My 65G Shallow Reef Tank

[DiscusHeckel]

Bulent. Should my " localish " webshop get back to me in time to despatch the Coral Snow Plus with my original order l shall let you know how it goes.
Having no experience with liquid phos absorbers l'm not up to speed with lanthanum chloride. Are there issues with the stuff?

I only used it for a very short period in the past and got worried about its effect on the gills of my fish after reading some reports. You also need to use 100 micron filter socks to collect any bound organics to lanthanum chloride. That said, there are many people who seem happy with its application and results.

 

[illumnae]

This is really useful information. Thanks. Do you fluidise the media?

Not at the moment. My system runs with 2 filter socks changed out weekly so i just put 5ml of ultraphos in each sock during the weekly change. This way I know that 100% of the water flowing through the system passes through the media. I do the same with GAC (using Fauna Marin Ultra Carb)

I only used it for a very short period in the past and got worried about its effect on the gills of my fish after reading some reports. You also need to use 100 micron filter socks to collect any bound organics to lanthanum chloride. That said, there are many people who seem happy with its application and results.

LCl is supposed to affect Zebrasoma tangs in particular. When I used to dose it previously I dosed it into the overflow box. My hope was that the precipitate would settle at the bottom of the overflow box and not make it back into the display. None of my fish were affected, including a gem tang, black tang and black x scopas hybrid tang.

I've read that the precipitate requires 10 micron socks not 100 micron. Lots of filter floss apparently also works as the precipitate is apparently sticky and sticks to the floss. Dosing into the skimmer is also supposed to work, but would defeat the purpose of dosing the Coral Snow - it's meant for pure LCl dosing only

 

[Superpuma]

I only used it for a very short period in the past and got worried about its effect on the gills of my fish after reading some reports. You also need to use 100 micron filter socks to collect any bound organics to lanthanum chloride. That said, there are many people who seem happy with its application and results.

Ok, shall keep that in mind. Thanks

 

[mhucasey]

Happy New Year to you and yours, Bulent!

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Thank you Sir.

Happy new year to you and family too.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

First few pictures of 2018.

PO4 is at a record high, 0.25 mg/L, whereas NO3 is steady, 5 ppm (as of 30th December 2017).

(Acropora hyacinthus) P1110155

(Acropora yongei) P1110160

(Acropora millepora) P1110171

(Acropora gomezi) P1110175

(Acropora millepora) P1110168

(Ophiocoma sp.) IMG_3806

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I have just tested NO3 and PO4.

NO3: ~5 ppm (just under)- remained the same since the last test
PO4: > 0.18 mg/L (just over) down from just over 0.25 mg/L

Option (2) seems to have started to produce some results within just seven days. It is pleasing that NO3 remains steady while PO4 is dropping.

I dosed TM Reef Actif second time yesterday (1/2 of recommended dose). Coral growth has started to gather pace again albeit slowly. Alkalinity and calcium consumptions are going up steadily.

If this combined strategy produces a downward trend in PO4, I will remove FM Ultra Phos from my shopping cart.

 

[reefmutt]

Corals look fantastic..
maybe eliminating the ultra phos from the cart could be done regardless..

 

[Crypsis]

Beautiful reef! Your Acropora are looking fantastic! It took several days and plenty of procrastination on all my projects but I just read through the whole thread and found it quite informative with plenty of stunning coral pictures. I was wondering what you think of the blue light filter you were planning on using for your iPhone? Did it work out and are you still using it?

I’ll be following along and looking forward to seeing what you choose for your tank upgrade.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Corals look fantastic..
maybe eliminating the ultra phos from the cart could be done regardless..

Thanks Matt. I have bought Seachem PhosGuard instead, but have not used it yet. If I decide to use it, I will mix a small amount with Rox 0.8.

Beautiful reef! Your Acropora are looking fantastic! It took several days and plenty of procrastination on all my projects but I just read through the whole thread and found it quite informative with plenty of stunning coral pictures. I was wondering what you think of the blue light filter you were planning on using for your iPhone? Did it work out and are you still using it?

I'll be following along and looking forward to seeing what you choose for your tank upgrade.

Thank you for your compliment and reading my posts, Merlin. I appreciate it.

The filter is OK if I take a picture of a blue coral like A. gomezi, but it changes the colour rendition of all other colours. For this reason, I am not using it anymore nor am I using my iPhone unless I must. I prefer my son's GoPro for video recording.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I went to my lfs this afternoon to buy an Acro frag. It is nothing very fancy. I was told that it may be an A. tortuosa. I think it may be an A. austera (so-called mirage tort?). What do you think?

A. tortuosa/austera(P1110194)

A. tortuosa/Austera(P1110185)

A. tortuosa/austera(P1110179)

A. tortuosa/austera(P1110177)

A. tortuosa (the mother colony)

A.tortuosa 2(the mother colony)

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I tested NO3 and PO4 this morning.

NO3: ~5 ppm (just under)- remained the same since the last test a week ago.
PO4: > 0.14 mg/L (just over) down from just over 0.18 mg/L since the last test a week ago.

Option (2) continues to produce good results. It seems that PO4 is now on a downward trend.

I dosed TM Reef Actif third time yesterday (1/2 of recommended dose). Acropora sarmentosa has started to extend its polyps.

Finally, I bought my 21st fish. It is P. tuka. Among a large group of tucks, it was the only one that was eating brine shrimp very eagerly. I did not hesitate to purchase it.

 

[Ucantwin]

What do you think the cause was for it to start extending its polyps?

 

[watchguy123]

You have beautiful colors on your acros. I am impressed by your scientific name identification. I can name some but I’m easily mystified. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing for your photography. Are you using a dslr and what kind of processing are you doing. The pictures are wonderful.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

What do you think the cause was for it to start extending its polyps?

People have contrasting opinions on this. Some think that that lack of nutrients cause it and others argue the opposite. In my opinion, availability of bio-available nutrients are the trigger for this.

You have beautiful colors on your acros. I am impressed by your scientific name identification. I can name some but I’m easily mystified. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing for your photography. Are you using a dslr and what kind of processing are you doing. The pictures are wonderful.

Thank you for your compliment. Identification of corals is very challenging and unless you check their skeleton very closely, it is a guessing game. That said, it is better than calling corals with silly man-made names, such as pink lemonade or What Disney. I have placed a mari-cultured 'pink lemonade' sub-colony from Bali recently, but it will feature as Acropora tenuis in my tank thread.

I use a small digital camera (Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ3). Its highest resolution is 2 megapixels. I use the macro setting on it form top-down photography. I have a coral viewer, which I use to take top-down pictures. Occasionally, I use my iPhone if I have to zoom into coral tissues. However, iPhone distorts blue, pink and purple colours.

I hope this helps.

 

[Fredfish]

I always enjoy the photo updates on this tank.

How is that filefish behaving for you? does it nip at the corals at all?

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I always enjoy the photo updates on this tank.

How is that filefish behaving for you? does it nip at the corals at all?

Thank you. My filefish is behaving himself. I am not concerned about him.

 

[reefmutt]

Hey Bulent, that new frag most definitely looks like what’s called a myagi tort in this side of the pond.. did you mean myagi or is it called mirage over there?
Anyways, the golden brown/orange body with purple or bluish tips is classic..
By the way, Photobucket just came out with a $99/yr plan for non commercial 3rd party hosting for forums etc.. I may take them up on that just to keep my thread intact.. not sure how angry I still at them for the original $400/ur they wanted to extort from us..

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Hey Bulent, that new frag most definitely looks like what’s called a myagi tort in this side of the pond.. did you mean myagi or is it called mirage over there?
Anyways, the golden brown/orange body with purple or bluish tips is classic..

Hi Matt,

I have just checked my previous post and realised that I used the word "mirage" tort. This is clearly wrong. I originally wrote "miyagi" and the word ended up "mirage" in my post because of auto-correction.

The words "miyagi" and "myagi" seem to be used interchangeably on various forums on the internet. But I believe that the correct spelling is "miyagi", which comes from Japanese. I read on Reef Central that this term was attributed to this particular coral because its owner's ability to shape his Acroporids resembled Japanese Bonsai trees created by the fictional character, Kensuki Miyagi, in the film titled as "The Karate Kid", hence the name "miyagi" tort. Well, at least a man-made name has a story behind it, doesn't it? I am still hunting the story behind "pink lemonade".

Here are some uses of the word "miyagi":

http://www.reefedition.com/sps-spotlight-mistaken-identity-acropora-tortuosa-and-its-imposters/

http://www.reefedition.com/acropora-austera/

How is this coral rated over there?

Where do you think I should place it? High light? very high light? Medium light? Or low light? It is currently placed in a fairly low-medium position. It receives between 200-250 mmol/m2/sec PAR. I have a spot available that is brighter (~400 mmol/m2/sec).

By the way, Photobucket just came out with a $99/yr plan for non commercial 3rd party hosting for forums etc.. I may take them up on that just to keep my thread intact.. not sure how angry I still at them for the original $400/ur they wanted to extort from us..

I think Photobucket has lost all their credibility in my eyes. I do not trust this company anymore. Thanks for letting me know anyway.

 

[reefmutt]

I have no idea why I wrote myagi.. twice.
It’s miyagi.
It is not a light hog, I don’t think.. However, I’ve never kept a piece under very high light so I’m not sure what it would do under very strong lighting.
I think your positioning is probably pretty good.
It seems to grow differently depending on flow. Random flow will make it more tree shaped. I have a piece in a client’s tank that only gets intermittent unidirectional flow and I has grown out plating. I should get a photo.. it’s almost dinner plate size now..