tmc1313
Active member
Well done on the 'scape. Keep us updated on those Hydras.
Thanks. Sure thing, I'll be updating whenever I add or change something. Otherwise I plan on updating every few months just to show growth.
"Bonsai Reef" (SPS style)
- Thread starter tmc1313
- Start date
Thanks. Sure thing, I'll be updating whenever I add or change something. Otherwise I plan on updating every few months just to show growth.
PanicBuyer
New member
Wow, very artistic.
LobsterOfJustice
Recovering Detritophobe
Looks like red bugs on the pearlberry, FYI
tmc1313
Active member
Thanks, I'm actually running two Hydra 52's right now with two actinic T5's in front and back. I think the addition of T5's evens everything out.
Hi, thanks for the heads up, but there are no red bugs in the tank (thankfully). I went back and looked at the pic and I see how you might think that though. Might have just been something caught on the coral at the time I snapped the pic. Also, that pic was taken a little while ago. I'm sure I would have noticed if there were RB's by now. I'm always on the look out for any nasty pests.:uzi:
tmc1313
Active member
Thank you! I'm really happy how the scaping turned out. I think the only downside to this look is that I'm limited on space for coral. I guess to have the look I want that's the sacrifice that has to be made. I can live with it though, I just have to be more selective with my coral choices.
tannersmith2000
New member
Nice reef bommies
jackson6745
Yeah Yeah
Killer scape!
tmc1313
Active member
Hi guys, time for my quarterly update. I changed my lights again from AI Hydra's to AI Hydra 52's. Most of my corals are easy or no name SPS. The corals showing the best growth and color over the last 3 months are the staghorns, stylo's, turaki, and lokani. The blue stag in the middle/left has colored up and been growing like crazy. The ones showing the least growth and color are the Mille's (bad color, but good growth) and birdnest's (good color, bad growth). I lost a maricultured Loripes colony, but this had been struggling for quite a while. I bleached it when I first switched over to led's and it just never recovered. My nitrates have been undetectable so I have been trying to feed more and cut back on my water changes to try and darken things up a bit. I don't use carbon or GFO and recently I put some online via a phosban reactor. I think I added too much because things lightened up again after they were doing so well. I have no idea why I did that knowing my nitrates and phosphates were already low. Since then I have taken it back offline and don't run any carbon or GFO now. My slimer was a nice deep fluorescent green and now it's a few shades lighter. It's recovered from much worse. So I took some recent pics for documentation. Things had looked better, but the GFO/carbon really brought things a step or two back. Hopefully the next quarterly pics will be much better.
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trueblackpercula
New member
First off I want to say your tank is very inspirational. I had this problem and corrected it with feeding my Sps the below recipe. There is also something I am using called reef booster instead of pappone. I just wanted to make sure I tried a few different foods before deciding on what would be the one I would use long term. Either of these are great food and I would recommend to anyone with a reef tank. If you have any questions let me know and please keep the pictures coming.
Pappone Recipe Italian Coral Food (Updated 1/14/2007)
Materials:
5 Oysters
5 Mussels
5 Clams
5 Shrimp (NOT cocktail shrimp, the big scampi type w/o the head and the shell)
1 Tablespoon of Sugar (not corn syrup, etc.)
200 mL of RO/DI water
10 g of Red Algae (Palmaria palmata; Bisck uses Julian Sprung's brand)
and/or 10 g of Spirulina, 10 g of Nori (spirulina is what Bisck prefers)
Methods: Make SURE that all ingredients are the freshest possible and DO NOT use frozen foods (unless it is impossible for you). Make sure everything "live" is rinsed and cleaned before putting it into the blender. Put all the ingredients into the blender and blend for 5 min, wait 2 min for it to cool, 5 more min blending, 2 min of waiting again, then finally another 5 min of blending (the pausing is so that the solution doesn't get too hot and "cook" from the heat of the blender/blades). Pour into cube forms (approx 10 mL each). Then freeze it all—you want to minimize how long everything is at room temperature.
Procedure: One hour prior to turning off your lights, you have the option of adding Amino acids to the tank*. (For example, 11pm Halides off, add AA’s, 12am, actinics off, then add pappone). Take off the cup of your skimmer, but leave the skimmer running (so you don’t have a massive drop in O2 levels overnight). After the lights are off, start with only a ¼ of a cube per WEEK for every 400 L of tank water (approx 100 gallons). Be sure to measure NO3 and PO4 the next morning so that these parameters don't spike after feeding. You can reduce the amount fed if you are having nutrient problems. Also don’t forget to put the skimmer cup back on the next morning before the lights go back on.
*If everything is going well. It is good to wait and see how the tank is doing for awhile before trying this. The whole point here is that you don't want to change anything too fast, because nothing good happens quickly in this hobby. (Another method to grind up amino acid pills in the next batch of food; however Bisck found that it sometimes causes diatom outbreaks in his tank
Pappone Recipe Italian Coral Food (Updated 1/14/2007)
Materials:
5 Oysters
5 Mussels
5 Clams
5 Shrimp (NOT cocktail shrimp, the big scampi type w/o the head and the shell)
1 Tablespoon of Sugar (not corn syrup, etc.)
200 mL of RO/DI water
10 g of Red Algae (Palmaria palmata; Bisck uses Julian Sprung's brand)
and/or 10 g of Spirulina, 10 g of Nori (spirulina is what Bisck prefers)
Methods: Make SURE that all ingredients are the freshest possible and DO NOT use frozen foods (unless it is impossible for you). Make sure everything "live" is rinsed and cleaned before putting it into the blender. Put all the ingredients into the blender and blend for 5 min, wait 2 min for it to cool, 5 more min blending, 2 min of waiting again, then finally another 5 min of blending (the pausing is so that the solution doesn't get too hot and "cook" from the heat of the blender/blades). Pour into cube forms (approx 10 mL each). Then freeze it all—you want to minimize how long everything is at room temperature.
Procedure: One hour prior to turning off your lights, you have the option of adding Amino acids to the tank*. (For example, 11pm Halides off, add AA’s, 12am, actinics off, then add pappone). Take off the cup of your skimmer, but leave the skimmer running (so you don’t have a massive drop in O2 levels overnight). After the lights are off, start with only a ¼ of a cube per WEEK for every 400 L of tank water (approx 100 gallons). Be sure to measure NO3 and PO4 the next morning so that these parameters don't spike after feeding. You can reduce the amount fed if you are having nutrient problems. Also don’t forget to put the skimmer cup back on the next morning before the lights go back on.
*If everything is going well. It is good to wait and see how the tank is doing for awhile before trying this. The whole point here is that you don't want to change anything too fast, because nothing good happens quickly in this hobby. (Another method to grind up amino acid pills in the next batch of food; however Bisck found that it sometimes causes diatom outbreaks in his tank
tmc1313
Active member
Thanks for the compliment. That's quite the recipe! I do need to either start feeding the corals a bit or I might try to add more fish and feed them more and see how that goes first. Either way, I think I need to get my trates up (at least to detectable levels. I really don't get much algae growth except that dust up on the glass every few days.
trueblackpercula
New member
Yes if you feed either food source I gave you will raise your nitrates.
tmc1313
Active member
Thanks, the right side structure is made up of 4 pieces. Look closely at the one large bottom piece. At the bottom to the left there is a heavier section that acts as a counter weight. As you move up the "trunk" it flattens and fans out. This is where I just kind of locked 3 more pieces to together to get the shape that you see. No epoxy or acrylic rods used.
tmc1313
Active member
Just wanted to post a small update on my tank. I was sitting watching TV one night and I heard a loud crack come from my tank. Upon inspection, I found this:
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In this picture the center brace was still attached. Since this picture was taken, it had totally detached and was hanging. You could see a roughly 5/8" bow to the front of the glass and the door to my canopy was no longer closing flush. Because the tank was not on a purchased aquarium stand, but a custom stand they would not honor the warranty. I could have purchased a new top frame, but I had been wanting a lower, wider tank. I kept the same volume and just went with different dimensions. I ended up with another 120 gallon (48x24x24). I am really liking this tank and the new dimensions. My scaping turned out so, so. I don't know if I would really call it a "bonsai" reef anymore, but here are a few FTS shots of another new beginning. Thanks for looking:
post a picture
adult image
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In this picture the center brace was still attached. Since this picture was taken, it had totally detached and was hanging. You could see a roughly 5/8" bow to the front of the glass and the door to my canopy was no longer closing flush. Because the tank was not on a purchased aquarium stand, but a custom stand they would not honor the warranty. I could have purchased a new top frame, but I had been wanting a lower, wider tank. I kept the same volume and just went with different dimensions. I ended up with another 120 gallon (48x24x24). I am really liking this tank and the new dimensions. My scaping turned out so, so. I don't know if I would really call it a "bonsai" reef anymore, but here are a few FTS shots of another new beginning. Thanks for looking:
post a picture
adult image
image sharing sites
tmc1313
Active member
Thanks Sahin, so many setbacks in the last couple of years:headwalls:. I hope I can get some smooth sailing.
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