My 65 Gallon Mixed Reef

[biggles]

First off biggles, I doubt most reefers, myself included, would include such a detailed description of their cockups.......so Thanks!!!

While, we know that rapid changes are never good, I've always heard that reducing PO4 too fast leads to RTN etc. Have never seen this side of the scale, where PO4 has risen too fast. I honestly would never have expected the acros to react so dramatically, so thanks to you ... I have learnt

Hey Bello, whilst i don't really enjoy documenting the results of things going out of whack i think for those newer to SPS keeping it's highly likely they'll encounter many of the situations i routinely put my acros through and what i do to 1. correct the issue, and 2. minimise the impact on the acros has been learned through repeated goofing over the years.
My journal is just the way i do things and why i do them and i know a lot of it must be quite boring and at times annoying to many of you who have experience keeping SPS but going into detail and pics make it a lot easier for someone nervously venturing into SPS keeping.

Here though is a little bit of info i bet most aren't aware of. If you have two acros encrusting towards each other most times the most aggressive one will be the one encrusting faster. If you chip away the edge of the agro one with a chisel etc it will begin re-ecrusting within days but if you burn the edge with hot RO the acro shuts down encrusting along that edge for much longer. As soon as you see signs of any recovery simply burn it again and in the majority of cases the agro acro will stop trying to encrust in that direction totally.
Cut the tip of an acro branch and on another nuke it with boiling hot RO whilst in the tank and in 90% of cases the cut tip will be way ahead of the burnt tip in recovery a month later. I noticed this from doing both many times over the years and in this tank. I think that cutting and chipping is mimicking one off storm/fish damage whereas nuking the flesh only is mimicking the exact scenario of an acro's tissue being eaten off its skeleton by the mesenterial filaments of another. There are always exceptions to the rule but in the vast majority of cases you will see much better results using a syringe to stop an acro encrusting than you will with physical damage to the actual skeleton. See that's how easily i slip into a short ramble Bello...... the same scientific observations were noted by Prof Thumbumper of the Wikidiki aquarium and later published on the back of the staff loo door - 2011....... i told you i could back up my claims........

I basically use a rule of thumb when correcting goofs, the faster the goof was brought on by you the faster you should correct it. If phos rose to 0.15 over 2 weeks i wouldn't try to rip it back down fast. If you spike alk overnight to say 10 from where it was at 8 do you really thing the corals have become accustomed in any way to what is a toxic level to them yet i see guys told to lower it down slowly to prevent further stress - wrong. 12 hours after jumping from 8 to 10 the very best thing you can do is put it straight back to where it should be as fast as possible. If it rose to 10 over 2 weeks of course it's feasible that the acros are slowly adjusting, not adjusted but adjusting (as is the whole tank btw) so lowering it back suddenly may well shock the corals. So always think about how long something took to occur before deciding on the course of action in regards to how fast you should correct it and make sure you have enough info from the new guy in trouble before throwing out advice because the same problem can have different solutions depending on the huge number of variables involved. :beer:

Biggles - awesome reply mate, felt like I was reading a textbook from my college days :crazy1:

I did see the pic you posted of the two acros meeting and almost joining - was there some competition at the beginning? I actually find the engagement of allelopathy quite interesting in corals. I have yet to witness it in my own tank but am curious to see if I can get the corals to grow how I want them to by purposefully placing them in a potential war zone Or I can also take your example and use my pumps to dictate growth patterns by creating high jet stream currents. If you continuously have corals that are competing for light and space, some of which might be sliming or in an offensive display, do you have to run additional protocols like carbon to help eliminate those chemicals from the water column? I always start my new corals out on a frag rack that is near the bottom of the tank, about 4 inches off sand. My setup is kind of shallow, 16" high, even the bottom of my tank gets pretty high lighting from my LED - which are hung about 10 inches off the surface.

Please post more pics once you get your parameters settled and acros looking pretty :beer:

I think I will start my own build thread to show you what I am working with and if the placement/distances are sufficient. Maybe you can give me some advice because I am pretty new to SPS but have been seeing some really nice growth and colors on my sticks...but be warned, it's frag city in my tank. I also have way too much flubber :eek2:

Here is an existing link to my build, need to update with new pics and frag inventory:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2323974&page=2

Hi mate, i never mind explaining the way i do stuff The first time those acros met the blue one stung the fluoro one. I then chiseled off the front 1/4" of the blue one and the fluoro one reached the damaged edge before the blue one had recovered fully and began encrusting over the blue one, that's when the blue one commenced growing again but at no time in the last few months has it stung the fluoro one again - weird behavioral changes like this happen lots and you can use most of them to your advantage once you realise how big an influence you can play in the growth of your corals like i described above. The skimmer rips out slime a lot faster than carbon will so i don't worry tbh. You new coral routine sounds spot on, i'd be inclined to go 1-2" off the bottom with that rack if you can as 16" is shallow and LED's can burn a coral fast.

Yes you should start a bloody journal considering this is your reef back in December - you can do a lot of cool stuff with that rock scape, great job. The flubber front left looks cool - keep it there.........
That little nub of rock sticking up on the left is screaming out for a nice stag, the whole tank looks great and the corals look healthy - journal !

+1 on the posts bro! Thanks for showing us the up & DOWNS of reefing. Most of us go through this, but not many share their tribulations.

Even if 80% of your stuff brown out, you will come out like the Reef Rocky & back to the most beautiful tank ever. You are keen to these minor reef secrets that will most likely halt any further trouble. Big thanks for sharing your reefing knowledge!

Hi FastUno, thanks for the kind words mate. Won't be long and everything will be looking a lot happier i'm sure I've seen a good green algae bloom starting to develop today in the sump so i took out 1/3 of the rowaphos. I'm watching the acros closely to gauge what's happening with the water. Phos was 0.08 and 0.09 when tested today. :dance:

 

[biggles]

I forgot to say Bello, i think the Phos had such a profound effect simply because the acros were still recovering from the alk spike. Prior to trouble the draw was 150ml and i only had them back to 100ml when i ripped out all the algae so they weren't exactly firing on all cylinders.

One of the very rare occasions i smile when i see an algae bloom. Keeping it in the sump is relatively easy, i turned the lights to white and removed a pump leaving one that leads to poor flow in many places - basically where ever you see the green slime algae growing. That stuff wasn't there 2 days ago, i need to move the red algae clump to better flow as the green slime is on some of the leaf ends.

 

[Bello]

Prof Thumbumper :lol:

That's some crazy info on using RO to arrest the acro criminals , I just wonder how many more experiments you've performed over the years :lol:. Obviously, I've never heard of this method, but sounds pretty cool :thumbsup:. Now if only MY acros actually encrust, lazy buggers

I'd consider myself to be slightly experienced with sps, so I can appreciate the info as much as anyone attempting to keep sps for the first time . There's already a wealth of info already in this thread, that most noobs would do well to read it.

The rapidly rising PO4, coupled with the alk trauma, makes a lot of sense to me :thumbsup:. Glad to see that things are coming back to normal.

I have to admit, that I'm having a torrid time maintaining low NO3, with increased feedings, with just live rock and skimmer. I'm considering either a fuge or carbon dosing to reduce NO3 some more, maybe even both. I've now seen first hand the benefits of increased coral feedings :thumbsup:. Kind of a knee jerk reaction, but your fuge, is making me consider one, even more.

Dashylock, that's a pretty cool scape :thumbsup:

 

[sahin]

Sorry about the continuing woes of your tank. How are the SSC's doing?

Yesterday I came home with 3 SPS: 1xSSC (Yes, I now own 3 different frags :lol, some kind of deepwater (hope it turns metallic blue), and a tri-colour Millepora which is a small colony and looks pretty good.

I think I am going to copy you Biggles and fill my tank with SSC's all over the my rocks.

One thing that has puzzled me is that with high PO4 is that I always thought it causes browning of corals...not tissue loss. However, in your case, it may be that due to you having wild stock it is this way...?

Thats some VERY interesting info on managing acro warfare. :thumbsup: Another bit of info added to my memory bank.

 

[troubadour11]

I wish I had my Po4 tester so I could be testing right along with you :deadhorse1: I can at least watch and learn for now.

Thanks for all the info as usual! I always appreciate your ramblings. I can typically find something useful hidden between the lines in there. :lmao:

At this point, I might as well rename one of my note documents to Biggles Big Book of Know-How: A Focus Study on Bonsai-Reefing :thumbsup: I've gotten quite a bit of "experience" that I've noted for my future reefing endeavors from joining in the conversation on this thread. And that future reef time is getting closer and closer for me... I mean, I actually have a fish in my reef FINALLY! :lol2:

That hot water trick sounds so interesting! I worry about being able to frag/maintain my tank at some point. With all of the rock towers, I can't really remove things easily for trimming and such. So I may need to note any more tricks like that. Same with how you work the currents. That was something I'd wondered about, but haven't gotten to play with and experience yet. So it's good to know ahead of time that it kind of works like that.

I have to admit, that I'm having a torrid time maintaining low NO3, with increased feedings, with just live rock and skimmer. I'm considering either a fuge or carbon dosing to reduce NO3 some more, maybe even both. I've now seen first hand the benefits of increased coral feedings. Kind of a knee jerk reaction, but your fuge, is making me consider one, even more.

I haven't gotten crazy far into my reef yet. But I will say that I've hardly ever seen a bump in NO3 in my system yet. I saw it rise up to about 5-10 after the very first initial cycle. But ever since the 1st water change, I've barely even seen it register. And as we've found out with my cyano issue, I was having a little to much fun feeding our 2 cleaner shrimp for awhile. :headwallblue: I'm guessing I'd register super high in PO4, but have never seen NO3. I know there was some nutrients in there for a bit with only the 2 shrimp and no fish to eat the food. I'm wondering if I'm not registering NO3 ever because of my 75 gallon fuge with the DSB? If that is truly the reason NO3 is staying low for me, then it's going to be a super useful tool down the road when my reef fills in and I'm feeding more heavily.

------

Ok, ok. Now on a more "serious" coral note... :uzi: So all I hear about these days is SCC this, and SCC that. :inlove: Hahaha. I'm wondering. I've never really seen an SCC frag over by me at the LFS (I could easily be missing them as I browse). But what would be your "Holy Grail" be opposite of your precious SCC. You know, I can't find SCC, but I can easily find "X" over here :blown: I may have to get that and put it all over my tank :lol2::strooper:

 

[Mikelush78]

Amazing Tank!

 

[Dashylock]

Hi mate, i never mind explaining the way i do stuff The first time those acros met the blue one stung the fluoro one. I then chiseled off the front 1/4" of the blue one and the fluoro one reached the damaged edge before the blue one had recovered fully and began encrusting over the blue one, that's when the blue one commenced growing again but at no time in the last few months has it stung the fluoro one again - weird behavioral changes like this happen lots and you can use most of them to your advantage once you realise how big an influence you can play in the growth of your corals like i described above. The skimmer rips out slime a lot faster than carbon will so i don't worry tbh. You new coral routine sounds spot on, i'd be inclined to go 1-2" off the bottom with that rack if you can as 16" is shallow and LED's can burn a coral fast.

Yes you should start a bloody journal considering this is your reef back in December - you can do a lot of cool stuff with that rock scape, great job. The flubber front left looks cool - keep it there.........
That little nub of rock sticking up on the left is screaming out for a nice stag, the whole tank looks great and the corals look healthy - journal !

Wow very interesting way of dealing with the acros, I wonder what happens in the wild without any intervention? Strongest one wins i suppose.

I updated my thread - posted a new fts and pics of some acros. Apologies for the crappy pics and the blue contrast. At this point I only have my phone to take shots. Your feedback about placement, coral, and health is very much appreciated as always :bounce3:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2323974&page=2

How are you progressing with the phosphates? Have the acros started gaining some color back?

 

[biggles]

I have to admit, that I'm having a torrid time maintaining low NO3, with increased feedings, with just live rock and skimmer. I'm considering either a fuge or carbon dosing to reduce NO3 some more, maybe even both. I've now seen first hand the benefits of increased coral feedings :thumbsup:. Kind of a knee jerk reaction, but your fuge, is making me consider one, even more.

Dashylock, that's a pretty cool scape :thumbsup:

I don't want you or anyone else struggling with your nutrient control mate. I would just like to see more guys try it in a more natural way before adding equipment etc. Having a refuge is very handy for all manner of things and its use can change from one week to the next. Do whatever you're comfortable with to keep things under control Bello. :beer:

One thing that has puzzled me is that with high PO4 is that I always thought it causes browning of corals...not tissue loss. However, in your case, it may be that due to you having wild stock it is this way...?

All the SSC are fine i think mate, lost saturation mainly but hardly any damage. Those new acros sound very yummy Sahin, i only have two different SSC so you are one up on me lol.
Yes you should plaster your reef with SSC mate....... it's pinkalishus !

The only acros that i see browning of are the ones with very pale branches normally and it's more of a greyness than brown. I have tomorrow off so i'll take some daylight pics to show you what i mean. I have never used macro as nutrient control before so this sudden and rapid phos spike is new to me.
Apart from algae growth i really only use one other visual guide to give me a heads up when nutrients are getting out of whack. Any time i see the pigments lose their sheen or vibrancy along with a slight ugly drab deepening of the pigments and this can happen over a couple of days i know the water is too dirty and i check and adjust.
Spotting when the water is being stripped too clean is easy as i see paling of pigments and loss of PE on high light acro tips. I always make note in my head of which acros reacted fastest to what trauma in my reefs so i have 'marker' corals for certain conditions. Some of your acros will react worse and quicker to an alk spike than others - keep an eye on them if you don't test alk often, things can go wrong with dosers etc and you might not notice until it's too late but you should see those high alk acros giving warning signs if you're looking. Two blue acros split into a few diff spots each, have all reacted far worse than anything else so i won't get caught with such a high phos spike again because those acros will give me a heads up visually.
I don't think i've ever let an acro actually brown out as i always take measures when something isn't happy to correct the issue.

Ok, ok. Now on a more "serious" coral note... So all I hear about these days is SCC this, and SCC that.Hahaha. I'm wondering. I've never really seen an SCC frag over by me at the LFS (I could easily be missing them as I browse). But what would be your "Holy Grail" be opposite of your precious SCC. You know, I can't find SCC, but I can easily find "X" over here :blown: I may have to get that and put it all over my tank :lol2::strooper:

Hey Troub, i need to head over to your journal mate.

Get yourself any smooth skinned deep water acros as i've never seen one in real life.

Amazing Tank!

Thanks very much mate

Wow very interesting way of dealing with the acros, I wonder what happens in the wild without any intervention? Strongest one wins i suppose.

I updated my thread - posted a new fts and pics of some acros. Apologies for the crappy pics and the blue contrast. At this point I only have my phone to take shots. Your feedback about placement, coral, and health is very much appreciated as always

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2323974&page=2

How are you progressing with the phosphates? Have the acros started gaining some color back?

I'll be sure to check out your journal mate. Right now i think i'm past the worst as far as damage but colors are over all drab and everything is totally shut down with zero growth of any sort. PE length on most stuff is about 1/4 to 1/3 as long as normal but any PE is always a good sign. I'll take some top down close ups tomorrow to show you what's going on with the badly affected acros.


Troub - if you get more fish you'll see this.......... Potatohead uses the Xmas tree as his cleaning station for twilight tang grooming lol - i flashed them when they weren't looking.

 

[sahin]

Ok, ok. Now on a more "serious" coral note... :uzi: So all I hear about these days is SCC this, and SCC that. :inlove: Hahaha. I'm wondering. I've never really seen an SCC frag over by me at the LFS (I could easily be missing them as I browse). But what would be your "Holy Grail" be opposite of your precious SCC. You know, I can't find SCC, but I can easily find "X" over here :blown: I may have to get that and put it all over my tank :lol2::strooper:

Seriously dude, you need to get hold of SSC. I thought in California you'd find them all over the place. I had two frags for about 6 months or so, doing nothing, but yesterday I noticed that the larger frag has started to take off and it looks very nice. I also have a 3rd new frag. :lol: - Was cheap so I bought it.

You can look for Oregon Tort, Pink Lemonade, ORA Red Planet, ORA Hawkins Echinata (a MUST have for any SPS Tank), ORA Pearlberry (another MUST have).

 

[ormet]

sahin: Oh you lucky brits. I have searched for the holy SSC for 18 months now. All we get here is Bali maricultured ... seen the same 20 kinds of acro come in to the lfs a few times to many now, starting to get bored!

biggles, sorry to hear about your problems, hope everything gets sorted soon.

 

[sahin]

Right now i think i'm past the worst as far as damage but colors are over all drab and everything is totally shut down with zero growth of any sort. PE length on most stuff is about 1/4 to 1/3 as long as normal but any PE is always a good sign. I'll take some top down close ups tomorrow to show you what's going on with the badly affected acros.

Hopefully within a couple of weeks your tank will be back to its former glory mate. Having said that, your tank looks better than mine even in its bad days. :beer:

Maybe towards the end of the year I will catch up to you and Bello...I just know that Bello has a neat trick up his sleeve...His tank thread has been quiet the past few days... :eek2:

 

[sahin]

sahin: Oh you lucky brits. I have searched for the holy SSC for 18 months now. All we get here is Bali maricultured ... seen the same 20 kinds of acro come in to the lfs a few times to many now, starting to get bored!

biggles, sorry to hear about your problems, hope everything gets sorted soon.

Ormet: Sweden is in the EU (so no CITES permits required etc), so make a short 2 day trip to London, UK, first day treat your wife/girlfriend around London/Oxford Street shopping etc. On your last day I will take you to a new LFS I found 2 days ago which has an amazing SPS frag collection...they usually have SSC frags for sale.

 

[ormet]

Ormet: Sweden is in the EU (so no CITES permits required etc), so make a short 2 day trip to London, UK, first day treat your wife/girlfriend around London/Oxford Street shopping etc. On your last day I will take you to a new LFS I found 2 days ago which has an amazing SPS frag collection...they usually have SSC frags for sale.

What can i say, nicest offer i've had in a long time! I might not even have to treat wife with shopping as her childhood friend always wants her to come visit London!

Now to the more tricky part ... ditch the kids so mum and dad can go on "romantic trip" and meet reefers

 

[Bello]

I don't want you or anyone else struggling with your nutrient control mate. I would just like to see more guys try it in a more natural way before adding equipment etc. Having a refuge is very handy for all manner of things and its use can change from one week to the next. Do whatever you're comfortable with to keep things under control Bello. :beer:

I do think I tried long enough with simple berlin, but I guess due to my fishload, it was difficult (unfortunately, I already have a ton of equipment, zeo, biopellets, siporax..... you name it, I've tried it....unsuccessfully, jk :lol. Well, already rigged up the refuge with lights etc, will fire it up tomorrow

I just know that Bello has a neat trick up his sleeve...His tank thread has been quiet the past few days... :eek2:

Usually you'd be right about that :lol:, but this time I'm just plugging along with the damned AEFW treatment :uzi:. Some of the corals look like a bad day in the loo. We're in the second week of dips now, haven't found ONE AEFW in the last dip, so fingers crossed :thumbsup:

 

[Dashylock]

Dashylock, that's a pretty cool scape :thumbsup:

Thanks Bello :wavehand: It's a work in progress, looks different now, more space up front for the sps frag rack :hmm2:

 

[troubadour11]

Hey Troub, i need to head over to your journal mate.

Get yourself any smooth skinned deep water acros as i've never seen one in real life.

Troub - if you get more fish you'll see this.......... Potatohead uses the Xmas tree as his cleaning station for twilight tang grooming lol - i flashed them when they weren't looking.

Ok, so smooth skinned deep water acros. Check... I may have to wait until my tank can keep those holy grails alive. But I'll keep an eye out. Maybe when I'm at my LFS today they'll let me snap some pictures for you of their selection that I get to browse.

I was just curious as to what I should be on the look out for. As you metion Sahin, I can probably find it over here. I'm just not looking hard enough most likely. I just browse over the SPS and dream right now. I do that with pretty much any coral though. LOL. So more then likely I'm missing it if it's typically easily found over here in SoCal.

It's usually pretty easy to source ORA stuff. There are a couple places that I know can order it for me. I can't say I really see them stock it though. I do like the sounds of Pearlberry. I may have to check that one out

And Biggles, I can't wait to have a fish in there that lets the Cleaners do their job. So far... the Orange Firefish hangs out and teases them. They sneak up like they're going to pounce when he's out in the current, and then he drifts or darts just out of reach.

And I think it's hilarious that Potatohead uses the Christmas tree as a cleaning perch. You could set up a row of them and a little sign for the "Christmas Cleaners Fish Wash" :hmm4:

Oh, and I won't comment on the fact that you "flashed them when they weren't looking." 1.) caught in the act... 2.) That's a fishy downside to your NRM. :headwally:

 

[biggles]

Hey ho, thanks for the concern guys but things are still going downhill ever so slowly. More acros are showing distress today and those already affected such as the blue stag pieces are worse. :deadhorse1:
I'm going to get NSW water now as i'm stuffed as to what has caused this sudden U turn in the reef's health. I've noticed the pod population has crashed to maybe 20% of the numbers a week ago so that's just another thing that is of concern.
I'm going to show you some top downs of all the stuff that's worrying me - there are lots lol.

Before i get into the more depressing aspects of my acro collection i wanted to show you a pic of the blue stag that has plated out over the green acro at its base after being stung twice - considering the blue stag is shut down completely like everything else in regards to growth as long as it's not losing tissue like the other blue stag pieces i'm happy - it's easily my favorite stag for the brilliant blue color it has even when unhappy like everything else in the tank. Top right out of focus is a dying blue acro covered in algae which i'll show you later.........:facepalm:

 

[Dashylock]

Hey ho, thanks for the concern guys but things are still going downhill ever so slowly. More acros are showing distress today and those already affected such as the blue stag pieces are worse. :deadhorse1:
I'm going to get NSW water now as i'm stuffed as to what has caused this sudden U turn in the reef's health. I've noticed the pod population has crashed to maybe 20% of the numbers a week ago so that's just another thing that is of concern.
I'm going to show you some top downs of all the stuff that's worrying me - there are lots lol.

Before i get into the more depressing aspects of my acro collection i wanted to show you a pic of the blue stag that has plated out over the green acro at its base after being stung twice - considering the blue stag is shut down completely like everything else in regards to growth as long as it's not losing tissue like the other blue stag pieces i'm happy - it's easily my favorite stag for the brilliant blue color it has even when unhappy like everything else in the tank. Top right out of focus is a dying blue acro covered in algae which i'll show you later.........:facepalm:

Awesome shot biggles. Has the base of the blue acro always had that greenish tint or has that evolved since coming into contact with the green acro?

Excited to see what else you decide to show us :thumbup:

 

[biggles]

Awesome shot biggles. Has the base of the blue acro always had that greenish tint or has that evolved since coming into contact with the green acro?

Excited to see what else you decide to show us :thumbup:

The green to the right of the blue stag base is green slime algae if that's what you mean mate.


So whilst visiting the LFS to pick up 6 x 25L drums of NSW i thought i'd take my refractometer with me as i never had any calibration liquid and used RO to zero it........
Before i left i tested the tank's salinity. 1.0255 which is where i keep it close to at all times, last time i checked it a week ago it read 1.0270, it always slowly creeps up so i dropped it to 1.0250 over a day to allow for the creep. I like it around 1.0260 normally so i split the difference.

I test the first drum while the guy is filling another and i get 1.0280 !
I query the guy and he says it's at 1.0255 because the boss makes them keep an eye on it. I go inside and we test their coral holding system water and it reads 1.0280........... anyone see where this is going yet.......:facepalm:
We get out the calibrated shop refractometer and low and behold it reads 1.0255 on all the water i get 1.0280 on. They just had a fish shipment arrive so he let me test a bag of water from the collector and it reads 1.0275. Shop one reads 1.0250.

Now at this point the guy is talking but i can't hear anything, i'm working out what 1.0255 minus 0.0025 is in my head and the answer kept coming back as 1.02BAD. We calibrated my refractometer and then i drove the whole way home pondering whether i would admit to you guys what i'd done and most importantly, how i could somehow blame Bello for it..........:hammer:

I siphoned out 2 x 20L buckets of water whilst removing as much of the sand as possible at the same time, i probably removed 1/4 of the sand in that water change. Because i am such an idiot i also spiked the temp from 26 to 27.5 in 5 minutes with that change because the water was in drums on the back of a ute for an hour in 35 degree heat prior to me using any of it - biggles is on a roll i have to say...........

I've replaced half the ATO RO water with salt water. The tank was 1.0230 when i arrived home and it's about 1.0235 now after the water change and i'll let the ATO run for a few days and check the rise frequently so it's not too quick.

Blue stag looking worse and spots on other branches losing tissue very slowly.

Poopy SSC with a dead baby blue acro frag lower right.

The other piece of the same blue stag losing tissue on all the tips. You can see how slow the loss is as the algae is easily keeping up with it so i'm not seeing the classic stark white dead areas normally associated with tip burn. That's taken about 3-4 days to just get to that point of loss.

What was once the baby blue acro i moved from the raft. The dead frag in the earlier pic is the same acro.

Filaments out for no reason other than distress on the red (now browning) magnet mounted table.

The other piece of my blue table acro that RTN'd a while back, this one hung on for ages but i managed to entirely kill it....... those acros on the right show you what i mean when i say an acro isn't browning out it's greying out.

So there you go, this is what happens when you take Bello's advice on refractometer calibration.........:reading:

 

[1000_smiles]

Sorry about your troubles biggles.
But. thanks for taking the time to document things and tell us how you go about troubleshooting problems. It's really helpful.