Learning/rebuilding from my epic fail

[M007]

Love the fruit bowl, a stunner! Your last photo with the pretty fish is the bomb :celeb1:

 

[markalot]

Wow Matt, things look fantastic. I have no idea what the alien animal is, but it does look cool!

Are you running anything for PO4 control? I am still trickling GFO but I am really tempted to take it offline again. Depending on the test kit my PO4 is .04 -> .16 :uhoh3:

 

[reefmutt]

It really is crazy the amount of diversity we can achieve in our small closed systems. That tunicate looks really cool, and so do your corals. The dramatic pinks you have are fantastic. The furiosa is very contrasting and beautiful. To get my po4s down the best thing I've found is dripping lanthum chloride directly into my skimmer body. Once I got them balanced out they have stayed steady work my nitrates.

Thanks! Red/Pink is one of those colours that has been strong in some of my corals but not so good in some known corals like orange passion or ssc.. Sometime I think they are good and other times I'm not sure..
Lanthanum chloride.. Yes I have some. I've never really used it consistantly. It has always made me nervous. How did you drop it? Putting that stuff on a doser kind of worries me.. If the doser goes haywire.

Love the fruit bowl, a stunner! Your last photo with the pretty fish is the bomb :celeb1:

Thanks, the Evansi anthias were well grouped together because I had just climbed down from the ladder and removed the viewing box, so they were still a bit scared.

Wow Matt, things look fantastic. I have no idea what the alien animal is, but it does look cool!

Are you running anything for PO4 control? I am still trickling GFO but I am really tempted to take it offline again. Depending on the test kit my PO4 is .04 -> .16 :uhoh3:

Thanks Mark! Yeah it is an interesting creature. Every noa and again I see a clump of it floating around the tank.. I assume it is how it spreads.
I have started using Seachem's Phosbond again. I just started, though.. I'll probably need to stay on top of changing it out.. The stuff ain't cheap but it is effective. It isn't as aggressive as pure gfo, though, which I like.
Mark, stop looking at the po4 checker results. Get yourself an Elos High Resolution po4 test kit. I've never found the checkers to be completely reliable.
I used to have 3! I would drive myself crazy and do 4 tests each time.. 3 checker tests and an Elos test. The same checker would always give me a high result, another always 0 and the third in the middle.. Elos was always somewhere in the middle as well.. I finally stopped using the checkers. I recently tossed them...

Here's a shot of my Fiji desalwi next to a couple of planas (bottom right) along with a couple ssc and my Badabing which is colouring up a bit..

Closer shot of ssc and Badabing. I'm not entirely happy with the red on my sscs..

Here's a couple shots of my purple rain.. Been a while since I shot it.. It's been over grown my another coral which is a bit above it. The purple rain has grown underneath the other coral and their underside branches have touched.. No major war happening.

A bit closer of the purple rain. May have a lost a bit of the yellow highlights but still has the cool dark polyps..

 

[nemodan]

Wow !!!!!

 

[drawman]

Matt really pretty corals and growth...great upate!

So did that tunicate colony come with your live rock I assume?

I love that echinata/speciosa next to your clam!

 

[nemodan]

Fast Question Matt.

Are you dosing Ca and Alk with dosing pumps or do you have a Ca Reactor ?

Cheers
Daniel

 

[reefmutt]

Matt really pretty corals and growth...great upate!

So did that tunicate colony come with your live rock I assume?

I love that echinata/speciosa next to your clam!

Thanks, Tim. It came in on the base of a turbinaria coral about 1 1/2 years ago and sat dormant until about 5-6 months ago.
That piece is hidden in the back of the tank and I really don't know if it is echinata or speciosa.. It's been quietly growing back there, though.. My guess would be speciosa..

Fast Question Matt.

Are you dosing Ca and Alk with dosing pumps or do you have a Ca Reactor ?

Cheers
Daniel

Hey Dan. Thanks!
I use a ca reactor. I always have.. i should really play with some dosers to gain some confidence in them.. Basically, I'm scared of what I don't know... A little sad, I know...

 

[maxxII]

Hey Dan. Thanks!
I use a ca reactor. I always have.. i should really play with some dosers to gain some confidence in them.. Basically, I'm scared of what I don't know... A little sad, I know...

Not at all.

Changing things in a successful reef tank is frequently rewarded with meltdowns and death.....

 

[spkennyva]

Stunning!

 

[nemodan]

Hey Dan. Thanks!
I use a ca reactor. I always have.. i should really play with some dosers to gain some confidence in them.. Basically, I'm scared of what I don't know... A little sad, I know...

Do you think a Ca Reactor in my total vol of 100 G will be better that dosing ?

I know there,are threads discussing this, but I would like your opinion.

Thanks
Daniel

 

[Johnyman]

WOW Matt!!! You are killing me with that photos!!!
Gourgeous Acroporas!! Keep it up man, you have a great SPS Tank!

 

[Pife]

Thanks! Red/Pink is one of those colours that has been strong in some of my corals but not so good in some known corals like orange passion or ssc.. Sometime I think they are good and other times I'm not sure..
Lanthanum chloride.. Yes I have some. I've never really used it consistantly. It has always made me nervous. How did you drop it? Putting that stuff on a doser kind of worries me.. If the doser goes haywire.

It sounds weird but I use an iv. . I dilute 1ml to 500ml of ro water and drip it slowly into the intake of my skimmer. If works great. I'd also lets me know that it will not be over dosed.

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Wow..
Matt why are you fussing about nutrients when clearly you tanks look AMAZING. Wow man serious reef porn. More more more please

 

[reefmutt]

Do you think a Ca Reactor in my total vol of 100 G will be better that dosing ?

I know there,are threads discussing this, but I would like your opinion.

Thanks
Daniel

Well, Daniel, it is clear that I prefer a calcium reactor over dosers. Being someone who doesn't like having computers or machines controlling the tank, I run my ca reactor without a ph probe..
I think that on small tanks, dosing systems are cheaper, or it takes a lot longer to recoup the large investment of a ca reactor system.
In the long run I think a ca reactor is cheaper to run..
I have always felt that ca reactors, once set up properly, are extremely trouble free. You set your bubble rate and your flow through rate and that's it. Weekly testing tells me if I need to increase or decrease co2 and I leave the flow through constant.
I believe that dissolving old coral skeletons provides the tank with a more comprehensive additive of trace minerals and elements and that it's harder to over dose these minerals/elements since they are being extracted from the coral skeletons in the same ratios as the corals absorbed them from the water when they were living and growing..
Yes, these things can be added separately with any of the products available on the market but I like the idea of having them provided naturally through the dissolved coral media.
Because you use an algea fuge, the ca reactor has a tiny added benefit of providing some co2 to your plants and when the fuge is on a reverse daylight schedule, this can help with ph stability and also help keep ph up a bit since one of the drawbacks of using a ca reactor can be a generally lowered system ph..
If you want to use a ph probe, your apex can allow you to monitor and control the reactor's ph remotely. If only there was a kh probe.. Then you could watch it and control it remotely as well..
When I go away on vacation, I try not to make any changes to the reactor. I use a very small pump to pump water into the reactor and use a valve to control the flow. I have the feed pump inside a large filter sock to avoid detritus from getting pumped into the control valve and inhibiting flow..
Again, many people use dosing pumps to push water through the reactor. This could also be controlled by apex..
There is also a very expensive but extremely good co2 regulator made by Aquarium Plants (I think) which is supposed to be fantastic. This regulator could be easily researched if necessary.
Technically you could have the same amount of remote control as dosers and get some slight benefits of trace elements added..
The main downside is depressed ph but in your case, it really isn't an issue...
Hope this helps!

WOW Matt!!! You are killing me with that photos!!!
Gourgeous Acroporas!! Keep it up man, you have a great SPS Tank!

Thank you Jaoa! I appreciate your enthusiasm!!

It sounds weird but I use an iv. . I dilute 1ml to 500ml of ro water and drip it slowly into the intake of my skimmer. If works great. I'd also lets me know that it will not be over dosed.

This is a very interesting idea.. I will give this very serious consideration. So, lanthanum chloride mixes into water with no precipitate at all? I thought it was a cloudy liquid.. You can get a very constant drip with the iv?

Wow..
Matt why are you fussing about nutrients when clearly you tanks look AMAZING. Wow man serious reef porn. More more more please

Thanks! The only reason I fuss is because of my persistent bubble algea and bryopsis.
Also, it is interesting to note that when my p climbed to .18, I had a slow down in growth. I hade to slow down my ca reactor a touch.
I have already reduce p to .1 and I am noticing a slight uptick in growth again..

Well here's a couple more pics since you asked so nicely..
Here's my pink lemonade

From top

The base meeting another coral..

I have a few more up my sleev, I think..

 

[reefmutt]

The old growth on this coral has almost been completely overgrown by new growth..
I may just break off the original frag and start it somewhere else or grow it out in my frag tank. I do like the old growth better however.. More intense..

This piece, I almost pulled from the tank about 2 months ago before it had begun growing. I yanked it off the rock and as I brought it up to the surface, instart d to see more colours. So I glued it back in place and gave it more time..
I'm glad I did. I love the burgundy tones and red polyps

Side shot..

I always have trouble not posting a shot of my orange passion, even though it doesn't have orange polyps.. The colour is still so intense..

And.. Well.. Ahem.. Here is a coral that I am a bit embarrassed to show because I paid a lot of money for it and it is tiny...
RR pink Cadillac..

I justify this purchase by having sold my GHL Mitras...
Hopefully in some time, it will be very very very..... Very pretty...

 

[Pife]

This is a very interesting idea.. I will give this very serious consideration. So, lanthanum chloride mixes into water with no precipitate at all? I thought it was a cloudy liquid.. You can get a very constant drip with the iv?
.

Yep, It mixes clear. It drips pretty constantly. I'm only trying to spread the dose out over a couple of hours. The sludge that my skimmer pulls while doing this is extremely thick and chalky. I also run filter socks down stream. I have been very happy with the success with this method. I don't do this weekly or even monthly anymore now that phosphates are in check. I do run a small amount of gfo very slowly.

 

[Acronic]

That alien creature(s) are colonial Botrylloid tunicates aka tiger sponge

Now excuse me while I thumb back a page and stuff cotton balls in my mouth

 

[Acronic]

Thanks, Tim. It came in on the base of a turbinaria coral about 1 1/2 years ago and sat dormant until about 5-6 months ago.
That piece is hidden in the back of the tank and I really don't know if it is echinata or speciosa.. It's been quietly growing back there, though.. My guess would be speciosa..

I'm with you guys here. It's for sure speciosa IMO. A beauty.

Thanks! Red/Pink is one of those colours that has been strong in some of my corals but not so good in some known corals like orange passion or ssc.. Sometime I think they are good and other times I'm not sure..


A bit closer of the purple rain. May have a lost a bit of the yellow highlights but still has the cool dark polyps..

Orange passion is one of the hardest to colour IMO so I wouldn't get too dejected about that one. Your colours are near perfection and I'm happy to see you find the thrill in seeking tones. It's the part of the hobby that brings me the most joy.

This purple rain! I don't understand how it got its name but WOW I love this photo

 

[DaveRaz]

That wide shot is what dreams are made of. Stellar!

 

[plyle02]

This right here, we all know coral shots can be subjective, so when you put them all out on display and have a WIDE array of significantly colored acros, one can truly take in the beauty and dedication of your art. Very skilled eye for acros Matt! I love the color spread, like a box of crayolas Things are filling in as well, keep it up Matt, just love your tank man!!!

[/URL][/IMG]