DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
I would love to see a picture of that coral.
My 65G Shallow Reef Tank
- Thread starter DiscusHeckel
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reefmutt
Active member
Ok. Let's try this again..
This is an in wall tank.. his is from one side:
Here's the other angle..
And a "˜close up'
This was grown from a 3 inch frag. The coral went in and immediately started growing out fairly flat..
That's a Cali Tort to the left, in the top pic..
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This is an in wall tank.. his is from one side:
Here's the other angle..
And a "˜close up'
This was grown from a 3 inch frag. The coral went in and immediately started growing out fairly flat..
That's a Cali Tort to the left, in the top pic..
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
It is very nice. Thank you Matt.
Looking at the thickness of its branches, I am guessing that your client's gomezi must receive a lot less flow than my coral.
Looking at the thickness of its branches, I am guessing that your client's gomezi must receive a lot less flow than my coral.
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
No, I do not, Matt. For example, Miyagi tort is Acropora austera (http://www.reefedition.com/acropora-austera/). Both Cali and Oregan torts are Acropora tortuosa (http://www.reefedition.com/sps-spotlight-mistaken-identity-acropora-tortuosa-and-its-imposters/).
According to the Australian Institute of Marine Science, the only similar species to Acropora gomezi are Acropora parilis , Acropora pectinatus (http://coral.aims.gov.au/factsheet.jsp?speciesCode=0922).
reefmutt
Active member
Ok... that makes sense.
The photos above are Miyagi Tort
Oh!! When you said gomezi, you were referring to the Cali tort, not the miyagi..
I misunderstood your post.
Yes, The gomezi/ Cali does not see extreme flow.. I love how it grows in that tank.. mine grows more densely at home.
The photos above are Miyagi Tort
Oh!! When you said gomezi, you were referring to the Cali tort, not the miyagi..
I misunderstood your post.
Yes, The gomezi/ Cali does not see extreme flow.. I love how it grows in that tank.. mine grows more densely at home.
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
My A. austera has been with me for three weeks and kept its colour pretty well so far despite high phosphates (just under 0.18 mg/L) and fairly low PAR (265 mmol/m2/sec). However, there has been no sign of growth.
I have moved it to a brighter spot to observe how a higher PAR (~400 mmol/m2/sec) will affect its colour.
Acropora austera (P1110471)
Moreover, despite experimenting with a mixture of TM Elimi-NP and Bacto-Balance with different dosing combinations, I have not been able to reduce PO4 below 0.14 mg/L. Although I do not chase numbers, it has become obvious that some of my corals, A. gomezi, A. sarmentosa and A. microclados, looked more colourful when PO4 was around 0.046 mg/L. Having established this benchmark, I have re-started to fluidise, rather reluctantly, Seachem PhosGuard (50 gr per 200L) in a Phospban 150 reactor after a 3-year break with GFO. The reactor is connected to a Eheim compactON 300 pump, which feeds about 200-300 L per hour tank water to the reactor.
Finally, yesterday's nutrient test results were as follows:
NO3: < 5ppm
PO4: < 0.18 mg/L
And now some random top-down photos. Note that I am very fond of my yellow feather duster worm. It took me more than a year to find one.
Sabellastarte sp (P1110470)
Sabellastarte sp (IMG_3922)
Sabellastarte sp (IMG_3921)
Acropora millepora (P1110479)
Acropora hyacinthus (P1110480)
Acropora millepora (P1110482)
Acropora microclados (P1110486)
I have moved it to a brighter spot to observe how a higher PAR (~400 mmol/m2/sec) will affect its colour.
Acropora austera (P1110471)Moreover, despite experimenting with a mixture of TM Elimi-NP and Bacto-Balance with different dosing combinations, I have not been able to reduce PO4 below 0.14 mg/L. Although I do not chase numbers, it has become obvious that some of my corals, A. gomezi, A. sarmentosa and A. microclados, looked more colourful when PO4 was around 0.046 mg/L. Having established this benchmark, I have re-started to fluidise, rather reluctantly, Seachem PhosGuard (50 gr per 200L) in a Phospban 150 reactor after a 3-year break with GFO. The reactor is connected to a Eheim compactON 300 pump, which feeds about 200-300 L per hour tank water to the reactor.
Finally, yesterday's nutrient test results were as follows:
NO3: < 5ppm
PO4: < 0.18 mg/L
And now some random top-down photos. Note that I am very fond of my yellow feather duster worm. It took me more than a year to find one.
Sabellastarte sp (P1110470)Sabellastarte sp (IMG_3922)Sabellastarte sp (IMG_3921)Acropora millepora (P1110479)Acropora hyacinthus (P1110480)Acropora millepora (P1110482)Acropora microclados (P1110486)
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Alex Costa
Member
I love this yellow feather!!!!!
Never saw one with this color before.
Never saw one with this color before.
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
Thanks Alex. I saw the yellow morph only in books before. It seems pretty nervous and does not always show its yellow feathers.
Alex Costa
Member
Bulent,
I never used this kind of media but I read a lot of people claiming that fuidises it could lead to Aluminium to be leaked in the tank.
I don't know....maybe it's another urban legend of reef keeping, but I'll keep an eye on the corals response.
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
Gorgeous photos and stunning corals Bulent
Matt, Dom and Mark, Thank you.
I do not think that it is urban myth, Alex. Randy Holmes-Farley demonstrated that Aluminium can leach into the water column. Seachem disputes his findings. You can read about the company's argument on their web site (under Seachem PhosGuard). I will dig out his paper and share it. Anecdotally, some reefer also reported that certain soft corals, such as leather corals in particular, are adversely affected. When I used FM Ultra Phos a long time ago in my nano tank, I used too much media and did not rinse as much as I should have done prior to fluidising it. I lost quite a few snails shortly afterwards. There appears to be some risks attached to aluminium. One of my resplendent anthias, for example, seems odd and has come off food recently. This coincided with PhosGuard. I hope it is just a coincidence.
If I decide to use PhosGuard in long term, I may commission an ICP test to find out if there is elevated Aluminium in my tank. My corals seem OK so far.
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Fluidizing it would probably cause the media to grind against each other, releasing fines. Similar to activated carbon. When I ran FM Ultraphos (similar aluminium based media) in a reactor, I always kept the flow slow enough that the media doesn't fluidize but stays motionless with the water just passing through. I have not had any livestock affected by this in the past 3 years of using it this way.
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
In terms of dustiness, it is almost as bad as Seachem matrix carbon. I moved to Rox 0.8 for this reason. it is likely that I will move to FM Ultra Phos if I decide to use phosphate adsorbers for long term use.
Fluidising media does not have to mean "tumbling" media. I purposely chose a small pump, so that water only passes through the media without tumbling it. Instructions on Seachem tub make it clear that the media should not tumble. FM states that 200 l/h is all needed for effective adsorption of phosphates, which is what I am using at present.
DesertReefT4r
New member
I ran Phosguard for a long time in a reactor and had a neon green leather coral. I personally never had any issues, I do rinse all fresh media very well before use, slack in changing out media and don't run 100% of the time. My leather did very well, grew from a dime sized head to a soft ball in 2 years and even dropped about 6 baby heads off. I have also heard about the possible issues with aluminium new using Phosguard and did switch to BRS GFO cheaper just to be safe and is cheaper. Jme.
Alex Costa
Member
Bulent,
Is there any particular reason to use it instead the "regular" GFO?
I had very very good experience using PO4x4.
