22g long smorgasbord

[Jaren45]

So about a year ago I had a 30g with a similar footprint running that I was trying to grow sps in. A combination of impatience, trying too many products all at once, and general lack of know how caused me to give up and shut the tank down.

 

This will hopefully be a better attempt, applying what I've learned from reading/watching countless sps keeper's threads/videos as well as finally learning patience! 

 

 

Run down so far:

 

Tank: Mr Aqua 22g drilled for eclipse prodigy

Stand: Oceanvue 36x18

Sump: 20 long aga 

Filtration: Reef octo 110 int classic

Heating: Brs titanium 200w + inkbird

Flow: Jebao dcp4000, undecided on powerheads 

Light: 1x Quanta pro reef crest daylight, 1x Quanta pro tropic sun

[Jaren45]

Stand should be getting picked up tomorrow, as well as the final plumbing parts and we can get rollin! Lights also shipped today so hopefully sometime next week I can check them out

[Reefkid88]

This is going to be good !!! But whew that is a lot of white,no ? Have you thought of the OG Pop or a Octane UV or Royal/UV from ReefBreeders ? 

[Jaren45]

2 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

This is going to be good !!! But whew that is a lot of white,no ? Have you thought of the OG Pop or a Octane UV or Royal/UV from ReefBreeders ? 

I honestly couldn't decide between 2 bars or 3, so after messaging luca on ig he suggested I start with 2 and see how it goes. If I don't like it i'm sure he'd be cool enough to swap one out or I could even just add a 3rd bar. I tend to enjoy a whiter spectrum, for reference the neptune sky's "coral growth" is one of my favorite spectrums

 

 

I don't even need an orange filter anymore to take great photos

[Jaren45]

 

 

Plumbing went well, just waiting on the return and we can fill 'er up! Please ignore the backwards return bulkheads.. minor oversight on my part buying the wrong ones. It can be changed in the future but I'll roll with it for now

[Jaren45]

 

 

 

Tank is finally wet, but not without major headaches. Eshopps sent me the box with the 1" bulkheads installed incorrectly but already tightened. This meant that I 100% overlooked the gaskets were on the wrong side before gluing, resulting in a fair amount of water on the carpet. 

 

After cutting the bulkheads off, buying new bulkheads, having to sand the holes in the box bc they were bigger than the OEM ones, and regluing we are finally done... No leaks!!

 

Turbo goes in today and I will update once we can get some critters going

 

[Reefkid88]

Its crazy to me how these big companies still screw things up lol. 

 

 Looks great though !! 

[Jaren45]

1 hour ago, Reefkid88 said:

Its crazy to me how these big companies still screw things up lol. 

 

 Looks great though !! 

Thanks! All is well now, runs super silent pushing around 8-900gph.

[Jaren45]

 

 

Wow. I believe I got exactly what I wanted with this bar combo, this picture was taken with no filter. A pure crisp white with just enough blue.

[Reefkid88]

Oh dang,those look great !!! Only thing thata gonna kinda stink is well,you'll never get to see the true glow of the sps once they are colored up.. 

[Jaren45]

1 hour ago, Reefkid88 said:

Oh dang,those look great !!! Only thing thata gonna kinda stink is well,you'll never get to see the true glow of the sps once they are colored up.. 

I've thought about that but I really enjoy sps for their shape and growth more than anything. But on the other hand, a simple blue xho would fix that problem if I ever get the itch.. wouldn't take 30 seconds to add another bar up there

[Looselyhuman]

I'm with you on the white; even if you don't get as much phosphorescence, the overall look is much better than blue tanks.

[Reefkid88]

 Oh no,I understand. Sps color up better when they even have a short photoperiod of white spectra.

 

 Been doing it for years,but at the same time what enjoyment do you get from just growth without seeing the colors you have been able to get them to produce ? Just a curious questions. 

 

 Just run the XHO or whatever bar morning/night on a timer. 

[Jaren45]

5 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

 Oh no,I understand. Sps color up better when they even have a short photoperiod of white spectra.

 

 Been doing it for years,but at the same time what enjoyment do you get from just growth without seeing the colors you have been able to get them to produce ? Just a curious questions. 

 

 Just run the XHO or whatever bar morning/night on a timer. 

I think a lot of it comes from working at an lfs where all of our coral tanks are just straight blue. I'm so used to seeing everyone's tanks so blue I've just been attracted to the whiter spectrum for a while. 

 

Always been captivated by dive videos showing fields of stags and other sps in the natural sunlight, I think part of me wants to try to recreate that 

[Jaren45]

We got critters! Some test pieces of green slimer I got for free, and a beautiful pair of clowns (no idea the variety, I just fell in love with their personality and the fact that they're so healthy)

 

 

 

[Reefkid88]

I kmow when I have walked into TSA,WWC,LRO and their whites are on I drool,but nothing hits like royals and violets when you see a WD or Cherry Bomb just glowing 🤤 !!! 

 

 Those Clowns are gorgeous though. 

 

 I know when I build my led bar and add 2 t5's back I am gonna run a 6500k and another Giesemamm Actinic Blue. Too the eye its just a HINT bluer than what I see in your picture. Man on running that bank of bulbs on a bluetooth outlet and running the 6500k for about 4 mid day. Leds will be on a storm controller. 

[mitten_reef]

1 hour ago, Jaren45 said:

We got critters! Some test pieces of green slimer I got for free, and a beautiful pair of clowns (no idea the variety, I just fell in love with their personality and the fact that they're so healthy)

 

 

 

Those branches fit the low and long tank perfectly.   I’m jealous. 
 

Did you use to have an IM30?  

[Jaren45]

16 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Those branches fit the low and long tank perfectly.   I’m jealous. 
 

Did you use to have an IM30?  

I bought that rock probably 6 months before the tank.. might have had to overpay for it but I couldn't pass it up this stuff isn't easy to find.

 

And yes I did, that was the previous sps tank I had mentioned in my original post. Experienced some burn out and dealt with loads of coral death, I decided to just sell it. Delved into high tech freshwater planted tanks but I still had the itch to grow some sticks

[mitten_reef]

15 minutes ago, Jaren45 said:

I bought that rock probably 6 months before the tank.. might have had to overpay for it but I couldn't pass it up this stuff isn't easy to find.

 

And yes I did, that was the previous sps tank I had mentioned in my original post. Experienced some burn out and dealt with loads of coral death, I decided to just sell it. Delved into high tech freshwater planted tanks but I still had the itch to grow some sticks

Sweet. Good to have you back on the reef side 

 

55 minutes ago, Reefkid88 said:

I kmow when I have walked into TSA,WWC,LRO and their whites are on I drool,but nothing hits like royals and violets when you see a WD or Cherry Bomb just glowing 🤤 !!! 

 

 Those Clowns are gorgeous though. 

 

 I know when I build my led bar and add 2 t5's back I am gonna run a 6500k and another Giesemamm Actinic Blue. Too the eye its just a HINT bluer than what I see in your picture. Man on running that bank of bulbs on a bluetooth outlet and running the 6500k for about 4 mid day. Leds will be on a storm controller. 

The glow, as interesting as it might be, it’s literally only “half way” to great colors, just my opinion tho

[Reefkid88]

7 hours ago, mitten_reef said:

Sweet. Good to have you back on the reef side 

 

The glow, as interesting as it might be, it’s literally only “half way” to great colors, just my opinion tho

 

 I know it is,but when you achieve them you wanna see them no ? 

[mitten_reef]

3 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

 

 I know it is,but when you achieve them you wanna see them no ? 

what I was saying is that the glow is not the end goal….not for me at least. There was an insta challenge mid 2021 for corals in daylight/full spec. It was pretty awesome to see some of the stuff with little to no enhancement of the blue light, too bad I don’t remember the hashtag 
 

below is my SCOP shot in a sunlit room, no artificial lighting overhead whatsoever.  Now, that’s peak colors for me, and that’s where I’m trying to get back to,

not just the colors seen under blue

 

unfortunately, my tank is now in the basement, so no true sunlit shot any time in the near future, but I’d like to still try to get there with white only some day

[Reefkid88]

See I am 50/50. Some Acro's like absolutely STUNNING under daylight conditions. Cherry Bomb,WD for example looks amazing,but it also looks out od this world under blues/uv/violet. Don't get me wrong not all Acro's or even corals in general are capable of looks just as steller under both. Some need that blue to make colora look good. 

 

 Thats why I plan on running a 65k in my t5 fixture. Even with 2 actinic plus and a actinic bulb it overpowers both other spectrums,but I am supplementing with 385nm-450nm for the pop/brightness. 

 

 But I am leaving it at that,I'm not going to clog the OP's thread with a small debate. I am not going to shed my opinion on to them whatsoever. I know me ans you could go back and forth for days lol. 

[Jaren45]

 

Here's a weird one for yall. Blue metallic base with brown polyps, porites maybe?

 

[joshthebox]

35 minutes ago, Jaren45 said:

 

Here's a weird one for yall. Blue metallic base with brown polyps, porites maybe?

 

Maybe Stylocoeniella? 

[Jaren45]

 

Hopefully we have enough flow now, I can't afford any more vortechs!