REEF OF THE MONTH - March 2021: Florida_Reef_Keeper Brandon McHenry's Amazing AIO SPS Reef!

threebuoys · Mar 24, 2021

Really nice! Something to envy for sure.

Have you needed to prune any of the growth yet, or do you anticipate needing to do so? It looks well balanced currently, and certainly still growing. I would love to have my tank grow to the point I need to worry about trimming!

Mkus · Mar 24, 2021

Thanks here’s a shot all LPS

puffer_reef · Mar 24, 2021

Such a beautiful tank, I have one question is that just airline tubing that you have at your intakes on the back wall? And is that so the food doesn’t get sucked right in?

DeL · Mar 24, 2021

dang ! loving the sps choices ! 2 mp40s in 2 feet, and I'm here with 4 in a 6 foot tank hahaha. congrats

nathanieltyler · Mar 24, 2021

Congrats, that's a beautiful tank

scott11106 · Mar 24, 2021

Great tank, the color and growth is staggering. my tank is going on 3 years old and doing well but i cannot get that kind of color. thinking of going from kessil to the ati t5/led combo.

GREAT JOB!!!

X-37B · Mar 24, 2021

Absolutely stunning 40!
I love your simple approach.
I also do heavy in and out on my 120 with 14 fish.
Also ran T5's for a year, back to halides now.
I run no fuge and just filter sock and heavy skimming.
NSW is the way to go, imo.

What are your thoughts on why people believe elevated alk is better than NSW?
I get told all the time that an alk range of 7-7.5 is bad advice and 9-10 is where locals and lfs run all their tanks at.

I have also noticed that some very well known aquaculture facilities state that the oceans alk is 8-9.

I also run 50% live rock and have found that ratio to be very effective.

Looking forward to your future upgrade.

Brandon McHenry · Mar 24, 2021

Thaxxx said:
Lovin the tank.
I like your simple approach.
Looking forward to your upgrade 2000gal upcoming build!

Thank you! I’m looking forward to that too! ;Hilarious

Brandon McHenry · Mar 24, 2021

threebuoys said:
Really nice! Something to envy for sure.

Have you needed to prune any of the growth yet, or do you anticipate needing to do so? It looks well balanced currently, and certainly still growing. I would love to have my tank grow to the point I need to worry about trimming!

Thank you very much! No need for envy!

Yes I frag pretty often but I just place them elsewhere in the colony. Looking into setting up a small frag tank! ;Hilarious

Brandon McHenry · Mar 24, 2021

Mkus said:
Thanks here’s a shot all LPS

Looking good!

Brandon McHenry · Mar 24, 2021

puffer_reef said:
Such a beautiful tank, I have one question is that just airline tubing that you have at your intakes on the back wall? And is that so the food doesn’t get sucked right in?

Thanks! Yes that’s exactly right!

Brandon McHenry · Mar 24, 2021

DeL said:
dang ! loving the sps choices ! 2 mp40s in 2 feet, and I'm here with 4 in a 6 foot tank hahaha. congrats

Thank you! Yes I love me some SPS! And yeah I like a decent amount of flow lol ;Hilarious

Brandon McHenry · Mar 24, 2021

nathanieltyler said:
Congrats, that's a beautiful tank

Thank you!

Brandon McHenry · Mar 24, 2021

scott11106 said:
Great tank, the color and growth is staggering. my tank is going on 3 years old and doing well but i cannot get that kind of color. thinking of going from kessil to the ati t5/led combo.

GREAT JOB!!!

Thanks! I think you will like the T5 led combo. I’ve heard it goes really well with the kessils!

Brandon McHenry · Mar 24, 2021

90's reefer said:
Absolutely stunning 40!
I love your simple approach.
I also do heavy in and out on my 120 with 14 fish.
Also ran T5's for a year, back to halides now.
I run no fuge and just filter sock and heavy skimming.
NSW is the way to go, imo.

What are your thoughts on why people believe elevated alk is better than NSW?
I get told all the time that an alk range of 7-7.5 is bad advice and 9-10 is where locals and lfs run all their tanks at.

I have also noticed that some very well known aquaculture facilities state that the oceans alk is 8-9.

I also run 50% live rock and have found that ratio to be very effective.

Looking forward to your future upgrade.

Thank you! Simple is what works best for me! I never tried halides but I was always curious considering how amazing they are.

I think the logic is that if calcium and alkalinity are in higher concentrations then it will be easier for the coral to build a skeleton. I don’t see anything wrong with running those levels but I certainly don’t see any advantage to it. I think if everything else was identical there probably wouldn’t be a big difference in growth between the two alkalinities. I’m sure that different areas in the ocean have a bit of a range when it comes to alkalinity but I’m pretty sure the average is 7-7.5.

Glad that ratio is working out! And lol I can’t wait to upgrade one day! ;Hilarious

Daniel@R2R · Mar 25, 2021

Vette67 said:
Shouldn't there be a badge too?

How the heck did I miss giving him the badge!? Fixed!!

Nhjmc · Mar 26, 2021

Beyond impressive! Gives me hope my Red Sea AIO (with upgrades) can someday look half as good as this same style and size tank. Surprised alk that low but hey clearly works for this person. Just gorgeous.