150g Starphire Peninsula Build Thread. SPS and BTA's. Pic Heavy! - Page 7

ajcanale · 11/03/2015, 11:44 PM

reefmutt · 11/04/2015, 10:11 AM

Wow!!!!
Those are crazy nice!
Yellow body and red/orange polyps.. That's nuts.
Are you keeping these under intense lighting or lower intensity?

stonecold · 11/04/2015, 11:26 AM

Your new frags are insane!!!

Stylo328 · 11/04/2015, 12:05 PM

Awesome!

ECreefer · 01/11/2016, 11:51 AM

Really amazing SPS and photography!! What kind of camera and lens are you using for these?

reefmutt · 01/11/2016, 12:25 PM

Would love to see an update of this amazing tank..

SPS911 · 01/11/2016, 03:12 PM

How has the bluejaw trigger been in your tank?

sahin · 01/12/2016, 07:26 AM

Bump. How is the Dino issue going? How are the corals?

ajcanale · 01/12/2016, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Wow!!!!
Those are crazy nice!
Yellow body and red/orange polyps.. That's nuts.
Are you keeping these under intense lighting or lower intensity?

Thanks, All the frags you were referring to are placed high in the upper 1/2 of the tank.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stonecold

Your new frags are insane!!!

appreciate it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stylo328

Awesome!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ECreefer

Really amazing SPS and photography!! What kind of camera and lens are you using for these?

Canon Rebel T5i with a 100mm Tokina macro.

Quote:

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Would love to see an update of this amazing tank..

Will update shortly...

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPS911

How has the bluejaw trigger been in your tank?

I lost most of my fish about a year ago after vacuuming sandbed which caused pretty serious ich outbreak... Even though I hadn't added any new fish, or seen a single sign of ich in years. I guess it was dormant in the sandbed or something. Regardless the bluejaw was a great fish. Well behaved.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sahin

Bump. How is the Dino issue going? How are the corals?

As far as I can tell the dino's are gone for the most part. I have some briopsis growing in several places as well as bubble algae, but nothing major. I feed significant amounts of skimmate to the tank at least once a week, so this could be part of the reason. I have also had a algae turf scrubber running for the past 3 or 4 months, which seems to have really helped the health of the system.

ajcanale · 01/12/2016, 05:54 PM

It seems a lot has happened since I have last updated, most of which has been good.

First off, I am no longer having any significant issues with dinoflagellates or cyanobacteria. For the first time in a while, I can actually see bare rock and coralline growth throughout my tank. I'm actually just now realizing that... pretty cool feeling.

A few months ago I introduced an algae turf scrubber to the system. I chose the Santa Monica Filtration SURF2 because it was easiest to set up and implement into my sump and it didn't require any further plumbing. 4 months later I can definitively say that my tank has never looked better.

I also decided to give something quite unorthodox a try: Feeding skimmate to the system.... I've head about it so I decided to give it a shot now that I had a turf scrubber in place. At first I started with just a little... now I dump about half of a collection cup in at once. I do it early in the morning when the lights are out. SPS PE and color seem to have improved. At the least I can say it hasn't been detrimental to the system.

I also switched from 3 Radion Pro LED fixtures to a 48" 8-bulb ATI T5 dimmable fixture with two Royal Blue Reefbrite strips. The dimmable T5's are here to stay.
In case anyone is interested this is the combo I am using: (B+)(Actinic)(C+)(B+)(B+)(C+)(P+)(B+)

I sold off all of my colonies that I felt were common pieces and transferred all anemones from this tank to my 90g, so to make room for more rare SPS to grow out.

That's about all for now I guess~

Stylo328 · 01/12/2016, 06:32 PM

Great update!

The skimmate addition seems so counter intuitive. Have you considered running the skimmer only 50% of the time? Or is the concentration of the skimmate part of the benefit?

Zacktosterone · 01/12/2016, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajcanale

I also switched from 3 Radion Pro LED fixtures to a 48" 8-bulb ATI T5 dimmable fixture with two Royal Blue Reefbrite strips. The dimmable T5's are here to stay.
In case anyone is interested this is the combo I am using: (B+)(Actinic)(C+)(B+)(B+)(C+)(P+)(B+)

Why did you not stick with the radion pros?
And why did you go t5 instead of halide instead?
And again another question, why didn't you just add t5 to your radions?

reefmutt · 01/12/2016, 08:21 PM

Wow. Nice update.
Very curious to see the tank with all the changes.
You were getting such amazing colours with the LEDs.. Why the switch to t5?
I mean.. I know why.. But curious to know your reasoning.

ajcanale · 01/12/2016, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stylo328

Great update!

The skimmate addition seems so counter intuitive. Have you considered running the skimmer only 50% of the time? Or is the concentration of the skimmate part of the benefit?

Yes, it does seem counter intuitive/ counter productive or whatever, I agree. I think that there is a broad understanding that skimming removes at least some beneficial products (I won't go into detail now about what I suspect or have researched as to what...) as well as biological wastes... Well it has also been well documented, or at least well suggested, that corals (specifically SPS in this case) feed off of said wastes, or otherwise feed off the nutrients that said wastes evolve to. Well that said, maybe, just maybe, skimmate is an excellent (if not ideal) source of amino acids, trace elements and nutrients??? I just dumped a half filled skimmate cup worth into my tank, thick skimmate, not the watery stuff. 5 minutes later water is clear, PE is above normal and skimmer is going crazy removing what I just reintroduced to the system. But it's more than that, the biological makeup of the tank is going crazy. Whether snails, shrimp, crags, pods, various worms and other forms of creatures... all can be seen active. I could go on and on about this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zacktosterone

Why did you not stick with the radion pros?
And why did you go t5 instead of halide instead?
And again another question, why didn't you just add t5 to your radions?

Well I've had radions since they originally introduced to the market 4 or 5 years ago. I've had different models/generations over this time as well. I like radions, I really do. That said, the BEST sps tanks I've seen have always had one thing in common. T5 lighting. With the introduction of dimmable T5 fixtures recently, I decided it was time to give them a shot... maybe one day have a tank on par with those that I have considered BEST. (Many of which are tanks that exist in Asia and won't be found on this forum)

Quote:

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Wow. Nice update.
Very curious to see the tank with all the changes.
You were getting such amazing colours with the LEDs.. Why the switch to t5?
I mean.. I know why.. But curious to know your reasoning.

hah, well, see above

. I had radions for a long time. I support them for sure, just wanted to try something else. I like.

Stylo328 · 01/12/2016, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajcanale

Yes, it does seem counter intuitive/ counter productive or whatever, I agree. I think that there is a broad understanding that skimming removes at least some beneficial products (I won't go into detail now about what I suspect or have researched as to what...) as well as biological wastes... Well it has also been well documented, or at least well suggested, that corals (specifically SPS in this case) feed off of said wastes, or otherwise feed off the nutrients that said wastes evolve to. Well that said, maybe, just maybe, skimmate is an excellent (if not ideal) source of amino acids, trace elements and nutrients??? I just dumped a half filled skimmate cup worth into my tank, thick skimmate, not the watery stuff. 5 minutes later water is clear, PE is above normal and skimmer is going crazy removing what I just reintroduced to the system. But it's more than that, the biological makeup of the tank is going crazy. Whether snails, shrimp, crags, pods, various worms and other forms of creatures... all can be seen active. I could go on and on about this.

Thanks for the comprehensive, informative and educational response. Over the 20 years that I've been in this hobby I've seen some amazing tanks that were skimmer-less. It really goes to show that "no guts no glory". Those that have the guts to risk going against conventional wisdom or whatever is popular at the time, often reap the benefits of an organized and orchestrated approach to something different.

I look forward to seeing how the tank does in the months to come. All the best,

Jstn · 01/13/2016, 09:43 AM

Amazing tank, I really enjoy your deep colors!

sahin · 03/07/2016, 02:22 AM

Bump. Its about time we got some fresh SPS pics.

maxxII · 03/14/2016, 02:15 PM

Hello?????

Anyone home??????

reefmutt · 03/16/2016, 11:41 AM

Oh yeah...
An update would be awesome..

sahin · 03/16/2016, 03:19 PM

Yeah...especially after moving from LED to T5, I'd love to see some coral pics.

ajcanale · 03/17/2016, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jstn

Amazing tank, I really enjoy your deep colors!

Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by sahin

Bump. Its about time we got some fresh SPS pics.

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxxII

Hello?????
Anyone home??????

Quote:

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Oh yeah...
An update would be awesome..

Quote:

Originally Posted by sahin

Yeah...especially after moving from LED to T5, I'd love to see some coral pics.

Not a whole lot to report, no new pics to post really. I do have a bunch of new high ends, but I've been fragging my display to death. I feel like most things aren't picture worthy at the moment.

In regards to T5/LED: The T5's haven't provided quite the difference that I though they would. The overall improvement in spread or lack of shadowing, in comparison to the three Radion fixtures, is something to be mentioned, but as far as a vast improvement in color or growth. I haven't noticed either. Maybe a little growth. I am content with this because throughout the years I have defended LEDs, in particular Ecotech Radions and their ability to sustain healthy growth and color.

Whats to come: I am currently in the process of upgrading to a 50g frag system which will be connected to my display system... an upgrade to the 15g that is there now. It will be exclusively lit by G2 Radion Pro's and will host a myriad of high end acros, many of which will also be growing in my display under T5's. This will provide an opportunity for a stark comparison between the two lighting types. I look for it to be up and running by next weekend hopefully, and I'm very excited.

Also, about 6 months ago I switched from Red Sea coral pro salt to Reef Crystals. I did this because of the price increase to the Red Sea salts. In hind sight I wish I just would have stuck with Red Sea. Needless to say I haven't been happy with what I've seen from RC, so I switched to HW-Marinemix because of its relatively close to NSW parameters. I like what I've seen so far, but I still might end up switching back to RS.

Enough of the boring crap. Look out for some pics in the coming weeks!

EDIT: Screw it... here's a teaser

and another...

reefmutt · 03/17/2016, 01:03 PM

That's what I'm taking about!

Looking forward to more.

Usernam Invalid · 03/17/2016, 05:28 PM

Wow that biohazard is unreal

F. Tietzsch · 03/30/2016, 02:11 PM

Great PICS!!!!

Bolo Tran · 03/30/2016, 02:13 PM

If you don't mind me asking. What specifically did you not like of the Reef Crystals?

11/03/2015, 11:44 PM	#151
ajcanale Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Memphis 10 Posts: 1,098	Tenuis Garden... __________________ If the spirit moves ya, let me groove ya Current Tank Info: 150g Starphire Pensinula SPS

11/04/2015, 10:11 AM	#152
reefmutt Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Mtl. Canada Posts: 7,824	Wow!!!! Those are crazy nice! Yellow body and red/orange polyps.. That's nuts. Are you keeping these under intense lighting or lower intensity? __________________ Matt. Current Tank Info: 53x32.5x26 190g dt 60g of sumps 3 tank-100 gal frag system 6xAI prime 8xt5. 4x maxspect gyre. Skimz Dual internal sicce pump skimmer Deltec PF601s ca rx+Kalk stirrer

11/04/2015, 11:26 AM	#153
stonecold Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Ashburn, VA Posts: 679	Your new frags are insane!!! __________________ TOTM - May 2014

01/11/2016, 12:25 PM	#156
reefmutt Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Mtl. Canada Posts: 7,824	Would love to see an update of this amazing tank.. __________________ Matt. Current Tank Info: 53x32.5x26 190g dt 60g of sumps 3 tank-100 gal frag system 6xAI prime 8xt5. 4x maxspect gyre. Skimz Dual internal sicce pump skimmer Deltec PF601s ca rx+Kalk stirrer

01/12/2016, 05:54 PM	#160
ajcanale Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Memphis 10 Posts: 1,098	It seems a lot has happened since I have last updated, most of which has been good. First off, I am no longer having any significant issues with dinoflagellates or cyanobacteria. For the first time in a while, I can actually see bare rock and coralline growth throughout my tank. I'm actually just now realizing that... pretty cool feeling. A few months ago I introduced an algae turf scrubber to the system. I chose the Santa Monica Filtration SURF2 because it was easiest to set up and implement into my sump and it didn't require any further plumbing. 4 months later I can definitively say that my tank has never looked better. I also decided to give something quite unorthodox a try: Feeding skimmate to the system.... I've head about it so I decided to give it a shot now that I had a turf scrubber in place. At first I started with just a little... now I dump about half of a collection cup in at once. I do it early in the morning when the lights are out. SPS PE and color seem to have improved. At the least I can say it hasn't been detrimental to the system. I also switched from 3 Radion Pro LED fixtures to a 48" 8-bulb ATI T5 dimmable fixture with two Royal Blue Reefbrite strips. The dimmable T5's are here to stay. In case anyone is interested this is the combo I am using: (B+)(Actinic)(C+)(B+)(B+)(C+)(P+)(B+) I sold off all of my colonies that I felt were common pieces and transferred all anemones from this tank to my 90g, so to make room for more rare SPS to grow out. That's about all for now I guess~ __________________ If the spirit moves ya, let me groove ya Current Tank Info: 150g Starphire Pensinula SPS

11/04/2015, 12:05 PM	#154
Stylo328 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: South Florida Posts: 1,970	Awesome!

01/11/2016, 11:51 AM	#155
ECreefer Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Baltimore Posts: 106	Really amazing SPS and photography!! What kind of camera and lens are you using for these?

01/11/2016, 03:12 PM	#157
SPS911 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2015 Location: Westchase Posts: 302	How has the bluejaw trigger been in your tank?

01/12/2016, 07:26 AM	#158
sahin Ultimate Reefer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,540	Bump. How is the Dino issue going? How are the corals?

01/12/2016, 06:32 PM	#161
Stylo328 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: South Florida Posts: 1,970	Great update! The skimmate addition seems so counter intuitive. Have you considered running the skimmer only 50% of the time? Or is the concentration of the skimmate part of the benefit?

01/12/2016, 08:21 PM	#163
reefmutt Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Mtl. Canada Posts: 7,824	Wow. Nice update. Very curious to see the tank with all the changes. You were getting such amazing colours with the LEDs.. Why the switch to t5? I mean.. I know why.. But curious to know your reasoning. __________________ Matt. Current Tank Info: 53x32.5x26 190g dt 60g of sumps 3 tank-100 gal frag system 6xAI prime 8xt5. 4x maxspect gyre. Skimz Dual internal sicce pump skimmer Deltec PF601s ca rx+Kalk stirrer

01/13/2016, 09:43 AM	#166
Jstn Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Minneapolis Mn Posts: 622	Amazing tank, I really enjoy your deep colors!

03/07/2016, 02:22 AM	#167
sahin Ultimate Reefer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,540	Bump. Its about time we got some fresh SPS pics.

03/14/2016, 02:15 PM	#168
maxxII Super Housemonkey! Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: St Louis Mo Posts: 4,442	Hello????? Anyone home?????? __________________ A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn, that was fun!"

03/16/2016, 11:41 AM	#169
reefmutt Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Mtl. Canada Posts: 7,824	Oh yeah... An update would be awesome.. __________________ Matt. Current Tank Info: 53x32.5x26 190g dt 60g of sumps 3 tank-100 gal frag system 6xAI prime 8xt5. 4x maxspect gyre. Skimz Dual internal sicce pump skimmer Deltec PF601s ca rx+Kalk stirrer

03/16/2016, 03:19 PM	#170
sahin Ultimate Reefer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,540	Yeah...especially after moving from LED to T5, I'd love to see some coral pics.

03/17/2016, 01:03 PM	#172
reefmutt Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Mtl. Canada Posts: 7,824	That's what I'm taking about! Looking forward to more. __________________ Matt. Current Tank Info: 53x32.5x26 190g dt 60g of sumps 3 tank-100 gal frag system 6xAI prime 8xt5. 4x maxspect gyre. Skimz Dual internal sicce pump skimmer Deltec PF601s ca rx+Kalk stirrer

03/17/2016, 05:28 PM	#173
Usernam Invalid Moved On Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 1,130	Wow that biohazard is unreal

03/30/2016, 02:11 PM	#174
F. Tietzsch Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 21	Great PICS!!!!

03/30/2016, 02:13 PM	#175
Bolo Tran Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Houston Posts: 492	If you don't mind me asking. What specifically did you not like of the Reef Crystals?