Oldude's Little Reef on the Prairie

[Ty1e]

Oldude's Little Reef on the Prairie

Hey Greg,
I've been running the ecotech G2's for over a year now, mixed results, my deep water acros and LPS all seem to love it but humullis and milli, granulos and so on are not so happy, very little PE.
I think I might be adding some T-5's to balance them out or just switching to a T-5 led fixture.

Ps, wow your tank has come a long way since the change up, I will have to come by and pick up some frags.

 

[Oldude]

Hey Greg,
I've been running the ecotech G2's for over a year now, mixed results, my deep water acros and LPS all seem to love it but humullis and milli, granulos and so on are not so happy, very little PE.
I think I might be adding some T-5's to balance them out or just switching to a T-5 led fixture.

Ps, wow your tank has come a long way since the change up, I will have to come by and pick up some frags.

I have found a mix of lighting has always given me the best results.

 

[Oldude]

Starting to smarten up

Starting to smarten up

Picture is a but fuzzy because I need a new camera box but I kind of dig the polyps on this prostrata

I have been nursing this frag along for a few years and this green austera is finally starting to take off.

This piece was very nice when I got a year & a half or so ago but then got attacked by AEFW & I almost lost it. It has taken over 8 months to go from dark brown to this but it is finally looking like it is almost ready to start cooperating and get back to it's nice colors.

This A.nasuta is one of my faves but hard to capture its beauty on camera.

Another tempermental coral - this a.horrida is also looking like it is finally ready to take off.

Pink mille' is also looking like is now doing something and no longer a "union" coral

Finally branching out.

 

[Oldude]

A few more

A few more

 

[Oldude]

I have some high hopes for this one.

These two acros are still coloring up but I thought the contrast between the two looked kind of cool.

I like the corallite structure on this secale - grow baby grow!

 

[tdb320reef]

Great pictures!

 

[Brother D]

See you this Sunday Greg.Should be a great event.

 

[Scythanith]

Wish I could be there... stuck at work

 

[Oldude]

tdb320reef - Great pictures!

Thank you.

fishcatdog66 - See you this Sunday Greg. Should be a great event.

I'll be there.

Scythanith - Wish I could be there... stuck at work

Too bad.

 

[prop-frags]

Love your "reborn" setup Greg. It's been and remains an inspiration for us!
Remind me again your dosing regimen?

 

[Oldude]

Love your "reborn" setup Greg. It's been and remains an inspiration for us!
Remind me again your dosing regimen?

Thanks you guys. Which dosing are you referring to? The calcium, alk & magnesium are being dosed but not sure that is what you mean. I have not done any "carbon" dosing since the do over. I dose amino acids or sponge power about twice a week. I have also started dosing Color Elements once a week as well. It is simply a trace elements boost to help enhance colors.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Your recovery doesn't even look like a recovery. Tank is beautiful.

 

[vair]

Your recovery doesn't even look like a recovery. Tank is beautiful.

You should see it live!:eek1:

Hey Greg, Dave from the Concept reef fest on the weekend, I was the early frag purchaser, every thing is looking great. Hopefully I can keep it that way.
Thanks again, your frags are insane nice!

 

[Oldude]

Your recovery doesn't even look like a recovery. Tank is beautiful.

Thanks Wayne. Thanks for stopping by.:beer:

 

[Oldude]

You should see it live!:eek1:

Hey Greg, Dave from the Concept reef fest on the weekend, I was the early frag purchaser, every thing is looking great. Hopefully I can keep it that way.
Thanks again, your frags are insane nice!

Thanks Dave, it was great to see you again. I'm glad you're happy with the frags, I had a pretty busy day at the frag fest. If you have any questions about any of them just give me a call. You are welcome to swing by for a visit (not just for frags) any time.

 

[Oldude]

I recently had 2 of the 250 watt ballasts burn out in my old Aqua-Medic "sexy light" fixture. The 6 foot fixture housed 3 x 250 watt DE bulbs & 2 150 watt DE bulbs. I have been considering replacing it for a while and this was the excuse I needed. I stayed "old school" & replaced it with 4 x 250 watt Lumen Max-3 HQI pendents driven by 2 X Blue Wave double HQI ballasts. The light dispersion off the larger reflectors is way better and I am sure the corals will love it.
Here is a shot of the old light fixture below

Here is a shot of the new lights - You can see in behind the MH in the front of the tank are 2 x T5 48" fixtures and 3 Reefbrite LED moon light fixtures

Sorry I just quickly took the shots with my phone so the quality isn't the best

 

[vair]

Thats some serious lighting going on there, corals should love it along with the power company

 

[Brother D]

Greg, what is your light schedule?

 

[Oldude]

Thats some serious lighting going on there, corals should love it along with the power company

I have had my best success with metal halides - more expensive to run but well worth it in my humble opinion. :smurf::fish1:

 

[Oldude]

Greg, what is your light schedule?

Lighting:
LED moonlights hung close to the middle across the width of the tank in 3 strategic locations between the T5's & MH lighting.
2x 48" 6 bulb 54 watt T5 fixtures across the back half of the tank.
Across the front half width of the tank are the following:
1 x Radion LED fixture (fills the void in the front 2 feet on the RH side where I used to have an old 250 watt Hamilton pendant)
4 x 250 watt HQI LumenMax3 pendants

Schedule:
8:00 AM - 12:00 AM (on all day for a little extra umph)
LED moonlights are made up of "Reefbrite" 3 watt diodes x 18 & an extra strip of 1 watt x 12 diodes.

9:30ish AM - 11:00 PM - T5 actinic & Fiji Purple (4 bulbs) start - stay on all day (runs for 14 hours)

1:00 - 1:20 PM all remaining lights come on & run until 9:00 - 9:15 PM.
The T5's and the Radion are all on the same timer and come on at 1:00 PM.
The MH are divided amongst 2 timers and set up with the two outside lights together & the two inside lights on the other timer. This way it gives a better sunrise/sunset affect - the inside two stay on about 10 minutes longer because in my opinion this gives a more natural appearance resembling the last minutes of sunlight shining through a section of reef with the rest going darker. At this stage it is back to the four T5 actinic/Fiji purple bulbs & LED moonlights until 11 PM when it turns to the LED moonlights only and the reef goes dark at midnight.

I hope I have explained the schedule/sequence ok. If you have any other questions just ask.