Mark's 150 (72x18x27)
- Thread starter markalot
- Start date
markalot
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Thanks for the ID, I was wondering what it might be. This was another older unknown frag at a LFS near where I work. They took over the shop from someone else who had a penchant for buying expensive frags. It had been in the tank for months and the price was right ... $15.
I really hope the lower nitrates allows things to color up faster for me. Now I have to be careful not to drive them to low! :dance:
troubadour11
Member
Things certainly look like they are running in a pretty sweet spot for your mixed reef right now. I hope I can match even a portion of yore success some day.
Your pictures are giving me hope and motivation to keep plugging away and reach the quality you've achieved.
Keep out up. I look forward to more photo updates soon with things liking so nice.
No3 still falling or are thou leveling it off now? How about Po4?
Your pictures are giving me hope and motivation to keep plugging away and reach the quality you've achieved.
Keep out up. I look forward to more photo updates soon with things liking so nice.
No3 still falling or are thou leveling it off now? How about Po4?
markalot
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Hi Troub!
Keep in mind this is my 4th tank, and the others didn't go well for a while.
I bet you will equal or surpass my success sooner than you think. I take a lot of pictures which helps when going back and looking at progress, but can make for a tedious tank thread, especially if results are not spectacular.
Latest FTS
Color on my acros is still hit and miss. If anything has changed it's been growth, which has exploded over the last few weeks. Perhaps a result of continued stability, or perhaps lower nitrates. My latest nitrate test is around 10, but phosphates are now near 0, which surprised me.
I've settled on a blend of salt mixes to achieve stability during a 10% change. I'm using 25% Red Sea Blue Bucket and 75% Seachem Reef Salt, which mixes to around 9KH at 35ppt.
I think I've slowed down on my feeding a bit, which means I need to start logging my feeding to make sure I'm consistent. I ran out of Reef Roids for a couple of weeks but now have a new jar and am returning to a 3 times a week feeding schedule for the acros. I try and feed various flake foods 3 times a day.
I've setup my feed mode to cut the sump for 15 minutes during feeding, which turns off the skimmer and auto topoff. Skimmer comes back on 2 minutes after it detects the sump is running again. I'm trying to feed a little less flake and waste less flake.
I'm in week 4 of the algae scrubber and it's growing algae, but I'm not sure if it's helping or not. The scrubber runs from 8pm until 2pm, with a 6 hour break during the peak lighting cycle.
I continue to dose ProdBio Digest every 15 days. I have stopped dosing Bioptim (the carbon source).
I recently replaced my original single channel custom BML strip with a 3 channel 20K strip. I love this light; I'm running it at 80% whites, 100% blues. I can add some shimmer to the tank and get my all blue LED mode during the morning and evening. Since I own a PAR meter I made sure to re-test. Most acros on top are receiving 350 to 425 PAR while the sandbed is around 250 PAR.
More pictures.
This subulata has lost some glow since the last top down was taken. Is it due to lower nitrates, lower phosphates, or less food?
I can't take enough pictures of this one!
This smooth skin, which I believe is a jacquelineae has shown some good growth and increased color. I'm afraid to snip off the dead spot for fear of breaking the whole thing.
My Rainbow Acropora from Cultivated Reef still has all the shades of brown anyone could want. :hmm3:
Shot from the side.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Thats a very pretty coral. Acropora horrida: http://coral.aims.gov.au/factsheet.jsp?speciesCode=0034
aggie13reef
Member
Haven't checked the thread in a while but the tank is looking great! I had a pretty insane weekend tearing my tank down and ridding it of algae of all kinds. Picked up a green stylo today at the LFS, pretty decent sized frag only the tips are green at the moment. Got it on the sand bed for now, any advice on how to color it back up? The only other SPS I have are a monti cap and the birdsnest. Just getting my feet wet with the SPS!
markalot
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Sorry to hear about your algae problems!
Stylos have always been easy for me, especially the green ones. Keep it on the sandbed for a while and see how it does. If your birdsnest is doing well then the stylo shouldn't have any problems.
markalot
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Cool horrida Mark, they grow very fast as i'm sure you'll find out lol. Is that acro mauve or purple colored as it looks pretty tasty.
Thanks Andrew, I'm not sure if it's purple fading to blue, or blue fading to brown. I expect the latter.
So I had to remove the giant invasive Pipe organ coral growing in the front of the tank. It crept up and killed the milli in the front, which means instant eviction with prejudice. I could remove the rock it was on but had to scrape to get a lot fo bits out and this released some kind of toxin that rapidly browned any acro near where I was working. The slimer browned before my eyes, thankfully, and I stopped and added some ROX carbon to the sump which limited the damage. I was not aware an acro could lose color that fast!
Polyps on all the millis retracted and have still not recovered but day to day they look a little better. On the bright side, if there is one, I was able to inspect the normally hairy corals for any pests and found none.
FTS with the browned out slimer
The Lokani 1 foot to the right of where I was working did not lose much color, if any.
UC Rainbow milli, right above where I was. Ouch
I could use an ID on this one. I initially identified it as a Jacquelinea based on the fact it was on an A&M plug, supposedly a frag purchased from A&M aquatics, and I found a picture on their web page similar to what this looked like. The Jac doesn't get purple tips though, so now I'm doubting the ID. I'm also sick and tired of trying to spell it! :lmao:
troubadour11
Member
Sorry to hear about the issues from the pipe organ extraction. I hope things are adjusting and recovering from the browning event.
Despite your troubles, things are generally still liking pretty killer over there. Way better then my algae farm
One day I will be able to keep corals happy. Still working on figuring that all out.
But great mixed reefs like this give me hope and hold me over until then. Keep up the good work. Your system looks like it's going to start filling in quick!
I have been debating adding vinegar to my ato barrel to improve how much of the lime dissolves. Will this also act as a carbon source that would choose visa the ato? Or does the carbon break down during storage before it can be dosed? Just asking because I seem to recall you had carbon dosed and used lime before. Sorry if I'm not remembering right. I've considered trying some carbon dosing on my system. I'm still fighting gha all over my rocks. Running 4 cups gfo in dual reactor (changed every 3 weeks during water change). I was curious if carbon dosing and heavy skimming might help out compete and starve out the gha.?.?
Despite your troubles, things are generally still liking pretty killer over there. Way better then my algae farm
One day I will be able to keep corals happy. Still working on figuring that all out.
But great mixed reefs like this give me hope and hold me over until then. Keep up the good work. Your system looks like it's going to start filling in quick!
I have been debating adding vinegar to my ato barrel to improve how much of the lime dissolves. Will this also act as a carbon source that would choose visa the ato? Or does the carbon break down during storage before it can be dosed? Just asking because I seem to recall you had carbon dosed and used lime before. Sorry if I'm not remembering right. I've considered trying some carbon dosing on my system. I'm still fighting gha all over my rocks. Running 4 cups gfo in dual reactor (changed every 3 weeks during water change). I was curious if carbon dosing and heavy skimming might help out compete and starve out the gha.?.?
markalot
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Hi Troub!
It will act as a carbon source and the amount will depend on evaporation if it's mixed with the topoff. I had a lot of issues with Kalk in topoff on this tank and abandoned it, but I use super saturated Kalk in my little 29 gallon and it is able to lock KH around 9.5. With glass lids my evaporation on that little tank is very consistent. I used timed topoff, not floats, and I haven't had to change the timing in months. Topoff runs for 10 seconds every 15 minutes.
My 29 is full of algae, it's a mess! The 150 would be full of algae but the tangs and Foxface keep it in check.
Here's my 29, using Maxspect Razor for the lighting, the smaller one that used to be over my 150.
Here's a maricultured acro that used to be in the 150 but I thought it was dying so I moved it to the 29 and it has since started to get colors I've never had before. Brilliant blue on some branches, and blue green on the base is just starting to show up. Ironic!
I'm starting to move more Acro frags in here, accidental breakages, or frags that do bad in the 150, to see what happens.
troubadour11
Member
Thanks for the info on it. If I was going tho try it, how would you recommend starting it up? Meaning about how much vinegar to add into my ato? I'm using a brute, 20 gallon filled just almost full. Probably 18 gallons. I keep it low enough I can still stir the lime in without splashing out of the barrel. Been adding 20 tsp of lime and stirring it multiple times. Let it sit over night and then turn a to back on.
So far my kalk can easily keep up with Ca. But seems to struggle keeping up with Alk all of the sudden. I'm wondering if kalk will work out. So I was thinking of upping the concentration with the added carbon dose and see if that is favorable to both the Alk and gha/nutrient issue I'm trying to solve.
I have a Tailspot Blenny and a yellow eye kole tang in our task. Just add the medium tang a week or so ago. I worry about the tang. It was nice and fat and ate algae sheets all through qt. But I've never seen it eat anything in the big tank. We've got algae all over. Never seen it peck at it. I put an algae sheet in and it showed no interest. I'll have to wait and see if it ate any of the sheet today sole I was gone. So far though, neither of them have made a noticeable debt in our algae issue.
Thanks for sharing those shots. I have no where to move stuff but the sump or big fuge. Unfortunately the fuge is becoming more of a bone yard then anything else. But at least some things are coloring up now that you moved them. Must feel good seeing something start to change for the better. Thanks agAin for sharing the info and progress.
So far my kalk can easily keep up with Ca. But seems to struggle keeping up with Alk all of the sudden. I'm wondering if kalk will work out. So I was thinking of upping the concentration with the added carbon dose and see if that is favorable to both the Alk and gha/nutrient issue I'm trying to solve.
I have a Tailspot Blenny and a yellow eye kole tang in our task. Just add the medium tang a week or so ago. I worry about the tang. It was nice and fat and ate algae sheets all through qt. But I've never seen it eat anything in the big tank. We've got algae all over. Never seen it peck at it. I put an algae sheet in and it showed no interest. I'll have to wait and see if it ate any of the sheet today sole I was gone. So far though, neither of them have made a noticeable debt in our algae issue.
Thanks for sharing those shots. I have no where to move stuff but the sump or big fuge. Unfortunately the fuge is becoming more of a bone yard then anything else. But at least some things are coloring up now that you moved them. Must feel good seeing something start to change for the better. Thanks agAin for sharing the info and progress.
Took my weekly topdowns yesterday. Still a lot of brown, but a few are doing quite well.
This smooth skin frag I picked up just a couple of months ago is really doing well.
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Love the soft skin .I would kill for a frag of this one. I has a few but aefw finished them off 1st thing.
Great photo skills and colors in your arco.
markalot
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Hi nash, thanks for visiting!
I'm pretty bad about keeping the thread up to date. I've been working on reducing nitrates to around 5 rather than the 15 they usually run at. I've got some biopellets and a reactor ready but I'm not ready to put them online yet. Currently dosing NOPOX and I bought a neck extender for my skimmer which has improved stability and performance (no more random overflows).
Here's a picture of some frags that have been in the tank for 3 weeks. Bottom right was a nice bright pink milli, now a brown milli. :mad2: Bottom middle is a blue tort from Unique Corals that has actually improved since I got it. :bounce1:
One of the best looking corals in my tank at the moment. It LOVES high nitrates.
Still not sure what this is but the green coloring is very unique.
This little acro is also doing quite well, I just wish it didn't have that unsightly dead spot.
I'm declaring the monti eating nudis gone. My secret? No clue.
Bello
New member
Ohhhh, so you've been upto sneaky stuff as well, eh? That Lokani? and the "best looking coral" is gorgeous :thumbsup: Wonder what species that is? Grown from a frag? BTW, biggles had a disgusting blue horrida in his previous tank thread, I really tried to get one like that, but think it's Aussie 
.
Very nice frags as well. My tank's running at around 10ppm NO3 at the moment, but with colors that would make any reefer quit the hobby
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.Very nice frags as well. My tank's running at around 10ppm NO3 at the moment, but with colors that would make any reefer quit the hobby
.
markalot
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Ohhhh, so you've been upto sneaky stuff as well, eh? That Lokani? and the "best looking coral" is gorgeous :thumbsup: Wonder what species that is? Grown from a frag? BTW, biggles had a disgusting blue horrida in his previous tank thread, I really tried to get one like that, but think it's Aussie
Very nice frags as well. My tank's running at around 10ppm NO3 at the moment, but with colors that would make any reefer quit the hobby
Here's my UC Rainbow milli at 15 nitrates.
Ain't it pretty! :lolspin: I believe the pretty acro is a subulata originally purchased off of divers den as a limeaide or lime something, according to the person I bought the frag from.
cleverbs
New member
Id like to ask why do you think you had such stability issues for awhile? from PH and ALK? Do you think its because of dosing kalk? Based on what I read in your theard it was from over dosing kalk so why even bother with it and not just dosing 2part? Or do you think it was from something else?
markalot
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I haven't had stability issues since I abandon Kalk for strictly 2 part. I think all my stability issues are a result of my mistakes and unfamiliarity with how strong Kalk can be.
This tank has been at 7.8 KH for the last 3 months, no matter what I do.
Not sure what you mean by PH stability, it hasn't been an issue since I ran the intake hose outside due to in house CO2 issues. All I care about is that PH stays near or above 7.8 at the lowest point in the day.Back in march we left town for a few days. Can you tell when?
aggie13reef
Member
Mark the "best looking coral" is stunning. The tank looks great also. How big was that monti when you got it? Mine is the same color but MUCH smaller! Oh and I actually picked up 2 frags over the past few weeks. I am pretty sure one is a turaki, but I'm not sure on the other. A local reefer traded it at the LFS and then I ended up with it. I have been really happy with my tank stability over the past month I have been working hard at it after adding the acros. Colors still aren't great but hopefully will improve....
