Mark's 150 gallon

[aggie13reef]

Mark,
I did not know what those filaments were called but I had a frag display those a long time ago a couple weeks after I added it to the tank. It stopped and has now put on a ton of growth. hopefully it doesn't mean trouble for your tenuis.

 

[markalot]

Mark,
I did not know what those filaments were called but I had a frag display those a long time ago a couple weeks after I added it to the tank. It stopped and has now put on a ton of growth. hopefully it doesn't mean trouble for your tenuis.

Hi Nick,

that's good to hear, I hope you're right. I've never been able to keep tenuis healthy. First frag grew a few inches and then RTN'ed overnight. Second attempt I still have the little 1/4 inch nub that survived. Might be worth looking at in a few years. :spin1: Hopefully third time is the charm.

I just lost my third Red Planet, which makes no good sense unless it's been chemical warfare from the pallys this entire time. If things suddenly stop dying that's what my assumption will be.

 

[markalot]

A few more topdowns.

Cousin It milli

Lokani

Acropora horrida

UC Wild Orchid

Here's that wild Aussie piece that took a lot of damage from poison (I assume). Looking much healthier now but still lacking color.

Here's a frag of it that was not effected, for comparison.

This one sure is loving the Frag-Mag location.

 

[aggie13reef]

Hi Nick,

that's good to hear, I hope you're right. I've never been able to keep tenuis healthy. First frag grew a few inches and then RTN'ed overnight. Second attempt I still have the little 1/4 inch nub that survived. Might be worth looking at in a few years. :spin1: Hopefully third time is the charm.

I just lost my third Red Planet, which makes no good sense unless it's been chemical warfare from the pallys this entire time. If things suddenly stop dying that's what my assumption will be.

I still have not tried tenuis but love the way they look. The frag that made it is an unknown to me.

My red planet has been growing like a weed (I still wonder if it is a true red planet because the LFS I got it from said a sarmentosa was a deepwater). Hopefully you have corrected things by removing the pallys. I cant wait to see the progress in the coming weeks.

 

[aggie13reef]

This one sure is loving the Frag-Mag location.

What is this called, because I have a mini colony of this where 3 branches have beautiful purple and neon green tips and the rest are brown purple and brown green...

 

[markalot]

What is this called, because I have a mini colony of this where 3 branches have beautiful purple and neon green tips and the rest are brown purple and brown green...

Not sure. Pacific East Aquaculture sold it as a green polyp acro. I assume is is a valida, similar to the GARF bonzai but not as attractive. So far, under enough light, the entire coral stays purple with intense purple/blue tips when growing well.

 

[mhucasey]

Not sure. Pacific East Aquaculture sold it as a green polyp acro. I assume is is a valida, similar to the GARF bonzai but not as attractive. So far, under enough light, the entire coral stays purple with intense purple/blue tips when growing well.

I have one like that as well. I think you are right that it is a Validia with different coloration.

 

[markalot]

Monday morning and already in a sugar coma due to all the leftover Superbowl treats in the office this morning. Pumpkin cheesecake, cookies and cream cupcake ...

Some of the less than stellar pics, so I can track improvements. Sorry for the extreme boredom.

I've always wanted a Hawkins and of course I placed it downstream from the toxic death cloud. Finally it's showing some real progress.

Note the coraline covered tips (thankyou strontium!) common to all my damaged acros.

The Nasuta is slowly coloring back up as well.

A chuck of the setosa I was able to save from one of the infested rocks.

Aussie sarmentosa

... and here's the worst of the bunch. The poor Red Robin did not like being pried off the rock it was on even though I was able to grab a bug chunk of it via a hammer and chisel. Probably out of the water a few minutes too long but it does have polyp extension and doesn't look to be dying.

Unrelated to this tank but I finished evicting the nasty pallys from the house over the weekend by tearing the last of them out of my smaller tank. The wife noted how much better the basement smelled. Seriously, I may have been very lucky not to poison myself or the family with these things. :fun5:

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Tank is looking good bud. Im really liking that cousin it milli. I want one now. What did you use to kill the pallys ?

 

[markalot]

Tank is looking good bud. Im really liking that cousin it milli. I want one now. What did you use to kill the pallys ?

Thanks.

I removed all of them I could (rocks and all tossed outside to freeze) and the ones I could not I scraped and sucked up while doing a water change. In areas where I can't remove the rocks, and there is only one small spot (3 polyps), I use Kalk paste but they tend to return after a month or so.

Cousin It was one of those random browned out frags that ended up being something good.

 

[Wazzel]

I like the rescape Mark. Tanks is coming along fine, especially with the paly issues.

 

[mhucasey]

Unfortunately I think the Fundip tenuis is showing the first signs of trouble, which comes as no surprise to me. Yesterday is started to display mesenterial filaments and it appears to be the tops are starting to discolor. Hrmph. I fed some Reef Roids twice this weekend in case it was hungry.

As a notorious fellow Tenuis murderer, I hope it turns around(if it is indeed in trouble). I have two Tenuis frags in the tank right now that have been going for several months. I check on those guys every morning hoping that they aren't dying. Crossing my fingers for you!

 

[markalot]

As a notorious fellow Tenuis murderer, I hope it turns around(if it is indeed in trouble). I have two Tenuis frags in the tank right now that have been going for several months. I check on those guys every morning hoping that they aren't dying. Crossing my fingers for you!

Thanks Matt

I've got lots and lots of macro shots, we'll call it macro Monday. I can't see many coral details without a pair of strong reading glasses so taking macros really helps me see what's going on. I won't bore you with all of them but I will sprinkle in a couple of bad with the good.

The tank is fun again, coral health has improved greatly in just a week and while the colors aren't there I'll take the health!

Starting off the the stem of the blue stag. Wow. You can see one of those little white bugs on it ... they must be good because I only see them when the coral is looking its best. :lol2:

Closer

More and more of these green stripes showing up on what I hope is a miyagi tort.

The aussie colony showing much improved health.

and here is the small frag. That's pink on the tip. :bounce2:

I just took topdowns and already the Nasuta is showing better color, now the purple highlights coming back.

 

[markalot]

Red Dragon

Jedi Mind Trick recovering after almost a year of brown and slow dieback.

The base of the Miami Orchid turning a nice blue which it's done once before when at top health.

Someone asked about the goniopora so here's a picture of it. it does look like the ORA version.

 

[bobssecrtsn]

Hello Mark, The second from last picture, Do you know what type of algae that is with the bubbles? Those are Dino's correct? I believe I'm beginning to see that on my rocks..

 

[markalot]

Hello Mark, The second from last picture, Do you know what type of algae that is with the bubbles? Those are Dino's correct? I believe I'm beginning to see that on my rocks..

Cyano most likely, could be dinos but they never amount to much. I believe it's hair algae mixed in with some cyano. The Kole tang loves to munch on the surface of that stick.

 

[markalot]

Well,

The tank is doing ok but not great.

KH has remained fairly stable around 7.5
PO4 has remained low, around .02
NO3 has drifted from 5 to near 10 and back down to 5

The Fundip Tenuis continues to slowly decline, with the tips losing color and looking burnt. Other acros have improved in color some, while still others have not. I suspect I'm not feeding enough or I need to shorten the photo period or raise the lights. I'm getting frustrated and fed up, but nothing to do really except make a few minor changes and continue on.

Birdsnests are doing fine.
Stags are good with decent solid colors.
Nasuta continues to color up but very slowly.

Some LPS frags look stressed, perhaps starved, so this might be the best indicator?

I'm reducing the peak lighting (2 coral bulbs) to 4.5 hours from 6 to see if anything happens. I'm certainly not seeing signs of too little light.

There are no significant number of bugs on the acros at night, so that problem is over, now it seems to be me dialing in the proper import/export ratio to make everything happy.

 

[nemodan]

Well,

The tank is doing ok but not great.

KH has remained fairly stable around 7.5
PO4 has remained low, around .02
NO3 has drifted from 5 to near 10 and back down to 5

The Fundip Tenuis continues to slowly decline, with the tips losing color and looking burnt. Other acros have improved in color some, while still others have not. I suspect I'm not feeding enough or I need to shorten the photo period or raise the lights. I'm getting frustrated and fed up, but nothing to do really except make a few minor changes and continue on.

Birdsnests are doing fine.
Stags are good with decent solid colors.
Nasuta continues to color up but very slowly.

Some LPS frags look stressed, perhaps starved, so this might be the best indicator?

I'm reducing the peak lighting (2 coral bulbs) to 4.5 hours from 6 to see if anything happens. I'm certainly not seeing signs of too little light.

There are no significant number of bugs on the acros at night, so that problem is over, now it seems to be me dialing in the proper import/export ratio to make everything happy.

Mark....This coment is not a solution, but probably can help you on "getting frustrated and fed" . In my short time with SPS and after 2 bad episodes (one just during the last weeks), I had, and I am still, learning that is very difficult to keep all what we add to the tank happy.

During my last 2 weeks issues, some SPS/Acros are like nothing have happened, at least to my eyes. Others are suffering or, as you saw, I had to take them out and gone.

What worked in the past to me and I hope it does it again was to just let the tank going on, with the best parameters I can provide (like you are doing), keep them as much stable I can (like you are doing) and wait. Some SPS will do better than others. ......unfortunately.

That is my short experience. Your is much longer than mine and you are one of the experts on this forum. So I will be following your thread to learn from you.

Best
Daniel

 

[reefmutt]

Mark....This coment is not a solution, but probably can help you on "getting frustrated and fed" . In my short time with SPS and after 2 bad episodes (one just during the last weeks), I had, and I am still, learning that is very difficult to keep all what we add to the tank happy.

During my last 2 weeks issues, some SPS/Acros are like nothing have happened, at least to my eyes. Others are suffering or, as you saw, I had to take them out and gone.

What worked in the past to me and I hope it does it again was to just let the tank going on, with the best parameters I can provide (like you are doing), keep them as much stable I can (like you are doing) and wait. Some SPS will do better than others. ......unfortunately.

That is my short experience. Your is much longer than mine and you are one of the experts on this forum. So I will be following your thread to learn from you.

Best
Daniel

Agreed.. 100%...
This may sound flip and careless but I don't keep underperforming corals around very long if 90% of the tank is doing very well..
Unless I really have high hopes for a particular piece..
Hang in there, Mark!

 

[markalot]

Thanks guys, I always appreciate the encouragement I get around here.

I've been reading :reading: digital back issues of Coral magazine and came across an article on feeding corals back in 2010. Very interesting stuff. They discovered that sponges took in a large amount of DOC yet growth did not match how much they ate. In further testing it was discovered that sponges regularly discard old cells in favor of new cells as a way to protect against pathogens.

But after a bit of head-scratching, the research
team investigated the aquarium
water and found that it contained masses
of discarded dead sponge "œcollar cells "œ or
choanocytes marked with BrdU. These cells are devoted
to moving and filtering water within the sponge and to
digestion of captured matter.
Further analysis showed that these cells in the sponge
divided again after only four or five hours, a speed that
eclipses even the rapid reproduction of some species of
bacteria. This led to the supposition that this species of
sponge"”and probably also many others"”replace their
filter apparatus at very short time intervals.

-snip-

It thus appears that in a newly set-up coral-reef aquarium,
zooxanthellate corals require intensive additional
feeding with suspended particles in order to satisfy their
carbon requirement until this can be supplied naturally
by regular cell release from the numerous sponges that
grow concealed among the rocks of the aquarium decor.
Of course, this two-part sequence in the aquarium remains
hypothetical, but it would help explain the abovementioned
observation that stony corals in "œyoung" reef
aquaria sometimes exhibit practically no growth at all.

Right or wrong, I did remove a significant amount of filtration during rescape so it stands to reason my water is a lot emptier that it was before.