90 Gallon Build Thread - The Official Play by Play

[chrisfont23]

Two weeks into dimmers. +1 (00000).

Losses: 10 - 15 heads on a branching hammer, 1 birds nest, 1 monti, 1 torch (torched it), various zoas
Gains: Every ricordea has split once since the LEDs have been on - some twice;smaller branching hammer, candy cane & trumpet have new heads; duncan looks like he is following, all softies are flourishing after a few weeks of shrivled-ness; the colors under the 12k/445 nms are like nothing I got from my T5s

Aside from the losses, so far, so good

[chrisfont23]

double post

[chavez]

wow tank is looking nice, i like your led's what kind of price tag were on those? i have tried hammer and torch corals and they always melt away but yours look nice, other than the ones you lost of course! Also what size is your vortech? Do you have any other power heads in your tank?

[chrisfont23]

wow tank is looking nice, i like your led's what kind of price tag were on those? i have tried hammer and torch corals and they always melt away but yours look nice, other than the ones you lost of course! Also what size is your vortech? Do you have any other power heads in your tank?

Chavez, good to see you back. The LEDs ran about $900. But...Amazon had 12 mos on orders $599 and up so I went through them and got the financing. Totally worth it. The lights are real nice, though it's a double edged sword...the intensity was too much. Dimmers are a must. The vortechs are both MP10s. Since my tank is LPS and softies only (no plans for SPS) I can get away with running them at half speed each blended with the return (abt 500 gph throttled back). I also have a MJ1200 I turn up every now and then to create some surface agitation. That's it.

The LPS I have are more into the low, irregular flow. I can tell when the mushrooms are blowing around too much and curl. Ricordea are a good indicator of this condition. And the hammer I have alive also extends better in the flow. So IMO, having two vortech MP10s is better than two continuous flow pumps.

[chrisfont23]

After finally feeling comfortable with my LEDs and their dimmer counterparts, the water parameters and of course the strength of the tank to hold it, I added some new corals:

Wellso



Bubble Coral




Green Ricordea



Blue Ricordea




Hammer (fragged)

[chrisfont23]

And some growth shots:

1 new head since under LEDs



This ricordea is currently splitting. It was hard to get a shot of another I have that has split 3 times since introduced to the new tank & lighting.



Another successful split. Yes I love ricordea.



Obvious growth. PE @ night has been much better since I reduced the flow.


New heads on my zoas.



I know there has been a lot of questioning on the effects of LEDs on coral propagation in a captive setting. I think the growth here, in a few short months, illustrates the success you can have with LEDs if you do it right...which wasn't easy.

[ShooterRick]

Beautiful tank and informative post. I will borrow a few of your ideas my friend.

[chrisfont23]

A few items to add to my blog:

- flow at roughly 1.5 x turnover has impressive results; LPS coral PE is like I have never seen it before
- LEDs still at approx 50% full capacity
- green monti actually started growing back
- blue/orange linckia added

[chrisfont23]

A few new adds:

Torch



Unidentified

[ShooterRick]

I love the torch coral and the unidentified I am sure I saw at liveaquaria.com.

[chrisfont23]

Bangaii cardinal added. Too lazy to take a picture. Another trumpet split and my duncan officially sprouted another head. Who said u cant grow coral with LED lighting

[twisted]

Nice Chris!


Twisteds 180 Reef

[chrisfont23]

New cardinal. Looks like it found a home too.

[chrisfont23]

Feeding time...wonder if the firefish is staking this out?



Bangaii still at home



Reef at night

[chrisfont23]

I guess it might be time for a bigger tank

[chrisfont23]

The newest member of the crew...and last. Crappy pics removed. Better pics below

[twisted]

Cool! Blonde?


Twisteds 180 Reef

[chrisfont23]

Wow. The i-Camera really sucks. Yes it is a blonde naso. Here's a better pic or two:

[NoobSalt]

Beautiful fish. What iCamera are you using? I use my iPhone 4s camera on the pictures I post

[chrisfont23]

The one on the iPod touch. POS.