My 65G Shallow Reef Tank

[maxxII]

Holy cow that looks really top notch! I love the way the blue looks in front of the purple cap. Seriously, that's one of the best combinations I've seen. Deforestation success!

I really like it too.

It looks like the blue Gomezi is ripping up through the purple cap like the mythical Kraken launching up from the depths of the sea to consume hapless sailors.....

Or, maybe I need less coffee and more sleep..... you decide.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Holy cow that looks really top notch! I love the way the blue looks in front of the purple cap. Seriously, that's one of the best combinations I've seen. Deforestation success!

Thank you Mark.

Very nice update, Bulent.
Things are looking really good in there!
I love the new coral population.
So, is it safe to say you have gone back, pretty much, to how you were doing things before the koral color?

Thank you Matt. Yes. I can confirm that I am back to my previous dosing regimen with the addition of a very modest organic carbon dosing (polyalcohol).

Tank looks wonderful Bulent something everyone should be aspiring for

Cheers Dom. It is very nice of you to say that.

Man that looks sexy!!!. Time for fore frags brother.

Thanks brother.

 

[reefmutt]

So, you feel the extra Carbon is necessary, in addition to the tropic Marin products?
What are your target nutrient levels, these days?

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Bulent, your tank is off the hook man! WOW, WOW, WOW!!!
Excellent FTS, excellent coral colors, and excellent photos. Just getting caught up on the journals after a long weekend at a coral show, yes been staring at corals for 3 days, and these pics have me smiling ear to ear. Whatever is going on in your tank, just keep doing it, this is the best group of photos you have posted, all the others are great, but the display is just perfect. Cheers Buddy

Thank you sir. I would love to go to coral shows if only there was one in the UK. Tanks like yours give me motivational stimulus to work hard. I wish I could get the same pink colouration that you have in your tank.

Bulent your tank look amazing, you did a fantastic job, seriously! That must have taken forever too! :eek1:

Thanks Josh. It took me ages to come to terms with starting the process and another week or two to clear off all the cuttings from the sand bed. Thank God I did not have to take the cut colonies to my lfs. My fish room could not cope with any more salt buckets. :mixed:

I really like it too.

It looks like the blue Gomezi is ripping up through the purple cap like the mythical Kraken launching up from the depths of the sea to consume hapless sailors.....

Or, maybe I need less coffee and more sleep..... you decide.

This is very poetic. I appreciate your expression. Keep away from coffee. It is not good for your health. :frog:

 

[DiscusHeckel]

The deforestation looks great! This leaves you room to try new things and acquire new pieces.
Could you share some info on the fifth photo [bottom pic] in post 590?
I think I might have a frag of this that I purchased as a nearly all white unknown acro. It was just starting to color a pastel lime green when I changed my system and spiked nitrates. It darkened very quickly. After two weeks it is lightening up again, getting it's color back.

It seems to be a very sensitive piece. Any knowledge on care, it's preferences, name or type that you could share would be greatly appreciated by me.

Thanks again,
Subscribed.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

I do not really know if we have the same coral, but mine is surprisingly fast growing coral. It was blue when I had it cut from a wild-collected colony last June. It turned pink shortly afterwards. After I finally placed it on its present position a month later, it gradually started to change its colour to what it is now. Sadly it does not look colourful when you view it perpendicularly.

I would like to give you four parameters that may help you:

First, my tank water is fairly nutrient rich. Alkalinity is fairly constant between 6.7-8 dKH. Calcium is between 400-420 ppm. Additional daily potions I dose, such as TM bacto balance, sponge power and trace elements, must help with its colouration and growth rate.

Second, my water temperature is between 27-28C (80.6-82.4F). I like a high energy reef tank. In this way, I believe that nutrients are processed in a much after way and that my corals do not seem to be affected by temperature spikes during occasional heat waves in the summer.

Third, this coral seems to thrive on chaotic flow. Two of my Tunze pumps face each other. When their currents meet they create vortex that crashes on this coral. I think the way it spreads itself could have something to with the flow it receives.

Fourth, it seems to like fairly high PAR. It receives around 400 mmol/m2/sec PAR.

I hope this helps.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

So, you feel the extra Carbon is necessary, in addition to the tropic Marin products?
What are your target nutrient levels, these days?

Hi Matt,

I am only using 0.2 ml of extra carbon per day. I dose it directly over my siporax media, hoping that bacteria will colonise in/on the media. I am not at all convinced that siporax is serving any purpose in my tank. I cannot prove why I feel this way. May be because I expected that by providing a large hosing estate to bacteria, I would achieve significant drop in nitrates. It did not materialise. May be I am wrong. If I am wrong, then by removing siporax my nitrates may suddenly peak. By dosing the extra carbon I am hoping to be able make siporax more functional by boosting bacteria population. I could increase bacto balance dose instead of dosing the extra carbon, but I wanted to diversify my nutrient export methods. Both Elimi-NP and bacto balance are completely miscible.

Regarding targets, with my current high fish stock in such a low volume of water that I have, I feel that when nitrates are between 5-10 ppm and phosphates are between 0.092-0.1 mg/l, the colours do not look vibrant. The colours look satisfying (with the exception of pink), when nitrates are 5 ppm and phosphates are 0.046 mg/l. What I would like to achieve is between 2.5-5 ppm nitrates and 0.024 mg/l for long period of time to observe their effect on colouration.

 

[maxxII]

This is very poetic. I appreciate your expression. Keep away from coffee. It is not good for your health. :frog:

I work a rotating shift and transition from day shift to midnight shift every 28 days. I also have three little children. Coffee is a necessity....

 

[kevlow]

Hi Kevin,

I do not really know if we have the same coral, but mine is surprisingly fast growing coral. It was blue when I had it cut from a wild-collected colony last June. It turned pink shortly afterwards. After I finally placed it on its present position a month later, it gradually started to change its colour to what it is now. Sadly it does not look colourful when you view it perpendicularly.

I would like to give you four parameters that may help you:

First, my tank water is fairly nutrient rich. Alkalinity is fairly constant between 6.7-8 dKH. Calcium is between 400-420 ppm. Additional daily potions I dose, such as TM bacto balance, sponge power and trace elements, must help with its colouration and growth rate.

Second, my water temperature is between 27-28C (80.6-82.4F). I like a high energy reef tank. In this way, I believe that nutrients are processed in a much after way and that my corals do not seem to be affected by temperature spikes during occasional heat waves in the summer.

Third, this coral seems to thrive on chaotic flow. Two of my Tunze pumps face each other. When their currents meet they create vortex that crashes on this coral. I think the way it spreads itself could have something to with the flow it receives.

Fourth, it seems to like fairly high PAR. It receives around 400 mmol/m2/sec PAR.

I hope this helps.

Thank you. That was far more info then I expected and I greatly appreciate understanding these things about your system. I think of that as a high metabolism tank. High nutrients, high par, high heat, high current equals high energy and growth. Like an athletes body, it consumes a lot and converts it to energy quickly and efficiently.

I will be following along. Subscribed.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Thank you. That was far more info then I expected and I greatly appreciate understanding these things about your system. I think of that as a high metabolism tank. High nutrients, high par, high heat, high current equals high energy and growth. Like an athletes body, it consumes a lot and converts it to energy quickly and efficiently.

I will be following along. Subscribed.

You're welcome. I would like to make a correction in my response above: the word "after" in expression "much after way" should read "faster", i.e. "much faster way".

Your analogy is spot on. To quote Eric Borneman (Aquarium Corals, pp 347): "the entire metabolism of the tank is raised, including those of the microbial community, detritus-processing organisms, and herbivores. Furthermore, it is a more natural temperature for many reef animals. The increased rates of calcification at these temperatures should, therefore, not be offset by increasing algae growth, unless system is mismanaged".

Having said that Eric Borneman also makes a reference to algal films in raised temperatures: "It had always been assume that temperatures lower than natural levels prevented the rapid growth of unsightly algal films on the aquarium glass and lessened the proliferation of problem hair algae". Although I do not have any nuisance algae anywhere in my display tank, I get algal films on the glass every day and have to clean the glass once every two days.

 

[reefmutt]

interesting how high you run your tank temp..
I've always tried to stay between 24-26.5 C.. 80F has always been my line.. too scared to go over that.. in case of a cooling system malfunction.. gives me a small time window to react.
I'm still cleaning my glass daily..
maybe this is why I am often frustrated with slow growth rates in some of my corals...hm...

That's a very small amount of extra carbon..
have you, or are you able to try reducing flow through the siporax somehow?

 

[DiscusHeckel]

interesting how high you run your tank temp..
I've always tried to stay between 24-26.5 C.. 80F has always been my line.. too scared to go over that.. in case of a cooling system malfunction.. gives me a small time window to react.
I'm still cleaning my glass daily..
maybe this is why I am often frustrated with slow growth rates in some of my corals...hm...

That's a very small amount of extra carbon..
have you, or are you able to try reducing flow through the siporax somehow?

Elimi-NP is very concentrated. Maximum daily dose is only 0.5 ml per 100l. This means 1.2 ml maximum daily dose in my case.

Unfortunately, changing the flow through siporax is not an option. Siporax will either stay or go. I will do some experiments in the next few weeks to establish if it is playing a part in nutrient export. If its absence does not affect NO3 and PO4, then it will stay.

Thanks for your advise.

 

[reefmutt]

But don't you have it in it's own container? Couldn't you wrap the eggcrate enclosure in a couple layers of a mesh or something? just enough to slow the water movement through the centre of the siporax?

 

[sahin]

Siporax will either stay or go. I will do some experiments in the next few weeks to establish if it is playing a part in nutrient export. If its absence does not affect NO3 and PO4, then it will stay.

It is generally useful where there isnt sufficient liverock etc. If there is already sufficient rocks (sand and other surfaces etc) then the bacterial population is already at an equilibrium with the available nutrients.

Adding more surface area (as in adding Siporax or other material) to an established reef tank cannot really do much unless the nutrient content changes. The bacterial population will only change with the availability of the food they require.

With the move towards a modern minimal sort of look and less liverock than traditionally used, then yes it should help.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

It is generally useful where there isnt sufficient liverock etc. If there is already sufficient rocks (sand and other surfaces etc) then the bacterial population is already at an equilibrium with the available nutrients.

Adding more surface area (as in adding Siporax or other material) to an established reef tank cannot really do much unless the nutrient content changes. The bacterial population will only change with the availability of the food they require.

With the move towards a modern minimal sort of look and less liverock than traditionally used, then yes it should help.

Sahin, thanks for your explanation.

Before I had bought siporax I had seven fish. I wanted to increase the fish population. More fish ultimately means more food, which means more waste. More waste in turn means more bacteria, hence my decision to increase the surface area within my tank. I have now 16 fish. Perhaps I should feed get even more fish or dose more organic carbon to boost the bacteria population. Or simply remove siporax.

 

[chercm]

Hi Kevin,

I do not really know if we have the same coral, but mine is surprisingly fast growing coral. It was blue when I had it cut from a wild-collected colony last June. It turned pink shortly afterwards. After I finally placed it on its present position a month later, it gradually started to change its colour to what it is now. Sadly it does not look colourful when you view it perpendicularly.

I would like to give you four parameters that may help you:

First, my tank water is fairly nutrient rich. Alkalinity is fairly constant between 6.7-8 dKH. Calcium is between 400-420 ppm. Additional daily potions I dose, such as TM bacto balance, sponge power and trace elements, must help with its colouration and growth rate.

Second, my water temperature is between 27-28C (80.6-82.4F). I like a high energy reef tank. In this way, I believe that nutrients are processed in a much after way and that my corals do not seem to be affected by temperature spikes during occasional heat waves in the summer.

Third, this coral seems to thrive on chaotic flow. Two of my Tunze pumps face each other. When their currents meet they create vortex that crashes on this coral. I think the way it spreads itself could have something to with the flow it receives.

Fourth, it seems to like fairly high PAR. It receives around 400 mmol/m2/sec PAR.

I hope this helps.

that is quite high - my water temperature is between 27-28C (80.6-82.4F).

 

[DiscusHeckel]

that is quite high - my water temperature is between 27-28C (80.6-82.4F).

Why do you think that? It looks average to me (ref: Eric Borneman, "Aquarium Corals", pp 349).

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Update

Nutrient test results as of 1st May 2016:

NO3: 2.5-5 ppm
PO4: 0.024 mg/l

My current dosing regimen:

TM NP-BB: 1.7 ml per day
TM Pro-Coral K+:0.8 ml per day
TM Pro-Coral A-: 2.5 ml per day
TM Elimi-NP: STOPPED (due to cyano re-appearing)
TM Pro-Coral iodine: 1 drop (three times a week)

KZ Sponge power: RE-STARTED 2 drops per day

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I am hoping that the Acropora microclados is going to be the centre piece of my tank one day. Restoring its pink pigments has been a challenge up to now. Here are a few photos:

14th March 2016

11th April 2016

27th April 2016

However, my lack of luck with pinks may just be coming to an end.

I have made a few aggressive changes recently. First, I have reduced the light unit far more than I would normally do. It is now 5" over the water surface. The coral must be getting slightly over 400 mmol/m2/sec PAR. Second, I have started to reduce nutrients far more aggressively. I reported the latest nutrient test results a few days ago. This aggression came at a cost. Cyano re-appeared when TM Elimi-NP's daily dose reached 0.25 ml. I stopped dosing organic carbon and increased Bacto balance dose to 1.7 ml per day. Cyano disappeared literally straightaway. This aggressive nutrient reduction strategy will continue in the coming weeks. Third, I have started to dose Tropic Marin Pro-Coral Iodine more aggressively. I have recently increased the dose from 1 drop per week to 1 drop three times a week. I have no idea whether or not elemental iodine (aka lugol's solution) has any impact on the red and pink colour pigments.

These changes seem to have made some positive impact. I have just taken some top-down photos, and when I viewed them I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Other corals with pink pigments are coming along nicely too.

Acropora sarmentosa

Acropora millepora (when it is hairy)

Acropora millepora (after its hair is removed with a turkey baster)

Finally, the desalwii is still resting on the orange montipora without putty. Strangely they seem to be co-existing without stinging each other. I thought the montipora would have died by now. Oh well....

Acropora desalwii

 

[FloformAustria]

wow corals looking great!

the pink came back quite nicely!!

great job!!

Flo