SPS growout contest!!!! (Follow all the contestants here)

[EyeReef]

This thread is only for the contestants for the SPS Growout contest ONLY.
Please post your before photos, tank info, maintenence, supplements etc here. All updates will go here as well. There will be no off topic discussion made in this thread. Only your coral photos and blog. This will help keep the contest organize.
All other post will be deleted.

You must post on this thread to be eligible for the contest.
LAST DAY TO POST ON THIS THREAD IS SUNDAY FEB 20!

1. Everyone will receive a ~1inch frag. You must take a photo of the frag the day you receive the frag along side a ruler and post the photo on here.
2. You must include a brief overview of your system including lighting, flow, tank size, supplement, etc. The frag must stay in the same system throughout the whole competition
3. You must include a photo of your frag every 2 weeks up until the end of the competition. Measurement not necessary.
4. 3 months from the start of the competition MAY 16, 2011, the frag with the most growth will be the winner. Its tough to be technical because we know sps branches, so the mods and I will determine the winner from the before and after photo the winner. The final photo has to be place up against a ruler again.
5. If your frag dies, you are out of the competition

Prize: Will be
1)a 50 dollar gift certificate to Aquarium in Motion
2) SCR TSHIRT
3) Sps growout contest winner logo
more prizes maybe announced along the way. (for bragging rights)


We will all enjoy this progression of this contest. Thanks everyone and good luck.

OFFICIAL CONTESTANTS:
1. MikeGilliland
2. Radman
3. Bustayanky
4. kingrb
5. 5ft24
6. chipcount
7. zigginit
8. lopnessmonsta
9. ryancmatchett
10. sbrob
11. jgo
12. sps4mytank
13. travisw30
14. jkinros

 

[MikeGilliland]

ok well heres my first picture.
28 gal JBJ nano cube LED
mag 1410
cal 470
alk 9
ph 8.1
temp 78-80
Sal 1.024 PRO REEF
lights- stock jbj nano LED
stock pumps, koralia nano pump.

 

[Radman]

OK Strawberry shortcake Grow has begun...
Day1....

Under white and blue LEDs

Under blue LEDs

Tank setup, 120 gal, plus 15 gal frag tank all under LEDs

2x120 Watt LEDs, 3 circuits with 28 440 blue LEDs 28 453 blue LEDs and 63 16000K W. over main tank...
frag tank has 35 453 blue LEDs and 84 12000K whites...
PH 8.1
Alk typically 9.5-10 DKH on a kalk Stirrer
CA 400
Mag 1280
SP 1.024
tmp 78-79
Use Scripps Water
3-21-14

 

[bustayanky]

DAY 1
2/12/2011


Frag is in my main tank with moderate to high flow about 8-10 inches from surface of water. Water change once every two weeks oceanpure pro. You can look at my signature below for my tank information.

Calcium 400
Alkalinity 8
Magnesium 1200

Good luck all!

Will

 

[jkinros]

Okay, 1 more time....

This is the ruler

This is day 1

This is the tank

The equipment

Tank info:
40g reg w/corner overflow single return.
Using mp10 and ehiem return for flow, and a temporary canister filter
Have a small sump with lr. Vertex IN100 and a phosban reactor
Also run carbon/chemipure when I remember.
RK2 controls everything like lights/fans/heaters/some pumps for feeding
I dose kalk in the top off(jbj) also 2 part about 30-50ml a day
Prodibio bioptim/biodigest (every other week)
Iodine/amino/coral food (every 4 days)
Mag added every water change (about 10gal every 2 weeks w/RODI and D+D salt)
Lighting is Current 6x39 T5

PH is usualy 8.3
CA is over 400-420
ALK is 9dkh
Mag 1350-1400
po4 is 0.02

Extra pics of my "brownSS"

 

[kingrb]

Tank Info:
270 gallon with i think a 55 maybe 60 gallon sump filled halfway (some sand, a few pounds of live rock, Cheato and 5 Mangro) filter sock and big no name brand skimmer not sure what its rated at. Two 400 Watt MH powered by electronic Ballasts, with Lumenarc III style reflectors. Over 9000 GPH flow. Use instant ocean salt mix and conduct a 10% water change once a month if Im not being lazy. I hand dose Kent Tech I once a week, and Kent Liquid Calcium daily. Top off RO/DI water by hand also. No fancy name brand equipment at all. All low end budget equipment.

SS frag is 26 inches below the light bulb.

Click (My 270) in my signature if you want to see more pictures of the tank.

 

[5ft24]

Special thanks to MikeGilliland for picking up my frag for me!
So, here we go:

in the tank with flash:

In the tank without flash:

Tank Params:
SG 1.025
Temp 79.5
Ammo and nitrite 0
PH 8.2
Alk 9.5
Ca 440
NO3 20
PO4 0 (api only detects 0.25 at the lowest)
Mg ?? no MG test kit

75G DT, 20G sump, 20G external Fuge with GFO reactor, 2 65W PC 10,000K's, 2 65W PC Dual actinics, 1 54W T5 ATI Blue+, 1 54W T5 KZ Fiji purple, Reef octopus 250 pro skimmer, rio 1700+ return, Jebo 18W UV, 2 Ebay "generic" powerheads.

15G water changes weekly, Top off is straight RO/DI, no Kalk etc.
Using ESV B-Ionic Seawater solution, always mixes consistently to the above params, dose 1 teaspoon Buffered sodium ascorbate for Zoas every day.
Feed corals every other day with 1/2 teaspoon Oyster feast and 1/2 teaspoon Phyto feast, not spot fed. return and skimmer shut down, mixture dumped into power head and left to circulate for 30 minutes.

 

[chipcount]

Solana Tank (34 gal)
LED lighting
440 Calc
10 Alk
1380 Mag
3 Maxi Jet 1200s
1.026 Salinity
ph 8.2

 

[zigginit]

picked up my 1 inch frag of Strawberry Shortcake today from AIM. i will be growing this baby out for the SCR Grow Out Contest. It is a nice sold frag with a little side numb i want to grow out more.

Here is the tank i will be growing it in. 36"x20"x20" = 55 gallons + 30 gallon sump filled half way.

with PAR Reading taken a few weeks ago.

here is a little info on the system:

T5 lights:
-6 36" T5 bulbs
-4 Run off ICECAP 660 ballast (2pm-7pm)
-2 Run off Workhorse 5 ballast (12pm-10pm)

Bulbs:
FRONT
ATI Purple + (workhorse 5 ballast)
ATI Aqua Blue Special (12k) (VHO ICECAP 660 ballast)
ATI Blue + (VHO ICECAP 660 ballast)
UVL 75/25 (14k) (VHO ICECAP 660 ballast)
ATI Blue + (VHO ICECAP 660 ballast)
UVL Super Actinic (420nm) (workhorse 5 ballast)
BACK

Water Chem:
-Results to come, please stand by

Equipment
-30G sump split in half, one side equipment the other refugium with deep sand, rubble rock, Chaeto algae.
-Red Sea Berlin Turbo Skimmer (pulling dark brown stuff.. )
-Rio 2500 return pump split with a SCWD into 2 hyperflow nozzles
-2 K1 power heads (i want to upgrade soon)

well thats all i have time for right now, water test to take place soon.

 

[zigginit]

got water tested to day and had some suprising results considering i just did a 20g water change yesterday.

ph 8.4
SG 1.022
ammoina 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
phosphate 0
DKH 7
CA 220!!!! what the hell??
Mag 1100
temp 78-80

i dont know how my Ca can be so low, i have been adding Kalk and did a 20g water change but it stays low. i even been adding mag! i dont know what im doing wrong here. im going to get some 2 part from BRS i think now because this is crazyness. it could be a bad test kit because it is old. ill see if i can find a new test kit or find a buddy with one to check if it is mine thats bad.

 

[jkinros]

got water tested to day and had some suprising results considering i just did a 20g water change yesterday.

ph 8.4
SG 1.022
ammoina 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
phosphate 0
DKH 7
CA 220!!!! what the hell??
Mag 1100
temp 78-80

i dont know how my Ca can be so low, i have been adding Kalk and did a 20g water change but it stays low. i even been adding mag! i dont know what im doing wrong here. im going to get some 2 part from BRS i think now because this is crazyness. it could be a bad test kit because it is old. ill see if i can find a new test kit or find a buddy with one to check if it is mine thats bad.

Its prolly the test, my alk usually starts creeping up when my ca gets low. Dont know if thats just me... Let us know what happens:hello:

 

[loppnessmonsta]

JBJ ATO EV-240 Skimmer w/ magdrive 18 + another magdrive 18 for return, 1/10 hp chiller refugium with cheato phos 0 nitrite unmeasurable nitrate unmeasurable alk 7 mag 1180 ish cal 360 380 ish dosing aquacc alk and cal complete changing to bulk reef supply total package 15g sump

 

[ryancmatchett]

SS Grow Day1

120gal DT, 50gal sump, half full, ASM G3 Skimmer, Carbon/Gfo in BRS dual Reactor, 10 gal Fuge.
Current lights - 2 X 250w MH (going to be changing lights out to a Tek 8 X 54w this week.)
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Phos - 0
PH - 8.3
SG - 1.025
Cal - 420
Alk - 12
Mag - 1200
Please note that WE ARE battling a Hair Algae outbreak as of December that has not been worked out yet. However, we are currently working on it.

FTS with MH and T5

Frag Rack with Flash

 

[bustayanky]

Don't we have like 20 people in the contest? Post the before pix

 

[5ft24]

Just a suggestion, but since today was labeled as the beginning, if someone doesn't post by Midnight tonight, they should be DQ'd.

 

[jkinros]

Has anyone seen polyp extension on their SS GO frag. Please post pics.

 

[sbrob]

Hey all so I have a 21g AIO advanced acrylic tank. I'm running a tunze 9002 skimmer on it and 2 par 38 LED lamps 20k. Weekly water changes with B-ionic salt.

I'll have to get a full tank shot tomorrow when my lights are on but this is the frag for now.

 

[sbrob]

Since people are wanting to give out DQ's already here is a pic of Travis' frag. He wasn't able to pic up this weekend so I got it for him and I'm housing it until Friday.

 

[zigginit]

lol, all i ask is for anyone that posted a kinda bad pic next to a ruler to post a better pic. the camera needs to be level with the coral or the angle will change the size of the coral next to the ruler. in fact a shot looking kinda down will makes it look smaller then it really is, and then by then end if they take a level shot then the frag magicly grew a quart inch extra.

i only saw a few like this but i think we need good starting pics to be fair at the end when all the real complaining starts about who grew more.

 

[Jgo]

ok sorry for the lag i started my own thread about my frag and i replied to the original post. but just found this one so here is all my info
65g
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
cal 430
ph 8.4
salinity 25
temp 74
does A and B 3 times a week