Pratt Reef Project - The Transition

[masterswimmer]

I finally got an opportunity to return to the scene of the crime. I was present at the inception of this masterpiece (yes everyone, just present, not an active participant :redface: ) and returned last night for the first time in six months. All I can say is this tank is world class.

Randy is among the ranks of reefers in this world that everyone of us should be aspiring to emulate. I was honestly floored when I saw your creation again. I'm already looking forward to making the trip again to spend more time glued to the couch starring at it (no extraneous comments necessary ).

I hope the administration, faculty and students at Pratt appreciate the 'Rembrandt' they have available to them.

Thank you for your hospitality, waiting up till ungodly hours to meet us.

Russ

 

[ellebelle]

I had the pleasure of seeing Randy's tank today, seven months after the transition. Oh, and I happened to have my camera with me. Please note that these pictures have NO color adjustments - Randy's new bulbs + starphire glass = a beautiful thing.

A couple of partial full tanks shots to whet everyone's appetite....

 

[prattreef]

WOW!!! Lissa those came out great The only major difference to the original setup was my recent ( 2weeks) change from Phoenix 250W DE lamps to the Ushio 14K's. They are MUCH whiter and brighter and MUCH easier to photograph. There is no actinic supplementation either.

Randy

 

[Pedro]

Looking very nice indeed. Nice contrast of colors. Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[ellebelle]

Here is my attempt at stitching the previous photos together:

Here is the tank through the front windows:

aaaaaand a side view.

 

[Pedro]

How many freaking tangs are in there, lol. J/k I know the deal. It really looks sweet. You don't have to stitch it, just crop out the FTS and post it bigger. Nice try though.

 

[cali_reef]

Here is my attempt at stitching the previous photos together:

Someone call the tang police:Yikes: :Yikes:



:kidding:




Nice job on the pictures

 

[ellebelle]

I wish I had a tripod on wheels and a nice little track to run it in so I could get all of the pieces from the same perspective!

I don't like the FTS as well because there is distortion because I took it through a window. Also, the shot is still not perfect as I had to stitch together two photos to get rid of the pole cutting the tank in half.

 

[FRY]

looking awesome randy

 

[home wrecker]

great lookin tank ....

 

[ellebelle]

Here's a few SPS ....

 

[ellebelle]

Oh, and how about a few more SPS...

 

[ellebelle]

LPS...

 

[ellebelle]

and just a few fishies and inverts.

 

[prattreef]

Lissa your photos are stunning.

 

[russianmd]

Randy, are you around next week? I'd love to stop by again! -Arkady

 

[NYReef]

Beautiful shots Lissa. :goldfish2

 

[carpediem212]

Hey Randy,

Beautiful tank

What made you switch the lighting from reef optix 3 to Lumenarcs 3? I see that you also did a 45 degree turn on the reef optixs.

What is this setup like? Is there a listing of what your using and how water changes and stuff like that?

tHANKS,
George

 

[tripstank]

Man you have to go see it, Randy's reef is out of control. It is truly worth the trip to see the tank and chat with Randy for a bit. Now I believe he is running two Lumenarcs and 2 Icecap pendants. I am not sure on the reason, but I believe he angled the Icecap pendants to keep the light in the tank and not on the floor.

 

[prattreef]

George,
I have never used Reefoptix pendants ( not a big fan of the company), what you see are Icecap DE Pendants. I started with 4 of these and found that I needed a bit more spread over the center area of the tank. The IC's are very good IMO, but they have a rather narrow focus. I swapped out the center 2 for Luminarc DE's and they were just what I needed. I also realized that since the 2 end sections of the tank contained a rather narrow "useful" area because of the overflows, I could turn the IC pendants and maximize the coverage horizontally. I'm very happy with the way it is working out.

We are coming up on the 1 year anniversary of this project, so expect some updates in the coming weeks.