TrUeBlAcKperCuLa 120 sps under radion G1

[trueblackpercula]

Hi all a few people have asked me to post some picutres of my 120 reef under the Radion G1 light fixture. I took these pictures with my cell phone and they are not photoshoped in any way.

I will say that i have gotten some great color and really great growth since i installed this fixture. The only problem I did encounter was algea on my sand bed it was was do to a couple problems.

I was feeding too much Sps food of the wrong type and I had the red and green Leds on to high.

I will update this thread on a monthly basis or when I can to show the color gain or loss and the growth rates.

If anyone is interested in my graph let me know and I will send it to you.
Enjoy and sorry for the bad pictures until I can get a better camera.

TRUE OREGON TORT

SSC GREEN TORT BLUe TIPS ORA UNKOWN BLUE TORT

BLUE AUSSIE STAG AND A FEW OTHERS stag has started to thicken and branch out from the tips

PURPLE PLASMA HAS ENCRUSTED NICE

TRUE PURPLE GARF BONSAI

PURPLE WITH BLUE TIPS WITH GREEN POYLPS DONT KNOW THE NAME

AND THIS IS MY FAVORITE AND ITS STILL COLORING UP BUT ENCRUSTING VERY FAST.......BLUEBERRY NASUTA

PINK LEMONADE

 

[franklypre]

Looks pretty good, do you have a FTS by chance?

 

[kdog420000]

looks pretty good, do you have a fts by chance?

+1

 

[afernandez]

Very nice!! FTS little info like how old? Filtration pics?

 

[trueblackpercula]

Very nice!! FTS little info like how old? Filtration pics?

Thank you

I will try and get a FTS but there ally is much to look at.

Tank is 30 x 30 x 31 deep
Precision Marine sump with a small sand bed in it.
MRC MR2 single becket skimmer
Return pump iwaki xlt
Lights is a radion G1 and I love it
Mp40es works great

I forgot how many pounds of live rock but I think 75 or a 100
Live deep sand bed 4 inches to 4 1/2
17 sps acros and still looking to add more
1/3 HP aqua logic chiller
water changes once a week 5 gallons each time. I don't believe in changing to much at a time to keep the tank stable.
Home made Randy's two part dosed by an aqua medic dosing pump.
I use reef crystals salt mix and use RO/DI water only.
Dosing vodka to remove the algae I have been getting from over feeding :headwally:
The tank has been up and running for a little over six years and I have had my share of ups and downs. This time have have sharpened my skills and have dedicated myself to achieving a nice reef.

I will try and get a full tank shot for you guys so you can see the rock layout.

Again thanks for the compliments.

 

[biggles]

Looks good so far mate, i'll be following along to see if you can get that SCC to look as it should under the LED's :thumbsup:

 

[trueblackpercula]

Yes the SSC really looks better in person then the stupid iPhone pictures. It has grown very fast and always has full PE. I have ordered a new battery for a camera I have and should be able to get som good pictures.

One of my favorites, but if I lived were you do I would have a tank full.

 

[biggles]

Lol i know all about the stupid iphone pics as that's all i have to use so far and have to process in PS after to fix all the skewed colors. My pink acro that looks like SCC is driving me nuts just encrusting still after 5 months.
It's funny you say that about SCC in Aus because i have seen one piece for sale in my LFS's in 5 months......... and i bought that one luckily - i'm a bit mystified as to why the collectors aren't supplying more so i can fill my tank with it lol.

 

[trueblackpercula]

Lol i know all about the stupid iphone pics as that's all i have to use so far and have to process in PS after to fix all the skewed colors. My pink acro that looks like SCC is driving me nuts just encrusting still after 5 months.
It's funny you say that about SCC in Aus because i have seen one piece for sale in my LFS's in 5 months......... and i bought that one luckily - i'm a bit mystified as to why the collectors aren't supplying more so i can fill my tank with it lol.

From what I was told the SSC is a rare sps and does not come up often. My local store got in to really nice size colonies and they were not for sale hole. He fraged them both.

I am sorry for the stupid question but why are you buying sps? Can't you just go the the beach and collect what you like? Tell us some more about the land down under.

 

[biggles]

From what I was told the SSC is a rare sps and does not come up often. My local store got in to really nice size colonies and they were not for sale hole. He fraged them both.

I am sorry for the stupid question but why are you buying sps? Can't you just go the the beach and collect what you like? Tell us some more about the land down under.

Okay first things first, SCC aren't rare acros - problem is they're a favorite snack of the Qld beachbumus sp. kangaroo that prowl our beaches and you don't mess with those those guys.......

The overnight low where i live in Melbourne is 1 degree C tonight so not really coral temps lol. It's only in Queensland and Western Aus that water temps remain warm all year round and the collectors travel quite aways out to sea to reach their reef collection hot spots. I had a friend go out with a collector once and he told me that what the collector routinely ignores would stop any SPS guys heart.......... years ago when SPS were not commonly kept here i remember giving my LFS acro pics so he could email them to the collector in the hope he collected something other than green acros and pink pocillopora damicornis I returned to the hobby 6 months ago and everything has changed for the better in regards to the much wider variety of colors and species of SPS i routinely see (and buy)
I must say that whilst it is nice to always be able to walk into my two favorite LFS's knowing you will see at least a few yummy SPS i am very enviable of your cool aquaculture industry and wish i could buy SPS with a reasonable expectation of what they should color up and grow like rather than the lucky dip i play with most stuff.
I haven't seen a single piece of Echinata or similar sp. let alone the colors you guys can order them in online so what you might envy about aussies is reciprocated

 

[trueblackpercula]

Okay first things first, SCC aren't rare acros - problem is they're a favorite snack of the Qld beachbumus sp. kangaroo that prowl our beaches and you don't mess with those those guys.......

The overnight low where i live in Melbourne is 1 degree C tonight so not really coral temps lol. It's only in Queensland and Western Aus that water temps remain warm all year round and the collectors travel quite aways out to sea to reach their reef collection hot spots. I had a friend go out with a collector once and he told me that what the collector routinely ignores would stop any SPS guys heart.......... years ago when SPS were not commonly kept here i remember giving my LFS acro pics so he could email them to the collector in the hope he collected something other than green acros and pink pocillopora damicornis I returned to the hobby 6 months ago and everything has changed for the better in regards to the much wider variety of colors and species of SPS i routinely see (and buy)
I must say that whilst it is nice to always be able to walk into my two favorite LFS's knowing you will see at least a few yummy SPS i am very enviable of your cool aquaculture industry and wish i could buy SPS with a reasonable expectation of what they should color up and grow like rather than the lucky dip i play with most stuff.
I haven't seen a single piece of Echinata or similar sp. let alone the colors you guys can order them in online so what you might envy about aussies is reciprocated

Well thank you for the information. I would have never thought that kangaroos eat strawberry short cake acropora's? I can't imagin why the would to are you just joking with us or should I say me? Well if I was you make the trip to the west side and collect all that you can.

Thanks again

 

[Ckyuv]

Lmao what an interesting response

 

[biggles]

Sorry mate i was just joking about the kangaroos eating acros - you'll have to make allowances for my aussie sense of humor, we take the p*ss out of each other a lot in Aus lol. Kangaroos do hang out on the beaches in Western Aus but they don't collect SPS of any kind (or deliver the mail).

I asked the LFS that supplied me with the SCC why they don't get more in and they told me the collector has a 'patch' of SCC colonies and he will only collect a few small branches for Aus stores occasionally as he wants to keep the colonies growing which sounds like a good business decision to me.
The best SPS and flubber such as acans and buttons are now sent to the US simply because the collectors receive a great deal more money for them than they can charge in Aus so that explains why i don't see the beautiful deep water acros you guys can buy even though the bloody things are collected here
The commonest SPS i see are millis which seem to account for at least 50% of acros i see for sale in the LFS's. I can't be bothered chasing fresh shipments to get the first pick like i did years ago, i would leave work pretending to be sick to get to the best stuff when i was younger lol. My tank is made up of the left overs already picked over by other SPS nuts but as i said earlier i'm happy with what i see for sale anyway and my 6 month old SPS tank is full of decent colored SPS, just not the stunning ones you guys get to routinely buy.

 

[dowtish]

biggles, how dare you have a sense of humor!


trueblackperc- what kind of algaes are you getting on your sand bed? you might look into dosing some microbacter7

 

[trueblackpercula]

biggles, how dare you have a sense of humor!


trueblackperc- what kind of algaes are you getting on your sand bed? you might look into dosing some microbacter7

If you take a look at the first picture I posted you can see the sand bed was covered. Green, brown and even some red cyno. I have since cleaned the sand bed as best as I could. I then started to dose vodka very slowly and cut back on feeding the sps with the food I was using. I think I am getting the edge on it now and hope in a months time it should be gone. Lesson learned not to over feed the system.
By the way love your set up and hope mine reaches your level by next year.

 

[trueblackpercula]

Sorry mate i was just joking about the kangaroos eating acros - you'll have to make allowances for my aussie sense of humor, we take the p*ss out of each other a lot in Aus lol. Kangaroos do hang out on the beaches in Western Aus but they don't collect SPS of any kind (or deliver the mail).

I asked the LFS that supplied me with the SCC why they don't get more in and they told me the collector has a 'patch' of SCC colonies and he will only collect a few small branches for Aus stores occasionally as he wants to keep the colonies growing which sounds like a good business decision to me.
The best SPS and flubber such as acans and buttons are now sent to the US simply because the collectors receive a great deal more money for them than they can charge in Aus so that explains why i don't see the beautiful deep water acros you guys can buy even though the bloody things are collected here
The commonest SPS i see are millis which seem to account for at least 50% of acros i see for sale in the LFS's. I can't be bothered chasing fresh shipments to get the first pick like i did years ago, i would leave work pretending to be sick to get to the best stuff when i was younger lol. My tank is made up of the left overs already picked over by other SPS nuts but as i said earlier i'm happy with what i see for sale anyway and my 6 month old SPS tank is full of decent colored SPS, just not the stunning ones you guys get to routinely buy.

Now that was a classic joke and you had me. Sorry about you not getting the cream of the crop were you live.
I would love to see your set up post a picture so we can see. By the way you must have a heater on all the time with the tempature you get a night. Hey at least you can get nice looking fish no?

 

[biggles]

Wet it on Xmas eve nearly seven months ago, time flies......... I have a reverse cycle air con in the house and i set it at 22C all year, i basically just switch it over to warm when winter hits and then cool when summer arrives. It's also my tank air fan as i can direct it to blow directly across my water surface - it's basically a sealed micro environment in here as the aircon also takes care of evap from the tank lol.
I'm not really into fish but i have a clown and a neurotic skunk cleaner shrimp. I'm going to add a multibar angel asap as everything is going great with the tank so like any good SPS keeper i must fiddle with things until something bad happens :rolleye1: It won't be my fault anyway as another reefer here (Bello) suggested i do it.........

 

[Bello]

There you go again, Biggles, blaming me as usual

Some nice pickups there Perc, the Oregon Tort looks yummy :thumbsup:

 

[trueblackpercula]

Wet it on Xmas eve nearly seven months ago, time flies......... I have a reverse cycle air con in the house and i set it at 22C all year, i basically just switch it over to warm when winter hits and then cool when summer arrives. It's also my tank air fan as i can direct it to blow directly across my water surface - it's basically a sealed micro environment in here as the aircon also takes care of evap from the tank lol.
I'm not really into fish but i have a clown and a neurotic skunk cleaner shrimp. I'm going to add a multibar angel asap as everything is going great with the tank so like any good SPS keeper i must fiddle with things until something bad happens :rolleye1: It won't be my fault anyway as another reefer here (Bello) suggested i do it.........

Just as I suspected your tank is spectacular please tell us more

 

[biggles]

There you go again, Biggles, blaming me as usual

Bello - hey get some of these cheap pumps i'm using for your frag tank biggles
Me - hey Bello i ordered some of those pumps you recommended
Bello - oh mine stopped working i meant to tell you..........:facepalm::lolspin:

Just as I suspected your tank is spectacular please tell us more

Thanks for the nice compliment Perc but the tank is still young and most pieces are encrusting a lot more that growing up/out. I had 6 years experience over two previous full blown SPS tanks prior to getting back into this great hobby recently and i wouldn't advise anyone to load up their system as fast as i have without previous SPS experience as my first tank was like everyone's - a terror filled ride into the world of acropora lol.
This thread is about your system not mine, i want to see more pics and info about your reef not talk about mine so here's a quick rundown.
I run a Berlin type system i guess, zero phos and nitrates, no carbon or GFO unless i get a reading then i run them passively for a week or two. Good quality skimmer, high quality live rock. Tank is 40x24x18" with a single 250W radium and 4xT5's (3 B+, 1 KZ purple). Halide bulb is 5" off the water and T5's 3". I feed coral specific food 4 times a day and the display is alive with pods and mysis due to no predators. I have a fat mandarin but he hasn't made a dent in the numbers.
I use my alk draw and the fine brown hair algae growth as my guide to how the tank is going in general and make adjustments accordingly. I run 8.2, 420 and 1350 and currently dose 140ml of Randy's 2 part. I'm seeing good colors from my corals and i think they're better since i've built up the tanks ability to handle more coral food daily.

Okay so tell me mate, is that Oregon tort as stunningly deep blue as i think it is, i've never seen anything that looked remotely like that in all my years and i've seen thousands of acros for sale - is it hard to get the true tort and how do you know if it's the true one. Not questioning it is true i just don't really know how all this naming works as i thought there would only be one Oregon tort.
All those frags look yummy :thumbsup: i especially like the true purple garf bonsai, fluoro polyps with a blue or purple acro is always a winner in my books. Any stag is cool, your SCC is growing way better than my pink acro that looks similar, mine just encrusts even though i added it over 5 months ago but at least it's bright pink You have to get a better shot for us of that blueberry nasuta as i know it looks way better than that shot you took.
Do you run two of those Radion units over your display and if you've used halides or T5's before what do you think about the LED's as far as coral colors and overall health. Things look good to me so why is it that so many reefers seem to have dramas whilst far fewer are getting good results. Sorry for grilling you but i'd like to hear what you think about the LED 'thing'. Keep the pics coming Perc