Higher Calcium Level for SPS Growth? (vs Health)

[ReefWreak]

It still looks like the red dragon (or of the same species but not necessarily that lineage) IMO.

Are you basing your identification by color or morphology? Morphologically, the red dragon pic, your pic, and the red dragon in my tank like very similar if not identical. Your picture looks in color similar to that deep water acro (that's not a species, I'm not great with knowing the deep water acropora species), but morphologically it looks totally different. Much thicker corallites.

Also worth noting: "deep water" is a VERY loosely used term in the hobby for acropora that is "smooth skinned". Smooth skinned does NOT mean that it originates from deep water.

I also disagree with it being an A. Carduus. AIMS's site on A. Carduus shows an almost similar corallite structure, but the overall growth pattern isn't familiar at all: AIMS Database on A. Carduus

This is A. Walindii, and looks much more closely to what I have as "red dragon" (from someone who bought directly from Tyree), and looks like yours as well: AIMS A. Walindii

To be fair, the pics that AIMS has of the A. Walindii colonies in the wild don't look the same as the scientific identification pictures later. The colony pictures in the wild look more like the scientific pictures of A. Rambleri, I wonder if they switched up the two pictures by accident, the scientific pics of one with the in-habitat pictures of the other? A. Rambleri on AIMS

 

[Wally.B]

NEW "SNAIL" CLEAN UP CREW has Arrived:

So I drove to a farther LFS, since they had some snails.

They are all going to be SLOW dripped for 6 hours. To ensure Longevity. (Used to just toss them in, but taking care of CUC crews now)

5x Carribean Cerith Snails (Good for food/fish waste, detritus, and Algae)

15x Trochus Snails - "TANK Bred & Raised in 78 degree water" (Good for glass cleaning, Cyano, Diatom)

This brings my CUC crew to the following:

- 6 Astrea Snails
- 6 Margarita Snails
- 4 Nassarius Snails
- 1 Large Turbo Snail
- 30 Scarlett Hermit Crabs
- 4 Red Legged Hermits
- And Last but not least (1x Diamond Watchman Goby) "Best" Sand Sifting cleaner ever!!

This should help with this 65 Gal Tank and light rock Scaping.
Plan to get more after some observations on which "Crew Members" are most effective (NIGHT CAM)..

 

[bobssecrtsn]

IMO I'm not a fan of any gobies, they grab sand and go on the top of the tank and releases a dust of sand that blows through the tank, lands on the sps, then irritates them. just my .2!

 

[Wally.B]

IMO I'm not a fan of any gobies, they grab sand and go on the top of the tank and releases a dust of sand that blows through the tank, lands on the sps, then irritates them. just my .2!

I agree, and I almost got rid of the Goby, a while back, when he was creating dust storms with his digging, sifting, etc.
However he has adapted, and found his favorite side of the tank, where he has created a maze of tunnels under the rocks. Which he constantly adjusts.

Plus he has learned to eat flake,brine shrimp, EVEN Pellets(which I can't train all my fish to eat). So he kind of got trained to go ONLY high up for feeding time only.
Thus his sand raising now is very low (<1" off the sand), and quite acceptable. He's been around for a few months without any issues.

What's keeping me to keep him is how clean, sparkling white he is keeping sand. I actually decided not to trust the white sand and recently after a year of no sand cleaning, decided to shiphon the sand clean. THERE WAS NOTHING TO SHIPON!! Sand was as clean as can be. Bit of particulate dust, but no waste. (AFTER A YEAR+ of no cleaning!!!).

That is why I keep him. I hated sand cleaning in my other tank since it was so difficult. Once a powerhead lost it's suction attachment and dropped into the sand and released all the nutrients in a dust storm. Trigger a mini Cyano+Nitrate spike disaster. That tank is glass bottom now.

My Gyre (during mode switches) makes more sand bed stir up then the Goby these days.

Things may change over time, as Frags become larger colonies. Plus my sand is quite granular. Fine sand could be a bigger issue.

So he's a keeper for now, just for the sand cleaning mitigation.

 

[Wally.B]

your is a carduus 100%..not all carduus are red dragon or pacmans ...but not absolutely a deepwater like the pics above.

Yup, did some surfing. This is a Carduus indeed, possibly even a Red Dragon based on pics I've seen (If I remember correctly when I bought it, it had blue or green tips, so it could be another variation of the carduus.)

It's started doing better when I brought it up high from original at bottom of tank placement, but now I think I may have it a bit too high.

Many Thanks for the identification help. I'm really lousy at coral names, identification, if I don't write them down at time of purchase.

 

[Wally.B]

POSSIBILITY for Recent Algae Bloom:

So I might have a clue to my recent Algae bloom. (One factor, not all factors).

I have used the AcroVitro Fuel product (from Seachem) for my OTHER LPS tank. Recent trial, over last couple of months.
They don't sell it online since they want retailer to properly train users when selling it. I got no training or advice, just that it was good.

A few weeks ago, on a couple of occasions, I added it to my SPS tank.

When I look through my logs, it coincides perfectly when I added Fuel to my tank twice. (and just afterwards, the Aglae boom began)

I was having a similar problem in my other tank. Green Hair Algae (bright green kind). All over the place. Including my sump and pumps. Algae explosion. I stopped a week ago in my other tank, and it's slowing down.

This product appears to Fuel more than just corals.

I called the store TODAY that I bought it from, and they said some folks love the product, and the store it's self uses it.
However some customers have called in with similar Algae problem after starting to use the product.
Maybe it must be started lightly and used carefully, like AcroPower, or bad Algae results.
What I did about a month ago, is just added 10ml, on two occasions. While doing other regular feedings.

This kind of explains, why for two months, I'm feeding regularity, regular stuff.
I add this to my feeding mix, and all of a sudden Algae bloom.
Sure, there was the instability and skimmer reduction. But adding Fuel might have been the tipping factor.

Anyone out there have a similar experience?

 

[Myka]

CUC looks good now!

 

[Wally.B]

NEW CUC doing their work on YouTube:

Wow the Trochus snails are doing a great job. Especially on cleaning the glass.
Better than my Magnetic Scraper. (I don't have to clean glass anymore!!)

Here is the YOUTUBE video of new CUC in action.

https://youtu.be/odpYB1382l0

I still may consider more, but I'll give this crew a chance for a few weeks.

(Don't want them running out of food and then dying and then algae cycle all over again)

 

[reefmutt]

That's looking good!
Those time lapse vids are cool.

 

[ReeferJohn408]

I think stability and patience are key for sps.

:thumbsup: When I started in SPS category, I kept worrying about proper measurements, supplements & even lights adjustments. Meaning the more good things that I thought I did were only affecting the habitat of my SPS. They started bleaching one by one until only 3 tiny frags were left out of 25 pcs within a period of 6 months inside my 3 yr old mixed reef tank.

Then I realized the more you adjust things in your tank, the more you're stressing these animals. So I decided to remove bio pellets, cut down on GFO and just run the basics such as carbon and Calcium reactor and occasionally dosing strontium and iodine. Then I just kept feeding my fish, no waste or extra food sitting on the bottom. I even quit feeding DT's Oyster Feast / Plankton due to excessive algae.

FISH WASTE = SPS FOOD. Most of the SPS Reefer's tanks I've seen have FAT FISH LOOKING WELL FED.

After a month or two, those 3 SPS started showing life. Weekly growth, coloration was up and I had no nuisance algae. Then I started seeding the tank with new SPS. Since then I never lost any SPS in my tank. All grew like a medium size basketball until we moved and decided to sell everything.

Now, we're seeding again. Starting with a 57 gallon rimless with 4 fish and loaded with SPS. If these seeds shows life, next step would be a 500G upgrade.

- PATIENCE , regular maintenance and just leave them alone to thrive.

STABILITY IS THE KEY :beer:

( Thinking of posting a picture of our new 57G but don't know how to. )

 

[Wally.B]

( Thinking of posting a picture of our new 57G but don't know how to. )

Thanks your feedback. I know I need more fish (and end all these endless adjustments, coral feedings without enough fish).
To basically stop feeding my tank Food waste, and start feeding Corals Fish Waste.

One hope I have on the horizon is for my small Angel to grow up and get bigger. He'll provide much needed waste for this 65 Gal Tank, along with the Large Tang. But that will take time.

Waiting for kids summer break to end, to take on fish searching, quarantine etc.

I'd love to see your tank.

Two ways to post a pic.

(EASY WAY) Just click on the attachment icon (the paperclip) and upload your photo.
It will show a thumbnail and upon clicking folks can see your photo.

(DIFFICULT WAY) To have the photo appear in your post is a bit more involved. You need to host your photo on (example: Photobucket.com) and then click on the INSERT IMAGE button (Frame with a mountain) and link to that PhotoBucket site.

Looking forward to your tank photo.

 

[ReeferJohn408]

( 57 G Rimless ) The tank is now 95% full of SPS / LPS seedings and hopefully most of them survive. So by the time we make another major tank upgrade ( 500G ), it won't look empty with tiny frags.

Sorry for the blue camera haze, my cp doesn't do justice on these corals. Also waiting for the 2nd pump on the left side to help the water circulation.

I am also just using the Chinese cheapo LEDs Tao Tronics for $120 on Amazon eversince, even on the large tank was recently sold due to moving. At first I thought it was not sufficient enough so I was blasting them 100% everyday. After a month, ORA setossa started looking pale , Ora Red Planet , Hawkins and even my Ora BNest and they were all large size colonies / matured. Then a week after that, all started to BLEACH. I have not done anything as far as unusual nor adding anything in the tank except for I kept adjusting the lights.

I acclimated the remaining sps slowly down to 60% Actinics / 40% Daylight and most of them survived till it they were sold. Some other sps colonies were lucky enough to bounced back after I made the light adjustment. Imagine half bleach / skeletal then they managed to overgrew again the dead spots.

Now I no longer make sudden adjustments in my tank and coral feeding is done 2x weekly ( SMALL amount, Coral Frenzy for LPS and Oyster Feast Target Feeding / SPS ) and my fish get fed 4-6 daily ( PINCH ) nothing is wasted. Everything seems fine.

 

[ReeferJohn408]

 

[Wally.B]

Very nice collection of corals.

Great potential for a future tank if all do well.

 

[Wally.B]

TANK IS LOOKING AWFUL (Rocks), while Corals doing Better???

So I had the Algae bloom dying off. Things were almost perfect. No cyano, no gas bubble. etc.

Stupid me, decided to use a powerhead to sweep off the rocks with left overs thinking this would help with the clean up.

I may have released and suspended some sediments, nuturients, and spread whatever across the system.

So now there is brown algae EVERWHERE ON ROCKS ONLY.

- Skimmer running is fine.
- no GFO running
- Not feeding corals anything
- Big Clean up crew in place (could this be their eating waste triggering a cycle?)
--------> Will do a scan/count on New Live Snails to make sure a bunch of new Snails haven't died
--------> However Time Lapse cam, show's them all active during night.
- More than enough circulation
- MH lights PhotoPeriod 4:45hrs

Weird part is corals look best ever. Polyping. Red Dragon too. And growing. (( ONLY SCARY PART is some algae has caught on some corals, but circulation is doing it's thing ))

Leaving things alone for a week since I'll be away. Might be a good thing me leaving, since my tinkering hands can't change anything.

Here is the Algae mess tank now. (hopping just a cycle, that needs to do it's correction.)

I did a 30% water change last night. Will do a FULL set of water tests, and I'll be back in a week to see tank.

(Will be watching over web cam ).

 

[DaveRaz]

Looks good and healthy to me! I just don't have the balls to completely shut down gfo reactor. I dialed it back and have a few patches here and there still.

 

[ReeferJohn408]

Nice looking tank bro.

Yup, SPS are looking healthy and encrusted. Give it a few weeks to naturally fix whatever it is going through right now. Sometimes the more we do for our tanks , the more it affects them negatively.

Therefore if you need to adjust anything thereafter, do it gradually. Good luck.

 

[Wally.B]

1 Week away (come back to great looking Corals), BUT CYANO everywhere on rocks!

So I left the tank alone for a 6 days. Just had neighbour feed fish once a day.

Came back to really nice corals (Poylp Extensions).

BUT CYANO everywhere (on rocks only)!!

Skimmer did fill up since never emptied. Including overflow container.

Could this be a by-product of the increased Clean up Crew (BIO LOAD)? I actually added few more snails and 3 REAL Scarlet Crabs, just before I departed.

- Going to do a water change (with a cyano siphon off). ** NOT going to blow off the Cyano like I did last time **
- Also turning up Circulation on GYRE to max.

Any other suggestions?

 

[reefmutt]

Let's hear the numbers, now that you're back..
Wc is good.. Getting the skimmer going well is also good.
Cyano sucks! But it ain't the end of the world..

 

[Pife]

It will be gone in a week or two.