My 65G Shallow Reef Tank

[biggles]

I'm glad the koral color is working well for you Bulent, i started using it along with zinc 6 days ago and i can already see significant improvements in the pinks/reds and purples. I'm using zinc instead of trace hard as i had sky high Triton copper readings after using the trace hard.

Why don't you get some Triton elements lithium and keep your koral color dose stable while you add a bit more lithium only to the dosing regimen. i have all the individual elements that make up koral color - had to get them from bloody Germany but it allows me to tweak my koral color in any way i wish. Anyway just a thought buddy

Watch your green acros and if they begin to get a slight coppery metallic tinge to the polyps or the tissue the koral color dose is too high. You will know it when you see it as it's a weird looking hue. :beer:

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I'm glad the koral color is working well for you Bulent, i started using it along with zinc 6 days ago and i can already see significant improvements in the pinks/reds and purples. I'm using zinc instead of trace hard as i had sky high Triton copper readings after using the trace hard.

Why don't you get some Triton elements lithium and keep your koral color dose stable while you add a bit more lithium only to the dosing regimen. i have all the individual elements that make up koral color - had to get them from bloody Germany but it allows me to tweak my koral color in any way i wish. Anyway just a thought buddy

Watch your green acros and if they begin to get a slight coppery metallic tinge to the polyps or the tissue the koral color dose is too high. You will know it when you see it as it's a weird looking hue. :beer:

Thanks for the advice Andrew. I can get Triton's zinc element separately from my lfs. I should also be able to source lithium. Once I get them, I will resort to your brain power for the right dosages.

PS. I have just watched two of your videos on YouTube. I have found the National Anthem-related video quite amusing and have made proposals for two further experiments. lol

PPS. What is your view on keeping photosynthetic gorgonians along with Acropora.

 

[sahin]

Thank you Perry. Despite all the upheaval my constant deforestation effort brings to the tank, corals seem to get on with it. I guess taking things very slowly must help.

I can confirm that I received rather large store credit. :rollface: The mother colony has already healed and started to grow. :thumbsup:

16th December

Today

:beer:

Bulent please disclose what sort of growth hormone you are feeding the corals? :lol2: That is bloody good growth! Rest of the corals look great.

Happy New year to you my friend.

 

[biggles]

I've covered Russia, tomorrow i'll be checking the reaction to the American and Canadian anthems in two more top down experiments. I need videos of your tests please Bulent otherwise it won't be real science :reading:

Dom has a gorgonian and i intend to get one too as they look awesome imo. They aren't as hard to keep now that we don't strip our water of every particle of life as we did years ago.........

As long as you have a spot sheltered from strong flow i think you should get one. If it turns out to look better than mine you'll have to return it ok. :thumbsup:

 

[biggles]

You really are clueless at times Sahin...........

Classic SEFW bite marks at the base of Bulent's setosa colony.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I've covered Russia, tomorrow i'll be checking the reaction to the American and Canadian anthems in two more top down experiments. I need videos of your tests please Bulent otherwise it won't be real science :reading:

Dom has a gorgonian and i intend to get one too as they look awesome imo. They aren't as hard to keep now that we don't strip our water of every particle of life as we did years ago.........

As long as you have a spot sheltered from strong flow i think you should get one. If it turns out to look better than mine you'll have to return it ok. :thumbsup:

I am looking forward to my new experiments. :lol2:

The reason why I have asked about gorgonians is that I have read that similar to leather corals they may release toxins to the water column which may irritate or even stunt the growth SPS. The fact that I am using GAC, albeit passively, should counter this problem, but just wanted your opinion on this aspect. Regarding flow, I thought strong flow would favour their development as they shed their skin quite regularly. I used to keep a bright yellow and purple gorgonians three years ago.

 

[biggles]

I'm thinking that a moose call will suffice for the Canadian anthem if i have trouble finding a copy..........

I didn't know about the toxin thing Bulent as i don't feel the need to research any purchase as you know. :reading:

Ok, new plan. You get a gorgonian and i will wait a month while i watch to see if you or Dom have a crash. :beer:

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Bulent please disclose what sort of growth hormone you are feeding the corals? :lol2: That is bloody good growth! Rest of the corals look great.

Happy New year to you my friend.

Cheers Sahin. I use a cocktail of legal substances as shown below :wildone:. Would you mind letting me know where you bought Australian acros that came from The Farm please.

Happy new year

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I bought a baby filefish yesterday as a new year's present to myself. It is about 0.75". It struggles to swim in the middle of my tank due to flow. It is showing close interest to the polyps of my A. aspera, but it has not nipped at them so far. Phew.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I finally took a decisive step to eliminate the last remaining sections of plating Montipora monaseriata this afternoon. I also took the majority of my rocks out of water to rinse them under old tank water and scrape odd algae and brown polyps growing on them as well as siphoning crap that accumulated under the rocks. Surprisingly there was not much. Anyway, my tank is now free from that thing. I hope my corals appreciated my efforts even though they had to stay out of water for a few hours. I will be relaxing from now on and enjoying my reef. Finally, here are some yucky pictures for a change:

 

[reefmutt]

Wow!! Now, that's a spectacular deconstruction of your reef.
That takes nerves of steel!
Nice job.
And yes, those are yucky pictures!

 

[Pife]

Holy crap dude. Do you have a fts while you are doing all this?

 

[kevlow]

I love it. You are 100% thorough . LOL.

But the results show in the quality of your growth, colors, and overall tank presentation.!

This brought a smile to my face but I am taking notes. In the long game, this type of cleaning prevents nitrate bombs, and old tank syndrome from imploding the system.

Both yourself and Biggles have reefs that are designed to come apart. I have tried to do somewhat the same.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Wow!! Now, that's a spectacular deconstruction of your reef.
That takes nerves of steel!
Nice job.
And yes, those are yucky pictures!

Thanks Matt. I am used to this. I did a similar breakdown at least four times in the last four years.

Holy crap dude. Do you have a fts while you are doing all this?

You got it:

The two rocks in the last picture above are the only rocks I did not take out. I cleaned the smaller one on the right hand side only last week. Removing the largest one would have been too much work. I will take it out only if I have to do a major deforestation on the setosa.

I love it. You are 100% thorough . LOL.

But the results show in the quality of your growth, colors, and overall tank presentation.!

This brought a smile to my face but I am taking notes. In the long game, this type of cleaning prevents nitrate bombs, and old tank syndrome from imploding the system.

Both yourself and Biggles have reefs that are designed to come apart. I have tried to do somewhat the same.

Thanks for your comments. I believe that coupling that between rocks should be low as possible. The purple plating montipora fused three of the rocks which made it impossible to maintain my reef and thus had to be removed. I have retained a few pieces of this coral though. I will glue them on a small rock and make it stand alone.

I agree with you on "old tank syndrome". I am of the opinion that periodic cleaning of rocks and siphoning "tired" sand rejuvenate captive reefs.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I have just received a notification from my usual frag farmer about an unusual Millepora. He says "I found this coral while visiting a remote island in Indonesia. Despite one of our coral farming partners having worked there for many years they had never seen the colour morph Acropora millepora before and we believe it may be a first!"

It is not available, but will be in a few weeks time. What do you guys think?

In the meantime, I have just purchased an Acropora loripes frag. Its growth pattern and habit will mean that I will be able to place it at the base of my A. gomezi.

 

[reefmutt]

Loripes is one of those corals that sometimes looks stunning and sometimes becomes a dud. I rarely have much success with it.
It'll probably do fantastic is your system. I say purchase!
That millie also looks very nice. Not necessarily something particularly unique imo, but still very nice.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Loripes is one of those corals that sometimes looks stunning and sometimes becomes a dud. I rarely have much success with it.
It'll probably do fantastic is your system. I say purchase!
That millie also looks very nice. Not necessarily something particularly unique imo, but still very nice.

It will probably look a dud in my tank, but it is still worth a try. As for that millie, I agree. It does not look very special to me either.

 

[kevlow]

I like the millie a lot. I find myself strangely attracted to it, in a sick acro sort of way. I would grab that if it were available here. I would really like to see how that progresses in your system after you have worked your magic on it.

Mostly, I would like to see how it progresses in my system.

Good luck with both pieces.

 

[markalot]

I don't trust the colors on that milli, no way it would ever hold a yellow in my tank.

I missed a bunch Bulent, I get queezy every time you take out rocks to kill stuff, but obviously you now what you're doing because the results are always fantastic.

 

[codydemmel4]

I have just received a notification from my usual frag farmer about an unusual Millepora. He says "I found this coral while visiting a remote island in Indonesia. Despite one of our coral farming partners having worked there for many years they had never seen the colour morph Acropora millepora before and we believe it may be a first!"

It is not available, but will be in a few weeks time. What do you guys think?

In the meantime, I have just purchased an Acropora loripes frag. Its growth pattern and habit will mean that I will be able to place it at the base of my A. gomezi.

wow that is one very nice acro. hopefully it stays that color in your tank.

you have a very nice tank and some great growth