Little Piece of Reef Version II

[westreef]

Hi Scott,

You are so right. Maybe my hints gave it away. Heehee. Thanks for the kind words.

You are looking at a 72 years old dude, a poor swimmer, yours truly, first time doing scuba diving, in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

The diving platform was 1.5 hrs by boat from Cairns. I almost, like some younger folks, gave up during training session. It was a bit scary initially. We went down with a trainer for every 4 students. We saw a huge giant clam of 5 foot long. And it scared the heck out of me when a huge fish, later identified as a hump back wrasse, swam right next to me, as you can see from the picture. It turned out to be very tame and I got to pat it on the hump. Some experience. The picture was taken by one of the diving crews.
I did look scared, didn't I? This fish was bigger than me. Now I can cross out one item from my bucket list. Yay!

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/37609089074/in/datetaken-public/" title="ScubaDiving"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4580/37609089074_34f26c899d_b.jpg" width="1009" height="721" alt="ScubaDiving"></a>

 

[westreef]

more close ups

more close ups

Netsuta has been shaded for a while. Notice the brown Netsuta branches at the top right corner of the pictures. I have just removed the shader a few days ago. The shader is a wild red one originally. After a few months in the tank it turned brown and never recovered.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/24449975128/in/datetaken-public/" title="untitled-10"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4561/24449975128_c176e8d88f_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="untitled-10"></a>

BC Xmas is now showing more pink tips

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/38265258676/in/datetaken-public/" title="untitled-9"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4559/38265258676_077d0d151e_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="untitled-9"></a>

Unknown green millie one of the 3 corals at the center of the tank

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Unknown greyish green Acro one of the 3 corals at the center of the tank

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/38288678672/in/datetaken-public/" title="untitled-6"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4578/38288678672_692194ddc1_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="untitled-6"></a>

Unknown purple pink millie one of the 3 corals at the center of the tank

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/37604730094/in/datetaken-public/" title="untitled-5"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4580/37604730094_f213d11901_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="untitled-5"></a>

Strawberry Short Cake

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Ice Tort? at the right hand corner

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Red Planet

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/38288546242/in/datetaken-public/" title="untitled"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4585/38288546242_066fb11cb6_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="untitled"></a>

That's it. This is the end of the photo dump.

 

[tripdad]

Hey that's great Bernie! Two of my kid's have been to the GBR and just raved about the experience. I'm still working on it but I'm a little younger than you and already PADI certified so I guess I still have a chance of getting there. I really like your coral colors/saturation. They look very well colored up. :thumbsup:

 

[reefmutt]

Hey Bernie, I am extremely jealous of your trip!! Nice!! On my bucket list as well..
The tank is looking really good. Corals are healthy and happy.
That ice tort is drool worthy and I love the contrast of it in front of the red planet.
Fts is looking balanced and mature. Very nice!

 

[westreef]

Hey that's great Bernie! Two of my kid's have been to the GBR and just raved about the experience. I'm still working on it but I'm a little younger than you and already PADI certified so I guess I still have a chance of getting there. I really like your coral colors/saturation. They look very well colored up. :thumbsup:

Scott, wow you already certified, I bet you will get your chance. By the way, I am not certified and cannot go solo, have to have a trainer on the side. You know, during the dive, I actually had to use all the things I learned during the training session, like getting rid of water from the mask, from the air tube and equalizing pressure, etc. It was scary in the beginning but turned out to be a lot of fun. Thanks again for the kind words about my tank.

Hey Bernie, I am extremely jealous of your trip!! Nice!! On my bucket list as well..
The tank is looking really good. Corals are healthy and happy.
That ice tort is drool worthy and I love the contrast of it in front of the red planet.
Fts is looking balanced and mature. Very nice!

Few months ago I have been very reluctant to post pictures because for some reasons the corals were not growing and colors were getting pale. Even the coralline algae were bleached. A lot of dino too. Now I stop the additives and just dose some bacteria, then the corals become a little healthier and colors are slightly richer. Dino also starts to reduced. I also spotted some coralline algae started forming on the wall. I think the tank is getting a bit better. Fingers crossed. Thanks for the encouragement always.

 

[tripdad]

What bacteria are you dosing and at what dose?

 

[westreef]

My total water volume is about 85 gallons.

1. 2 drops of AF ProBio S + 2 drops of AF -NP Pro (Even day e.g. 2, 4, 6 ....)
2. 5 ml of Special Blend Micro Lift (Odd day e.g. 1, 3, 5, 7.....)
3. Every 2 weeks, 3 ml of Vibrant

By the way, I do use Fauna Marin's Ultra Balling Trace 1, 2 and 3 mixed with the Alk and Calcium 2-part solutions.
I have put away all the AF additives (except the ones listed in 1.), AcroPower, Lugo and KZ additives. I have half of a cabinet of these.

I am experimenting this and still not happy with PE from the Millies. They used to have great PE and much richer colors. Look at the picture of the Purple Pink Millie, it used to have very long PE. But now you can hardly see them.

 

[Jeramirez85]

Awsome setup! Glad it went back to normal after your vacation

 

[westreef]

Awsome setup! Glad it went back to normal after your vacation

Thanks for the kind words and stopping by.

 

[Big E]

Before vacation, the colors were pale. They are now a bit richer, maybe due to more nutrient in the water. During vacation, no carbon dosing was administered.

My total water volume is about 85 gallons.

1. 2 drops of AF ProBio S + 2 drops of AF -NP Pro (Even day e.g. 2, 4, 6 ....)
2. 5 ml of Special Blend Micro Lift (Odd day e.g. 1, 3, 5, 7.....)
3. Every 2 weeks, 3 ml of Vibrant

By the way, I do use Fauna Marin's Ultra Balling Trace 1, 2 and 3 mixed with the Alk and Calcium 2-part solutions.
I have put away all the AF additives (except the ones listed in 1.), AcroPower, Lugo and KZ additives. I have half of a cabinet of these.

I am experimenting this and still not happy with PE from the Millies. They used to have great PE and much richer colors. Look at the picture of the Purple Pink Millie, it used to have very long PE. But now you can hardly see them.

Hi Bernie,

Based on your quotes above you've got a lot of bacteria going into that tank.
They may be stealing too much from the corals symbiont bacteria.

This can lead to the more pastel look. If you want deeper colors--

I'd cut out the Special Blend altogether.

Why the Vibrant? It's good to have some algae films growing in the tank. A clean up crew of snails will create a cycle of some nutrients, as they eat the algae, their waste will stay in the system instead of bacteria consuming it and your skimmer exporting that bacteria.

Mixing products can cause uneven results. The AF carbon and bacteria work hand in hand......it's probably all you need.

This could also help with your polyp extension. I'd check your flow too. Some pumps lose flow over time and need cleaned more often. The Jaebo pumps are notorious for this.......the slime buildup on the impeller's will cause it to slip.

 

[westreef]

Hi Ed,

Thanks for the comments. I always treasure your insights.

During my vacation, no bacteria dosing was done and on average the colors were slightly better. However, significantly better for the BC Xmas. So you are right there. However, the shallow sand bed was covered with a brownish film and the walls also had a film of green algae. So I added back some bacteria dosing -- this is already half of what I dosed before vacation ( you must be laughing at me now).

I like Vibrant a lot since about a year ago, I had serious outbreak of Bryosis and all kind of bad algae, everywhere in the tank. Vibrant killed them all. And I still have a big bottle of it. I just trying to follow the bottle instruction to try to keep the algae in check.

Your comment makes a lot of sense. So this is what I am going to do. I will just do item no. 1, dosing AF bacteria and AF carbon and nothing else. I will see for the next 2 months if there are any improvement. Two days ago, already I added 10 more snails in the tank hope this helps too.

Just check my Nitrate it is 2 from Salifert and the Phosphate is 0.08 from Hanna.

 

[jroovers]

Bernie, your tank is looking fantastic! Love the SSC, and the blue polyps on the nasuta. Good for you that you are getting out travelling, and that you hit the GBR - trip of a life time! Love the photo with the grouper.

Question for you regarding your ConeS 1 - how does it perform while your away and your sitter is cleaning out the skimmate? I like this skimmer, but I find on my system it doesn't want to restart after shutting off, power outage etc and I need to manually prime it by blowing a puff of air into the air intake to get the pump going. After I clean it, I don' have this problem, but after a few weeks the pump refuses to start up on its own again. Usually if I'm gone for more than a few days, I just shut it off and restart it when I get home.

 

[watchguy123]

Nice dive and nice tank. Pretty special indeed.

I am intrigued by additives, it seems there is so much interest. I am not sure what the additives really contain, heck Im not sure even what they are purported to do. I just feed my fish and let them add their own additives through their digestion system. I have a lot to learn.

 

[westreef]

Bernie, your tank is looking fantastic! Love the SSC, and the blue polyps on the nasuta. Good for you that you are getting out travelling, and that you hit the GBR - trip of a life time! Love the photo with the grouper.

Question for you regarding your ConeS 1 - how does it perform while your away and your sitter is cleaning out the skimmate? I like this skimmer, but I find on my system it doesn't want to restart after shutting off, power outage etc and I need to manually prime it by blowing a puff of air into the air intake to get the pump going. After I clean it, I don' have this problem, but after a few weeks the pump refuses to start up on its own again. Usually if I'm gone for more than a few days, I just shut it off and restart it when I get home.

Hi Jordan, nice to talk to you again. Thanks for the kind remarks. By the way, the huge fish is a hump back wrasse.

The ConeS1 performed great while I was away. I have never had a problem of restarting with this Shark pump. In the past with the old skimmer which had the problem of restarting, like you, I turned the skimmer off while I was away. Since I have this ConeS 1 skimmer (since Oct. 2014) I always turn it on but dial it to dry skimmate. That way, my tank sitter does not have to dump the skimmate so often and at the same time the water get oxygenated. I usually clean my skimmer every 3 months for the calcium deposit around the injector. How deep is your water level in relationship with your skimmer?

 

[westreef]

Nice dive and nice tank. Pretty special indeed.

I am intrigued by additives, it seems there is so much interest. I am not sure what the additives really contain, heck Im not sure even what they are purported to do. I just feed my fish and let them add their own additives through their digestion system. I have a lot to learn.

Nowadays, I only dose AF bacteria and AF carbon besides the Ultra Balling Lights 1,2 and 3 from Fauna Marin. I will see in two months how my tank look. So far the tank is relatively clean, not much brown stuff on the sand and rock and the coral colors start getting better. Coralline algae starts forming on the walls, yay -- I miss that for a while. You know, it take great self-control not to mess around with my tank with additives.

Your tank is always my inspiration.

 

[markalot]

Right, and I'm subbed even. Old age So same question, since it's been a year, how are things going?

 

[westreef]

Right, and I'm subbed even. Old age So same question, since it's been a year, how are things going?

Hi Mark, thanks for being interested in my tank. You said: old age. You must be teasing me. Haha.
I have to admit I am getting lazy of taking pictures of my corals. The tank is doing fine. I have been on vacation 3 times this year. Each time is at least 2 weeks long and "knock on wood" nothing bad happened to it.
When I get a chance I will post some new pictures. Stay tuned.

 

[westreef]

Happy Holidays everyone. Hope 2019 you have a better-looking reef tank.

I have been very lazy of taking and posting pictures of my tank for over a year. Here is the first photo of FTS.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/45712538034/in/datetaken-friend/" title="2018-12"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7841/45712538034_db83059a6d_b.jpg" width="1024" height="593" alt="2018-12"></a>********

Left side of the tank
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/31496170217/in/datetaken-friend/" title="2018-13"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4876/31496170217_df4ce12961_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="2018-13"></a>

 

[westreef]

Center of the tank
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/45523060835/in/datetaken-friend/" title="2018-12"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7831/45523060835_3ce5e3742f_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="2018-12"></a>

Right side of the tank
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/46435698491/in/datetaken-friend/" title="2018-12"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7888/46435698491_9e2f1f4cab_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="2018-12"></a>

These are iPhone pictures not corrected in any form.

 

[westreef]

BC Xmas
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/32563749628/in/datetaken-friend/" title="reef-25"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4874/32563749628_46d9a45756_b.jpg" width="1024" height="738" alt="reef-25"></a>

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/32563751868/in/datetaken-friend/" title="reef-24"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4894/32563751868_c69266496e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="780" alt="reef-24"></a>

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/32563760198/in/datetaken-friend/" title="reef-21"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4906/32563760198_f952e5dd56_b.jpg" width="1024" height="742" alt="reef-21"></a>

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51744953@N02/44619242940/in/datetaken-friend/" title="reef-20"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4809/44619242940_f0a17fd66e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="1001" alt="reef-20"></a>