stangchris

very nice tank

very nice tank those look like those snowflake clownfish very cool.

did u glue that large purple coral to you overflow?

Very pretty tank. I love it. Thanks for sharing your pics! :-)

WOW, looks beautiful!! Purple Monti is gorgeous too. Looks like you have a lot of growth. How would you say your SPS growth rate is under the 6 T5's? And do you believe the ATI bulbs is a big factor in the growth?

thanks! as for the purple coral I think your talking about my caps it used to be glued a long time ago on my old tank. that worked because I glued it when it was size of nickel, also it's a red cap. iPhone makes everything look so blue.

sps is a lil slower from when I had a 250w hqi, but the color is so much better some pieces colored up and look 100% better. par levels are 325-350 4 inches from surface, 100-150 on sand. good ballast are the key, I've bought the cheap sps bulbs and blew them in 4 days. good bulbs are another factor. in pic 2 right near clown that a tyree purple soli, far left is a green purple rim cap, and big red cap top left center

Hey, thanks for the info. I thought they were purple too, lol. Well they look great. I have to check out the ATI bulbs. I have a Current USA 4 bulb and two 110 VHO's. Do they make ATI bulbs for VHO? Where did you get your bulbs from?

Thanks,

HAT

the great grimreefer of reef central has good articles http://home.comcast.net/~stevelarsen00/site/?/home/, reading his stuff on RC(sorry marc i know bad word) got me to believe in t5. i am still a mh advocate, but i wanted a nice clean look with a canopy that wasnt 2 feet high or run a chiller so t5 it had to be. i get my bulbs where ever they are cheaper since its cost so much switching every 6 months. i have a LFS i can get em or bulkreefsupply, i dont think they make VHO

Your tank is looking very nice. Thanks for the update. Care for any suggestions, or should I just be quiet?

come on Marc you don't have to ask I like constructive criticism.

I didn't want to rain on your happy parade, so I asked first.

#1) I'd recommend scraping the walls down to get them nice and clean. Your corals will pop against a dark clean background, and you may even see some reflections when viewing at a slight angle.

#2) The rockwork resembles a fruit stand to me. It's too consistant across the back, with no discernable break. A small gap, or one side higher than the other would help. Right now, the corals look layered to me, stairstepping backwards & upwards.

#3) Add some white light to the tank when shooting pictures to reduce the blue somewhat. You could swap out a bulb, or perhaps shoot a flashlight at the area you are photographing. It's tricky, but with a few attempts you'll figure out how to do it. The light can be pointed down with a helper, or at an angle to avoid a reflection off the glass.

Regardless whether you do this or not, your corals look happy and you've culled the list to the ones you like best. Great decision!

thanks Marc. I took out 10-15 lbs of rock 2 weeks ago, I've been struggling with "style" scapeing. with a 3 foot tank and so much coral it's kinda hard, I need to get a background on my tank, as it sits infront of a window. thanks again for the suggestions

Don't forget to update us.

i felt so bad about how crappy Marc thought my tank was. so i am now just going to get a bigger tank to fit all my coral!

I knew I shouldn't have said a word. Now look what I did to your bank account. (Then again, our economy's needs outweigh your personel feelings, right?)

new build coming soon.............