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[salazar]

Well they look very nice, i am running 6 watts per gallon (power compacts 1 atinic, 1 daylight and 1 50/50) hang on prizm skimmer and a fluval 404 canister filter do you think this will support sps coral. My Lps seem to be doing very good.

[FragOutpost]

Originally Posted by salazar

Well they look very nice, i am running 6 watts per gallon (power compacts 1 atinic, 1 daylight and 1 50/50) hang on prizm skimmer and a fluval 404 canister filter do you think this will support sps coral. My Lps seem to be doing very good.

Generally speaking, power compacts are not very good for growing SPS corals. Not to say that it can't be done, just that you would have much better success with metal halides, vho's, or T5HO's. You could probably keep some low light SPS at the very top of your tank directly underneath your bulbs in an area of high flow, but your results would be arguably better under more powerful lighting.

[salazar]

I used to run vho's but switched to 96 watt power compacts because i was under the impression that they were alot brighter

[FragOutpost]

VHO's put out more lumens than power compacts of a comparable wattage.

[FragOutpost]

Do you still have the VHO's?
You could run both the VHO's and the power compacts and probably be reasonably successful at growing SPS corals.

[salazar]

no i wish i did but tank seems brighter now than before. Does anybody here know about location of auction in Tucson AZ.

[D12monkey]

First off welcome. I hope that you can get a great experience from this forum. Second nice photos. Third... Find those VHOs for the SPS. J/K I know of a fellow reefer that only uses PC bulbs and grows PC, but his success I haven't been able to reproduce at my home. On my reef tank I'm currently using MH and T5 bulb combinations.

[FragOutpost]

Originally Posted by salazar

Does anybody here know about location of auction in Tucson AZ.

I had to read through all four pages of the thread but I finally found the location of the auction. Below is a quote from the fourth page of the thread posted by owsi -

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It will be at Ramada31 at Reid Park, between Broadway and 22nd streets, east of Country Club. Just follow Hi Corbitt Baseball Field signs off I-10. It reserved from 2:00 on, on the 19th of March, plenty of tables and benches under the roof and on both sides of the slab, 2 BBQ grills there and more tables and grills with in a 100'. Its on the west end of Hi Corbett Field Parking Lot with plenty of parking within a few feet. If you want beer (no glass bottles) one person from the group will need to go to the Zoo snack bar and get a Beer Permit, it will cover all in the group. I plan to have a Fragging Demo of several ways to frag SPS, Ricrodias, Mushrooms and leather's and the tools needed, glues/attachment methods used.
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http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=759480&perpage=25&pagenumb er=4

[FragOutpost]

Originally Posted by salazar

any pics of your rig

Rose Millie

[salazar]

Look like you have very nice coral, if you decide to frag i would love to get some!! In one pic i see a blue piece what is it and is it expensive.

[FragOutpost]

Originally Posted by salazar

Look like you have very nice coral, if you decide to frag i would love to get some!! In one pic i see a blue piece what is it and is it expensive.

I'm currently growing out most of my corals so it will be a little while before I have some ready to post on the site.

The blue coral is an ORA blue tortuosa.
Here is a thread with some growth photos of this coral.
I got a good deal on mine but generally it is more expensive than other corals because it is highly sought after.

Here is a pic I took yesterday.

[pogo]

nice coral
how long have you had it

[FragOutpost]

Originally Posted by pogo

nice coral
how long have you had it

Thanks. Almost a year and a half.

[salazar]

Blue coral looks amazing, nice color to add to any tank. What kind of conditions does it need.Maybe if i behave i will get some frags (after i setup my tank of course).

[FragOutpost]

Thanks!
The conditions that the blue tortuosa requires are basically the same as most other sps corals - high flow, low nitrates/phosphates, bright light, stable water parameters, elevated and consistent calcium/alkalinity/ph levels, etc.

[salazar]

Did water check tonight all Ok, 6 watts per gallon, stillfeel like i should get a sump and better skimmer.

[FragOutpost]

Definitely want to upgrade your skimmer if you are going to start keeping sps corals. You may want to look into a refugium as well.

It is possible to go sumpless and run a closed loop and an external skimmer but if you have the space then I would recommend a sump. Having a sump will increase your water volume and increase your water surface area which will increase your evaporation rate to help cool the tank. Not to mention give you a good place to house extra equipment.

How big of a sump are you thinking about getting?

[salazar]

Dont really know im gonna do some reading.Ithought a sump and refugium were kind of the same.

[FragOutpost]

If you add some macro algae and create an area for pods to reproduce then you basically have a refugium. A sump can be as simple as a container of water that the overflow from the tank is connected to and a return pump that pumps water back into the tank.

A popular design is to have something like an acrylic sump or glass aquarium that is sectioned off with baffles where the refugium can be contained within a compartment within the sump.

[D12monkey]

Originally Posted by FragOutpost

It is possible to go sumpless and run a closed loop and an external skimmer but if you have the space then I would recommend a sump. Having a sump will increase your water volume and increase your water surface area which will increase your evaporation rate to help cool the tank.

Or you could always buy a big oversized chiller to cool the water down and prevent too much evaporation.