Myka's 69 SPS Tank 2015

[Myka]

Well I must be doing something right...

Aug 11:

Today (24 days lapse):

This one isn't growing much, but the color is outstanding:

 

[joshky]

Really good growth and the colors are fluorescing brilliantly. :thumbsup:

 

[reefmutt]

Outstanding indeed!
Love the growth and new colour on the OP.
Really intense.
Is it from March?
What's the lighting for those two op shots?
And what is that last one?

 

[Myka]

Really good growth and the colors are fluorescing brilliantly. [emoji106]

Thanks! A few good ones in the bunch... [emoji38]

Outstanding indeed!
Love the growth and new colour on the OP.
Really intense.
Is it from March?
What's the lighting for those two op shots?
And what is that last one?

The OP is not from March, but it is the same lineage. The lighting is the same, but the white balance is off a bit in each shot - the first shot is too pink/red, and the second shot is not enough blue. Right now the OP tips are bluer than the second shot is showing. What are you asking about the lighting? PAR? Bulbs? Photoperiod?

The third pic is a Bali Mariculture piece - Wolverine lookalike-ish. It wavers between green and yellow - right now leaning more yellow.

 

[reefmutt]

Thanks, Mindy.
I was just wondering what lighting (type, bulb combo) the frags were shot under.
That wolverine twin does have a hint of the pink lemonade yellow to it.

 

[Myka]

Thanks, Mindy.
I was just wondering what lighting (type, bulb combo) the frags were shot under.
That wolverine twin does have a hint of the pink lemonade yellow to it.

I have the ATI 6-bulb dimmable. Bulbs from front to back are:

ATI Blue+
ATI Actinic
KZ Coral Light (not the new gen, this one is 10,000K)
ATI Coral Plus
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue Special

CH1 is run 12 hours 100%
CH2 is run 5 hours 70%

The second photo of the OP, the white balance is off - it's more blue than teal.

 

[Myka]

Here is an interesting no-name frag from Canada Corals was just called "Pink Polyp Acro". I have no idea what it's up to - it hasn't grown hardly a sniff since I got it last November, but look at those polyps!

Here Matt, this picture is quite accurate color-wise for the OP. This is taken today.

Here is the OP 30 days ago with the photo taken from a very similar angle.

So I'm getting good growth on some pieces - maybe half the corals are growing this fast. The others just sit there. I'm trying so hard to get some nutrients in the tank, and I've not been successful yet. My fish are fed 4x per day now, I'm adding 3 scoops Reef Chili per day. I'm going to start Zeovit LPS Amino Acids (is there really a difference between LPS AA and SPS AA????) tonight. I'm getting crazy polyp extension at night before I feed.

Tomini Tang 2.75" TL
Yellow Coris 4" TL
Pelicier's Perchlet
Royal Gramma
Pajama Cardinal
Onyx Clown pair (breeding)
Barnacle Blenny

1 Electric Flame Scallop (5 months in tank)
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Fighting Conch
4-ish Astraea Snails
12-ish Ring Cowries
4-6 female Emerald Crabs
10-ish Scarlet Hermits
6-ish Cerith Snails


I plan to add a trio of Anthias as soon as I find some that look good and aren't already sold. :lol: I don't know what else to do at this point. I've never poured so much food into a tank! I even clean the glass every second day! Any suggestions?

Here are my starving little beauties...


GTAreef's Blueberry Wine

Wild Aussie (microclados? nasuta?)

New Bali Aquaculture, was WHITE when I got it. The base has red hues...might do a Pacman coloring.

New Bali Aquaculture, looks like it will go purple with white polyps. Very pretty. Skin is weird though...like it always has messenterial filaments.

 

[GalHill]

Stunning SPS and love the BTA. Recently bought a green BTA but my clowns are still interested in the hammers! Only read the last couple of pages and hopefully when I get some time I can read your thread from the start.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mtraylor]

Awesome Corals!

 

[reefmutt]

I have the ATI 6-bulb dimmable. Bulbs from front to back are:

ATI Blue+
ATI Actinic
KZ Coral Light (not the new gen, this one is 10,000K)
ATI Coral Plus
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue Special

CH1 is run 12 hours 100%
CH2 is run 5 hours 70%

The second photo of the OP, the white balance is off - it's more blue than teal.

Wow, Mindy you're getting really good orange polyps out of that OP.
The piece I have under t5 has fabulous orange polyps but the one under mh, in my DT has less than stellar orange.
It's under 4 blue plus, a pink and a white- new gen or corals plus- I forget.
it looks like you'll have the same kind of growth that I am having- fast!
I find the blue is tough to photograph well...
Your corals are looking nice and healthy, if a bit pale.
With more nutrients, that blueberry wine will be shockingly more colorful. It really is a stunning coral.
Those balis are nice too!

 

[Myka]

Stunning SPS and love the BTA. Recently bought a green BTA but my clowns are still interested in the hammers! Only read the last couple of pages and hopefully when I get some time I can read your thread from the start.

Awesome Corals!

Thanks for following along guys!

Wow, Mindy you're getting really good orange polyps out of that OP.
The piece I have under t5 has fabulous orange polyps but the one under mh, in my DT has less than stellar orange.
It's under 4 blue plus, a pink and a white- new gen or corals plus- I forget.
it looks like you'll have the same kind of growth that I am having- fast!
I find the blue is tough to photograph well...
Your corals are looking nice and healthy, if a bit pale.
With more nutrients, that blueberry wine will be shockingly more colorful. It really is a stunning coral.
Those balis are nice too!

Hey Matt, yeah the polyps have really turned orange in the last 6 weeks or so - as soon as it started growing the polyps went from forest green to orange. They are actually more orange in person, but I can't get my camera to pick up the orange AND the blue at the same time. I'll figure it out eventually. You know Matt, I haven't a clue how to get more nutrients into the tank besides dosing N and P - I'm feeding a ton into the tank, there is fairly good bioload. It's just not building up. I'm considering removing the Siporax. :lol: I do get lots of algae on the sand and glass though, so there has to be something in the water. :headwally:

 

[Electrobes]

Holy cow Myka, could you point me towards a recap of your filtration? You're putting way more nutrients in your tank than I could ever convince myself to.. but then again maybe that's why my cap is pretty pale.

Wonderful tank, such a cool thread to read!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[DiscusHeckel]

So here's the new plan...

CaCl2, NaHCO3, Na2CO3, MgCl2, MgSO4 plus Components Strong (not started yet)
Mineral Salt (not started yet)
Add Zeolite mix
Pro BioS 3 drops every evening (no change)
Zeovit LPS Aminos (I have a big bottle, want to use it up) will start with 1 mL every evening
Zeovit Sponge Power 3 drops per evening (started a week ago)
Reef Chili 3 scoops per evening (no change)
Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast 1.25 mL per evening, will ramp up (started a couple days ago)
Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast 1.25 mL per evening (not started yet)

The idea with the Phyto is to help feed the Flame Scallop (non-photosynthetic clam) in the tank (I think it may have benefited from the Coral E before) as well as helping to increase microfauna. I'm also adding the Oyster Feast for the Flame Scallop and also for SPS food.

We'll see how things progress...

Hi Mindy,

If cyanobacteria get worse, I would stop using Amino acids. I have also read that phytoplankton is removed very rapidly by skimmers. I would therefore turn your skimmer off during feeding.

We cannot get Oyster Feast anymore in the UK due to Reef Nutrition not complying with some sort of EU regulation (read it as red tape).

 

[Myka]

I noticed a couple days ago I have a bum ballast on CH2 in my ATI fixture, so I'm trying to track down a new dimmable ballast, but everyone is at the MACNA right now. :lol: I think I'll turn the remaining 2 bulbs on CH2 up to 100%.

Holy cow Myka, could you point me towards a recap of your filtration? You're putting way more nutrients in your tank than I could ever convince myself to.. but then again maybe that's why my cap is pretty pale. ��

Wonderful tank, such a cool thread to read! ��

Hi there,

I am using an ATB 840 skimmer which has an Eheim 1260 pump on it. I also have 2 liters of Siporax in the sump hanging in a mesh bag. I have a little filter pad that I replace once or twice a week. I add bacteria (Aquaforest Pro BioS), but I don't add any carbon source. In the summer I slacked on water changes and only did (2) 15-gallon changes between July and August. I'm back on schedule with 10-gallon weekly changes. I vacuum the sand in its entirety when I do changes. Nitrate is always less than 1 ppm, and phosphate is always less than 0.02 ppm.

Hi Mindy,

If cyanobacteria get worse, I would stop using Amino acids. I have also read that phytoplankton is removed very rapidly by skimmers. I would therefore turn your skimmer off during feeding.

We cannot get Oyster Feast anymore in the UK due to Reef Nutrition not complying with some sort of EU regulation (read it as red tape).

Hi Bulent, thanks for stopping in! The tank has a few little patches of green cyano pretty much all the time, but it never gets worse (or better really). I actually stopped adding AcroPower amino acids Aug 18th, and haven't started the Zeovit AAs yet. No change in the cyano. Funny you mention the skimmer, I was looking into a delay timer for it, so I could hit the delay and the skimmer would turn off for a couple hours and restart on its own. I haven't looked too hard yet, but so far only found a 10 minute delay timer. I don't use a controller on my tank, and I'm not really into starting that.

That sucks about the Oyster Feast. I actually just started feeding it into the tank lastnight. In Canada, we can't get any of their Otohime or TDO food products because it is manufactured in Japan, and is a re-export product. They don't have the required paperwork/inspections to satisfy the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

 

[markalot]

I missed an entire month almost.

Those blotches looked like my Lokani did before interceptor. Might be little white bugs, might be nutrients. Did it recover?

Love the latest photos, things are looking really good. The AF stuff is too complicated for me, sticking with Kalk and AF Micro E (I have been doing 3 drops daily, might back it off to just a couple). We will see if I can pull the same amazing colors as a full AF tank (I doubt it), and we'll see if I can tolerate the mediocrity or if I have to go full AF someday. :lolspin:

 

[Myka]

I missed an entire month almost.

Those blotches looked like my Lokani did before interceptor. Might be little white bugs, might be nutrients. Did it recover?

Love the latest photos, things are looking really good. The AF stuff is too complicated for me, sticking with Kalk and AF Micro E (I have been doing 3 drops daily, might back it off to just a couple). We will see if I can pull the same amazing colors as a full AF tank (I doubt it), and we'll see if I can tolerate the mediocrity or if I have to go full AF someday. :lolspin:

Hey Mark! I didn't update it for a month anyway, so you didn't miss anything here!

That yellow multiacuta (I keep calling it a caroliniana, it's not) is still blotchy. It's right close to the glass though so I can look at it with a magnifying glass. I don't see anything on it.

I'm not on full AF anymore...too many drops of this n that for me. Though I'm dosing just as many things now that I'm using Oyster Feast and Phyto Feast too. :lol:

 

[Myka]

Oops...

 

[reefmutt]

Thanks for following along guys!



Hey Matt, yeah the polyps have really turned orange in the last 6 weeks or so - as soon as it started growing the polyps went from forest green to orange. They are actually more orange in person, but I can't get my camera to pick up the orange AND the blue at the same time. I'll figure it out eventually. You know Matt, I haven't a clue how to get more nutrients into the tank besides dosing N and P - I'm feeding a ton into the tank, there is fairly good bioload. It's just not building up. I'm considering removing the Siporax. :lol: I do get lots of algae on the sand and glass though, so there has to be something in the water. :headwally:

I wonder if or when you get nutrients up, the OP will keep as much orange in the polyps.
It's almost impossible to make every coral happy (at their absolute best colours) some seem to show better in lower nutrients and others in higher nutrients.
That's the game!

 

[Geeray]

Myka In case your looking for another source of AF component 1,2,3 Canada Corals stocks it now. I just saw it there on the weekend.

I'm also wondering where you bought your RR pink Cadillac... Lol

 

[Myka]

I wonder if or when you get nutrients up, the OP will keep as much orange in the polyps.
It's almost impossible to make every coral happy (at their absolute best colours) some seem to show better in lower nutrients and others in higher nutrients.
That's the game!

Yes, this is always the battle! Enough to drive any Acroholic crazy!

Myka In case your looking for another source of AF component 1,2,3 Canada Corals stocks it now. I just saw it there on the weekend.

I'm also wondering where you bought your RR pink Cadillac... Lol

Thanks! Good to know! There is a new Canadian wholesaler for Aquaforest now, so I think we will be seeing a lot more of it!

Do a search on Canreef for Pink Cadillac - you'll find him.