sweet

Looks awesome, well done.

corals are looking killer =)

Thanks guys, i'm pretty happy with how things are coming along. I think i've got my fill of sps now and am going to start slowing filling in spaces with some lps and zoas.

I'm a bit concerned my tank will be too bright for zoas so i'll just try a couple small pieces to start.

Got a new coral today. Aussie elegance.

Updated FTS
 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6...12785f8d_b.jpg
Untitled by badAZZlars, on Flickr

Wow looks great!

Wow! - love the aquascaping! - that Setosa looks Stunning! :biggrin:

LOVE IT!
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...lausemd3-2.gif

The FTS looks really good. Your tank is coming along very nicely, to understate the case.

Thanks!!


Thank Wayne. I love the Setos. Put it front and center in the tank. Can't wait for it to get big. It seems to be happy.


Thanks Greg.

Thanks for the comment. I'm really happy with how things are coming along. Like everyone there are things i'd do a bit different if I started over but for a tank that's 9 months young i'd say she's coming along :)

definitely drool worthy dude:biggrin:

So many corals!
Beautiful setup. congrats, looking good

Love'n the tank! I'm curious, what bulbs are you running in your fixture?

Thats Hot

I've currently got 3 14k Hamilton 250w halides 2 ati actinics and 2 ati blue plus.

Halides need replacing so I thought I'd give the eBay bulbs a try as others on here say they are good. Ordered 3 yesterday for $70 all in. They should last me until I decide if I'm going to LEDs or not.

Thanks for the comments.

Dosing prodbio reefbooster
 

I've started dosing prodbio reefbooster. My tank is already ulns using GFO and a fuge so I didn't think I would waste money on the other components of the system.

I am currently dosing 1 vial per week and have already done 3 doses. Things that I have noticed so far are better polyp extension in some of my corals during the day and the pieces I have that were browned out are getting some color in the tips. So far it seems like it was a good idea.

At the price I payed the cost is minimal, like $6/month based on how I am dosing it.

Here is an updated FTS shot taken today. Not too many changes with the tank lately. A few new frags and everything is just growing now.

I started to get a bit of cyano on my sand now that I am dosing 1 vial of reef booster each week. I am going to cut it back to 1 every two weeks now that it seems to be a bit too much.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7045/6...863f30b9_b.jpg
FTS March 2012 by badAZZlars, on Flickr

WOW! That is some nice growth since your last FTS! Gorgeous tank man :thumb:

Your tank is looking awesome Mike.:) How many ml's per gal per day r u up to?

Great FTS! Care to share any tips on how you got that? My attempts always fall flat.

Thanks. It's really surprising how fast sps can grow once they take off. I'll be into the pruning stage in the next few months I would imagine as some are starting to grow into each other.

Hey man. I just upped my dosing actually to 140ml/day. I would assume with my sump volume that I have somewhere near 120 gallons of actual water in the system so just over 1.1ml/gallon. It's been a pain lately as the dosage keeps changing. It seems every few weeks i'm bumping it up by ten ml. Hopefully it stabilizes soon, i'm getting tired of testing all the time.

+1 against the testing. Hopefully it balances out for you. Mine did for about a month after I took out those 2 colonies. I may have to lose a bit more. Regardless of the extra work, keep it up, again things r looking sweet Mike.

Believe it or not that one was taken and edited with my iphone 4s. I've found for the best white balance I shoot it at a slight downward angle so that the sensor doesn't pick up the MH bulbs. The cropping and framing really make the shots look good. I pretty much cut out everything that is outside of the rockwork/livestock. I use the app camera+ to edit the photos. I do apply one filter to the pictures called sun kissed it just brightens it up and gets rid of some of the blue. The color is pretty true to what my tank actually looks like.

I also have a canon 40d slr but the white balance on the iphone seems to work better. The canon will obviously take a higher quality picture but those pics always require quite a bit of editing to get looking right.

Here is the original pic before I edited it.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7060/6...70d62266_b.jpg
Fts by badAZZlars, on Flickr

And after editing again.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7045/6...863f30b9_b.jpg
FTS March 2012 by badAZZlars, on Flickr

Your Tank looks great! Love to see how the tank changes as you progress from day one to current tank shots. Thanks for sharing.

Picked up a few new corals
 

Grabbed a few new pieces yesterday. Starting to add some lps and will be removing a few of the lower sps pieces.

Chalice
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7055/6...25d4f7c4_b.jpg
Untitled by badAZZlars, on Flickr

Brain
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7046/7...6f3b945d_b.jpg
Untitled by badAZZlars, on Flickr

Aussie Green Hammer
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8028/6...1e0eca79_b.jpg
Untitled by badAZZlars, on Flickr

I love this tank. It's one of my favorite build threads. You seem to make it look so effortless too!

Thanks a lot for the comments. It's nice to have others appreciate the work that we put into our tanks.

I wouldn't say my tank is effortless but it has hit a sweet spot lately where I am getting good growth and colors with little maintenance.

Looking good Mike.

Thanks Greg.

It's good to see you have your tank healthy and rebuilding now.

Updated FTS
 

Thought i'd post an updated full tank shot. Not too much has changed in the tank. Pretty much just in maintenance phase now and fragging corals when they get too close.

Pic is a bit blurry and a bit too purple but you get the idea.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8291/7...a86ef966_b.jpg
Untitled by badAZZlars, on Flickr

Very Nice Mike - Can you share any changes that you've noticed in your SPS since switching to LED?, how long has it been now since the switch from Halide?

Thanks

Thanks Wayne, my view on LED so far is that they've made some corals look better and some corals look worse so its a mixed bag. I think the growth is similar as I am dosing the same amount of 2 part daily to maintain parameters as I was with the halides. I think i've been running them for a couple of months now.

Also things still seem to be changing so I don't think the full impact of the change has been realized on the tank.

Overall I would say that I am happy with the lights for sure. Way less power (now only max 300W instead of 1150W), no more bulb changes, and I get almost half the evaporation that I used to get.

With that being said if I wasn't concerned about the cost of running and maintaining a halide system and dealing with the heat issues I would still run halides. Probably 400W. I find that I just prefer the look of a quality halide bulb more than an LED look but I think the LED's look better than the crappy Ebay halides I was running recently.

Picked up this chunk of red planet at ocean creations today. It's about 3"x2". I already had a frag that hasn't really done anything in the last 6 months so I had to grab this piece when I saw it.

Also bought a small blue throat trigger today.


Attachment 9754

Anymore updates to this thread since the purchase of your new tank?

Not too much has changed. Things are still growing and in decent condition. Corals colors aren't the best right now as I have been neglecting the tank a bit in anticipation of setting up the new one.

The new tank is getting close to start up. I got the sump in place and am just waiting on my skimmer and return pump from Dave at concept. I am currently filling it with RO water to hopefully get things rolling next week.

Then it will be the slow process of getting the tank cycled with the new rock I bought and move over all my livestock.

Will hopefully have my current setup for sale sometime in October.

I'll be sure to take some updated photos before the tank comes down and this thread comes to a close.

Are you going to frag anything before the big move?
:mrgreen:

Fragging is a possibility with some for sure. More likely once I add them to my tank and have to shape them to fit into the design.