A Splash of Color

[Chibils]

Thanks mate



The only reason i am running 400W Radiums over the 18" display is for coverage. I can run them higher and cover more tank bottom than with 250W bulbs. 3 x 250W's lower would achieve the same effect but my display tank is designed for two halides only due to the center brace. In Aus Radium bulbs cost me $150 + so i'd rather run just two radiums. I usually run radium bulbs for 8 months before swapping but it also depends on finances etc as to how long i run them for.
The triple T5 units have Giesemann bulbs. 2 x actinic blue and 1 x lagoon blue in each.
The Radiums run on 400W HPS magnetic ballasts and one reflector is a rectangular fish street cheapo and the other is a $10- bat wing piece of garbage that came for free with one of the ballasts. I would like to buy a couple of real reflectors one day when i have cash to spare.

Using the 250W's and 2 x twin T5 units should be plenty. I would happily run those over a bottom area up to about 48"x30" at 16" depth with the radiums about 8-9" above the water. That's if i wanted to be able to do the same thing i have done with this display. You won't have a problem at all with what you have planned, you'll have more probs finding low light areas for your flubber than having enough light for the acros.

Thanks for the detailed breakdown mate. I'm thinking one 250w halide in a Lumenarc over a 36 x 16 x 16 tank with the 4 T5s will give me lots of acro space under the big shiny bulb with plenty of flubber hiding places and room for chalices and stylos and hydnophora and pocillopora and other less demanding SPS. Like a crown of acros in the center.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[aggie13reef]

and i want good growth like Matt and Perry with good colors like Matt and Perry........

I think that we all want this! These two tanks are one of the main reasons I picked up a couple AF products.

 

[biggles]

It seems to me- and maybe I'm wrong- that you do a considerable amount of tank rearranging. Moving corals, cutting, glueing, sand in sand out..
I just wonder if the corals haven't had enough time to sit, get comfortable and start growing..
Not to mention that I'd rather have your colours than my growth..

Thanks Matt, i know pottering doesn't help but the sand was removed for the first time since starting the peninsula. Quite a few acros haven't been disturbed for over 6 months (a record) and they grow super slow as well. :spin2:

You aren't supposed to use Micro E with component 1,2,3 for that very reason. Micro E is actually one of the less used supplements, for example Debora does not use it.

I think the 123 should take care of things between regular water changes, seems to work ok for Debora......

That is how I understand it. Component 1/2/3 already has the micro elements.

Stunning coral coloration Andrew. I'd be interested to hear if you crack the 'my coral looks great but it isn't growing' conundrum.

Thanks Rich, funny you should mention that mate

Many other elements are in components 1,2,3. Micro-E is for replacing some of the metals that get bound or degraded quickly. I use a Calcium reactor, so the basic trace elements are replenished that way.

I would like a calcium reactor but i just can't be stuffed tbh Matt lol.

Looks like it is still the same shape as before. Pretty sure you have that piece about the same time I had mine - but it is no longer with me. :thumbdown

Everything from that shipment was severely bleached which is why it all looked radioactive Kevin lol. There is nothing more crazy 'buy me buy me' looking than stunning colored acros that have just bleached. Trouble is they are extremely fragile and will die if you even look at them for too long.....
I lost one piece out of eight that all looked radioactive like Dom's piece. None looked quite as insane as his did but they were all still obvious stunners - given lots of warm radium cuddles to make them feel at home of course...

Hmmm, this is news to me! I know there is copper in the Coral E. So we're double dipping on the copper? Oh gasp! :celeb2:

You see my point Mindy, putting it in multiple products makes it easy to goof imo.

Thanks for the detailed breakdown mate. I'm thinking one 250w halide in a Lumenarc over a 36 x 16 x 16 tank with the 4 T5s will give me lots of acro space under the big shiny bulb with plenty of flubber hiding places and room for chalices and stylos and hydnophora and pocillopora and other less demanding SPS. Like a crown of acros in the center.

That will work just fine mate. I had a single 250W radium over my 40 x 24 x 18 and then went to 400W and lifted it to 10" with twin 39W T5's either side. You will be able to cover a good 24" of your tank length with acros from the sand up.
Flubber looks awesome under radiums btw...........

I think that we all want this! These two tanks are one of the main reasons I picked up a couple AF products.

And neither of them is Canadian which is what really sealed the deal for me to trust them.............:beer:

 

[biggles]

Btw, i have the following coming from Germany........:reading:

TRITON TRACE BASE Cobalt
TRITON TRACE BASE Lithium
TRITON TRACE BASE Manganese
TRITON TRACE BASE Zinc


This is interesting.....

I started the AF 123 a week ago today and adding 3 drops of the AF build (1/2 dose) each night. I tested daily the first three days and the draw sat steady at 150ml a day. I then tested on day 5 and the 150ml dose was holding the alk at 7.0 and the calcium at 410 still.
Today i turned the lights on and the acros all looked 'off'. No shine or pop to anything but nothing bad and PE was ok. I tested alk because that;s the first thing you should ALWAYS test first when you look at your babies and your acro senses begin tingling.......and i got 6.1 !
Retested and still got 6.1 so i used the calibration fluid and the test was spot on.

I poured 50ml of comp 2 into the sump baffles over 30 secs and put 100ml of comp 2 into the daily 2L RO alk dripper and set it dripping twice as fast as normal. That was at 8am and by 6pm when the lights were going off i could see the acros looking brighter. Sounds like BS i know it can be that quick when you catch it right on the edge of angry acro time lol.
The water was 6.7 at 6pm with the 150ml total i had dosed. I put another 100ml in the 2L dripper to run overnight and will see whats what in the morning.

I put a double dose - 300ml of comp 1 through the ATO but didn't bother to test the calcium, will tomorrow but it would have been down too.

It would appear that i missed quite a few of my acros waking up. I'm going to stick to what i'm doing for a few weeks and watch what happens. Btw i missed a water change last weekend so it's been almost two weeks since new water was added.

600L water.

I am using comp 123 at no idea ml's a day
4 drops builder at night
1 drop lugols each morning
1.0ml koral color each morning and 0.5ml each night

Still feeding lots of mysis, flake, pellets and nori every day soaked in garlic and hufa first - way too much for the fish i have atm but i am battling ich so will deal with the fallout. The glass is hazy green within 4 hours of cleaning........ i don't clean it much as it's pointless lol.

Oh, and i'm going to start using the AF sea salt this weekend instead of the instant ocean.

 

[martinphillip03]

Andrew, good catch. Its always nice to read the success stories. Its amazing how all dropping 1 point could make such a difference.
What do you attribute the sudden drop of alkalinity too.

Marty

 

[Myka]

Andrew that happened to me too! All was steady, then all of a sudden the Acros woke up and I was increasing the dosers every week. I'd test at 6.7-6.8, add some product, up the dose, next week same thing. Now I'm sitting steady just recently. However, it's my understanding that when you add a "correction dose" you should not use the 1+2+3+ fluids because of the macros in there. Also, you can't buy the 1+2+3+ separately so you have to use them evenly. When I have to add a correction dose I just add a bit of Sodium bicarb or carb whichever I find first. Interestingly, I'm a few months in now and I've found that my tank truly does use all three components evenly - SO WEIRD. I've used a ton of 2-part and 3-part dosing methods and always, always, ALWAYS used more alkalinity part than calcium and Mg. AF has something right for sure.

 

[Chibils]

That will work just fine mate. I had a single 250W radium over my 40 x 24 x 18 and then went to 400W and lifted it to 10" with twin 39W T5's either side. You will be able to cover a good 24" of your tank length with acros from the sand up.
Flubber looks awesome under radiums btw...........

Thanks for all your help mate. I want to play around with this, the bulbs especially. I was thinking about a ReefLux 12,000K or 10,000K with Blue+ or actinic T5s, but I may do Radium 20,000K with Fiji Pink and Coral+ and actinic. Your thread is a constant source of inspiration and more importantly knowledge that the secret order of acro keepers seems to hide from everyone else.

Edit: what do you think of this new Aquaforest biofiltration media? https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...share_tid=2589721&share_fid=1489&share_type=t


Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[bibarassa]

Btw, i have the following coming from Germany........:reading:

TRITON TRACE BASE Cobalt
TRITON TRACE BASE Lithium
TRITON TRACE BASE Manganese
TRITON TRACE BASE Zinc

Andrew, why will you dose all these elements?

 

[bibarassa]

Btw, i have the following coming from Germany........:reading:

TRITON TRACE BASE Cobalt
TRITON TRACE BASE Lithium
TRITON TRACE BASE Manganese
TRITON TRACE BASE Zinc

Andrew, why will you dose all these elements? Do they replace coral color?

 

[biggles]

Andrew, good catch. Its always nice to read the success stories. Its amazing how all dropping 1 point could make such a difference.
What do you attribute the sudden drop of alkalinity too.

Marty

Thanks Marty, after turning the lights on this morning i know it's from a positive turn in acro happiness levels

Andrew that happened to me too! All was steady, then all of a sudden the Acros woke up and I was increasing the dosers every week. I'd test at 6.7-6.8, add some product, up the dose, next week same thing. Now I'm sitting steady just recently. However, it's my understanding that when you add a "correction dose" you should not use the 1+2+3+ fluids because of the macros in there. Also, you can't buy the 1+2+3+ separately so you have to use them evenly. When I have to add a correction dose I just add a bit of Sodium bicarb or carb whichever I find first. Interestingly, I'm a few months in now and I've found that my tank truly does use all three components evenly - SO WEIRD. I've used a ton of 2-part and 3-part dosing methods and always, always, ALWAYS used more alkalinity part than calcium and Mg. AF has something right for sure.

Hey Mindy, i didn't think of the added supps lol so thanks for the heads up. I'll use the straight alk,cal & Mg i used to add for adjustments from now on.
I always used about 30% more alk than calcium which i assumed was due to not having all the alk dissolved, i always had about 10-20% of the alk powder sitting on the bottom of the gallon bucket.
I'll test the alk and calcium soon and keep the 123 doses the same as whatever alk dose i think is needed.

Thanks for all your help mate. I want to play around with this, the bulbs especially. I was thinking about a ReefLux 12,000K or 10,000K with Blue+ or actinic T5s, but I may do Radium 20,000K with Fiji Pink and Coral+ and actinic. Your thread is a constant source of inspiration and more importantly knowledge that the secret order of acro keepers seems to hide from everyone else.

Edit: what do you think of this new Aquaforest biofiltration media? https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...share_tid=2589721&share_fid=1489&share_type=t

Thanks mate

Don't use actinics with radiums imo they were great once but the blue + or actinic blue bulbs around now work way better with radiums. If you can run twin T5 units either side of a radium i would suggest blue plus and coral plus bulbs in each. I run actinic blues and lagoon blues now and i think the lagoon blue bulb is much better for reds/pinks pigment production than the coral plus. If you are going to try a coral plus get a lagoon blue as well. If i could only run a single T5 either side it would be the lagoon blue/coral plus.

That media looks cool for starting a new tank off but other than that i think pouring AF bacteria on 20L of matrix i will run in the new sump will do the same thing after a while. I might mix a couple in with the matrix i have to add different/new bacteria - yep i'm going to do that when it eventually arrives in Aus. :thumbsup:

Has anyone noticed how super cool the color of the AF containers are. All bright and pastel purpley..... all the pics on their stuff make you drool....... i mean i want to buy that media just because the pic looks so yummy......

I think AF payed some smart arse to design their stuff to make you want to buy it......... when i was at Deer Park last i saw all the AF scattered all over the shop and even though i don't want half of the range i wanted to buy everything - like i REALLY wanted to buy one of everything......

Definitely think there's some weird hypno trickery going on with the AF container designs...... a few of you will get home with a heap of colorful containers full of useless stuff and wonder what happened to the 'i will just get the comp 123' promise you made to yourself...... :wildone:

I have super human mental strength so i resisted, that and Dave took the phos minus off me right away - i didn't really want to have phos absorber in case of emergencies btw as i said earlier. It was the only thing i thought i had a half decent chance of slipping past Dave. I shouldn't have said ' man i want to buy everything ' just prior to picking AF products out, Dave was like ' well you won't be '. :thumbdown
Dave is a roll the stranded whale back into the ocean kind of guy, he's a good guy. I on the other hand would be the guy standing nearby ready to throw a $%#$%$ green wrasse in front of it....... ahhhhhhhh that would be sweeeeeeeeet........ :smokin:

I will never get over that fish..........

Andrew, why will you dose all these elements? Do they replace coral color?

I just want them so i can add zinc to the koral color dosing mate. I got the others as they are in koral color so i want to be able to fine tune my dosing if i feel the need. I will begin by just using some zinc with the dosing i previously listed.

I have the weekend off so i think i will spend it posting porn......... :smokin:

 

[glaukos]

Don't care how it sounds but i can't wait for the porn andrew

 

[biggles]

Tested alk and calcium, can't be bothered doing Mg, i'll do all three tomorrow.

Alk - 6.7 the 100ml top up last night - nailed it :smokin:

Calcium - 410

I think around 200ml is the dose so i added 250ml of both as i would rather err on the side of bumping them up than letting any drop occur again. I like the alk at 7.0 so it needs to rise a bit and the calcium is fine 400-420.

Don't care how it sounds but i can't wait for the porn andrew

Before we do porn i need to point out a failed experiment. The stupid 'pink' stylo i have was looking particularly crappy a couple of months ago and i thought it might be too much light right under a radium.
I went to a lot of trouble to find a small acro piece at Dave's to shade the stupid thing, didn't want more acros obviously but we make sacrifices at times.

I placed it ever so gently on the stylo with putty and waited to see the stylo turn pink again. Instead of that happening the stylo looks bloody worse now, it's a ghastly color and the acro i didn't even want has started to color up instead :hammer:

I didn't bother to tell you guys about the acro two months back because it was for the stylo so it falls outside the 'hidden stunner' declaration rule we all agreed to follow. Since i was voted the ultimate rule enforcer i think i'm in a pretty good position to judge this piece as not being what many refer to as 'pulling a Sahin' :reading:

BJ has failed to relize there is a patch of algae he likes to eat on the putty base and continues to battle the pumps chasing the exact same thing

 

[biggles]

You can just make out the ever so subtle blue dragon breath radium hue i left on this pic.............

 

[biggles]

The spath that every online vendor in the USA wishes they had to sell is doing particularly well this morning........

 

[biggles]

Back around January this year i had this stunner about 90% of the way to white skin and electric blue polyps only. I have had one of these particular color variants before and it's pretty much the best water color friendly indicator i have. If i can get it looking like this again or better i know everything else in the display will be popping.

When i moved the big green stag back i moved this and turned it 180 degrees to the flow. It had been getting hit head on most of the time and had poor PE day and night for months so i had a suspicion that the flow wasn't helping things. The polyps now get flow from right to left and today i noticed some activity on the color and growth fronts i think.

Definite signs of skin lightening and tip growth starting i think. The polyps look purpley blue when it's sulking and icky green but they turn electric blue when the skin tissue whitens and it's got growing tips.

If i can get it back to white all over it's going to look pretty sweet

 

[watchguy123]

You can just make out the ever so subtle blue dragon breath radium hue i left on this pic.............

Each picture is more stunning than the last. This is my favorite though. I presume these pictures are under metal halides. The beautiful, unadulterated color is absolutely breathtaking

 

[biggles]

Each picture is more stunning than the last. This is my favorite though. I presume these pictures are under metal halides. The beautiful, unadulterated color is absolutely breathtaking

Thanks very much mate, considering the stunning collection of acros you hold color on it means a lot

That all blue acro is a one off variant that morphed drastically under captive conditions. All my reefer mates that visit comment on it as being pretty special lol. The entire thing including the underside of the table is blue which is why i moved it when the sand came out to the front right so i could see it from the couch.
I had no idea it was going to turn so blue but neither did the guy who first spotted your oregon tort thingy and lots of other cool acros you can get - especially the Jason Fox acros, that stuff really sh$ts me when you show me your collection...

I'm sure no one in their right mind would have hesitated to drop $40- on this just as i did 4 months ago. The color is a tad more saturated lol.

Back in March, very bleached but very healthy and only a few days off the reef. The piece to its right was extremely pale.

Today, no tip growth so no tip highlights but much more saturated pigments. It should start to shine if it starts growing hopefully.

 

[j_mazzy]

frag me some. Wow, some great pieces!

 

[biggles]

frag me some. Wow, some great pieces!

Lol, thanks mate.

What a mess.........

 

[FloformAustria]

yes what a mess... clear that out, put it in some boxes and send it over to me... :strooper: :lolspin: