights are on when my lights go off. I'm still very happy with the Solaris. All my corals are doing well, no bleaching and nicely extended polyps.

Please do note: I don't recommend rushing a tank as I'm doing. I had many "tools" at my disposal to get this up and running quickly. My rock was fully cycled for close to a month and I added 4 bags of pods to the cycling bin. I also added a good amount of live sand from existing tanks, rock and sand from existing refugiums were added to my refugium, water from existing tanks was used so my tanks was not "sterile" when I started. I also have access to backup tanks if I were to notice any problems. I highly recommend at least a 3-6 week cycle period, especially for new hobbyists in order to allow the new tank to build up a strong biological base before adding livestock!

 

[Me No Nemo]

I have the Solaris set to 100% blue and dropped the white to 50% as they light seemed very intense and I wanted to add more coral. I placed a gorgeous plana last night that my wonderful friend Carole (Waterfaller1...thank you!!!!) gave me as a tank warming gift. This will be a great piece to gauge the effects of the Solaris over time.

 

[curthendrix]

Looks great. Keep us posted on how your sps are responding to the Solaris. I'm very interested to see how the LED lighting effects coloration.

 

[Me No Nemo]

Some pics from this morning:

215 gallons to hang in and they ALL have to stay inches from the anemone..sheesh!

Holding color nicely:

Aussie Elegance:

Plana:

 

[Me No Nemo]

The plana has been under 10K Ushios with VHO supplements, so it will be interesting to see if I can get some color into it. The tips as a nice blue and it's very healthy. BTW, all pics are without flash.

 

[Me No Nemo]

Day 18: Also, happy to see the coralline algae building on the rocks. I have some very nice teal, purple and burgundy colors blooming. One of the reasons I'm so found of the Tongan rock, I love the teal colored coralline and I really haven't seen this color on any other rock I've had.

 

[ReefArtist]

Marcye - Great job, it looks as if everything is coming along very nicely. Thanks for explaining your cycle plan as I see so many reefers rushing this part of their build. I'm trying my best to hold back but I have so many things to take care of that's the last problem I need - sick fish/corals!

With the extra space do you feel your fish will be less prone to get into the anemone? I really love the carpet but I couldn't live with myself if it ate one of my fish.

Your corals are beautiful, love the new plana.

Please tell Carole I said hello - and to let both of you know, the Gonapora is still doing wonderful !

 

[Me No Nemo]

Thanks! Well, I've had that carpet for years and it's only eaten that one fish...and it was the fish's fault. I've even had fish eat off it and it didn't grab them...but, that's not saying it wouldn't happen. I"m hoping, with this light, that it will color up more. I rescued it from an lfs years ago...they had it under PC's and it was really suffering. I know it's not the best color, but I'm really attached to it (that was bad wasn't it If it colors up it will be a great testament to the Solaris so it will be fun to see. Keeping track of your progress. Marcye

 

[mdaybowls]

Marcye,

Are you going to finish the stand or just leave it the way it is?