Mhucasey's SPS obsession
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mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Thanks Matt, the parameters haven't changed much:
PO4: 0.00
NO3: 2
Ca:~400
KH: 7.0-7.3
Mg: 1450
K: 430
temp: 77-79
As I said earlier, I now am using a mixture of Blue plus, Superblue, and one actinic Blue bulbs(9 bulbs), Two fiji Purple, and one Coral Plus. I will probably swap out the coral plus for another purple bulb, as I'm running 6 blue and two purple on the Flubber reef and its even better color wise. When I replace any of the Blue bulbs there is initially a color shift toward yellow and brown that I wasn't liking(I count the coral plus as 1/2 purple rather than white).
A local store here only runs purple and blue bulbs with good results so I gave it a shot. With just purple and blue the mixture comes out a rich bluish white with very saturated color, I have really liked it and the corals have been doing great.
I added back AIO pellets to get to just over 1L, but I took advantage of having a controllable Tunze Silence pump on the reactor. I now run the pump at just enough flow to disturb the pellets and very slowly move them around, then for one minute each hour I crank the pump flow up to full blast and vigorously tumble the pellets. It seems to cut down on the fines that come off the pellets(which was the point), otherwise I don't really see much difference performance wise.
I ran out of "Iodide" solutions so I went back to Lugols. 4 drops per day, every day. I finally have measurable iodate on the Salifert test:beer: Perhaps a little more PE resulted from the switch.
Other than that, no real changes. No water changes either. I'm pumped for Reef-A-Palooza, I plan on loading up!
JB NY
Active member
Video looks good, pictures looks good too. Nice colors and good polyp extension. I am starting to miss the polyp extension with my corals, but I have 5 pygmy angles in the tank that are always giving kisses to my frags.
I have a love hate relationship with the Purple bulbs, when I first put a fiji purple on my tanks I love them but after a few weeks I always end up not being happy and taking them off. Hopefully they will look better long term over your tank.
Looking good my friend!
I have a love hate relationship with the Purple bulbs, when I first put a fiji purple on my tanks I love them but after a few weeks I always end up not being happy and taking them off. Hopefully they will look better long term over your tank.
Looking good my friend!
markalot
...
Likewise with the purple bulbs. I'm using Big Ed's coral / blue combo except I have 3 GAB's, 2 AquaBlue Coral, and a coral+. I'm not sure I could stand any more red in the tank.
How can you keep any acro so close to the slimer? Mine reaches out and touches everything it gets close too.
How can you keep any acro so close to the slimer? Mine reaches out and touches everything it gets close too.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Thanks guys, the video was a better way of showing everything, pictures are difficult for showing how everything is laid out. Photos with an iPhone are tricky with this bulb combo, the white balance can only be adjusted so far. I need to get a real camera at some point, focus is hard to achieve as well with the iPhone.
I have always been a fan of the Fiji Purple bulbs, usually I use them in combination with the white bulbs and blue bulbs to add enough red to balance everything out. Surprisingly, with just purple and blue the color is not too red at all. After posting yesterday about replacing the Coral plus I remembered a stash of bulbs that I have with a couple of Fiji purple bulbs in it, so I swapped it out. So now 3 Fiji purple, 9 blue bulbs. I like the color better than 2 purple, one coral, 9 blue. If you have purple and blue bulbs I recommend trying it to see how it looks. The color is rich and "velvety" for lack of a better adjective
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
It didn't click for me until I abandoned the white bulbs, everything had a bit too much red and yellowish brown. if you have the bulbs, try 5 blue and one full purple bulb- that is what the LFS I saw was using. They were running 6 blue and two purple in their fixtures but now they leave two slots unfillled.
The green slime(if that is what it is) has never stung anything, even montis, in my memory. Its pretty close to another acro right now and i was monitoring to see which one would be the aggressor.
cugly
Dansreeftank
Hopefully I will be able to add more later today, I have been experiencing a very busy couple of weeks, installing wood floors on my stairs and upstairs by myself(ouch), Having a second toot pulled from Woody, then one week later Dinky was in a tussle with Buddy and his ear was bitten. It peeled the skin away in the middle of the ear and they had to surgically remove a piece of his ear. So two Vet appointments for surgery in two weeks, a dog in a cone, lots of doggie drugs, etc.
At the beginning of the last couple of weeks I took some advice from a local store and went to all Blue bulbs except two Fiji purple and one coral plus(The "Half Purple" bulb). The colors that are appearing are pretty awesome. I have some shots to share later but in the meantime here is a FTS:
I also went back to Lugol's and did a cool tweak on the pellet reactor.
Looking good Matt still need to come check out this beautiful tank of yours. And ssc looks good.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
JB NY
Active member
Oh one other thing I forgot - I started dosing Acropower about 8 -10 days ago. 7 doses of 2.2 ML each during light hours each day. A little Cyano developed in a couple of spots in the lowest flow areas but no algae bloom
I know a lot of people love acropower, the times I have tried it I got some dinos or cyano. I have used, and still do, Salifert AA for well over ten years will great results. Might want to give that one a try if acropower is not working for you.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
No, I haven't tried that one. I've used the various Zeovit concoctions(AA, Pohl's Extra, Coral Vitalizer) and some homemade AA supplements. The last time I used acropower I would get a big increase in the amount of algae on the glass the day after but this time I'm not seeing that.
Perhaps Ill give the Salifert a try when this bottle runs out. Do you see the same PE response when using the Salifert?
aggie13reef
New member
Matt, great FTS. Everything looks great. That pink and green acro is my favorite, I can only imagine what it looks like in person. I too am in the iphone boat and it is tough to capture the way things actually look. Keep up the good work my friend!
markalot
...
I tried this today, 4 blues, G Super Purple and ATI Purple+. I'm surprised by the look, it does not look purple and really it's the closest I've come, so far, to the Radium look I see at a local store. Unfortunately my Red Robin is still brown. :mad2:
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Thanks very much! I wish there was a good way to capture the color without spending a bunch for a high end camera. I've found a lot of tricks that help and recently I have been playing with snapseed with good results. What I really would like now is a better lens, it's so hard to get pictures in perfect focus.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Weird, huh? Just purple and blue has a whole special look of its own. It may be a coincidence but the corals are developing new color at a very rapid rate. I'm taking lots of pictures so I can hopefully demonstrate it.
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