well i haven't been to NR for a longgg time... just started visiting again about a week ago... I've been posting on my local clubs forum NCRC ( www.norcalreefclub.com )... i had an old tank thread up but it seemed to have died off so heres my new tank with a revolutionary (ahahah not really) idea... lighting up the aquarium with one side as T5's and one side with metal halide and pc actinics...
i came to this idea when my dad said he didnt want the power bill to go up so i though hmmm lets try this..and here it is...(copied from my thread over at NCRC)

just some background info...
the tank was setup in january of this year. it has a custom stand made by me and my dad. has 2 different lighting systems on it and its sump utilizes 2 10g tanks along with a 10g ecosystem fuge i got of ebay for a real bargain. ok enough with the info here are the pix

alright im really excited about this one coral because it used to be just purple and brown but now its new growth is turning an amazing teal green!
here it is...


also here in this SPS side shot you can see that i have changed out my bulbs for a 14k phoenix


Roscoes...starting to regain its green color...


i just found out that this is an Elias Blue Stag


Green Pocillipora


a closer SPS side shot


one of my Green Slimmers


the other Green Slimmer


i also just found out that this is a Crayola Plana that i got from max as just a regular Plana...it also used to me red but its tips and now turning a bright purple


one of my favorite montis my blue polyped green base noodling cap.


My Fiji Teal acro showing some great PE


my Purple Poccilipora which is epoxied side ways to a rock


Green milis which is also shoing great PE and is growing supper fast... i would say 3 new growth tips have shown up over the last 2 weeks


another fiji acro...i had ID'ed it but i forgot what the name of it was...


This acro when i got it was all...ALL brown...now after abotu a month it has regained it Deep Sky Blue color


my Orange Monti Digi...has grown a lot since ive got it...


Elliots acro that has regained its green polyps and has encrusted well onto the rock...this is also one of the corals i epoxied side ways onto a rock so it looks kinda cool... 8-)


Blue Tipped Green Base Acro Teunis


And last but not least the Obligatory FTS

That's nice looking tank. I like the idea of 50/50.

That's cool... what t5 unit are you using? that's some major difference in lighting from one side to the other.

im using the wanna be Tek fixture that that hellolights cleared out last year

How many bulbs? I'm looking at a 75 and know I wouldn't be happy with that if it was my main light. Butr I was also looking at going with 8 bulbs.

it has 4 bulbs but im planning on changing one of them so theres a deeper blue to it...i agree that it isn't the best main light but since that side of my tank only has lower light corals (zoas palys acans favias) it isn't really necessary to have a MH system on that part of the tank.
if you really want to use T5's and are planning on keeping SPS an ATI Power Module would be the best pick for you...they come in 4,6,8,and 10 bulb combos.

That lighting setup makes me lol

Beautiful tank! I will definitely have to keep this in mind when I stock mine. Your assortment of SPS is sweet.

The lights that originally came with that particular T5 fixture aren't the best.
They gave kind of a pinkish look to me.
You get a completely different look with upgraded bulbs.
I know cause I had that fixture, and I upgraded the bulbs.

thanks for the awesome comment! yeah i do have a lot of SPS..kinda overstocked if you ask me.. thats why i had to epoxy some of the to the vertical faces of my rockscape


oh ok thanks for the info! what bulb selection do you have and what color does it give you?
i was planning on 2 aquablue specials 1 actinic and 1 pro color

I like the 50/50 lighting concept...I have a similar setup on my 75...it is peninsular and has an SPS side with 250 Phoenix and a lower light side with 150 Phoenix and I have 2X T5HO 39W Actinics running down each side....The difference isn't as noticible, but who says a tank has to be the same as everybody else's....that's why we all are born and raised with opinions...

I love it....

thanks a lot mitch! ive seen your tank and i loveee yours too
ohhh are you using the current sundial systems? i was at first going to use MH on both using the 2 different current sundials but then since i already had this T5 fixture i said ohh well ill just use this then..

I vote overdrive the bulbs with an Icecap ballast I did with my 4x24W which made them 4x40W and they look awesome even with Odyssea stock bulbs

Actually my T5's are just waterproof endcaps attached to the inside of my hood on one side and the other on the inside of the lift side. The whole side of my hood is hinged for access....I kick them with a Workhorse 5 and bounce them off the "new style" tec individual reflectors from Sunlight Supply....they are the ones with like 27 bends each...the bulbs are Geieseman Actinic Plus....the T5's are only like 4 1/2 inches off the water....

My MH's are both ReefOptix III Pendants, the 150W has a Coralvue E-Ballast, the 250W is an old, used, crappy E-Ballast from EVC....they used to make killer ballasts but went out of business several years ago....

Sorry about the hijack....

its all good. .i like the way u setup your lighting system.

Nate !!! Your cheating on us !!!! J/k Your pictures look better here for some reason? Oh I get it you saved the cream of the crop for N-R !!!

lol wuzup matt
and this is the same post as on my thread on NCRC

Neat idea for the split tank (mine is similar ... but for different reasons). I would be interested in seeing pictures from the left side of the tank.

ok i made a vid of the wave i be getting from the MP40 in my tank...so here it is..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjW66REIxl0...re=channel_page

ill also be making a whole take vid tonight.

bulbs for the HL fixture, 2 ATI blue+, 1 ATI aquablue special, 1 K-figi purple.


dont waste your money on the procolor. no need for actinics with the blue+ bulbs

/
oh really? thanks for the info on the bulb combo..do you think it will match the halide side of my tank?

yea it will.

oh ok cool thanks again!

iight guys heres an update of my tank. just a vid but i reaquascaped and replaced 3 koralias with an mp20 i had laying around...Enjoy!

Linky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8gyvj_nzoE

alrighty well i changed my aquascape...AGAIN LOL... now i have much more flow thru the back of my rocks on the sps side. i also pulled some rocks out to accommodate the increase in flow...=)

you got some tight ass SPS going on man, setup may be ghetto but it produces class!

+1 to really nice sps.

*high fives lakshwadeep*

LOL thanks for the nice comments guys!
kraylen...you got sum AWESOME SPS as well... i must commend you on your SPS colection as well.

Thanks man! Let me know when you trim your corals and I'll do the opposite haha.

ahaha. will do.

nate dont know if you replace the T5 yet but I change what I told you..

2 ATI blue+, 1 figi purple and 1 GE6500. I took out all my aquablue's they were washing out the colors in the corals.

oh ok cool. thanks for the update DT.

anyways i just got back from Lake Tahoe and seems like my tanks doing ok. special thats to Robert from neptunes for lending me his old chiller for the week. my tank probably wouldn't have survived without it!
i should be able to get some new pix up cuz my brothers back home and now i can use his comp. =P

WOW ... What a collection of SPS you have there!!! Lucky you to work at a LFS ... so close to all those frags!!!

I would be like ... forget the customers ... I want that one ... and that one ... maybe that one ... you know let's make this easy ... I will take the whole frag tank!

LOL i wish i could but i think he would kinda notice if all of his SPS frags were gone. oh and that pic is out of date. i will take a new pic with my laptop like now since its been so long. AHAHAH
thanks for visiting my thread thoo!

NEW PIX! (crappy pix tho)

ok since its been so long. here are some pix of my sps section ( since thats my FAV part =P)

PIX!!!
With Halide





Actinics Only





Theres been A LOT of growth since i have been able to keep my phos down. im now in frag mode so that i can get enought money to get a new skimmer. =P

Enjoy!

WOW i have not following...LOL maybe thats why i never update. =|

(COPIED FROM MY THREAD AT NORCALREEFCLUB)

EPIC UPDATE!
well. since i haven't updated in forever and i finally got my XSi charged for Photo class i decided to take some pix of my tank. lots of the stuff has grown a MASSIVE amount when i compare it to previous pix of my tank. and this growth has taken place mostly in the last 2 months since my tank has been problem free. also i have taken out my trigger because he was getting pretty big. now hes in a 20g awaiting the upgrade (might stay there for a long time til i get a bigger tank) i have also added 2 fish of which are a Yellowtail Fusiler and a Chalk Basslet which is almost always in his hideout.

Here are the Pix

FTS First. a couple of them.

weird angled shot.


Angled shot.


SPS Side.


Softies/LPS side


Tricolor Valida. one of my best pieces. i LOVE this piece and how PURPLE it is. its also grown the most out of all the acros.


Teal with Blue tips Stag from Neptunes. another one of my prized pieces. grows fast as well.


ORA Blue Vodoo. just found out what it was like 2 weeks ago after a LONG coral pic hunt. ahahah.


Gomezi mini colony from neptunes. its really a lot more blue than the pic tells. DARK blue tips.


Miyagi Tort that Jose hooked me up with. Hes totally AWESOME. its starting to color back up. the whole center is green with some blueish tips and blue polyps.



Blue Stag colony that Carson from AC hooked me up with. colored back up about a week after i got it.


Craigs Tyree True Undata. its tripled in size since i got it in January.


Purple Tabling Acro from Neptunes. Rep Planet right next to it ( also from neptunes)


Another Acro from AC


Monti Cap. its like quadrupled in size since January.


CLAM!


Blue Polyp Green Base Noodling Cap.IMO my best Cap.


Blue Tipped Tenuis from the BAR swap.


Idaho Grape.


Blue Tip Green Base Encinata.


higher end Zoa Colletion. ( Darth Mauls(alfreds, Alien Eyes, AOG(both of the latter Marios)


Other mid end Zoas


Acans


Nem.


Fuge.




Future frag tank (connected to main system)


Hope you all enjoyed! (fish pix to follow)

tighhhhht, i need joog on some frags.

since you really like your valida, i have a tri-color one also. pretty nice frag i can throw you.

LOL thanks Jason.

lol wut else you got on frags man? hit me up later.

oh snap let me get in this!!! Met jason 2 weeks ago real coo kat! what frags are you gonna have nate? maybe me n jay can swing thru? and how is the 14k phoenix? picking mine up soon and wanting to kno how its doing

Nice livestock nanoreefnate! I like your acros and monti's! Very nice! Wish I could get some of those for my new tank! heheh!

hey. you should come to the NCRC Swap on Oct 10th at Aquatic Collection in hayward. it'll be real fun with lost of coral and prices and FOOD. =) also you should join the NCRC forum (linky in my sig)


Thanks shandy! what kinda tank you have?

think ingrid michealson's concert is that day...sorry love all kinds of music...but for sure brah

yeah Pm me on NCRC then we can trade sum stuff. =)

Right now Im in the process of upgrading my tank to a 30x30x18 70gal tank. Currently also running a standard 20gal Long tank which contains mostly zoas, rics, and a couple of LPS. Hoping to go SPS dominated when I finish my new tank. Just a few more weeks and will be able to start cycling already!

AWESOMENESS. get at least some MH lighting on ur 70g! you wont regret it! trust me. you will be able to keep anything with good water quality. good luck with your tank build! oh yeah and post a journal of it here on NR!

Already started a thread here! I think you already posted something on my thread! heheh! Anyway, already going MH on the new tank. 20K 250W SE MH with Lumenbright Reflector is my lighting choice! heheh!

OMG. thats like my dream reflector right there! lol i need to get a better lighting system.

Go get one! I think you already have a beautiful tank but giving it more light might make it even better eheh! Read up on a lot of articles on it and the lumenbrights concentrate the light more plus placing the lighting higher reduces the amount of heat in the tank! Those 2 reasons are precisely why I chose that reflector! heheh!