Mike's 200g

[MichaelW]

Thanks for the help guys. Right now I'm hesitant to move the borealis as it is encrusted pretty good. I think for now I will leave it and see. Getting a chisel or a bit of putty in there might be hard as there is not much space between the branches. Its mainly the delay I that is spreading like mad, and growing outwards 2. This thing has the base laid down to eventually become huge. My guess is within a week they will touch bases...so we shall see.

The other thing I have been noticing in my tank is that a lot of the corals new growth is very very light. Basically white. Has polyps etc just pure white growth. Normal? Ideas? Its this way on about 6 or 7 pieces, from different areas of tank (some up high some down low)

 

[reefmutt]

The white growth sounds like low nutrients

 

[markalot]

I think everyone should have some form of Nitrate they can dose to solve or discover nutrient issues. It's been a real game changer for me, even though I'm mostly using it with carbon dosing to help lower PO4. A little dose and coral colors respond by the next day.

Use with extreme caution of course, any rapid changes can lead to bigger issues. If you see improvement then you know you need to feed heavier or get more fish, or both.

 

[reefmutt]

The easiest n additive I have used is Seachem Flourish Nitrogen. It is designed for fresh water planted tanks but contains only potassium nitrate. So, you get the n as well as a tiny amount of potassium as well..
Like Mark, I also used it with Carbon dosing to lower p but since going off Carbon dosing, and rearranging filtration methods, my n still seems low so I still add some..
It's been several months that I have used it with only positive results...
I am trying to keep n in the 1-5 ppm range.. Closer to 5, actually.. So if your aim is lower than that, you wouldn't necessarily be using very much..
Micheal, where are your n and p currently?

 

[MichaelW]

Yeah well I have not been able to get any po4 or no3 readings for a while and I had been trying to increase them for a while now. I don't carbon dose of run gfo. However I had been getting a haze on the glass within a day and algae in overflow so I was second guessing my 0 readings. I have recently upped the feeding a little more and started a bit more acro power and is sponge power. I might try the seachem product if I can find it too see. My last tank colors were better when I had no3 under 1 though not higher. I know my nutrients read low and I have been trying to increase with feeding, but then the haze on glass made me think otherwise

 

[MichaelW]

The easiest n additive I have used is Seachem Flourish Nitrogen. It is designed for fresh water planted tanks but contains only potassium nitrate. So, you get the n as well as a tiny amount of potassium as well..
Like Mark, I also used it with Carbon dosing to lower p but since going off Carbon dosing, and rearranging filtration methods, my n still seems low so I still add some..
It's been several months that I have used it with only positive results...
I am trying to keep n in the 1-5 ppm range.. Closer to 5, actually.. So if your aim is lower than that, you wouldn't necessarily be using very much..
Micheal, where are your n and p currently?

A local pet store had about 5 different types of seachem flourish products and I wasn't sure which was the one to get, so the one you have used is called flourish nitrogen? I will be leaving town for about 5 days on thursday, so want start anything new until I get back. Hope everything does fine while I am gone.

 

[reefmutt]

Yes, Nitrogen.
If your corals are still growing, they can't be totally unhappy.. Just make sure somebody is feeding the fish while you are away..

 

[MichaelW]

Yes, Nitrogen.
If your corals are still growing, they can't be totally unhappy.. Just make sure somebody is feeding the fish while you are away..

Oh no the corals are not unhappy at all... Just always trying to get best possible color I can. I set up an auto feeder to feed flake and pellets 2 times a day. And my brother in law is going to feed 2 cubes mysis once a day. I couldn't really ask him to come over multiple times a day to feed.

 

[MichaelW]

Well time for an update after being away from the tank for 5 days to take the family to Disney Land.
upon return my last Tuka anthis had died. not suprising its just so hard to provide enough food for them, especially with the less food while i was gone. They were eating just not enough. I also lost my royal gramma which i have had since i started my very first tank (first fish in), he was the biggest and best colored gramma i have ever seen lately he had been looking a bit "weathered" so maybe it was just due to old age? i dont know.

Well to make up the fish loss i have added a couple new fish, a male/ female pair of golden rhomboid wrasses. The female is teeny tiny and still very shy. the male had been getting a hard time from the leopard wrasse but things are calming down. he looks good but arrived with some damage on his top fin which i hope heals up fine.
He has more purple in him in real life but it is not showing in pics.

 

[cFloor]

Sorry about your fish loss, but excellent addition with the rhomboid pair. I lost my rhomboid not too long ago (it jumped while I had the canopy open) So I just replaced him with a male, female pair. My female is also very small. Such beautiful fish!

 

[MichaelW]

now for corals.

i think things have lightened a bit as you will se in pictures. less feeding,lower bioload will be the reason. trying to rectify this with upping my feeding from 3 frozen cubes to 4 and going to leave my auto feeder up to feed flake and pellets 2 times a day. i have upped my sponge power dose to 6 drops a day also.
i am contemplating upping my acropower dosage and starting fauna marin color elements and possibly seachem flourish nitrogen if i continue to get 0 nitrate readings.

branching cyphastrea


Tenuis?



red dragon



Granulosa.. pale brownish



battle between selago and borealis



milli



section of reef



Cali tort growth tip

 

[MichaelW]

Sorry about your fish loss, but excellent addition with the rhomboid pair. I lost my rhomboid not too long ago (it jumped while I had the canopy open) So I just replaced him with a male, female pair. My female is also very small. Such beautiful fish!

thanks. yeah like this fish a lot. now looking out for linneatus pair. and then want to increase my resplendent anthias group from 4 to 7 and add another group of a different type anthis then prob one more special fish (reccomendations welcome) love your regal but just too scared to do it. (have a few acans)

 

[cFloor]

Yeah, I would definitely not trust many angels with acans. I only have a few LPS corals and I keep them in my frag tank for that reason. I've seen a lot of Cf Lanceolatus around lately. They are beautiful wrasses! I picked one up some months back and am considering grabbing a female tomorrow. A lineatus pair would be stunning in your tank!

 

[MichaelW]

Yeah, I would definitely not trust many angels with acans. I only have a few LPS corals and I keep them in my frag tank for that reason. I've seen a lot of Cf Lanceolatus around lately. They are beautiful wrasses! I picked one up some months back and am considering grabbing a female tomorrow. A lineatus pair would be stunning in your tank!

i have seen a couple online and my lfs said he had one coming in. not sure how my red velvet would react if he is too similar. he has been ok with the rhombiods though.

 

[cFloor]

I'd think if your rhomboids were fine, so would the Lanceolatus but you never know. I always use an acclimation box when adding new fish. It was my Katherine's wrasse that didn't' like mine when I first added him. But when he displays in the evenings it's awesome!

 

[reefmutt]

Love that wrasse. Gorgeous.
The corals look great as well. Your current regimen is making your corals pretty happy, it seems.

 

[MichaelW]

Love that wrasse. Gorgeous.
The corals look great as well. Your current regimen is making your corals pretty happy, it seems.

Thanks, Matt. Yeah I think mostly they are happy and there is definitely growth. Its just I don't have much color saturation on a few pieces that I would like to change. Confusing part is I also have the brown tires as if high nutrient.

 

[reefmutt]

One thing I have found... And I think this goes for every tank out there.. Even the rediculoisly amazing ones, is that you can't make every single coral a master piece.
If you have generally good health and color, you are doing things right.. The turds will either come around, or you will loose patience with them... Well, that's how it is with me..
Not saying one can't try tweaking the tank to enhance things but one has to keep in mind the corals that are doing well and if you have more of those than turds, you have to be aware of them...don't loose sight the forest when examining individual trees...

 

[MichaelW]

One thing I have found... And I think this goes for every tank out there.. Even the rediculoisly amazing ones, is that you can't make every single coral a master piece.
If you have generally good health and color, you are doing things right.. The turds will either come around, or you will loose patience with them... Well, that's how it is with me..
Not saying one can't try tweaking the tank to enhance things but one has to keep in mind the corals that are doing well and if you have more of those than turds, you have to be aware of them...don't loose sight the forest when examining individual trees...

That's the truth. I have just noticed growth is really pale and want more saturation like I see in other guys tanks.

 

[MichaelW]

Does anyone have any thoughts on oyster feast as an sps food? Any one use it? Notice results? I have a bottle in fridge but never really used it. Thinking it may give a bit more nutrition to corals, maybe help stop new growth being so white?