Mark's 150 gallon

[markalot]

I could not tolerate 2 actinics so I've already replaced the rear one with a blue.

Current bulb combo, all Giesemann

front
blue
actinic
coral
purple
blue
blue
back

and I've raised the fixture an inch to help account for the increased PAR. Perhaps I should dust the lids ... well, before the end of the year anyway.

I've got the fixture so high now it ruins the clean lines I had with my visual blacking board.

LPS appear to have stabilized and my Duncans are peaking out now so I think I've reduced PAR to a good level now.

KH down to 7.6 and watching this closely. Apparently reduced PAR has not reduced KH usage, at least not yet.

 

[sahin]

Looking very nice Mark. :beer: I wouldnt raise the fixture too much or else you might find some of the acros start to brown out. Good work in any event.

 

[markalot]

Looking very nice Mark. :beer: I wouldnt raise the fixture too much or else you might find some of the acros start to brown out. Good work in any event.

Thanks Sahin.

Pro Elos kit shows .03 maybe .04 PO3. LPS continue to struggle, some acros look fantastic and others might be browning? Anyway I smoked the tank with food and gave it a good hour to float around the tank before turning the sump and skimmer back on. Cleaned the skimmer which was 3/4 full of brown thick gunk and now it's having some fun pulling out all the food I just put in.

PO4 ~ .04
NO3 ~ 8
KH 7.6

BP reactor has been running at just over a trickle for a week now, dosing ~10ml vinegar daily via topoff + kalk + vinegar.

 

[reefmutt]

Those are pretty good numbers!
I'd love to have my po4 there..

 

[markalot]

Those are pretty good numbers!
I'd love to have my po4 there..

I'm not sure they tell the entire story, or I'm just missing something. I suppose running a mixed reef can be difficult but I did not expect to start losing most of my flubber.

I would really like to know what happened to this acro. Looks like someone took sandpaper to the skin.

 

[reefmutt]

Can you remove it and dip it?
Does have a look of extensive flatworm activity.
I know you don't want to hear that but that reminds me of what happens once the individual bite marks criss cross over each other. You no longer see each bite mark, but general thinness of the Acro skin..

 

[markalot]

Can you remove it and dip it?
Does have a look of extensive flatworm activity.
I know you don't want to hear that but that reminds me of what happens once the individual bite marks criss cross over each other. You no longer see each bite mark, but general thinness of the Acro skin..

I would have to tear it off, so a last resort. base is fine, underside is fine, only the most colorful parts have this sandpaper look. It did this, ironically, last year about this time. That was due to a PO4 spike and KH spike.

This is the only acro that looks bad, the milli to the left and the big block to the right looking very good and healthy.

Base

Full size of the previous image: http://imageshack.com/a/img905/5517/BGjSyd.jpg

 

[reefmutt]

Forget.. Did you say you have peppermint shrimp in the tank?

 

[markalot]

Forget.. Did you say you have peppermint shrimp in the tank?

Yea, added 10 and can find at least 3.

I just basted it and nothing came off. Come to think of it, weeks ago when I first basted is when it started to lose color. Maybe it doesn't like to be basted?

Under blue light the green is slowly making a comeback so whatever happened is over ... unless me basting it will do this again. :lolspin:

 

[reefmutt]

Hm... Tough to say!
I honestly think that peppermint shrimp are extremely effective at finding and eating aefw eggs.. Not so much the actual flatworm, but without hatching eggs, the adult flatworms tend to get stranded, so to speak on an Acro but he offspring don't get to spread because the peppermint shrimp keep the eggs in check...
Anyways.... JUST A THEORY....
But Greg Timms, Olddude, mentions in one of his totm articles how he added an army of peppermint shrimp to his tank to deal with aefw and after doing so, never had them again.............. Just sayin..
I hope your coral just doesn't like the rough basting!
Some corals prefer the gentle approach..

 

[afernandez]

Looking good mark!

Hope is not them dreaded aefw .

Random question ... How many fish do you currently have ?

 

[markalot]

Looking good mark!

Hope is not them dreaded aefw .

Random question ... How many fish do you currently have ?

Hi Arlin, thanks.

Male and Female Clown
Male and Female Lyretail
Sixline Wrasse
Yellow Tang
Kole Tang
Foxface
Yellow tail damsel
Neon Goby
3 Chromis
5 blue eyes cardinals
Midas Blenny
Coral Beauty angel

20? I don't think I missed any.

 

[markalot]

Here is the skimmer about an hour after coming back on. It will rapidly remove the food and then skim drier for a few days. Usually takes 4 or 5 days to fill up.

I've added a neck extender to help with the reliability of this model and prevent overflows. According to many the pump is overpowered making it hard to control. I would like to have a bigger neck diameter but I'm not sure I need it or it would make a big difference.

I took some closeups of my healthy corals with the flash, posting just for the heck of it here, maybe someone with more experience will see something I missed or someone just getting into acros will get a better idea how they should look. My eyes have trouble seeing up close without a lot of magnification so I do this a lot, looking for pests.

Red Robin has gotten browner, which indicates it may have been pale before? It may be showing more red now.

Red Planet fraglet

Bonsai valida

The teal stag. Really I should just fill the tank with this, the slimer, and the Lokani.

 

[markalot]

For reference, these picture were taken way back in 2013, day I discovered I had AEFW. The bite marks, IMO, are pretty distinct. These are not for the squeamish!

This is in OCT 30th, 2013.

These were in my 40 gallon breeder lit by 6 T5's in cheap uncooled AquaticLife fixtures.

My prettiest coral back in the day, I lost it in the QT tank when I started dipping. I lost all my acros except the slimer. I have yet to achieve this color again ... all T5 with a very dim strip of blue stick on LED's for morning/evening. I had reds / pinks, and big fat Planaria. Hmmm.

ORA Blue Voodoo showing bite marks

3 months earlier I was losing a well encrusted acro that suddenly paled and started to reced. I had no idea at the time but looking back at the pictures it was obvious.

So this is what I look for, and IMO the damage is very distinct and obvious once you know. Little bastards.

 

[mhucasey]

Evil flatworms! Why does such a difficult hobby have to have little vampires like these???

 

[markalot]

Evil flatworms! Why does such a difficult hobby have to have little vampires like these???

Yea, my innocence was lost, but on the bright side I had more confidence I could grow acros if I could maintain a fairly pest free tank.

Changing subjects ...

I was looking at Sever's house reef and his hybrid fixture and just realized that the ATI does not have "UV" LEDs. My BML strip has them, both 405 and 420, and I run them at the same levels as the blues (450 and 470). I think I'll unplug that channel for a while and see what happens.

 

[markalot]

Ends up I can't turn off the UV channel, unplugging the dimmer cable makes it go to 100%, so instead I tied it to the white channel so it only runs at 50% max and only while the whites are on. We shall see.

These two are going to touch within days if current growth keeps up.

 

[mhucasey]

Ends up I can't turn off the UV channel, unplugging the dimmer cable makes it go to 100%, so instead I tied it to the white channel so it only runs at 50% max and only while the whites are on. We shall see.

These two are going to touch within days if current growth keeps up.

It's like watching a beautiful crash in super slow motion!

 

[biggles]

Just stunning Mark....... all those pics make me feel good

 

[sahin]

Mark, whilst the majority of your corals look great, that one you asked about sure does look like a whole bunch of AEFW's had a good munch on it. Exactly as Matt says; its got that "look". Hopefully it is not AEFW's who are the cause...but my bet would be on them being the cause.