A Splash of Color

[FloformAustria]

The three acros now sit 2" clear of the sand and are much more visible in the back right corner.

Sat morning T5's.......

what a nice picture!! :bounce3:

 

[martinphillip03]

Why don't you need a chiller for your tank? (Drove 14 hours in the past 2 days. This question came up in the fourth hour, Day 1.) The only answer I could think of was, It's Andrew!


Marty

 

[maxxII]

Andrew, when you do a waterchange, do you vaccuum the sand?

 

[Rakie]

Andrew...

It looks like you may be running out of space. I'm sure you're quite happy with where things are at, but for the sake of your fans, I think it's time to upgrade. I just don't think we could be happy without you running at least a 96x48x18 (243x122x46 cm). With a coast to coast low profile Ghost overflow. I mean, that would work in a pinch..

But I think it's just time that you seal your living room, replace your roof with glass, replace that carpet with sand, and flood with about 24-36" of water. I just think you'd be happy snorkeling around your living room. You owe it to yourself buddy.

As a bonus, you could have 2-3 horseshoe crabs as pets roaming around the living room. Just build 'em a little beach and be careful not to step on the stingrays (you need stingrays)

 

[Rakie]

Why don't you need a chiller for your tank? (Drove 14 hours in the past 2 days. This question came up in the fourth hour, Day 1.) The only answer I could think of was, It's Andrew!


Marty

Being serious for a second; I think it's because he has wild collected pieces. Apparently during summer the GBR can hit 86*f -- That's pretty damn warm, if they can survive like that in the wild his tank might be around 80* or less which would be perfect for 'em.

He may also blast the AC in his house. But besides those things, I think it's pretty obvious he's dosing pixie dust.

 

[bif24701]

Being serious for a second; I think it's because he has wild collected pieces. Apparently during summer the GBR can hit 86*f -- That's pretty damn warm, if they can survive like that in the wild his tank might be around 80* or less which would be perfect for 'em.



He may also blast the AC in his house. But besides those things, I think it's pretty obvious he's dosing pixie dust.

It's the pixie dust.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[plyle02]

That cross side shot is sick Andrew!!! Have not been up to date, and your thread moves quickly, hope all is going well on the reef mate

 

[bif24701]

Andrew,
I am still getting through your blog, it's great. I have some questions though.

Do you use a magnetic or electronic ballast on the 400 Radiums?

Also on PE, I see that it's your though that PE indicates the coral is reaching or "stressed" as in a good way. I assume this is because of a low nutrient high light environment, is that correct? Keeping light PAR high and blue cause the coral to reduce zooxanthellae populations and reveal the true huges of the skin? I see you are the master at this. It seems you have access to "large" started colonies for a reasonable price. Here in the States is very where I am, I'm am lucky to get more tan 2" on a frag from similar cost. So my next question is are you concerned for rapid growth? Is it possible to "stress" the coral for best colors while getting the good growth? My problem is I am starting with small frags and need growth but I don't want to sacrifice nice colors.

I would like to ask many more questions but they may already be addressed further within the reading. Thank you for helping a trainee. Your coral is my inspiration.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[seachange]

Any updates on the diy component 1,2,3 yet Andrew?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[deaclauderdale]

Reef keeping is life!

 

[Rakie]

Any updates on the diy component 1,2,3 yet Andrew?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wait, DIY AF 1, 2, 3?? Damn, you study for one exam and you miss everything, lol

 

[cugly]

Lots of new acro i see tank looks great my friend.

 

[biggles]

Any updates on the diy component 1,2,3 yet Andrew?

 

[biggles]

The Trochus snails Ive had for a couple years only get to a max size of maybe 5/8" , they're not large like some of the turbo snails. Great colour contrast in that last picture , I love the look of those yellow striped cardinals and recently ordered a bunch after seeing yours.

You'll love the cardinals Jess, they aren't shy and will steal food from the mouths of other fish - gangster cardinals....

Groovy acro tastic heaven.

What a video.. what a pic!

Can't say enough about how important snails are in my tank. Without them, I would no longer be in the hobby. I have a good 80-100..
I wish mine reproduced!

I think a lot of guys miss the importance of not only cycling the food via fish but also doing the same with algae via snails Matt.

Beautiful t5 shot man! Great colors in thoes pieces.

We have always kept a huge population of snails. When things are going good there are eggs all over the glass and rocks from each type of snail. We like to keep a few Mexican turbo snails as well as some tuxedo urchins. We stay away from crabs because they always lodge themselves in the same acro and in the same branch no matter what... Right now cerith snails are making up the most eggs piles. I definatly share your love for a good clean up crew of snails.
We also have huge populations of mini brittle stars and stomellas. The mini stars I can find a ball of ten under just one frag plug. The stomellas keep a large population going by themselves obviously and I think they really help out as well.

Sounds like you have a great snail population thriving in your reef mate, i would take that as a very good sign you have conditions that acros will love - just so long as the nutrient levels are always under YOUR control, the more snails breeding the better.

Astrea snails are the best algae remover in my tank. They have been cleaning up all of the algae from the tank crash--better than a tooth brush! I have some major chiseling to do in my tank and can appreciate your disdain for using the chisel! As usual, your acros are colorful and are doing very well:beer:!...................Jim

Thanks Jim, there's no middle ground when using the rusty chisel in the water mate. Operations either go quickly and without incident or terrible snapping and smashing of innocent acros ensues........:hammer:

what a nice picture!! :bounce3:

Thanks Flo

Why don't you need a chiller for your tank? (Drove 14 hours in the past 2 days. This question came up in the fourth hour, Day 1.) The only answer I could think of was, It's Andrew!

Marty

I have a large reverse cycle air con on the wall 5ft from the display Marty - it points dead center at the back panel.

Andrew, when you do a waterchange, do you vaccuum the sand?

I haven't recently Max but i did in the past and it was needed looking at the filth removed so i will do it again probably starting with next weekend's water change.

Being serious for a second; I think it's because he has wild collected pieces. Apparently during summer the GBR can hit 86*f -- That's pretty damn warm, if they can survive like that in the wild his tank might be around 80* or less which would be perfect for 'em.

He may also blast the AC in his house. But besides those things, I think it's pretty obvious he's dosing pixie dust.

I blast the air con buddy.....

It's the pixie dust.

Pixie fats Aaron.........

That cross side shot is sick Andrew!!! Have not been up to date, and your thread moves quickly, hope all is going well on the reef mate

Thanks Perry, the tank is going well mate.

 

[biggles]

Andrew,
I am still getting through your blog, it's great. I have some questions though.

Do you use a magnetic or electronic ballast on the 400 Radiums?

Also on PE, I see that it's your though that PE indicates the coral is reaching or "stressed" as in a good way. I assume this is because of a low nutrient high light environment, is that correct? Keeping light PAR high and blue cause the coral to reduce zooxanthellae populations and reveal the true huges of the skin? I see you are the master at this. It seems you have access to "large" started colonies for a reasonable price. Here in the States is very where I am, I'm am lucky to get more tan 2" on a frag from similar cost. So my next question is are you concerned for rapid growth? Is it possible to "stress" the coral for best colors while getting the good growth? My problem is I am starting with small frags and need growth but I don't want to sacrifice nice colors.

I would like to ask many more questions but they may already be addressed further within the reading. Thank you for helping a trainee. Your coral is my inspiration.

Hey Aaron, i use magnetic HPS ballasts mate. Dave was running the 400's on electronic ballasts and the acros weren't doing any better than with the cheap Chinese bulbs he had running at first. As soon as he swapped the ballasts out for the same ones i use the acro holding tank began humming with colorful growing pieces for sale. He also uses AF for dosing now on the SPS system.

On the PE front, i think if you manage to keep your conditions conducive to zoa populations closer to those in nature and manage to keep a steady supply of nutrition water borne, you will see better day time PE as the acros source nutrition relying less on excess energy from the zoa.
Rather than using elements such as copper to force zoa expulsion, i think very efficient bio filtration to hold low phos and nitrate levels whilst adding decent amounts of food daily is the way to go. I think the word 'stress' is wrong really, it's more like getting closer to conditions in nature imo. It's a very simple method with bugger all equipment required to achieve pretty good results.

As i said earlier, i'm starting to see new tips on lots of pieces now and i have very saturated and bright pigments as you can see in the pics hopefully.

Any updates on the diy component 1,2,3 yet Andrew?

It's going well so far mate. I dose 190ml a day atm and a lot of acros are waking up and beginning to grow.

I don't have any affiliation with any company but i wouldn't hesitate to recommend using just the basic balling solutions without any other AF products as i'm doing if you want to cover your water quality bases. It gives better results than the basic Randy's type balling imo, i do weekly 100L water changes from the 750L system volume using a mix of AF reef salt and instant ocean salt just to use the IO salt i have up.

Reef keeping is life!

It's a cool hobby - just as long as things are going well, otherwise it's a money suckhole of gloom.........:beer:

Wait, DIY AF 1, 2, 3?? Damn, you study for one exam and you miss everything, lol

I've been using the AF balling solutions for months now mate.

Lots of new acro i see tank looks great my friend.

Thanks Dan, i removed all the phos minus and carbon 10 days ago so just the skimmer pulling about 300ml a day and the matrix loose on the sump bottom. Keeping the media clean and with very, very slow water flow past it seems to work extremely efficiently for my system as it turns out. The glass is spotless for two full lighting periods with three big fish feeds a day along with a nightly dose of fatty acids.

Nitrates - 1.0 Salifert

Phos - 0.01 Elos High Res

Dom came over and picked out about ten frags today to make a start on his reef ........... he'll be happy now he has some more acros to stress about............

 

[bif24701]

Hey Aaron, i use magnetic HPS ballasts mate. Dave was running the 400's on electronic ballasts and the acros weren't doing any better than with the cheap Chinese bulbs he had running at first. As soon as he swapped the ballasts out for the same ones i use the acro holding tank began humming with colorful growing pieces for sale. He also uses AF for dosing now on the SPS system.



On the PE front, i think if you manage to keep your conditions conducive to zoa populations closer to those in nature and manage to keep a steady supply of nutrition water borne, you will see better day time PE as the acros source nutrition relying less on excess energy from the zoa.

Rather than using elements such as copper to force zoa expulsion, i think very efficient bio filtration to hold low phos and nitrate levels whilst adding decent amounts of food daily is the way to go. I think the word 'stress' is wrong really, it's more like getting closer to conditions in nature imo. It's a very simple method with bugger all equipment required to achieve pretty good results.



As i said earlier, i'm starting to see new tips on lots of pieces now and i have very saturated and bright pigments as you can see in the pics hopefully.

Currently I have very good PE, 24/7. Nutrients are low (NO3:0.0ppm RSP/PO4: 0.02 ULR Hanna) I feed well and have 4 tangs about to be 5 in my 180. I feel my corals need a boost and may be some what starved. I would like to copy you dosing additives. I believe you where dosing Koralcolor and Luguls. Luguls, Is that an iodine supplement? Now you are adding AF balling, and AA?

I don't do two part only Kalk, what would you recommend for me?




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gregkn73]

.

As i said earlier, i'm starting to see new tips on lots of pieces now and i have very saturated and bright pigments as you can see in the pics hopefully.



It's going well so far mate. I dose 190ml a day atm and a lot of acros are waking up and beginning to grow.

I don't have any affiliation with any company but i wouldn't hesitate to recommend using just the basic balling solutions without any other AF products as i'm doing if you want to cover your water quality bases. It gives better results than the basic Randy's type balling imo, i do weekly 100L water changes from the 750L system volume using a mix of AF reef salt and instant ocean salt just to use the IO salt i have up.


:



I've been using the AF balling solutions for months now mate.

Wonderful colours Andrew, combined with growth you wanted. Bravo!

What made you go ,from nearly no water changes at the beginning of 2016, to nearly 15% weekly water change nowdays?

The success with aquaforest bailing solution, do you thing is due to more clear ca, mg, kh supplements or because of the microelements at the correct dosage you add , with reef mineral salt and components strong?

 

[Pife]

I see more and more flubber everytime I look at your tank.

 

[seachange]

It's going well so far mate. I dose 190ml a day atm and a lot of acros are waking up and beginning to grow.



I don't have any affiliation with any company but i wouldn't hesitate to recommend using just the basic balling solutions without any other AF products as i'm doing if you want to cover your water quality bases. It gives better results than the basic Randy's type balling imo, i do weekly 100L water changes from the 750L system volume using a mix of AF reef salt and instant ocean salt just to use the IO salt i have up.

Andrew, thanks mate. Are you using the ready made ones or the one where you mix component strong to to the CA,KH manually?

2 things that concern me and would like your thoughts and observation thus far how it is affecting your acros,

1)on the CU that is in Component 1+ and if it is affecting in any way? Or is that amount negligible?

2)The amount of heavy metals present in the mix.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[biggles]

Currently I have very good PE, 24/7. Nutrients are low (NO3:0.0ppm RSP/PO4: 0.02 ULR Hanna) I feed well and have 4 tangs about to be 5 in my 180. I feel my corals need a boost and may be some what starved. I would like to copy you dosing additives. I believe you where dosing Koralcolor and Luguls. Luguls, Is that an iodine supplement? Now you are adding AF balling, and AA?

I don't do two part only Kalk, what would you recommend for me?

I don't think your phos and nitrates are too low just so long as you're putting plenty of food through the system daily. I have 200 gal total water volume actually in the system so probably close to your water volume total.
I feed 4 x frozen mysis cubes, 8 x pinches of mini pellets a day along with half a sheet of nori. Every second night after lights out i add one drop of Continuum Bio"¢Viv HUFA essential lipid and vitamin complex to a cup of aquarium water and swish the you know what out of it to dissolve it well and then tip it in the display.
And yes i know it says ' Bio"¢Viv HUFA is not meant to be added directly to the aquarium and is too strong for such use ' but they don't know how well we manage our water quality these days so sit in the corner and shut up continuum lab tech geek.......:hammer:

That's all the nutrient input the system receives atm so how does that compare with the quantity of food you're putting in Aaron ?

Why don't you try a 3 x 5L batch of the AF balling solutions instead of the other stuff. If you see no improvements in 2-3 weeks then it's probably your lighting spectrum and or other water parameters out of whack. You don't need to do anything else except feed the fish lots.

Wonderful colours Andrew, combined with growth you wanted. Bravo!

What made you go ,from nearly no water changes at the beginning of 2016, to nearly 15% weekly water change nowdays?

The success with aquaforest bailing solution, do you thing is due to more clear ca, mg, kh supplements or because of the microelements at the correct dosage you add , with reef mineral salt and components strong?

I think it's likely just a case of increasing the overall stability of the water parameters. Instead of just keeping the alk and calcium etc stable we are now keeping other elements in supply daily instead of the see saw effect with weekly water changes. it might be just as simple as that for all i know.

I like to do the weekly water changes so i can keep the media clean of detritus. Once every 3 or 4 weeks would be fine i think given the extra elements in the comp 123. I do 100L or 4 x 25L drums because i can remove that much from just the sump without affecting the water in the display and the frag section which lets me take my time.

I see more and more flubber everytime I look at your tank.

Lol the weird thing is i haven't bought any for at least 6 months so i don't know where it's coming from...........:uhoh2:

Andrew, thanks mate. Are you using the ready made ones or the one where you mix component strong to to the CA,KH manually?

2 things that concern me and would like your thoughts and observation thus far how it is affecting your acros,

1)on the CU that is in Component 1+ and if it is affecting in any way? Or is that amount negligible?

2)The amount of heavy metals present in the mix.

I use the DIY mix after i used up the first ready to go batch of 5L containers. Mindy used the AF for quite a while and then had a Triton test on the water which didn't show up anything like high copper etc. Pretty sure she was using more off the AF additives than i do as well so i'm not worried about toxic levels of any heavy metals from using just the comp 123.
In a month or so i'll get a Triton test as well to check how things are with my levels.
I wouldn't suggest anything that might lead to longer term problems knowingly mate and i'm certain you won't have any issues with regards to heavy metal build up.

Look down the page to see Mindy's Triton results.

Mindy's SPS Tank