A Splash of Color

[glaukos]

Can I join the club or am I like a month too late? :lolspin:

:lolspin::lolspin:
Dom i'm not sure you're allowed to have them both man....and a reef tank and wear those boots

Loved that gov story andrew:lolspin: and i will be waiting to see the results of no dosing!

 

[biggles]

Andrew, what made you decide your corals aren't growing fast enough?

Marty

Because most have no growth tips Marty, they just encrust slowly.

This pic shows me that you're an acro hoarder. A hoarder with great talent and taste. :thumbsup:

Lol thanks mate

Hahaha I am still laughing my *** of from that story!
Let's wait and see how the gov reacts this time!

I meant to tell him to look out for needle jab marks and losing days at a time....... :reading:

Great story Andrew , nice of you to use Doms return address too lmao

Thanks bud

:lolspin:
Dom i'm not sure you're allowed to have them both man....and a reef tank and wear those boots

Loved that gov story andrew:lolspin: and i will be waiting to see the results of no dosing!

He's a bogan Mike..........

This piece has obviously been absorbing the evil leeching from the black matrix stone. :twitch:

 

[1Sharklagoon]

Sick tank love the vlamingi tang

 

[FloformAustria]

They're my girlfriends bogan boots :lolspin: I've adopted them as my own though hahaha

I see no coming back from that post wrangy my friend :lolspin:

 

[M007]

Hey Andrew, you mentioned high N03 and P04, what are your numbers?

 

[biggles]

Sick tank love the vlamingi tang

Thanks mate, unfortunately he died.

Hey Andrew, you mentioned high N03 and P04, what are your numbers?

Hi Mike, tested nitrates at 10 today. They normally sit around 0.2 - 1.0 but have been up with the matrix move out of the overflow. I should have washed the 6L instead of just tipping it in the sump lol. I think once i get the matrix working efficiently i will see everything drop back down.
I don't bother testing phos as it always reads low around 0.02 - 0.05 on the high res Elos kit. When i need to clean the glass more than twice a day like now i know those numbers are BS.

March, not a good pic but i bought it because it looked orangey.

Still a work in progress, deep down i know it needs about 50-100 more PAR to shine but i want it where it is at the front right corner. Only one of the two bits that fell off Dom's acro has biggled up so far. Might need to stick the dud back on Dom's colony i reckon.
The orange monti is getting fried, monti's are a joke. You need to stick them upside down on the sand or they freakin burn in my display :hammer:
That echi hasn't grown a mm in six months. It just sits there looking nice and has PE day and night and............no growth......... none....... zip......

The echi is comatose.

 

[martinphillip03]

Wow, your girlfriend wears a mans size 13EEEE shoe? In women's thats a size 15.
Now thats impressive!

Marty

They're my girlfriends bogan boots :lolspin: I've adopted them as my own though hahaha

 

[maxxII]

They're my girlfriends bogan boots :lolspin: I've adopted them as my own though hahaha

I'm judging in anyway, I was just curious what they were.
You continue to wear as much or as little of your girlfriend's clothing as she lets you.

Sorry for the threat hijack Andrew.

Please dont send the Aussie SAS after me.

 

[eg8r210]

How are you keeping the matrix in your sump? Did you just dump them in a compartment, or in egg crate? A reactor?

 

[glaukos]

I'm judging in anyway, I was just curious what they were.
You continue to wear as much or as little of your girlfriend's clothing as she lets you.

Sorry for the threat hijack Andrew.

Please dont send the Aussie SAS after me.

:lmao::lmao::lmao:
Dom remember that we all love you and just tease only the ones we like:love1::love1:

 

[plyle02]

WOW, WOW, and more WOW, as usual looking amazing with so much color Andrew! I love your scape mate, nothing but fields of colorful acros

 

[Piper27]

I'm going to get some AF phos absorber and run it until the glass stays clean for days - be quite a novelty lol. My very saturated pigments might just be because the acros are growing so slowly for all i know.

So that's what i'm doing this weekend, cleaning crap up and dosing nothing

I think that's a good idea. Recently a number of your corals look very dark compared to a while back. I think getting phosphates out will help with that and help kick growth back into gear! Please let us know how it goes. Are you going to run the absorber in a reactor?
Also have you used rowaphos or a high capacity gfo before? If so let us know how the AF phosphate remover compares to it. Can you get a Hanna uln phosphate checker? I won't use anything else from now on, they really read well.

I was wondering what ballasts your running your halide bulbs with too? How old are the ballasts? Do you have a par meter you check your tank with or are you just guessing what par corals are getting?

Also, do you guys in austraila get mariculture acros sent in ever? I was wondering if they do what are the prices. Because you get the acros out of the reef for so cheap but there are no mariculture places in the country I would bet they would be expensive and to some not worth it. Although there are some crazy pieces being cultured these days.

 

[maxxII]

I'm judging in anyway, I was just curious what they were.
You continue to wear as much or as little of your girlfriend's clothing as she lets you.

Sorry for the threat hijack Andrew.

Please dont send the Aussie SAS after me.

:lmao::lmao::lmao:
Dom remember that we all love you and just tease only the ones we like:love1::love1:

This...just intending good natured teasing here, not hostility. My original post should have read "I'm NOT judging in anyway". However, my brain was running faster than my fingers could type and I get that crucial NOT into the post. My apologies.

I think that's a good idea. Recently a number of your corals look very dark compared to a while back. I think getting phosphates out will help with that and help kick growth back into gear! Please let us know how it goes. Are you going to run the absorber in a reactor?
Also have you used rowaphos or a high capacity gfo before? If so let us know how the AF phosphate remover compares to it. Can you get a Hanna uln phosphate checker? I won't use anything else from now on, they really read well.

I was wondering what ballasts your running your halide bulbs with too? How old are the ballasts? Do you have a par meter you check your tank with or are you just guessing what par corals are getting?

Also, do you guys in austraila get mariculture acros sent in ever? I was wondering if they do what are the prices. Because you get the acros out of the reef for so cheap but there are no mariculture places in the country I would bet they would be expensive and to some not worth it. Although there are some crazy pieces being cultured these days.

Back on track....I found the Hanna ULR Checker, (AKA Green Egg) to be a PITA. It annoyed me so much I sold it and spent the money on a Hanna 96713 Photometer kit. IME/IMO, it's well worth the cost to purchase.

 

[martinphillip03]

Andrew, what sort of numbers are you shooting for, for greater coral growth. Any chance you might add an algae refugium to your system. You could keeps different types of red and green algae. And maybe a ball of Chaeto to boot. If you feel ambitious, maybe some Australian Seahorses and pipefish.
http://www.seahorse-australia.com.au/about-seahorses

Marty

 

[biggles]

How are you keeping the matrix in your sump? Did you just dump them in a compartment, or in egg crate? A reactor?

Until Monday it was all lying on the sump bottom in a pile of sludge. The day before i removed 8lbs of live rock and chucked it on the garden bed so just matrix now for sump bio filtration.

These leaf catcher baskets looked right up my alley, they have 1/4" high tabs for feet and the rain water pipe fitting actually snaps into place tightly held by the tabs.
It took me 10 mins to locate and devise the entire snap lock matrix bio strainer containment vessel (pat pend.) system. This is man reefing ! I don't just go and buy some ready made aquarium gear when i can put my LEGO diploma of engineering degree to work.

I removed the skimmer and used that section to hold the washed baskets of matrix after i used another strainer to sieve the stones for filth and sand etc in the main section. I then removed 75L of disgusting water from the section that i washed in. I needed to remove another 10L to get the last of the dirty water but i couldn't be bothered making more and just pretended it was clean.
This is after replacing the water and running with a 100 micron felt sock for an hour. I also have 4 baskets in the overflow, two double deckers on each far side of the overflow section.

I cleaned the skimmer cup but did not disturb the inner tube at all so the skimmer would fire back up withing 5-10 mins. Trust me you'll see why i didn't want to wait hours for the neck to slime up.
The reef toothbrush has been with me for many years.....

I have a tunze 6045 bottom left corner blowing up to the top right corner to keep good flow over the media.

This is what the display looked like 5 mins after i didn't remove that last bit of dirty water, can't even tell so it was a good call on my behalf.......... the clown wasn't impressed.........

 

[slin1977]

Is that an aquaculture gramma loreto I see?

 

[glaukos]

Great info andrew,thanks for sharing mate:beer:
I can only imagine what was under that matrix bed you had:uhoh3:
The way you have them now is probably much better
I swear,reefers are the most "bob the builder" dudes

Why don't you place 6045 to blow at the bottom,so minimal detritus will gather up?
Just asking bud not pointing
Do you still feed the tank with skimmate?

 

[biggles]

WOW, WOW, and more WOW, as usual looking amazing with so much color Andrew! I love your scape mate, nothing but fields of colorful acros

Thanks Perry, be nice if i could actually see the bloody scape without the mess though mate......

I think that's a good idea. Recently a number of your corals look very dark compared to a while back. I think getting phosphates out will help with that and help kick growth back into gear! Please let us know how it goes. Are you going to run the absorber in a reactor?
Also have you used rowaphos or a high capacity gfo before? If so let us know how the AF phosphate remover compares to it. Can you get a Hanna uln phosphate checker? I won't use anything else from now on, they really read well.

I was wondering what ballasts your running your halide bulbs with too? How old are the ballasts? Do you have a par meter you check your tank with or are you just guessing what par corals are getting?

Also, do you guys in austraila get mariculture acros sent in ever? I was wondering if they do what are the prices. Because you get the acros out of the reef for so cheap but there are no mariculture places in the country I would bet they would be expensive and to some not worth it. Although there are some crazy pieces being cultured these days.

I will get some AF phos minus and put it in a bag in the baffles. I've used rowaphos before for ages so i know how potent gfo is when it isn't used cautiously.
I use the Elos high res kit as the hanna annoyed the you know what out of me. I'd recommend it to anyone as a reliable and easy to use phos kit rather than being an egg head reefer.....
I use HPS magnetic ballasts - same ballasts i have always run the radiums on.
Don't have a PAR meter so i just guess - i'm a pretty good guesser after guessing for many years.
No mariculture that i know of mate, we have sustainable reefs doing real frag aquaculture and export and over time they will get bigger and better i'm sure. Right now i think they are surprised at the crazy demand for their frags lol and trying to deal with it somehow.
I think i prefer to just have a display tbh, much less stressful.

Back on track....I found the Hanna ULR Checker, (AKA Green Egg) to be a PITA. It annoyed me so much I sold it and spent the money on a Hanna 96713 Photometer kit. IME/IMO, it's well worth the cost to purchase.

The Elos would smash your stupid photometer thingy kit mate.......... cool reefers use Elos............

Andrew, what sort of numbers are you shooting for, for greater coral growth. Any chance you might add an algae refugium to your system. You could keeps different types of red and green algae. And maybe a ball of Chaeto to boot. If you feel ambitious, maybe some Australian Seahorses and pipefish.
http://www.seahorse-australia.com.au/about-seahorses

Marty

I want low numbers WITH low glass cleaning. I want what the kit says now without double daily glass cleaning but every three days. I want that without lowering food input and i intend tripling my fish load in the next couple of months. About 25 more fish to be exact.
If i want to grow lettuce i'll start a veggie patch Marty....... this is acro growing mate.
I have thought about the nutritional value of blended seahorses fed to the acros after lights out but i think it would be cost prohibitive. I hadn't thought of pipefish however so i'll look into those :thumbsup:

In future Marty i think it's best to PM me about blitzing up seahorses etc mate - some of these guys and gals will get the wrong idea about you otherwise buddy :beer:

 

[biggles]

Is that an aquaculture gramma loreto I see?

Nope, it's my wild one i've had for a couple of years Nils. Well spotted as he's well hidden behind the clown.

Great info andrew,thanks for sharing mate:beer:
I can only imagine what was under that matrix bed you had:uhoh3:
The way you have them now is probably much better
I swear,reefers are the most "bob the builder" dudes

Why don't you place 6045 to blow at the bottom,so minimal detritus will gather up?
Just asking bud not pointing
Do you still feed the tank with skimmate?

Thanks Mike, it was very filthy so i'm glad i did it now. I wanted to put them in the baskets so it was easy to move them when the new sump is ready rather than having to clean and sort them during that chaos.
I tried blowing it under the baskets but the top was too stagnant and the heaters need more flow. If you saw it going you'd see it's working out well the way i ended up pointing it.

I don't do anything except weekly water changes and plain alk, calc etc daily now Mike. It's quite odd tbh as i always have this niggling feeling that i need to dose a drop of something.......... anything........... i need a fix Mike....... :fun4:

 

[glaukos]

i'm 100% with you on that wagon andrew:beer:
When i find my self not throwing something in there,i think i'm lazy and neglecting my tank...
On the other hand when i dose something daily,i have the feeling that the tank owns me and not the opposite..go figure:uhoh3: