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Cultivated Reef

80 Gallon Rimless "Lagoon"


HALLZOO

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Raise the standpipe in the overflow. I have done it on all 3 of my deep blue tanks.

I also considered this, but was worried that the surface skimming action would be reduced because the water no longer "spills over an edge".

 

Have you had any problems with surface scum buildup?

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I also considered this, but was worried that the surface skimming action would be reduced because the water no longer "spills over an edge". Have you had any problems with surface scum buildup?
I kinda mastered the standpipe height doing it 3 times. I raise the gate all the way up. So any surface scum still flows over the grate.

 

Nominating for totm
Been a minute since a softy reef was TOTM.
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What is the bushy looking gorg? Do you have a species name? It looks like a normal Purple Gorg till the new pictures where it's bushy as all hell. The whole tank looks phenomenal - easily one of my favorite I have seen.

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jedimasterben

How close is the color in the pictures? I'm just still in awe.

 

It's literally making me want to grab another pair of T5 ballasts, all the bulbs you have, and then figuring out how to replicate it all with LED!

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What is the bushy looking gorg? Do you have a species name? It looks like a normal Purple Gorg till the new pictures where it's bushy as all hell. The whole tank looks phenomenal - easily one of my favorite I have seen.

The gorg on the left is a grown-out ORA Grubes Gorgonian. I'm not so sure about the one on the right. Someone here suggested it may be a Briareum. I rescued it from one of my LFS, it was looking pretty sad. If you look near the beginning of this thread you can see it started out pretty thin looking. In the last 5 months or so it has really filled out!

 

Thanks for the great compliments!

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How close is the color in the pictures? I'm just still in awe.

 

It's literally making me want to grab another pair of T5 ballasts, all the bulbs you have, and then figuring out how to replicate it all with LED!

Amazingly, the camera performed great and the color is spot-on! No camera adjustments were required, and I didn't do anything to the photo other than dial the size down. I was pretty amazed they turned out so well, my camera skills suck.

 

If you look at some of the FTS shots earlier in the thread you can see the windex look. I was running ATI blue+ bulbs back then and the camera didn't do so well.

 

I run a 36" 6x39W TEK fixture over this tank. Bulb combo as described above (no blue+). I have a PAR meter and I've adjusted the height of the light to give me around 50-75 PAR on the sandbed, 175-200 mid-level, and 250 near the surface. The PAR falls off a little near the edges but the coral I have strategically placed there seem to be just fine with the lower PAR levels (generally around 50). I love the 10K look and the two Geismann 6000K bulbs really give it the color punch I was shooting for.

 

I kinda mastered the standpipe height doing it 3 times. I raise the gate all the way up. So any surface scum still flows over the grate.

 

Been a minute since a softy reef was TOTM.

Thanks everybody for even considering my tank as TOTM worthy! There are some really great tanks out there.

 

I agree we need more softy reefs out there!

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jedimasterben

The gorg on the left is a grown-out ORA Grubes Gorgonian. I'm not so sure about the one on the right. Someone here suggested it may be a Briareum. I rescued it from one of my LFS, it was looking pretty sad. If you look near the beginning of this thread you can see it started out pretty thin looking. In the last 5 months or so it has really filled out!

Whoa - small frags of the Grubes Gorg don't look all that great - but yours.... yours! oh lawd.

 

Amazingly, the camera performed great and the color is spot-on! No camera adjustments were required, and I didn't do anything to the photo other than dial the size down. I was pretty amazed they turned out so well, my camera skills suck.

 

If you look at some of the FTS shots earlier in the thread you can see the windex look. I was running ATI blue+ bulbs back then and the camera didn't do so well.

It looks MUCH better now, but it still looked damn good then. I thought I liked light to be white with a nice blue tone, but yours literally blows everything else I've seen out of the water, and I've seen a fairly ridiculous array of lights lol

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How close is the color in the pictures? I'm just still in awe.

 

It's literally making me want to grab another pair of T5 ballasts, all the bulbs you have, and then figuring out how to replicate it all with LED!

Just say uncle and go all T5. :)
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Great!! Now I'm thinking of selling the MH pendants I bought for my future build and buying a T5 fixture! Just when I thought I was figuring everything out, you go and post up this tank and have me second guessing everything I though I knew about lighting! Thanks alot! lol

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Great!! Now I'm thinking of selling the MH pendants I bought for my future build and buying a T5 fixture! Just when I thought I was figuring everything out, you go and post up this tank and have me second guessing everything I though I knew about lighting! Thanks alot! lol

Lighting choice is a long and perilous journey with many turns... I just happen to be on T5 right now and loving the results! Not a day goes by that I don't miss the shimmer of halides though. Many of the corals in my tank started out under a 175w 14K Ushio.

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Hallzoo and Jedi, I'm considering the same tank as the two of you have. Are you happy with it? Any complaints or things I should know about before buying? How.is the overflow plumbed? Is it a single drain and single return? How quiet are they? Thanks.

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Hallzoo and Jedi, I'm considering the same tank as the two of you have. Are you happy with it? Any complaints or things I should know about before buying? How.is the overflow plumbed? Is it a single drain and single return? How quiet are they? Thanks.
Single durso drain single return. There overflow is noisy because the drain sits low in the overflow. I raised my drain to reduce the noise.
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Thanks everyone for the interest in my tank! Here are some shots from this evening of the gorgonian everybody been asking about, plus a few more creative FTS:

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


 

 

 

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Ugh, I want to upgrade so bad to an 80g shallow. What kind of gorg is that? so fluffy!

Not totally sure what his scientific name is, some folks here have suggested he is a Briareum spp.

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