How's your little apprentice acro keeper going mate, hope he's keeping you on your toes lol.
I like both tanks though i agree that the monti system looks best atm. I did notice you'd removed most of the montis to give yourself more space for other corals (acros). Those red pieces you have are gorgeous and really add pop to the background. You could always place one or two scrolling types on the sand bed down the track as they grow just about anywhere and aren't at all demanding to keep.
What are you going to swap the 420nm bulbs for buddy. I think the acros in the sump are doing slightly better since i lowered the intensity was down, even though it looks way too dim to my eyes i think the actual PAR hitting the corals is more to their liking.
Skimming isn't that big a deal imo and as long as whatever you use is generating a decent skimmate daily i'd be satisfied. I think with the trend towards heavy feeding of SPS systems for best colors and growth that skimming wetter is always the best approach to keep on top of nutrients. Btw my pretty red macro algae in the display has fallen victim to the tang, that's the end of that little phos absorber lol.
I think you're doing the right thing with the foods considering the recent probs you had. Slow is the way to go as it's important you get the systems to a point where you will remove those disgusting black turds......... i think playing it by ear until you're in a good solid place with the water is a good approach.
I'd be trying to bottom out the nitrates and phos, you're not feeding too heavily so i'm sure the system can cope. Then i'd try to build up the micro life as i think the large populations of pods, mysis and who knows what else i have keep the water rich with coral appropriate food. I'm just trying to narrow down the differences between our systems re color saturation and perhaps my more critter driven food supply approach is one thing you could target at some stage buddy.
Where the heck are your shrimp btw Bello - going shrimpless is not an option........
My lil' acro keeper is growing up, and refuses to sit down in one place, may as well tie him down lol...I'll get him to work on the tanks soon, since he has sooooo much excess energy
I'm finally happy that both systems look decent, although I now find the acro tank to be a bit lacking. The red pieces are my Setosa again, I love them, hardy and fast growing under the right conditions. I do have a couple scrolling monti frags, but for some reason, they hate my systems, growth is really slow, but then again, I'm not terribly fond of them either
I swapped the 420's with royal blue and cyans, and at the same time, swapped a few cool whites for warm whites. The result was very washed out green acros...yeah you'd like that
. Swapped the warm whites again, for royal blues and cool whites, so now have the tank with a more prominent blue tint....lets see how it works. I agree that its difficult to judge how much light the corals are getting with LED's... Time to buy a PAR meter??...I wish
The amount of algae is reducing gradually. I believe some of the extra live rock I added to the sump for increasing biological activity, was still leaching nutrients. Have now moved it to a separate tank for curing, and will then add them back again. Hopefully, the turds will be gone soon after.
I doubt I have much of a pod population, simply because I have rascally six lines in both displays, and the frag tank too, so precious little refuge for the poor guys. Hopefully, once the extra LR cures, i'll place them in the sump to boost numbers.
The problems I see with my colors are not so much with lack of saturation, I feel that once I increase feedings, they should return. The problem is that certain corals are just not what they should be. I'm ok with pastel versions of the correct colors, just not happy with blue corals looking brown :furious:
Here's what I mean, the lower millie was violet/purple when I got it
and here's a bunch of millies, which are supposed to be different, but look exactly the same
I figure I may as well lower nutrients further first, to try and bring out the right colors, and then work on saturation, what do you think?
On the subject of saturation, I played around with ps again for this pic. The coral did look exactly as the pic does, a few months ago, just before the cyano and flatworms
And oddly enough....shrimp!!!! just bought a couple last week, perfect timing biggles
. Whether or not they are the same acro is always debateable, but I remeber the original colony, having very think, almost algae like branches, not like this frag I've got now. Just lovely. I spent a while trying to source out another mari colony, but it seemed that the name just made it impossible to get now. I still haven't moved the frag, despite moving all others....scared 
