Mark's 150 gallon

[markalot]

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[reefmutt]

Oh yeah.
Live is so much better than pictures, Mark.
Love it!

 

[kevlow]

Your Lokani is as fine an example as I have ever seen. Clearly you are dialed in on what it takes to make this coral thrive.

In your opinion,what makes your Lokani have such full, even coloring from center out to tips.?

My frag started out very small and light blue all over. Now it has encrusted and is growing and branching but the center trunk is white. The branches turn blue, then dark to purple.

Is this due to lighting [too much or too little}? Or due to my having only LEDs as opposed to your T5s?

Perhaps you have seen specific parameters effect this piece specifically.

I am interested in your take on your Lokani coloration.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[markalot]

Your Lokani is as fine an example as I have ever seen. Clearly you are dialed in on what it takes to make this coral thrive.

In your opinion,what makes your Lokani have such full, even coloring from center out to tips.?

My frag started out very small and light blue all over. Now it has encrusted and is growing and branching but the center trunk is white. The branches turn blue, then dark to purple.

Is this due to lighting [too much or too little}? Or due to my having only LEDs as opposed to your T5s?

Perhaps you have seen specific parameters effect this piece specifically.

I am interested in your take on your Lokani coloration.

Thanks,
Kevin

Thanks Kevin.

That Lokani looked good throughout the tank mini crash so I'm not sure it's a good example of quality water. It's history is as a small frag living in a bankrupt fish store for a year before I got it for a steal. Perhaps it's been in the hobby a while, perhaps at full health it would look completely different, I just don't know.

It's been attacked by masses of grey/white bugs twice and dipped in Bayer 3 times with only some slight browning.

When every other acro was receding or RTN'ing this one was stable or even growing.

I think I just got lucky. I do need to spread this around but so far I have never shipped. Going to bug Josh near Lexington to maybe meet and take a frag of it, but first I need to frag it.

 

[markalot]

Oh yeah.
Live is so much better than pictures, Mark.
Love it!

Thanks Matt! One day I might be able to get the colors right as well.

 

[kevlow]

Thanks Kevin.

That Lokani looked good throughout the tank mini crash so I'm not sure it's a good example of quality water. It's history is as a small frag living in a bankrupt fish store for a year before I got it for a steal. Perhaps it's been in the hobby a while, perhaps at full health it would look completely different, I just don't know.

It's been attacked by masses of grey/white bugs twice and dipped in Bayer 3 times with only some slight browning.

When every other acro was receding or RTN'ing this one was stable or even growing.

I think I just got lucky. I do need to spread this around but so far I have never shipped. Going to bug Josh near Lexington to maybe meet and take a frag of it, but first I need to frag it.

I guess that rules out me copying your Lokani husbandry program. LOL. You may have developed a disease resistant strain by surviving the Darwinian process of natural selection.

Do you have an idea of how much par is hitting it?

 

[reefmutt]

Thanks Kevin.

That Lokani looked good throughout the tank mini crash so I'm not sure it's a good example of quality water. It's history is as a small frag living in a bankrupt fish store for a year before I got it for a steal. Perhaps it's been in the hobby a while, perhaps at full health it would look completely different, I just don't know.

It's been attacked by masses of grey/white bugs twice and dipped in Bayer 3 times with only some slight browning.

When every other acro was receding or RTN'ing this one was stable or even growing.

I think I just got lucky. I do need to spread this around but so far I have never shipped. Going to bug Josh near Lexington to maybe meet and take a frag of it, but first I need to frag it.

Mark, you need to start calling that lokani the 'ghetto lokani', frag it and charge $100 per 1/2 inch!
I'd buy two, dammit!!

 

[cFloor]

Nice videos Mark! I especially like that lokani. Very very nice. After growing mine out for about 3 years, it suddenly RTN'd last week. No clue why, but i was super bummed as it's one of my favorite corals!

 

[MichaelW]

A really hardy like no that looks that good....Its basically your duty to make some frags of that and spread it around. I will be waiting for my piece &#55357;&#56841;

 

[cahonus66]

Very nice Mark! Thanks for sharing!

 

[glaukos]

+1
Amazing vids mark,thanks for sharing:beer:

 

[DaveRaz]

Wow. Looking stellar. I love your updates.

 

[nemodan]

Very nice videos !!!!

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I like the videos. Thanks for sharing.

 

[markalot]

Thanks all for the nice comments!

It's been a week now with the hybrid NanoBox light. I really dislike the purple color LED produces so I've been running a spectrum similar to what can be found in 15 meters of water.

Max settings during 6 hour peak.
50% Violet
75% Royal Blue
90% Blue/Cyan
75% Lime
25% White

To my eyes this produces a nice neutral blue with just a hint of green when only the LED's are on and seems to really match up well when the coral+ and blue+ T5's are on. It certainly makes the SSC show more yellow.

So, any changes in the top down shots?

:bounce2: I have waited 1.5 years for this.

Some of these next pics are a little contrasty but these colors have definitely improved since last week.

Maybe I can learn to like SSC's.

Keeping an eye on the Lokani. Perhaps this is a more natural color but it's lightened up a little fast ... making me nervous. (click for larger)


My maricultured frags are starting to change as well. Green base, light blue tips, and still mostly brown.

Not everything has improved color. Cousin It is, well ... not really sure.

Still using Kalk in the topoff, KH at 6.7

Daily dosing is:

3 drops PhosphateRx
3 drops AF MicroE (switched from Seachem trace, ingredients similar and I like the dropper dosing)
3 drops SpongePower

Feeding a mix of Flake and Pellet and adding a pinch of Reef Roids every 3 days or so.

 

[FloformAustria]

looking good Mark! :thumbsup:

 

[kevlow]

It is going to be cool watching your corals evolve with the new lights. You have well documented their colors with lots of previous pics. Now we get to watch the effects of adding LEDs to a traditional T5 tank.

The mauve piece in the 4th pic is intriguing. I like it more every time I see it.

 

[markalot]

looking good Mark!

Thanks Flo.

It is going to be cool watching your corals evolve with the new lights. You have well documented their colors with lots of previous pics. Now we get to watch the effects of adding LEDs to a traditional T5 tank.

The mauve piece in the 4th pic is intriguing. I like it more every time I see it.

Thanks Kev. Hopefully the colors are a result if the LED's mixed in, not in spite of them. I'm still a bit of an LED skeptic when it comes to acros but I really like the way they make the tank look.

A few more pictures.

Was taking a picture of the cyphastrea and noticed an odd red spot to the left.

How did this get down here?

It's been a full year since MEN made an appearance. Either I'm jinxing myself or they are really gone.

Time to trim the damn Xenia again before it starts to kill this cap.

I have had this bird for almost 3 years. I'll let it get large, then sell the piece and keep a small frag laying around until I get the urge to grow another colony. It has never looked this good, with the extreme polyp extension all the other SPS have. If only I knew why.

I'm not sure this Dragon type is ever going to look like much. On the one hand it's a very unique color, but on the other hand, it's this unique color.

Not sure who is winning here. The purple cap will make a nice base for another acro frag.

Orchid Stylo

KBG

Red Dragon with one dead branch. Looks healthy but I think it would do better in lower light ... perhaps where the brown dragon sits.

 

[FloformAustria]

wow love it!!

stunning mate!

Cheers

 

[Wazzel]

Nice progress Mark. Don't be an LED skeptic, they work just fine even for SPS.