SPS Dominated 47G Reef

[sahin]

Back at end of 2010, I setup this same exact tank...due to one reason or another...I ended up have to restart my tank or shut down the tank. The past 3 years of reefkeeping have been quite difficult for me. - Just been unlucky. :facepalm:

Anyway, here are the specs:
47G Optiwhite (on 3 sides) 30L x 20D x 18H

ATI Sunpower modded with Cree Royal Blue and Blue LED's.
T5 tube combo Front to back:

ATI Blue+
ATI Coral+
Cree Royal Blue (x20) + Cree Blue(x4) @ 24watts
ATI Blue+
ATI Purple+
ATI True Actinic

Shot of the light (old photo)

Looks very like the Radium 20K/Phoenix14K look in appearance. No way as blue or dim as say the Reeflux 12K.

Anyway, here are a few photos.

Got this as green/yellow. Does have yellowish polyps. Over many months the new growth is coming up with blue tips.

Was brown when I first got it. Colouring up nicely, but I think it requires more light...oh well.

Sold to me as SSC...clearly not, But was cheap anyway.

One of my favorite. Was less than 1cm about about 5 months ago. The tips are more Royal Blue, but the camera doesnt seem to pick up the rich Royal Blue tips. Beautiful coral!

This was COMPLETELY turd brown when I got it. At one point I thought I had AEFW's and completely dipped the crap out of it. Colouring up nicely. One of the most INTENSE pink I've ever had in a coral. The base is actually green towards the lower light areas. This sits 3inches below the waterline and this is the best shot I can manage. Receives at least 350 PAR at peak.

Only been in my tank 1 week. Crazy green colour with almost yellowish polyps. The tissue surface looks like frogs skin!

Echinata I think. Love this one even if it isnt. Been in the tank only 1 week and already colouring up! This one makes me happy.

 

[sahin]

Since I have a bare bottom tank, I bought these Zoas for cheap. Dont ask me what they are, I dont know LOL. I liked that there was two kinds...if you look closely, there are some rainbowish ones in there as well.

Red Millepora. I actually desaturated the colour a little...its got slightly deeper/darker colour.

More Zoas. I am slightly disappointed with these. I thought they would be hot pink...but their just ordinary. Nothing special LOL.

My ONLY non branching SPS. Hasnt coloured up well at all. Person I got the frag from has much better colour. Do I need to place it higher?

Fast grower. Already fragged twice. Gave my LFS a frag, dude was very impressed with the colour. The colour is getting better slowly. Gets 150 PAR max at peak.

This has TRUE yellow tips. No green in it at all.

This was 98% brown just a week ago. Its growing fast and has already coloured up many of the smaller branches. This is a SPECIAL coral. I have high hopes that this will turn into a stunner.

Cyphastrea. Picked up a week ago. Nice colours on it, but its TINY! Less than 2cm LOL

So hard to find Tort in the UK. Had this for over 6 months. Cant get a good shot of it though.

This green Millepora has the deepest and brightest green I've ever seen. Literally glows!

 

[sahin]

Another of my favorite. It has pink corralites edges (not sure if that is correct term), with blue tips and a lime green polyps. Cant capture the colours well. Was brown when I first got it. Has a long way to go yet.

Branching Cyphastrea. Was pale brown when I saw it in the LFS with no other colour. Growing nicely. Gave a frag to my 2nd LFS store. Again, dude was very impressed with the colour.

My only clam. Used to be into clams big time years ago. Looking for a nice Crocea now. All I see is Maximas in the UK these days.

Sapphire Millepora. My SLOWEST growing SPS. Had this about a year now. It only managed to just about double in size. Dont see many of these.

Nice blue tips on this. Doesnt look that nice when viewed from front of tank, but looks pretty nice from above.

I was hoping this would red in colour...but its an ugly brick red. But has very bright green centres. Bought to cover the bare bottom.

This SSC was intensely coloured when I first got it. Browned out on me. But in the past month or so, it is putting out these HOT PINKY RED tips. Cant wait to see what this looks like in 6 months. I have a different SSC from another source which is a wild variety...that one is still pale brown.

This is a new frag and doesnt look like much, but I have high hope this will be very nice.

 

[sahin]

Here are 3 FLASH only shots (NO T5's or LED's). The flash colour on my Nikon D70 is yellow, but note the coral colours without the tanks light. The colours are permanent; not an effect of the T5/LED lighting. The only colours that wont show this way are those which are fluorescent ie green.

1.

2.

3.

Hope you enjoyed the photos. There wont be an FTS because my tank is like frag city. I have around 40 SPS frags stuffed into this 47G tank. At some point I will remove the less nicer ones to allow the better coloured SPS to grow out.

 

[sirreal63]

Nice selection of corals with fantastic color.

 

[stonecold]

Great pics and corals!!!

 

[Chris Lakies]

Welcome back! Nice selection of corals. Great pics!

 

[Bello]

Very nice, Sahin :thumbsup:

Nice photography, and some nice coral in there. Are you using the same light, as before? Any further mods?

 

[A. Grandis]

Great!! Good fixture. I'm excited for you!!
You can't go wrong with the T5s. The LEDs will add the extra texture and probably a small shimmering to it.
Nice corals and zoas to start with!
How lucky are you? LOL!!

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

Since I have a bare bottom tank, I bought these Zoas for cheap. Dont ask me what they are, I dont know LOL. I liked that there was two kinds...if you look closely, there are some rainbowish ones in there as well.

Could you please open a thread with this picture in the zoa forum, simply showing it and possibly tell us the price?

You could also add that I asked you to post there…
Thanks in advance!

Grandis.

 

[Moser]

Sahin, looks great!.

Could you please pm me where you got the branching cyphastrea?.

Thanks
Mo

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Nice selection of corals and excellent colouration.

Can you please provide a FTS?

Croceas seem to be more readily available in recent years than before. I agree that you tend to find more maximas and deresas than croceas. I would contact DreamReef in Leicester. John would get clams for you on order.

 

[Big E]

Awesome sahin :thumbsup:

I really like what I'm seeing with these DIY LED/T5 combos

Great photo work too!

 

[aqua80]

Great work sahin ! You have some nice pieces in there !
Happy that things are going your way now

For your undata yes you could give him more light to have some nices purple growth edges...

 

[tdb320reef]

Colors are looking great. Can't wait to see these in a year. Well done.

 

[tdb320reef]

Moser Re: branching cyp.

Got mine from jfox when he was in town for a swap.

 

[westreef]

Sahin, Great come back!!! Your collection of corals is very very colorful -- just love it.
Your picture taking skill is superb! Looks like you have a good new fancy camera.:beer:

 

[sahin]

Nice selection of corals with fantastic color.

Great pics and corals!!!

Welcome back! Nice selection of corals. Great pics!

Thank guys. Putting a lot of effort in maintaining the tank. Really hoping the growth takes off soon and that colours improve.

Very nice, Sahin :thumbsup:

Nice photography, and some nice coral in there. Are you using the same light, as before? Any further mods?

Thanks. Fixture is almost same as before...I've added 6x420nm SemiLED LED's. Only been two days, and doesnt change the appearance of the light at all. Only when on by themselves will you see certain colours pop. I'm going to run them only for 2 hours towards the end of the light cycle daily. So its more for my viewing pleasure really.

Great!! Good fixture. I'm excited for you!!
You can't go wrong with the T5s. The LEDs will add the extra texture and probably a small shimmering to it. Nice corals and zoas to start with!
How lucky are you? LOL!!
Grandis.

Many thanks. Best colours I've ever seen in SPS have been with T5's. I dont use white LED's, instead rely on the two daylight T5's for the non blue part of the spectrum. So shimmer is next to nothing when all the T5's are on.

I've been collecting for almost a year. Its hard to find specific corals in the UK. You just have to drive around lots and be lucky too.

PS, I made a thread in the Zoa forum.

 

[sahin]

Sahin, looks great!.

Could you please pm me where you got the branching cyphastrea?.

Thanks
Mo

Mo, I got the branching Cyphastrea from ADC in Central London. Great Portland Street. When I bought my frag they had at least 20 frags of this coral. No one bought them and I saw most of the frags go pale and strip over time. :facepalm: The frags were all pale brown to start with anyway, so most people didnt realise their potential. I saw the branch structure and knew I had to buy one and nurse it to full health. I gave a frag to Paul at Advanced Aquarium Consultancy. Paul was well impressed with my frag's colour in just ambient room lighting.

I saw last week that ADC have managed to keep one frag alive which they placed in their main display. I am sure with your reputation they will let you have it or at least break the frag.

Nice selection of corals and excellent colouration.

Can you please provide a FTS?

Croceas seem to be more readily available in recent years than before. I agree that you tend to find more maximas and deresas than croceas. I would contact DreamReef in Leicester. John would get clams for you on order.

Thanks Bulent. The reason I am not providing an FTS now is that with a bare bottom tank and lots of small frags the tank looks ugly. I wish I had sand, but with all the algae/Dino issues I had in the past I can put up with no sand.

As soon as the tank looks better I will definitely post an FTS.

As for the Crocea Clam; I dont want to buy mail order. I want to see the specimen, look at its byssal threads and generally see the condition of the clam. Having kept numerous Clams over the years, I have a sense of how to tell a good healthy specimen to an unhealthy one. Any that I have bought have not so far died on me etc. My last maxima grew very large and I sold it to ADC for a nice sum. I've asked Paul @ AAC to source a nice Crocea for me.

Awesome sahin :thumbsup:

I really like what I'm seeing with these DIY LED/T5 combos

Great photo work too!

Thanks Big E. You and your tank has been a great source of inspiration for me.

I love T5's and as I said above, Ive seen the best colours for SPS in T5 tanks. And I dont mean seeing photos on the net but seeing actual tanks in person.

Great work sahin ! You have some nice pieces in there !
Happy that things are going your way now

For your undata yes you could give him more light to have some nices purple growth edges...

Thanks Aqua80. I have the Undata on the bottom on the glass...only gets about 175 PAR peak. I will need to locate a better placement.

Colors are looking great. Can't wait to see these in a year. Well done.

Thanks. I hope to post some nice near colony sized SPS shots in a years time.

Moser Re: branching cyp.
Got mine from jfox when he was in town for a swap.

I am pretty sure Moser is in the UK like me. So Jason Fox Signature Corals cannot help Mo LOL. I swear to god, I wish we had the likes of WWC, Vivid, JF and Tyree etc supplying to the UK. But due to CITES will never happen.

Sahin, Great come back!!! Your collection of corals is very very colorful -- just love it.
Your picture taking skill is superb! Looks like you have a good new fancy camera.:beer:

Hey thanks man. When are you going to update your tank? Yours is amazing. I am sure I bumped your thread some time ago LOL.

I actually dont have a new Camera. I had a friend repair my ancient Nikon D70. The battery is so crap only lasts a handful of shots. The lens I am using is the Tamron 90mm Macro.

 

[ifarmer]

sorry to hear that you have to start all over again. Your previous setup was amazing
hopefully it will be even better this time. what made you go bare bottom this time?
you still have all the corals from the previous setup?

Looking forward to see your beautiful setup again