My Very Shallow Reef Tank Re Do

[reefmutt]

When I got into this hobby, there was no internet. There were a few actual printed magazines and several books. I read them all voraciously.
Reef central is such an amazingly rich source of info. If you read enough, take a grain of salt and weed out the weird stuff from the solid info, you can't beat it.
I have only ever seen aminos make a difference in systems with low to no nutrients. I'm glad to see they are working for you and I think your 'a little bit at a time' approach is bang on.
As far as I'm concerned, I always feel as though I'm playing catch up, as well, so welcome aboard!

Go buy yourself a large flat box of ferrer roche chocolates, eat them at your peril, but use the clear plastic box top as a large viewing box that will allow you to put your iPad in, to take top downs.. I hope it'll fit..
Bulent did that last year and the top downs were excellent.
Your tank is looking super healthy so you are doing it right so far!

 

[kevlow]

I was going to wait a while to post again but have made some changes that seem to be paying off very well.

First, I removed some montis and lps that reduced consumption. I also resumed dosing aminos and doses of Neo Nitrate. I purchased a lot more snails to make for a competitive clean up crew. I have also increased feeding the fish and the coral.

The biggest change though is that I purchased two Eflux wave pumps with controller. This has been huge.

All together these changes have made the colors brighter, polyps extended again, new growth tips and new branches, and the Burgandy turf algae is receding.

I think the algae was consuming enough phosphate that it covered the fact that it was high. I think that by raising nitrate the phos was pushed down some.

Regardless, everything is on the up swing. I was happy with my colors but they improved some. I am very happy that some stuck and stagnate pieces have begun to sprout.

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[kevlow]

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[reefmutt]

Wow, the reds and blues are looking really solid.
What's that sweet acro fourth shot up from bottom. Greenish with the burgandy/purple polyps? It's a beaut.
Nice pe as well

 

[kevlow]

Wow, the reds and blues are looking really solid.
What's that sweet acro fourth shot up from bottom. Greenish with the burgandy/purple polyps? It's a beaut.
Nice pe as well

Thanks, Matt.
I have no idea as to the name of that acro. When I saw it in the lfs it was basically white and devoid of color. The polyps were basically tiny dark spots. I was not sure if this was a light skin with colored polyps acro or just a stressed, bleached out coral. I think it has turned out to be a nice find from the cheap unknown frag section. The skin has developed a soft lime tint with very purple polyps. It would be cool if they would extend some more.

Do you have any idea as to the proper or commercial name of this piece?

I am not sure even of the general type acro that it is.

 

[kevlow]

After removing some montis and lps, I am down to 120ml a day of dosing comp 123. This is a welcome relief compared to 200 ml a day. $$.

Current daily dosing is:

AF Comp 123, 120ml
AF NP Pro, 5ml
AF Pro Bio S 3 drops
Acro Power .5ml
Neo Nitro 5ml


Food:
Afternoons
Mysis 1 cube
Larry's Reef 1 cube size piece
Reef Roids 1 tiny amount on end of spoon handle
4 pinches of green veggie flake food
2 pinches of pellets

Mornings
1 squirt of Coral Smoothie

 

[kevlow]

This little guy has sat in the bottom of the tank for about six months. Was purchased under the generic term "Aussie Acro". Was pale, devoid of color. It started to color up for me then rtn'ed from the bottom up. I cut and saved the last 1/4" was all. Now it is up to a whole 1/2", lol. But at least it has colored up very nicely. A deep purple with bright green polyps.

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Sorry About the photo. Photobucket has froze up and I will try to get a better one up soon.

 

[kevlow]

Let me see if this is less blurry:
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[kevlow]

After removing some montis and lps, I am down to 120ml a day of dosing comp 123. This is a welcome relief compared to 200 ml a day. $$.

Current daily dosing is:

AF Comp 123, 120ml
AF NP Pro, 5ml
AF Pro Bio S 3 drops
Acro Power .5ml
Neo Nitro 5ml


Food:
Afternoons
Mysis 1 cube
Larry's Reef 1 cube size piece
Reef Roids 1 tiny amount on end of spoon handle
4 pinches of green veggie flake food
2 pinches of pellets

Mornings
1 squirt of Coral Smoothie

Well, that was short lived. Back up to 180 ml a day dosing Comp123.

I had phosphate go up so I dosed Nitrate to push down phosphate. [I know phos was higher then testing showed because of the bubble algae and burgandy turf algae]

When I dosed the nitrate, colors brightened back up and the bubble & turf algae started to break up and disappear.

I think this may have jumped back up the alk consumption.

The problem seems to be now the phos may have dropped too quickly from .15 to 0. My Ponape Bird's nest turned white on some center parts. Everything else seems fine at the moment so I hope that is it. I wish I could just get phosphate to stay around .03-.08. It either wants to climb or crash on me.

 

[kevlow]

Back to the IPad which tends to see blue light as opposed to the phone camera which sees red light.

This little blue acro frag sitting in the middle of his frag buddies, has been very hard to photograph. The phone camera cannot see the pastel blue color and only shows a shiny white sheen. The IPad seems to pick up it's color better. I bought this for ten dollars as a broken tip in the bottom of a shipment box from my LFS. It has been a fast encruster and has very nice PE. Color is a bright pastel blue. I am very pleased with this and cannot wait to see how it matures.

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A little bit of Red Planet. This has filled in it's red color. When my nutrients were lower it was more light red/pink with white ish branches. I like the more saturatede colors of a bit higher nutients.
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Mr Frogskin has almost been chucked in the bin or given away. He was staying almost completely green. Finally he got some color on his tips and earned an adjudication withheld status. He still has his sentence hanging over his head if he does not complete his reformation and comply to reef standards. I would like to see more saturation of the Purple and a lot less green.
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Speaking of sentences, the digi also known as Medusa is scheduled to be drawn and quartered soon. Or ,at least a few limbs loped off. The RP is touching it in two places and is actually encrusting the digi's limbs. It is better to lose a limb or two or face a future of slowly being consumed alive.
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[reefmutt]

Love that red planet!
All I'll say is that that monti is holding up a looooot of prime acro real estate.....
Otherwise, I'm not getting involved.

 

[kevlow]

Love that red planet!
All I'll say is that that monti is holding up a looooot of prime acro real estate.....
Otherwise, I'm not getting involved.

Mark,
LOL! I agree. And it will be sacrificed when the acros are needing the space..

I start with such small acro pieces that it takes a while to get them going..

The crazy thing is that every time guests come to my home, they pick out the digi, bird's nests montis, and zoas as their favorite pieces. Same with my family. When I had flubber, that is what they loved.

I am going to trim back the green birds nest and the chalice and other big pieces because they consume so much alk and cal.

Hopefully one day I will have colonies like is in your tank. Then all my space will be dedicated to acros.

[This is incredible. While typing this, my wife came up and declared that the orange digi is her favorite and that the red fuzzy thing just looks like a blob.
When I explained how much I like the Red Fuzzy Thing; and pointed out how it was burning and encrusting the digi, she pronounce the red fuzzy thing as a bully and left the room]

 

[Mike de Leon]

Cool tank bud! Isn't the NP Pro doing the same as Pro Bio? What's the difference? What salt do you use?

 

[reefmutt]

Mark,
LOL! I agree. And it will be sacrificed when the acros are needing the space..

I start with such small acro pieces that it takes a while to get them going..

The crazy thing is that every time guests come to my home, they pick out the digi, bird's nests montis, and zoas as their favorite pieces. Same with my family. When I had flubber, that is what they loved.

I am going to trim back the green birds nest and the chalice and other big pieces because they consume so much alk and cal.

Hopefully one day I will have colonies like is in your tank. Then all my space will be dedicated to acros.

[This is incredible. While typing this, my wife came up and declared that the orange digi is her favorite and that the red fuzzy thing just looks like a blob.
When I explained how much I like the Red Fuzzy Thing; and pointed out how it was burning and encrusting the digi, she pronounce the red fuzzy thing as a bully and left the room]

Ignorance is bliss, my friend.... BLISS..

 

[kevlow]

Cool tank bud! Isn't the NP Pro doing the same as Pro Bio? What's the difference? What salt do you use?

Thank you, Mike. And thank you for stopping by and looking.

The Pro Bio S is live denitrifying bacteria. This is to help consume the broken down waste mater that has been converted to nitrate. The NP Pro is a carbon source that is dosed to both provide additional food source to the bacteria and to bind up the waste to be consumed by the bacteria, the corals, or to be skimmed out. I believe that it would still be useful to dose only the Pro Bio S but just not as effective. The two together allows me to make even more food available to the corals while getting it out before I can pollute the tank.

This is still not as effective as a natural reef in that it is impossible to recreate that volume of food import and export, clean up crew, and infinite strains of bacteria in a close system. But I am happy with the results of the Aqua Forest bacteria program and how easy it is to use.

My water is ESV. I have used this for many years and I like the elevated levels of some of its trace elements. I realize that other brands may be as effective but I never had a reason to change. This is some stability for me and one less factor that I need to consider if something goes wrong.

Thank you again for stopping by and commenting.

Kevin

 

[kevlow]

Ignorance is bliss, my friend.... BLISS..

My tank will now be run as a dictatorship. All executive powers have been assumed.

 

[kevlow]

I am very happy with LEDs in general but I do recognize their limitations. They are not much as far as radiant light; but rather directional light. Not only is shadowing an issue, but this cause directional growth of the corals as well. Also inconsistent par readings. The fall off in par is rather rapid as you move away from the light beam.

To compensate for this you generally must use a few more fixtures then is recommended by the manufacturer. The MH lighting is pure radiant light and the huge reflectors provide light from many angles. T5s provide radiant light coming from long bulbs often the length of the tank. They use reflectors as well . With six and eight bulb units they are often nearly as wide as the tank giving great coverage of radiant light.

I currently use a 32" SBReefLight which I am very impressed with. It is over a 48" wide tank with an overflow box on each end so my horizontal coverage is fairly good. But the fixture is only 9" front to back where as the tank is 24". Even with the fixture 16" above the water line I have sufficient fall off in par along the front and rear of my tank.

I plan to steal a page from the T5 play book. I want the full coverage that the T5s give as well as the low heat, low electric consumption, and adjustability of LEDs. I have ordered a second 32" SBReefLight to hang immediately behind the first unit. This will in effect give me a 32"long by 18" wide fixture. The center 18" of the tnk will have coverage[instead of just nine] running the full distance between the two overflow boxes.

I will keep them hung high to give me good blending. It will allow me the option to dial back the power if needed. 242 diodes will be in play. I will have light covering a large area from many sources instead of the traditional few emitters cranked up and spread thin.

My only complaint that I have had with my current set up is that the prime real estate in my tank is on 9" wide across the center of the tank. That limits me as to how much space can be used for acros. Already they are growing and starting to touch and crowd each other in a few places. The problem will only get worse. Since the tank is so shallow I do not have the option to go up or down in depth.

The limiting factor for most LED owners is the costs. We try to buy what our budgets allow. We consider how much money we have and then how many fixtures we can buy with that money. Coverage is most important. LEDs are basically straight up and down light. Once past the outside edge of the fixture the par drops significantly. And the light is directional, meaning only one side of the coral gets light. This not only affects color but growth pattern as well. The low cost of the SBReefLight makes getting the coverage very afforadable.

I will receive the second fixture in a week or two. I will then begin to get rid of some or the chalice and LPS on the sides of the tank. I will then mount and spread out the acros that I have and probably purchase some additional ones as my addiction compels me to do. I would like to see the acros grow out more fully colored [less shadowing] and more of them in fully shaped mini colonies [ rather then just the ones in the middle of the tank.

I will keep everyone posted as I make the change. I am expecting to have to make use of a par meter to dial back the settings to stay at the desired par. Also the large chalice and LPS colonies being removed will upset the balance of my consumption and dosing routine. The increased light can increase growth rate so that becomes a variable. Right now my scheduled husbandry routine is pretty dialed in. Once I change major factors like doubling light and reducing pieces the whole equation changes. But I believe in the long run this is best for the direction I want to go.

 

[Myka]

After removing some montis and lps, I am down to 120ml a day of dosing comp 123.

Kevin, what's your system volume? I didn't see your thread before.

Fwiw, I take most of my coral photos with an inexpensive underwater camera called Pentax Optio WG-2. I think it was $350 new. There are newer models out there, but maybe you could find a used one for a couple hundred bucks?

Looks like you're getting some nice colors out of the Acros though!

 

[kevlow]

Kevin, what's your system volume? I didn't see your thread before.

Fwiw, I take most of my coral photos with an inexpensive underwater camera called Pentax Optio WG-2. I think it was $350 new. There are newer models out there, but maybe you could find a used one for a couple hundred bucks?

Looks like you're getting some nice colors out of the Acros though!

Thank you for stopping in.

My display is approximately 35 gal and the sump about 35 as well, so 70 total.

The funny part about the consumption dropping to 120ml a day is that it did not stay there long. Rather quickly I was right back up to 180 ml a day of AF Comp 123.

Thanks for the underwater camera referral. I will look it up. That is on the list of purchases to be made.

I am happy with the color I get. It is not in the same league with some reefs here on RC but it is the best that I have had. Growth comes in spurts. I would like to speed up or make the growth stay constant. But for the most part I am pleased. I try to stay very conservative and not push for too much too fast.

 

[kevlow]

I was not going to post again until I had the additional lights hung and dialed in.

But have you ever came home and found the tank looking particularly good? When all the colors look just a little better and the PE is not only good , but many new baby polyps are out. I had to grab a couple of pics first and then started to figure out why there was a notable improvement. I did not come up with a definite answer so I just sat back and enjoyed the view for a while.

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I think enough of the Burgandy Turf algae has been eradicated that the corals may not be out competed for the nutrients. I am still feeding the same amount but test results have not climbed so possibly the corals are consuming more of it.