My Acro collection/ Lagoon

OP
OP
Perry

Perry

Follow me on IG- perrys_reef
View Badges
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Messages
4,182
Reaction score
11,260
Location
Lake Helen, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My pleasure, Perry. You put together some nice systems.

Thanks Jeff!
This tank is rivaling my best effort 8n my old 120 gallon tank. This result is my years of experience, both good and bad, used to hopefully put a really cool reef together.
When the smoothie garden grows out, I am sure the vision will be fulfilled :)
 

Troylee

all about the diy!!!!!
View Badges
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Messages
19,350
Reaction score
17,031
Location
Vegas baby!!!!
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks Jeff!
This tank is rivaling my best effort 8n my old 120 gallon tank. This result is my years of experience, both good and bad, used to hopefully put a really cool reef together.
When the smoothie garden grows out, I am sure the vision will be fulfilled :)
I’m doing the same thing… my difference is I took a 12yr break only to come back and the reefing game has changed and so much crap people dose and have automated it’s crazy! I’m just rolling with what I know and that’s a simple tank with nothing more than good lights, flow and a skimmer lol… would love to get back into vodka dosing but this tank I got now runs low on nutrients already and I’m over feeding like crazy to keep all the tangs happy and get them up! For the first time in my life I have a controller or I should say a Apex for a ph monitor :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing: And it’s used for nothing else… I like my old skool timers and a dj power strip where I can flip switches to turn stuff on and off vs my phone with app and all that stuff.
 

jsker

Reefing is all about the adventure
View Badges
Joined
Apr 11, 2015
Messages
25,008
Reaction score
80,077
Location
Saint Louis
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks Jeff!
This tank is rivaling my best effort 8n my old 120 gallon tank. This result is my years of experience, both good and bad, used to hopefully put a really cool reef together.
When the smoothie garden grows out, I am sure the vision will be fulfilled :)
I took the plunge yesterday and order an upgrade tank. I am looking forward to your tank grown out and for some imprecation. That is all the complaints for today :face-with-tears-of-joy:
 
OP
OP
Perry

Perry

Follow me on IG- perrys_reef
View Badges
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Messages
4,182
Reaction score
11,260
Location
Lake Helen, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I’m doing the same thing… my difference is I took a 12yr break only to come back and the reefing game has changed and so much crap people dose and have automated it’s crazy! I’m just rolling with what I know and that’s a simple tank with nothing more than good lights, flow and a skimmer lol… would love to get back into vodka dosing but this tank I got now runs low on nutrients already and I’m over feeding like crazy to keep all the tangs happy and get them up! For the first time in my life I have a controller or I should say a Apex for a ph monitor :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing: And it’s used for nothing else… I like my old skool timers and a dj power strip where I can flip switches to turn stuff on and off vs my phone with app and all that stuff.

Yep!
So, people might Flame, or get fumed, but what the heck this my personal journal :)
1. I do not subscribe to ICP. I do not, because a test is a snapshot, too many rely, then blindly dose a given product for trace correction. These machines require professional oversight and maintenance, and anything wrong in the calibration, well it could be your tank, good luck with that! I do however feel these tests are likely more accurate in Aquaforest, TM, or ATI facilities, but here's where the European model is light years ahead of us.
2. Just choose a good/great salt for goodness sake! I choose Aquaforest for their small batch testing, NSW values, and fortified to NSW values for minor as well. Do a dang water change!!!
3. Wifi--- No thanks, those old timers that have 15 minute intervals, that you manually plug in and set, yeah, sign me up for that :) My situation is unique, I work, but am home more often than not, I don't travel often. Putting my faith in automatic dosing, based on monitoring, and all contingent on wifi... nah...
4. Bacteria- beginning to re-think this one, my tank looks the best ever, and this is since no additional added.
5. Lighting- T5's straight up grow corals, and more importantly, color corals....PERIOD! For anyone struggling, slap an ati unit above your tank, and watch the magic happen. No tweaking spectrums, no bs, straight blanket of light, no PAR mapping stuff. No I do not know my PAR, and don't care, neither do my corals, why? T5's ;)
6. Kalkwasser- Another easy way to boost ph, manage alk/ca, and acros just love it.
7. Clean your glass dangit... It's an aquarium, it, and you will benefit, both visually and mentally. I also believe it supplies a broadcast supplement feeding to acros.
8. Your lucky to have a nice tank! No, there is no luck. I scrape, baste, blast, and brush my way to perfection. Since perfection does not exist, neither does the pursuit of it ;)
9. Observation--- Observation is key, it's something we should do more often. I study every single coral, every single day, unless the Therman's Sublime, I skip over it, lol. You can gain a ton of data through observing, and this can correlate into trace dosing, specifically when you know what minor boosts what color.

Do I sound salty? I hope not, and have tons of respect for others doing things completely different! We should encourage each other, despite our choices in equipment or husbandry. Anyone who has interacted with me privately knows that I am a passionate acro nerd!!!
 

Troylee

all about the diy!!!!!
View Badges
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Messages
19,350
Reaction score
17,031
Location
Vegas baby!!!!
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
:rolleyes: Yep!
So, people might Flame, or get fumed, but what the heck this my personal journal :)
1. I do not subscribe to ICP. I do not, because a test is a snapshot, too many rely, then blindly dose a given product for trace correction. These machines require professional oversight and maintenance, and anything wrong in the calibration, well it could be your tank, good luck with that! I do however feel these tests are likely more accurate in Aquaforest, TM, or ATI facilities, but here's where the European model is light years ahead of us.
2. Just choose a good/great salt for goodness sake! I choose Aquaforest for their small batch testing, NSW values, and fortified to NSW values for minor as well. Do a dang water change!!!
3. Wifi--- No thanks, those old timers that have 15 minute intervals, that you manually plug in and set, yeah, sign me up for that :) My situation is unique, I work, but am home more often than not, I don't travel often. Putting my faith in automatic dosing, based on monitoring, and all contingent on wifi... nah...
4. Bacteria- beginning to re-think this one, my tank looks the best ever, and this is since no additional added.
5. Lighting- T5's straight up grow corals, and more importantly, color corals....PERIOD! For anyone struggling, slap an ati unit above your tank, and watch the magic happen. No tweaking spectrums, no bs, straight blanket of light, no PAR mapping stuff. No I do not know my PAR, and don't care, neither do my corals, why? T5's ;)
6. Kalkwasser- Another easy way to boost ph, manage alk/ca, and acros just love it.
7. Clean your glass dangit... It's an aquarium, it, and you will benefit, both visually and mentally. I also believe it supplies a broadcast supplement feeding to acros.
8. Your lucky to have a nice tank! No, there is no luck. I scrape, baste, blast, and brush my way to perfection. Since perfection does not exist, neither does the pursuit of it ;)
9. Observation--- Observation is key, it's something we should do more often. I study every single coral, every single day, unless the Therman's Sublime, I skip over it, lol. You can gain a ton of data through observing, and this can correlate into trace dosing, specifically when you know what minor boosts what color.

Do I sound salty? I hope not, and have tons of respect for others doing things completely different! We should encourage each other, despite our choices in equipment or husbandry. Anyone who has interacted with me privately knows that I am a passionate acro nerd!!!
Not salty at all! I feel the same way myself.. I will never do a icp test unless my tank crashed and I couldn’t figure it out! That’s coral money to me I don’t need tests haha! I don’t even use my salifert kits for the big 3 unless my sticks look unhappy which is almost never! The minute I test I start messing with stuff and it puts my tank back a few weeks from where I was.. I forgot “kalk” yes I top off with that and always have.. I don’t have dosers or anything but kalk lol.. I never used to do water changes but since getting back in, several months ago that’s all I’ve done and been consistent with them and my tank is thriving. I’m using reef crystals cause it’s cheap! And now I have to do massive water changes :rolleyes: lol

I’m running halides with radion supplements myself and love it! Radions didn’t do it for me by them selves.
 
Last edited:

BirdFish5000

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 18, 2021
Messages
787
Reaction score
1,005
Location
ROCHESTER
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Yep!
So, people might Flame, or get fumed, but what the heck this my personal journal :)
1. I do not subscribe to ICP. I do not, because a test is a snapshot, too many rely, then blindly dose a given product for trace correction. These machines require professional oversight and maintenance, and anything wrong in the calibration, well it could be your tank, good luck with that! I do however feel these tests are likely more accurate in Aquaforest, TM, or ATI facilities, but here's where the European model is light years ahead of us.
2. Just choose a good/great salt for goodness sake! I choose Aquaforest for their small batch testing, NSW values, and fortified to NSW values for minor as well. Do a dang water change!!!
3. Wifi--- No thanks, those old timers that have 15 minute intervals, that you manually plug in and set, yeah, sign me up for that :) My situation is unique, I work, but am home more often than not, I don't travel often. Putting my faith in automatic dosing, based on monitoring, and all contingent on wifi... nah...
4. Bacteria- beginning to re-think this one, my tank looks the best ever, and this is since no additional added.
5. Lighting- T5's straight up grow corals, and more importantly, color corals....PERIOD! For anyone struggling, slap an ati unit above your tank, and watch the magic happen. No tweaking spectrums, no bs, straight blanket of light, no PAR mapping stuff. No I do not know my PAR, and don't care, neither do my corals, why? T5's ;)
6. Kalkwasser- Another easy way to boost ph, manage alk/ca, and acros just love it.
7. Clean your glass dangit... It's an aquarium, it, and you will benefit, both visually and mentally. I also believe it supplies a broadcast supplement feeding to acros.
8. Your lucky to have a nice tank! No, there is no luck. I scrape, baste, blast, and brush my way to perfection. Since perfection does not exist, neither does the pursuit of it ;)
9. Observation--- Observation is key, it's something we should do more often. I study every single coral, every single day, unless the Therman's Sublime, I skip over it, lol. You can gain a ton of data through observing, and this can correlate into trace dosing, specifically when you know what minor boosts what color.

Do I sound salty? I hope not, and have tons of respect for others doing things completely different! We should encourage each other, despite our choices in equipment or husbandry. Anyone who has interacted with me privately knows that I am a passionate acro nerd!!!

I tried for several years to grow acro tanks, but it wasn't until I went to a simple model that I started having success.

No controller (heater controller, but I wouldn't count that)
Plain old two part dosing with some simple dosing pumps
Algae Scrubber
Skimmer
NSW parameters
Weekly 10% water changes
I do use LEDs, but I set them up once and haven't touched since

Simplicity really well and truly is the key. Coupled with patience, of course.
 

ScottB

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 5, 2018
Messages
7,895
Reaction score
12,193
Location
Fairfield County, CT
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
FInally caught up with this thread. Been deeply submerged in my "other" hobby so now just trying to catch up. The build looks great Perry and seems the transition went pretty smooth. Speaking of smooth(ies) that a great looking collection!

Keep up the good work!
 
OP
OP
Perry

Perry

Follow me on IG- perrys_reef
View Badges
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Messages
4,182
Reaction score
11,260
Location
Lake Helen, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Front on pics hard to gey, but here's the idea...
20230506_100156.jpg


This is the money angle, it really shows off the 2 sided view, as well as the DIY rack for building height in the rear.
20230506_100227.jpg


A close view of the coral rack, yeah that Fruity Pebbles is popping ;)
20230506_100256.jpg
 
OP
OP
Perry

Perry

Follow me on IG- perrys_reef
View Badges
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Messages
4,182
Reaction score
11,260
Location
Lake Helen, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Not salty at all! I feel the same way myself.. I will never do a icp test unless my tank crashed and I couldn’t figure it out! That’s coral money to me I don’t need tests haha! I don’t even use my salifert kits for the big 3 unless my sticks look unhappy which is almost never! The minute I test I start messing with stuff and it puts my tank back a few weeks from where I was.. I forgot “kalk” yes I top off with that and always have.. I don’t have dosers or anything but kalk lol.. I never used to do water changes but since getting back in, several months ago that’s all I’ve done and been consistent with them and my tank is thriving. I’m using reef crystals cause it’s cheap! And now I have to do massive water changes :rolleyes: lol

I’m running halides with radion supplements myself and love it! Radions didn’t do it for me by them selves.

Good on you, I thought the lighting was good with Reefbreeders, and results undeniable. I am much happier however putting 6 more t5's in its place. Good news though, the Reefbreeders will light up my propagation tank perfectly, which is around the corner.
Halides and radions huh! Now that's gotta look killer!!!
Thanks for following along in my madness!!!
 
OP
OP
Perry

Perry

Follow me on IG- perrys_reef
View Badges
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Messages
4,182
Reaction score
11,260
Location
Lake Helen, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I tried for several years to grow acro tanks, but it wasn't until I went to a simple model that I started having success.

No controller (heater controller, but I wouldn't count that)
Plain old two part dosing with some simple dosing pumps
Algae Scrubber
Skimmer
NSW parameters
Weekly 10% water changes
I do use LEDs, but I set them up once and haven't touched since

Simplicity really well and truly is the key. Coupled with patience, of course.

Yes, this recipe works. Leds are great, and I plan on using Reefbreeders exclusively for growout. I just cannot and will not give up t5, my entire reefing journey had used them, I actually live the flat linear light, shimmer is good, I can always toss a couple of Kessils on for that effect....hmmmm
 

Troylee

all about the diy!!!!!
View Badges
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Messages
19,350
Reaction score
17,031
Location
Vegas baby!!!!
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Good on you, I thought the lighting was good with Reefbreeders, and results undeniable. I am much happier however putting 6 more t5's in its place. Good news though, the Reefbreeders will light up my propagation tank perfectly, which is around the corner.
Halides and radions huh! Now that's gotta look killer!!!
Thanks for following along in my madness!!!
Halide, radion, reefbrite Xho combo lol… I run the radions for 12 hours with a 1 hour ramp up and down, same with the Xho.. halides come on at noon for 4 hours.
ab+ schedule on radions
250w phoenix 14k halides

IMG_9772.jpeg IMG_9676.jpeg IMG_9675.jpeg
 
OP
OP
Perry

Perry

Follow me on IG- perrys_reef
View Badges
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Messages
4,182
Reaction score
11,260
Location
Lake Helen, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
FInally caught up with this thread. Been deeply submerged in my "other" hobby so now just trying to catch up. The build looks great Perry and seems the transition went pretty smooth. Speaking of smooth(ies) that a great looking collection!

Keep up the good work!

Hey Scott,
Thanks for the kind words brother!!!
Transfer went well, and my reef room is becoming my new hangout.
So nice to stretch my reefing legs....
Ahhhh......
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
Perry

Perry

Follow me on IG- perrys_reef
View Badges
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Messages
4,182
Reaction score
11,260
Location
Lake Helen, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Halide, radion, reefbrite Xho combo lol… I run the radions for 12 hours with a 1 hour ramp up and down, same with the Xho.. halides come on at noon for 4 hours.

IMG_9772.jpeg IMG_9676.jpeg IMG_9675.jpeg

Oh heck yeah brother!!!
Push them halides to 10 hours, lol :)
Nicely done, I seriously gave thought to a single 400 watt pendant with Leds! But... 10 t5's and 2x Orphek OR3 Blue bars instead, which actually is more light, ha, ha, ha....
I may have to incorporate some kessil lamps in, lol..
 

Troylee

all about the diy!!!!!
View Badges
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Messages
19,350
Reaction score
17,031
Location
Vegas baby!!!!
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Oh heck yeah brother!!!
Push them halides to 10 hours, lol :)
Nicely done, I seriously gave thought to a single 400 watt pendant with Leds! But... 10 t5's and 2x Orphek OR3 Blue bars instead, which actually is more light, ha, ha, ha....
I may have to incorporate some kessil lamps in, lol..
I’m bumping them up more and more.. didn’t wanna fry anything coming from radions with poor par to halides.
 
OP
OP
Perry

Perry

Follow me on IG- perrys_reef
View Badges
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Messages
4,182
Reaction score
11,260
Location
Lake Helen, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I’m bumping them up more and more.. didn’t wanna fry anything coming from radions with poor par to halides.

Funny thing is, I went and dropped my t5's and added new bulbs. My corals never blinked. I don't think light stress happens as dramatic with halides and t5's, that is why PAR means nothing to me.
 

Troylee

all about the diy!!!!!
View Badges
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
Messages
19,350
Reaction score
17,031
Location
Vegas baby!!!!
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Funny thing is, I went and dropped my t5's and added new bulbs. My corals never blinked. I don't think light stress happens ad dramatic with halides and t5's, that is why PAR means nothing to me.
Agreed.. they seem to really extend and look happier the minute I put the halides on..
 
OP
OP
Perry

Perry

Follow me on IG- perrys_reef
View Badges
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Messages
4,182
Reaction score
11,260
Location
Lake Helen, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Agreed.. they seem to really extend and look happier the minute I put the halides on..

I was already hybrid with t5, so there was no upset corals. I did notice that the overall tank started looking way better. I also saw an uptick in PH, .05-.1, not much, but it tells me something my gut was trying to. I believe LEDS need to be run at full power like Tim/therman does. My prop tank will be lit by Reefbreeders, and will be maxed out on all channels during full spectrum.
 
Back
Top