BPB'S 90 GALLON SPS DOMINANT

[Bpb]

Couple more words of update. Growth and PE have taken a sharp up turn since the interceptor dose. I need to get my calcium reactor back up. Kalkwasser is just too erratic and I forget to refill the ato sometimes. Alk is kinda bouncing around more than I’d like.

 

Don’t know if I mentioned but at some point I lost a fitting for the tubing on the feed pump which caused a big leak so I took it down and cleaned the reactor out a month or so ago and have been using kalkwasser since then, dreading and procrastinating setting it back up. Needs to happen though because kalkwasser will soon not be enough.

 

Next interceptor dose will be tomorrow when I leave for work. And I’ll water change as soon as I get home. Here’s a couple pics for fun. The ORA acro has settled in and showing excellent PE by my standards. Efflo is just encrusting for miles. No plating growth yet. Most the encrusting is on the back side where you can’t see. Color is shifting on most acros rapidly since adding the warmer colored bulbs in. Zero negative response.

 

 

Really enjoying the electric blue polyps on the tips of this one. It’s a no namer I got in Austin many years ago, lost, and reaquired.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Bpb]

You can really see the red bugs all over that last one.  Surprised I'm still getting fairly decent growth and some PE on that one despite being so infested.  I guess if I had to pick between the two I'd take red bugs over flat worms any day of the week.  Second interceptor treatment happening today.  I think I need to up the dose a little.  I don't have a high precision digital scale and chopping up a pill isnt quite an exact science.  My tank being 86 total gallons net water volume should get me about 3 treatments out of the one pill.  I have more interceptor coming in the mail.  I can treat more than 3 times if necessary.

[FarmerTy]

You can really see the red bugs all over that last one.  Surprised I'm still getting fairly decent growth and some PE on that one despite being so infested.  I guess if I had to pick between the two I'd take red bugs over flat worms any day of the week.  Second interceptor treatment happening today.  I think I need to up the dose a little.  I don't have a high precision digital scale and chopping up a pill isnt quite an exact science.  My tank being 86 total gallons net water volume should get me about 3 treatments out of the one pill.  I have more interceptor coming in the mail.  I can treat more than 3 times if necessary.

You really can't overdose it unless you toss like 100 pills in there. I remember vaguely reading somewhere that 10x the concentration didn't cause any issues either.

[Bpb]

Oh bother. Used nearly half a pill and 6 hours later I still see bugs. This is my second dose. I planned on 3 but I kinda figured the first would do it and the others were just academic. I must have super bugs


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Paula]

LOL. I'm really getting an education. I come on here, read a little, spend half an hour looking things up, come back, read a little more which only leads to more questions and more research. I feel I still have so much to learn. I appreciate even more how patient you guys are dealing with noobie questions.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Bpb]

LOL. I'm really getting an education. I come on here, read a little, spend half an hour looking things up, come back, read a little more which only leads to more questions and more research. I feel I still have so much to learn. I appreciate even more how patient you guys are dealing with noobie questions.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I rather enjoy answering noobie questions to be honest. I know when I was starting off there were folks who were (and still are) patient with me and I am forever grateful so I enjoy paying it forward. Thanks for stopping by the thread! Half my posts are still questions this many years later


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[+BobcatReefer]

22 hours ago, Paula said:

LOL. I'm really getting an education. I come on here, read a little, spend half an hour looking things up, come back, read a little more which only leads to more questions and more research. I feel I still have so much to learn. I appreciate even more how patient you guys are dealing with noobie questions.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
 

That's how I learned about 95% of what I know today.  This board is an incredible resource.

[Bpb]

Took some new top downs today

[Bpb]

Also. Montipora > favia. Shame shame. This favia has been slow growing and finally starting to look really beautiful. The rainbow monti will eventually take over and kill the whole favia. I can’t reach them in the tank and the rocks they’re on are too heavy for graspers.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Bpb]

Another mention! I am now officially changed over to the Reefbrite Actinic Blue t5ho bulbs. They’re a direct replacement for the ATI Blue+. Visually they look identical to me and growth/color/PE response has been as if nothing happened. Best part, they cost a little over half what the ati bulbs do. I know $10 isn’t a huge deal for the most part but if I can save myself a total of $80-100 a year on my bulb replacements I’ll take it. Once the actinics and whites go out I’ll be changing over to the Reefbrite equivalents of those as well. Very happy with them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Bpb]

Been a couple months since an update. Sps growth is trucking along at an awesome pace. Calcium reactor has been holding alk super stable at 7.8 and nitrates hanging out at 8 ppm for a couple months now. Very happy with how the tank is responding. Added a couple new specimens recently

FHC Mega Man


Oldie but goodie
ORA Red Planet


Unfortunately my experiment with the reef brite bulbs has come to an abrupt conclusion. After having one burn out already less than 2 months since installing I’ll be switching back to a mixture of ati/giesemann bulbs as it’s time to replace them. I realize even good bulbs have a lemon here and there. But one is enough for me on a new experiment. No plans to change the overall layout. Colors could “pop” a little more, the 6500k bulbs do have a bit of a washout effect on certain acros but they seem to really love the spectrum from a growth and PE standpoint so I’m going to roll with it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[FarmerTy]

Color looks great bud. I'm glad you're back on the acro-train again.

Have you ever experimented with any of the Gieseman T5 bulbs?

[Bpb]

Thanks man! I wish I had better access to new pieces. Can’t travel as much so it’s been tough to acquire new stuff.

Haven’t tried any giesemann bulbs beyond the 6500k tropics I use now. I have heard overwhelming praise of their actinic and their blue+ equivalents but I’ve also read they lose their par quicker and their spectrums look identical to the ati bulbs so I can’t see any reason to spend an extra $2-3 per bulb for what amounts to the same thing that may not last as long


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[FarmerTy]

Thanks man! I wish I had better access to new pieces. Can’t travel as much so it’s been tough to acquire new stuff.

Haven’t tried any giesemann bulbs beyond the 6500k tropics I use now. I have heard overwhelming praise of their actinic and their blue+ equivalents but I’ve also read they lose their par quicker and their spectrums look identical to the ati bulbs so I can’t see any reason to spend an extra $2-3 per bulb for what amounts to the same thing that may not last as long


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

We can always send you an Austin care package with some goodies from various people in town when the weather warms up a bit. It'll be like a late Christmas present.

Thats good to know. I was always curious but never spent any time to research their bulbs. Diesel ran them and talked them up a bunch but he's his own hype man so I don't always trust his level of excitement over things. I saw his tank in person and it was nice but my jaw didn't drop as I was expecting and it didn't match up to the pictures I saw online of it.

[Bpb]

I'm currently watering my pennies and waiting on the weather to hit the high 70's and I was gonna actually hit you up and see what you'd recommend as far as getting something sent out overnight. 

Ive researched their bulbs a fair amount.  There's a handful of people who claim to like this or that bulb better than the ATI equivalent, but there's a mega thread where someone used one of the nicer lab grade spectrometers and found them to be nearly identical in par and spectral layout to the ATI bulbs.  I can't imagine the variation would be that significant if they're using the same phosphor formula with maybe a minor tweak in percentages.  The actual readouts the person on the thread got were pretty different from what Giesemann reports on the box of the bulbs.  Par tests were within a negligible range as well. 

All in all, it's the same thing.  Even though its just a few bucks.  Why pay more for the same thing? 

I exchanged PM's with diesel for a while about a year ago.  He is a pretty respected person in the hobby, but I really began taking what he said with a grain of salt.  I understand he gets a lot of very nice gear at free and heavily reduced pricing for putting his seal of approval on those brands.  Basically an unofficial sponsorship.  Once there is some form of incentive involved I can no longer trust any advice given.  He REALLY hyped the giesemann bulbs to me heavily, but I basically ignored it, knowing he gets them for free from coralvue due to his long time relationship with them. 

I use their 6500K bulb though, because ATI doesn't have an equivalent.  I just haven't found a good deal on another 6500K bulb many places online, nor do I trust the reliability of a cheaper alternative so I keep using the Giesemann version of that particular bulb, but I am likely to continue using ATI for the rest.

[FarmerTy]

I ship now so getting something out to you overnight would be no issue, especially within Texas it should be cheaper than overnight to Cali or something.

Gig'em lives right down the road and should have some nice goodies too. Anybody else you want to hit up, I'm sure we could coordinate and send our brother in another City a nice acro care package to keep him warm for the holidays.

Thanks for the download from your brain regarding Gieseman bulbs. I'll just keep trucking along with ATI unless I ever decide I want to run a 6500k.

[Sascha D.]

Great looking tank! I hope the move went/goes well. You've done a great job with the sps and I think you're making the right decision. Starting over is hard, but you can do it!

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[Bpb]

Great looking tank! I hope the move went/goes well. You've done a great job with the sps and I think you're making the right decision. Starting over is hard, but you can do it!

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Thanks for the kind words. Move hasn’t happened yet. It’s KIND OF up in the air.

Long story short, we need more space, another bedroom, and another bathroom. We also want a new home, possibly custom, and want to stay in it for 10-15 years minimum so don’t want to settle or make a lateral move. Looking at likely being house-poor for a while so we are saving just about everything we make outside of essential expenses. Almost no fun money budgeted in right now. Wanting to come up with a very large down payment for a home (something in the 40-50% range) to make living in said home actually affordable. I’d estimate we are about $50k away from our goal. So it’ll be a couple years. I hate having so much money tied up in saving for a home and not generating any interest. If anyone has better ideas or experience, PM me please!

Next topic. Lighting. My current arrangement is

4 blue+
2 True Actinic
2 6500k

My “dawn dusk” array is actually the 6 bulb channel which contains the blue+ and actinics

I run 6 bulbs from 13:00-13:30
All 8 bulbs from 13:30-21:30
6 bulbs from 21:30-22:00

I want to increase my photoperiod for viewing purposes. Without a par meter I can not verify what my light levels actually are. I want a longer dawn dusk period. I don’t get to see the tank much under the blues. Any harm y’all think in extending those periods some to have maybe a 10-11 hour total photoperiod or is that a bad idea. I’d keep 8 hour full strength


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[FarmerTy]

Thanks for the kind words. Move hasn’t happened yet. It’s KIND OF up in the air.

Long story short, we need more space, another bedroom, and another bathroom. We also want a new home, possibly custom, and want to stay in it for 10-15 years minimum so don’t want to settle or make a lateral move. Looking at likely being house-poor for a while so we are saving just about everything we make outside of essential expenses. Almost no fun money budgeted in right now. Wanting to come up with a very large down payment for a home (something in the 40-50% range) to make living in said home actually affordable. I’d estimate we are about $50k away from our goal. So it’ll be a couple years. I hate having so much money tied up in saving for a home and not generating any interest. If anyone has better ideas or experience, PM me please!

Next topic. Lighting. My current arrangement is

4 blue+
2 True Actinic
2 6500k

My “dawn dusk” array is actually the 6 bulb channel which contains the blue+ and actinics

I run 6 bulbs from 13:00-13:30
All 8 bulbs from 13:30-21:30
6 bulbs from 21:30-22:00

I want to increase my photoperiod for viewing purposes. Without a par meter I can not verify what my light levels actually are. I want a longer dawn dusk period. I don’t get to see the tank much under the blues. Any harm y’all think in extending those periods some to have maybe a 10-11 hour total photoperiod or is that a bad idea. I’d keep 8 hour full strength


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Perhaps maybe move your actinics to the 2-bulb control and running those as dawn/dusk? Then you could crank up the full 8 bulbs for 8 hrs and the rest of your extended viewing time could just be actinics? I feel like that would allow you all the extra viewing time you wanted without over doing their light cycle.

[Sascha D.]

10 hours ago, Bpb said:

Almost no fun money budgeted in right now. Wanting to come up with a very large down payment for a home (something in the 40-50% range) to make living in said home actually affordable. I’d estimate we are about $50k away from our goal. So it’ll be a couple years. I hate having so much money tied up in saving for a home and not generating any interest. If anyone has better ideas or experience, PM me please!
 

 

Why isn't your money generating any interest? I would stay away from stocks or bond mutual funds, but you could get some safe interest. Six - twelve month US Treasuries and CD's are paying 1.6 - 1.80% coupon rate. It's not a lot, but you're talking about $900 on $50k. It's risk-free, but you'll have to claim the interest on your taxes. It should come on a 1099 INT from where ever you have your account.

[Bpb]

Two failed experiments in the books. No water changes and Reef Brite t5ho bulbs.

I really wanted the no water changes to work. It works so well for some. Despite measurable parameters being well within appropriate ranges and stability, at about month 3 I started getting some system wide brittle tissue on sps and even some tip burn despite no alkalinity spikes happening in even long term memory. Back to 10-15% a week and stuff has already recovered about 80% I’d guess.

Secondly. I’m off the Reef Brite t5ho bulbs. 2 months in and 3 of 4 have already burned out. Back to ati. I suppose sometimes you do get what you pay for


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[jolt]

Glad to hear things are recovering at least

[Bpb]

Yeah my only guess is maybe some form of metal or trace element buildup. I don’t see any bursted magnets or anything. Parameters are stable.

7.8 dKH
450 ppm calcium
1600 ppm magnesium (salt batch was high)
5 ppm NO3
0.07 ppm PO4

Numbers pretty much don’t move from there. I can nudge nitrate and phosphate just by how much I feed. I keep those levels with fairlynheavy feeding so if I miss a feeding or something they won’t bottom out.

Only thing I can come up with is some sort of metal buildup from foods or something. No matter. Water changes are easy enough for a tank this size


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Bpb]

Night time side shot. Love the new bulb layout


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[GiddyORION]

awesome work BPB! glad to see your tank successful after all the hard work.

You still doing CPs? Terraforums has been dead for a while, lot of the regulars have moved on. I abandoned the outdoor bog and am doing a highland tank build now, if your interested I'm tracking it on FlyTrapCare forums!

Sorry to hijack. Keep up the good work.