Olasana Lagoon: High Energy SPS Nano Build Thread
- Thread starter galleon
- Start date
I am definitely having fun with it! I haven't kept corals in forever.
allsps40
New member
Ok do as you please, you will bleach corals out especially with a 6500k bulb and have light spilling over the tank. It is just over kill, a 250w will do much better IME.
Oh and yeah you need more live rock for sure. That one little twig you have in there is not going to be enough bio-filtration. Seems like you have a lot to learn.
allsps, the Porites has been in there for 2 months, has actually colored up (it was very bleached out when I bought it, under Ecoxotic cannons) under the 400 watt, and has grown nicely.
But I greatly appreciate you bringing all your negativity and condescension to my fun thread.
Here is the Porites at the LFS where it was just "worm rock". Compare to the video.
But I greatly appreciate you bringing all your negativity and condescension to my fun thread.
Here is the Porites at the LFS where it was just "worm rock". Compare to the video.
allsps40
New member
allsps, the Porites has been in there for 2 months, has actually colored up (it was very bleached out when I bought it, under Ecoxotic cannons) under the 400 watt, and has grown nicely.
But I greatly appreciate you bringing all your negativity and condescension to my fun thread.
Here is the Porites at the LFS where it was just "worm rock". Compare to the video.
Ok well in the vid all I see is a browned out porites and a few browned out sps frags that are struggling and one piece of branch rock with a BB. You have no where near enough bio filtration in the tank. IMO you are also not letting the tank cycle and mature enough before adding in corals. I know you cycled the tank but you should wait at least a few months before adding sps into a new tank. Tank depth has everything to do with lighting, shallow tanks dont need to have higher watt lights because the PAR can reach the bottom of the tank with no issues. I ws no trying to be negative just giving you advice. I have no idea what your experience level is with sps but from what I have read and gathered here it seems you are pretty new to sps corals, but I could be totally wrong. I have been keeping sps for many years but in no way consider myself an expert. I do however know how to run a successful sps system and yours is far from ideal at this point. You do have very good flow though. If you want to stick with your 400w I would run it about 10-12 inches over the tank (you can lower it a bit over time) and run a 20K Radium in it or a 20K XM. They will have lower PAR than the 6500K but still be more than enough for your tank.
sjfishguy
Active member
I have always done with minimal liverock and open scaping, even before it was in vogue as it seems to be now. But that is not minimal, that is basically NONE. Unfortunately I think this tank will "progress" into a mess before long, but I hope you prove me wrong. You need more biofiltration. Good luck.
naterealbig
Premium Member
galleon,
I like what your doing! Most build threads here on the forums are focused around getting "results" using the least amount of energy - it's nice to see someone with the "i'm gonna hit em with everything I got" mentality
. "The more the LR the better" mentality is pish-posh. The tonga branch that you have in there will be plenty of bio-filtration for your current live stock, and you will be fine adding more corals and even a couple small fish. It's all about balance. Add just enough "food" for the coral to consume, without building up excess nutrients and everything will be OK.
The lighting plan is different, but I imagine that you will get great growth and cose-to-life coloring. Again, don't listen to the nay-sayers here - many would like to think they are better versed in this art then they actually are. Your off to a great start, and keep us posted!
Keep up the awesome work.
Nate
Just because you couldn't make things work with the way you were running things, doesn't mean that no one else can. Check out some of the Italian & South American builds - They are BLASTING their corals with light. They just have found a good balance.
Have you put this bulb on a 20g tank with this set up before?
Um no, he doesn't. The twig will be just fine. Check out post #993 here: http://www.reefcentral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1658490&page=40
I like what your doing! Most build threads here on the forums are focused around getting "results" using the least amount of energy - it's nice to see someone with the "i'm gonna hit em with everything I got" mentality
. "The more the LR the better" mentality is pish-posh. The tonga branch that you have in there will be plenty of bio-filtration for your current live stock, and you will be fine adding more corals and even a couple small fish. It's all about balance. Add just enough "food" for the coral to consume, without building up excess nutrients and everything will be OK. The lighting plan is different, but I imagine that you will get great growth and cose-to-life coloring. Again, don't listen to the nay-sayers here - many would like to think they are better versed in this art then they actually are. Your off to a great start, and keep us posted!
Keep up the awesome work.
Nate
Looks like the same predicament you were in a few months ago.
Just because you couldn't make things work with the way you were running things, doesn't mean that no one else can. Check out some of the Italian & South American builds - They are BLASTING their corals with light. They just have found a good balance.Have you put this bulb on a 20g tank with this set up before?
Um no, he doesn't. The twig will be just fine. Check out post #993 here: http://www.reefcentral.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1658490&page=40
Stop with the childish bashing. Again, just because you couldn't make it work, doesn't mean no one else can
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vitz
New member
It never ceases to amaze me how the people most ignorant about lr and biofiltration are always the most adamant about having to overload tanks w/ live rock in order to achieve 'proper bio-filtration'.
Great tank Chris,kewl wave oscillation, and I'm sure w/your knowledge the tank will not stop the ignorami from spreading mythinformation, but it might at least give them pause to consider just how much learning they still need to do.
Great tank Chris,kewl wave oscillation, and I'm sure w/your knowledge the tank will not stop the ignorami from spreading mythinformation, but it might at least give them pause to consider just how much learning they still need to do.
MammothReefer
Active member
Not to stir the pot up anymore.. You setup seems rather unsafe. You have all sorts of electrical equipment below your tank without any GFI's, and the water looks like it's sloshing up pretty high.
You have a 400w Metal halide sitting on a metal rack (it's got to heat that rack up a ton no?). Also I've had those racks before at work, they aren't the must sturdy and It's going to rust pretty quick.
I don't quite follow what you are doing here. You have a Apex controller, a big watt halide, top dollar pump, and skimp on everything else. Seems like a lot of money to grow a brown porities and a couple frags.
I apologize if I come across like I'm beating you up, at thought what you described at first could be some what neat, but I would feel bad if I said nothing and your next post was.. Well experiment failed everything caught fire, my stand broke and my ballast fell and killed my dog.
You have a 400w Metal halide sitting on a metal rack (it's got to heat that rack up a ton no?). Also I've had those racks before at work, they aren't the must sturdy and It's going to rust pretty quick.
I don't quite follow what you are doing here. You have a Apex controller, a big watt halide, top dollar pump, and skimp on everything else. Seems like a lot of money to grow a brown porities and a couple frags.
I apologize if I come across like I'm beating you up, at thought what you described at first could be some what neat, but I would feel bad if I said nothing and your next post was.. Well experiment failed everything caught fire, my stand broke and my ballast fell and killed my dog.
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The only thing below the tank in the picture is the vortech controller, and I was in the process of mounting it as well when I took the picture. Everything is drip looped and mounted on the wall above the water line. There is nothing below the water line besides the drip loops. And you are definitely right about the outlet. I am actually about to get a GFCI adapter.
Not at all. Only the shelf the fixture is on heats up, barely hot. I grew orchids on this rack (where the tank now sits) for years using the same fixture/arrangement. never any problem.
What I'm doing is just trying to have fun and grow SPS in a nano. That's about the beginning and end of it.
:sad2: The tank just got started. That's far from all that will be in it.
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400 pounds per shelf distributed. A 20 gallon tank is hardly a strain. You are right about rust though. I'm planning on building my own stand in a month or so.
Don't feel bad! Your post didn't bother me at all dude.
Stay tuned.I think I will send you only brown corals.
That way you won't be sad when I brown them out!
MammothReefer
Active member
Ha, understood. You never know though people post the most random stuff on forums so I apologize if I jumped to conclusions. Glad to see you are taking all the needed safety measures. People (including myself) tend to tilt our heads and look at things funny when they are done out of the norm, so many of us are working so hard to keep are tanks running with the best information we have available to us. So when somebody comes along and says they are going to do something a little different it can strike people as odd hence the responses you are getting. It's nothing personal everybody has had the same message on "how to keep an SPS tank" beaten into our heads over and over and some of people have found what works. So if we see something different and look at you a little funny I apologize.
Not to say there isn't some chance that your setup won't work, but you have to admit your setup is very different. Yes people have had minimal scapes/minimal rocks, but typically not THAT minimal. Yes people over power lights for the size tanks they have (I can fall into the group myself) but not this much. I feel like you are pushing a lot of extremes here which are making people question if you are an eccentric experimenter, or simply a misinformed/inexperienced reefer.
In plain black and white, you trying to run a SPS system bare bottom, rockless 20L with no skimmer, sump, ato, dosing/reactor, and no cycle time, under a 400w 6500 lamp.
As somebody who ran almost the exact same setup (except I had 250w halide, and we didn't have vortechs back then). Be weary of bacteria blooms...that's what did in my 20L sps setup.
What I'm getting at is I (and everybody else) wish you the best of luck, but I think many of us feel you are making things more difficult then they need to be.
Not to say there isn't some chance that your setup won't work, but you have to admit your setup is very different. Yes people have had minimal scapes/minimal rocks, but typically not THAT minimal. Yes people over power lights for the size tanks they have (I can fall into the group myself) but not this much. I feel like you are pushing a lot of extremes here which are making people question if you are an eccentric experimenter, or simply a misinformed/inexperienced reefer.
In plain black and white, you trying to run a SPS system bare bottom, rockless 20L with no skimmer, sump, ato, dosing/reactor, and no cycle time, under a 400w 6500 lamp.
As somebody who ran almost the exact same setup (except I had 250w halide, and we didn't have vortechs back then). Be weary of bacteria blooms...that's what did in my 20L sps setup.
What I'm getting at is I (and everybody else) wish you the best of luck, but I think many of us feel you are making things more difficult then they need to be.
