My Acro Nursery

[maoiwowie]

Thanks for the kind words and support. Im lucky to be able to keep these tanks at my work. Throughout the day it is the perfect distraction from job stress. Also, my wife doesnt have to compete for my attention when i get home either. But soon I will have to cut frags and perhaps give them away locally. Some can touch with no real damage, but others kill quickly.

 

[Mael]

beautiful corals all around, great to see the growth progression too. love following the thread.

 

[maoiwowie]

Thanks! Coral color shifts are a peculiar thing. Although most corals have generally improved their coloring, i do have some that have gone from ok to ugly... Like the following. Not sure why as they seem to be indicating opposite problems. This first one is a brown out, which many reefers here say its because of high nutrients. It went from this

To This

I know my nutrients are not high...
And this one, which is a tricolor. I see so many pictures of deep colored tricolors, but im missing the boat somehow. Many reefers here say faded colors are because of too low nutrients. It went from this

To this

Not sure what action I should take here...
And lastly... here is one that came in faded, but is starting color up

to this

Go figure...

 

[Reefvet]

Have you tested Iron and Potassium ?

Or have you been dosing AcroPower or another amino mix ?

 

[maoiwowie]

My last algae outbreak is over, so i started dosing from the Zeo supplements again. Those do include AA, Eisen (Iron), and K-Balance (Potassium) among others. I do test for Potassium, but not iron. I thinking about upping my dosing amounts.

 

[Sieufei]

just went through the whole thread, simply amazing

 

[wtrbug]

Awesome! The progression pics are killer. I wish I could pull something like this off.

 

[maoiwowie]

Thanks... Im glad people are appreciating my posts. Have patience and you will get there. Before reefers spend a lot of money on frags see if you can grow the most basic thing, coraline. My coraline grows really fast...

 

[1000_smiles]

I keep coming back to this thread, gives me hope after looking at my sad little sticks :sad2:

It looks like the bottom half of your 90G is filled with live rock, and you have some rock in your refugium. Any idea how much total rock there is in your system? And is there a sand bed somewhere, or are all of your tanks barebottom?

 

[maoiwowie]

This is an old picture, but the live rock is the same. Between the 90 and 40 refugium, i would say anywhere from 150 to 200 lbs. But I cant be certain. These rocks are so old and started dry. The refugium is practically full of rocks save for a small area in the middle where the fish come out to feed. There is no sand in any tank. Since i didnt have to worry about an aquascape, if i have the space and rock, i couldnt go wrong with more biological surface area.

 

[maoiwowie]

I have these Asternias crawling around my tanks. Never took the time to really see what they are about. Its fascinating when upon closer look, they have "polyps" just like sps.

 

[maoiwowie]

As I was inspecting my garden this morning, i noticed some STN on my otherwise perfectly healthy slimer. Like for everyone else here, it sucks because we are not entirely sure about who, what, why. Do nothing and it most likely wont go away; but do something out of guessing might make the problem worse. Frustrating isnt it? All the other colonies look fine. I know my tank has been running really low alk these past few months 6 to 7. I think its because the little frags are all small colonies now and the alk demand is really high. The calcium level has been chronically low as well @380. My calc reactor drip rate has been pushed up to a fast drip in the last month and I thought that would do it. Perhaps the STN is the result of an accumulation of weeks over weeks of low alk and low calcium. Im hoping thats what it is. Although looking at the slimer is irritating, im not going to panic. Will try to raise my Alk and calcium with stronger Kalk top-offs; some Kent Superbuffer additions; and Seachem calcium additions... see how that goes.

 

[maoiwowie]

Sponges grow all over the shadowed parts of my tank. This one is living under my Ponape Birdsnest. Brittlestars live inside its holes. Looks strange but very cool.

 

[Wazzel]

Coming along nice. I hope mine looks that good one day/

 

[maoiwowie]

Thanks Wazzel! You are being humble. I saw your thread. Your tank is progressing well and I can see your sticks have grown much like mine over this past year. Judging by your progression, our growth rates are similar. I wish you continued success.

 

[maoiwowie]

Two more photos from today. My lights just went out and I thought id share a photo of my corals under my offices fluorescent lights. The blues and purples still stand out without the fancy reef lighting.

this second shot is just another colony i have taken obviously before the lights went out.

 

[fessoclown]

Great thread, I am only on page 2. Posting to subscribe and finish later. Thanks for sharing all this great info!

 

[maoiwowie]

Thanks! I started this thread about the growth of my frags, but it has turned into a journal of sorts. When i was just learning and reading posts, there was a lot of anecdotes repeated; but seldom support by way of pictures.

Slimer STN update: Four days since i noticed the stn. Corrective action and preventive measures in place. My Alk has been stable for the past two days at 7.5 - 8 (Salifert)*. Looks like STN has stopped and slimer starting to recover. You can decide for yourself.

 

[markalot]

I have a couple of these areas on my slimer as well. Not sure what causes them and they never seem to spread. A macro of one of my spots reveals the skin is still there, just extremely pale.

 

[Wazzel]

Thanks Wazzel! You are being humble. I saw your thread. Your tank is progressing well and I can see your sticks have grown much like mine over this past year. Judging by your progression, our growth rates are similar. I wish you continued success.

Thanks, I have been starting secondary colonies in my frag tank so I do not have to scalp my tank to make frags. I get lots of enjoyment out of tending my little acro garden.