Scrapz's Ultimate Gamble 3x3 SPS Cube

[scrapz]

Pink Lemonade in my frag tank under T5s.

ORA Blue Iris. A hard piece to come by and was the piece that took longest to adjust to my tank. Talking about no polyp extension for 3+ weeks then another month until any growth happened. Once it settled, it's been growing nicely. You can see the part where I "fragged" is outgrowing the original piece. The different shades of yellow it has while transitioning is really cool.

The yummy skimmate pulled out from my tank every 3 days. I love pouring it down the kitchen sink and making the whole house smell

 

[mhucasey]

Looking really good- Those colors are rich and beautiful! I need to get a piece of purple monster - those things are ridiculously expensive though because of their slow growth.

 

[s2k]

I still see hair algae

 

[scrapz]

Looking really good- Those colors are rich and beautiful! I need to get a piece of purple monster - those things are ridiculously expensive though because of their slow growth.

They are getting there!

The purple monster is cheap in comparison to most frags nowadays are cheap. Got my frag for $60, all these new fancy sps are 200+.

 

[scrapz]

I still see hair algae

I see white hairs.:blown:

 

[mhucasey]

They are getting there!

The purple monster is cheap in comparison to most frags nowadays are cheap. Got my frag for $60, all these new fancy sps are 200+.

Weird, the one store down here that has it advertises it as "OG Purple monster" and sells it for 150 bucks a frag:furious:

 

[scrapz]

Weird, the one store down here that has it advertises it as "OG Purple monster" and sells it for 150 bucks a frag:furious:

I am coming up to SD tomorrow with the wifey to check out some flowers and eat me some Phils! Going to stop by ASD if it's close and check it out, hopefully they have some nice stuff in stock.

 

[mhucasey]

I am coming up to SD tomorrow with the wifey to check out some flowers and eat me some Phils! Going to stop by ASD if it's close and check it out, hopefully they have some nice stuff in stock.

Heh Heh. Youre mind is about to be blown. I definitely think you should make the trip

 

[scrapz]

It's been a eventful and good week for me. Most of the hair algae has been wiped out, the dino has completely cleared and I'm just dealing with some cyano hopefully as the last phase of this algae thing.

As I mentioned in Sahin build, after seeing my buddy's(Billyzbear) tank so successful with his DIY LED/T5 fixture, I am going to give it a shot. The 400w Radium had no issue coloring up my colors or making them grow, the only issue I experienced from the color shift due to overdriving the bulbs. Due to the size Lumenbright Large reflector, it was difficult to retrofit any sort of supplemental lighting to offset the yellowness of the bulb I was experiencing. Eventually I'm sure I will go back to back to MH but for now I'm going to enjoy the venture into LEDS.

Currently running 3x diy led fixture with about 21x bulb each, 1x Geisseman Actinic blue, 1x ATI B+, 1x Coral +, 1x Fiji Purple. this seems to recreate that beautiful purple I love when the radiums are warming up. I am missing about 3" coverage in the front and rear so I plan on building 1-2 more LED strips to fill out the tank.

I experienced some difference in the color of coral such as the oregon tort that I really hate. Under MH, the OT is the bluest most beautiful blue. Under LED, it's a ugly green bule thing. The majority of other corals are looking better then ever due to the RB LEDS.

Enough talk, here are some practice shots using the T3i, a zoom lens and no tripod.

 

[mhucasey]

The corals are indeed looking good!

 

[scrapz]

Heh Heh. Youre mind is about to be blown. I definitely think you should make the trip

Looks like it's cloudy tomorrow. Gf wants to reschedule, no corals for me :sad2:

 

[joshky]

Looks like it's cloudy tomorrow. Gf wants to reschedule, no corals for me :sad2:

Aw ASD gets in some killer stuff, hoping I can grab a few pieces in one of their live sales soon.

Those acro shots are beautiful, great photography and amazing pieces. You're going to have one hell of a tank when this thing grows out.

 

[scrapz]

Aw ASD gets in some killer stuff, hoping I can grab a few pieces in one of their live sales soon.

Those acro shots are beautiful, great photography and amazing pieces. You're going to have one hell of a tank when this thing grows out.

I was really looking forward to it, oh well. The livesale is this sunday correct?

Thanks for the compliments, Im still trying to learn. Cant wait to get a macro lens.

 

[joshky]

I was really looking forward to it, oh well. The livesale is this sunday correct?

Thanks for the compliments, Im still trying to learn. Cant wait to get a macro lens.

I think it's tonight actually, 4pm PST / 7pm EST.

I had dreams of buying a new camera and a macro lens for Christmas... Then car issues and now tank issues, bleh. Maybe sometime later this year I'll get to upgrade and continue branching out into photography more.

 

[mhucasey]

I think it's tonight actually, 4pm PST / 7pm EST.

I had dreams of buying a new camera and a macro lens for Christmas... Then car issues and now tank issues, bleh. Maybe sometime later this year I'll get to upgrade and continue branching out into photography more.

FYI ASD just uses the forum "sale" as their weekly post website. The prices are the same when you go in whether the "sale" has started or not. It's not one of those things designed to turn buyers into a feeding frenzy when each coral is presented. Most of the Acro frags are 30 dollars.

 

[sahin]

Corals are looking good. Shame about the switch to T5/LED; not that colours will suffer, but just that under the FULL spectrum of Radium, most colours look great. Some corals wont look as good as you have already discovered with the OTort, but others LED/T5 is a great all round combo.

The problem with running "400w" Radium 20K is that its not really a 400w bulb, but around 360watts...and with most people running 400w HQI type ballasts, the bulb is driven at or near 470watts resulting in a large spectral shift within 6 months. My Giesemann Spectra came with a magnetic ballast that outputs around 425watts...I've already ordered a Lumatek E-ballast that will run my 400w Radium at 400w which is closer to spec and I should get at least a year out of the bulb.

What is this coral, it looks great:

 

[scrapz]

Corals are looking good. Shame about the switch to T5/LED; not that colours will suffer, but just that under the FULL spectrum of Radium, most colours look great. Some corals wont look as good as you have already discovered with the OTort, but others LED/T5 is a great all round combo.

The problem with running "400w" Radium 20K is that its not really a 400w bulb, but around 360watts...and with most people running 400w HQI type ballasts, the bulb is driven at or near 470watts resulting in a large spectral shift within 6 months. My Giesemann Spectra came with a magnetic ballast that outputs around 425watts...I've already ordered a Lumatek E-ballast that will run my 400w Radium at 400w which is closer to spec and I should get at least a year out of the bulb.

What is this coral, it looks great:

Yup. I've been looking for a m80 400w ballast for quite some time but as you can imagine, no one has them and those who have them arent.

In the end, I think it really boils down to coverage per watt since electricity prices in California are steep. Another thing is the coverage, the LED/T5 are providing so much more coverage I can begin to see some noticeable improvement all around the coral and especially the shaded areas in just these past 3 days. Kind of insane, just like when I switched from t5s to 400w on the frag tank. I guess I could leave my MH pendant hanging above, slap on a 250w radium and just keep it for viewing purposes

The piece was sold me to as a RR limitless although I believe it is the RR Godzilla.

 

[scrapz]

The current FTS.

 

[cFloor]

Your tank is progressing nicely! That FTS is looking really good. That RR coral is a beauty. Is the coral on the frag rack the same or is it a fox flame?

 

[scrapz]

Your tank is progressing nicely! That FTS is looking really good. That RR coral is a beauty. Is the coral on the frag rack the same or is it a fox flame?

Thanks, its getting there slowly. The coral on the rack is a WWC little red ferrari. Once it hits ita potential, ahoild be a much deeper red with bright yellow polyps.