Path to recovery, and 3 weeks growth.
- Thread starter MammothReefer
- Start date
MammothReefer
Active member
Thanks for the compliments guys! I'm glad things are turning around but It's still an uphill battle, when I look at these pics side by it starts to paint a picture there are just some thing you don't really notice when you see your tank every day. My Hoek for example while it is growing it's also starting to look washed out, it's lost it's deep blue and is looking more a grey. I'm not sure why (yet).
As far as tank specs.
I'm using IO salt. The main tank is 67 gallons, the frag tank is 15, and the sump is a 40 breeder. I'm running 2x250w SE radiums over the DT in mini luminarcs and a 250w DE 20k Reeflux over the frag tank. GFO & Carbon in a BRS double chamber unit. An single ehiem feeding both the DT & Frag tank. Dosing w/2 BRS dosers, mag is by hand. I'm using an ACJR for control. Power heads are an mp10, and an mp40 as well as 2 modded 6025s (one in the frag tank), and ATO w/a JBJ ato unit.
With the exception of the dosing pumps, brs reactor, ATO, the tunzees, and the mp10 everything else was purchased second hand from either RC members of Sdreefs
I'm not doing any dosing of any kind with the exception of my recent ongoing experiment with Zeo Flatworm Stop.
I'm looking to do some equipment upgrades however in the near future. I found some used stuff at good prices, so I'm going to be upgrading my lights with a blue wave 7 ballast from my current AROs. Switching out my current 15 gallon frag tank for a 45 gallon frag tank (36x24x12) as well switching away from the DE pendant in favor of another Luminarc so I can cover the new frag tank with a single pendant. I also managed to grab a used MP10 at a decent price as well which will go into the larger frag tank.
The big change though is I'm moving away from the ACJR BRS Doser setup. I've been running this setup for years on this tank, and on my old 500g system. It's really been the corner stone of my reef tanks since moving away from my calcium reactor. It has worked well but these days I'm finding that things fluctuate to easily on my smaller tank and if I want to have an even number of doses in a 24 hour period I just can't do it with my acjr without a TON of programming*. So after much debate I opted to go for the GHL. Unfortunately it's not going to work exactly how I was hoping, but I found away to easily program it in manual mode to allow me to adjust in increments down to a single ml.
*If I want to use the OSC function and have my dose split evenly over 24 hours (which only matters for consistency in testing at the same time daily. ) I can only dose in the following increments. 61.6, 66, 70.4 72.6, 79.2, 85.8, 88, 92.4, 96.8, 99, 105.6. There are some BIG gaps in my options for a tank of my size. Which is making it very hard for me to get my parameters rock solid.
Here are some photos from the other weekend that I hadn't got around to posting.
Feb 17 - Milli, Spicifera? I'm not sure..
March 17 - Starting to show good signs of new growth, colour getting darker, tips turning an "orangish-pink".
Feb 17 - Garf Bonsai.
March 17 - Still encrusting steady but that's about it.. One day I'll get it to colour up. I haven't had a good looking bonsai, since I switched over to the 65 from the solana
Feb 17 - A neat wild piece, it showed up in a bag of soup, I lost about half of it, but then it held it's line. Here it is right after it decided to stop dying on me.
March 17 - Here it is now really starting to get some interesting colours and show signs of regrowth. I'm hoping that base will start to go yellow.
As far as tank specs.
I'm using IO salt. The main tank is 67 gallons, the frag tank is 15, and the sump is a 40 breeder. I'm running 2x250w SE radiums over the DT in mini luminarcs and a 250w DE 20k Reeflux over the frag tank. GFO & Carbon in a BRS double chamber unit. An single ehiem feeding both the DT & Frag tank. Dosing w/2 BRS dosers, mag is by hand. I'm using an ACJR for control. Power heads are an mp10, and an mp40 as well as 2 modded 6025s (one in the frag tank), and ATO w/a JBJ ato unit.
With the exception of the dosing pumps, brs reactor, ATO, the tunzees, and the mp10 everything else was purchased second hand from either RC members of Sdreefs
I'm not doing any dosing of any kind with the exception of my recent ongoing experiment with Zeo Flatworm Stop.
I'm looking to do some equipment upgrades however in the near future. I found some used stuff at good prices, so I'm going to be upgrading my lights with a blue wave 7 ballast from my current AROs. Switching out my current 15 gallon frag tank for a 45 gallon frag tank (36x24x12) as well switching away from the DE pendant in favor of another Luminarc so I can cover the new frag tank with a single pendant. I also managed to grab a used MP10 at a decent price as well which will go into the larger frag tank.
The big change though is I'm moving away from the ACJR BRS Doser setup. I've been running this setup for years on this tank, and on my old 500g system. It's really been the corner stone of my reef tanks since moving away from my calcium reactor. It has worked well but these days I'm finding that things fluctuate to easily on my smaller tank and if I want to have an even number of doses in a 24 hour period I just can't do it with my acjr without a TON of programming*. So after much debate I opted to go for the GHL. Unfortunately it's not going to work exactly how I was hoping, but I found away to easily program it in manual mode to allow me to adjust in increments down to a single ml.
*If I want to use the OSC function and have my dose split evenly over 24 hours (which only matters for consistency in testing at the same time daily. ) I can only dose in the following increments. 61.6, 66, 70.4 72.6, 79.2, 85.8, 88, 92.4, 96.8, 99, 105.6. There are some BIG gaps in my options for a tank of my size. Which is making it very hard for me to get my parameters rock solid.
Here are some photos from the other weekend that I hadn't got around to posting.
Feb 17 - Milli, Spicifera? I'm not sure..
March 17 - Starting to show good signs of new growth, colour getting darker, tips turning an "orangish-pink".
Feb 17 - Garf Bonsai.
March 17 - Still encrusting steady but that's about it.. One day I'll get it to colour up. I haven't had a good looking bonsai, since I switched over to the 65 from the solana
Feb 17 - A neat wild piece, it showed up in a bag of soup, I lost about half of it, but then it held it's line. Here it is right after it decided to stop dying on me.
March 17 - Here it is now really starting to get some interesting colours and show signs of regrowth. I'm hoping that base will start to go yellow.
MammothReefer
Active member
2 of the corals I'm the happiest with progress on are these 2 millis. My Bubble Gum, and Sunset Milli. I have had for well over a year, the bubble gum had been VERY stagnant for a long time, and that sunset milli had done the "grow/die/regrow" thing on me at least 4-5 times. Now they are finally showing signs of settling in and growing well, with even some hope of branching.
Jan 12
March 17
Feb 17 - hyacinthus
March 17
Feb 17 - neat little "tort" like piece
March 17- Seeing elongated corralites, and increased polyps not much encrusting growth.
Jan 12 - Had to go back to find a similiar photo. Copps Bonsai
March 17 - found aefw on it in Feb, colour is slowly coming back
Jan 12
March 17
Feb 17 - hyacinthus
March 17
Feb 17 - neat little "tort" like piece
March 17- Seeing elongated corralites, and increased polyps not much encrusting growth.
Jan 12 - Had to go back to find a similiar photo. Copps Bonsai
March 17 - found aefw on it in Feb, colour is slowly coming back
MammothReefer
Active member
Feb 17 - First sing of new growth
March 17 - Continued growth and seeing some colour come out from the base of the corralites
Feb 17 - I don't remember the name of this piece it was forest green when I got it.
March 17
Feb 17 - Tort
March 17
Feb 17 - Tort #2
March 17 - It's growing but I think it's in to much light (piece behind it fell
)
March 17 - Continued growth and seeing some colour come out from the base of the corralites
Feb 17 - I don't remember the name of this piece it was forest green when I got it.
March 17
Feb 17 - Tort
March 17
Feb 17 - Tort #2
March 17 - It's growing but I think it's in to much light (piece behind it fell
)
MammothReefer
Active member
Feb 17
March 17 - Decrease in PE, increase in Growth. I popped it off the rock to check for AEFW on the back side, nothing found. It could be the red bugs.
Feb 17
March 17 - piece has darkened up a fair bit. It lost that "Zeo" look, but I think it looks healthier..albeit slightly less colourful.
Feb 17
March 17 - Kinda bitter sweet with this one. It's a bummer that I lost a a chunk of it the first couple weeks after receiving it, but I'm glad I didn't loose it all. It appears to have started to heal and start shifting it's colour back. It has to be the most finicky piece I have I'm really hoping next month I have a good update on this piece.
Jan 12 - Either this piece is under rater, or I have weird taste, or maybe a combination of both. One of my favorite pieces, Sanjays Leprechaun Beard. From the extra long polyps, to the red corallite rings, I really can't wait for this piece to table out. Looking forward to dedicating a big part of the tank to it when I upgrade.
March 17
March 17 - Decrease in PE, increase in Growth. I popped it off the rock to check for AEFW on the back side, nothing found. It could be the red bugs.
Feb 17
March 17 - piece has darkened up a fair bit. It lost that "Zeo" look, but I think it looks healthier..albeit slightly less colourful.
Feb 17
March 17 - Kinda bitter sweet with this one. It's a bummer that I lost a a chunk of it the first couple weeks after receiving it, but I'm glad I didn't loose it all. It appears to have started to heal and start shifting it's colour back. It has to be the most finicky piece I have I'm really hoping next month I have a good update on this piece.
Jan 12 - Either this piece is under rater, or I have weird taste, or maybe a combination of both. One of my favorite pieces, Sanjays Leprechaun Beard. From the extra long polyps, to the red corallite rings, I really can't wait for this piece to table out. Looking forward to dedicating a big part of the tank to it when I upgrade.
March 17
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MammothReefer
Active member
monti's have been a little interesting, unlike acros who appear try to avoid each others monti just go for the throat, so I've had some collisions and keep needing to frag back that sunset.
feb 17
march 17
Feb 17 - Superman is getting beat up, but still growing where it can
March 17
Feb 17 - Undata starting to move quickly, but got to close to the "efflo"
Feb 17 - Pinksand dollar
March 17
Jan 12 - Rainbow nubbin
March 17 - Almost off the plug
feb 17
march 17
Feb 17 - Superman is getting beat up, but still growing where it can
March 17
Feb 17 - Undata starting to move quickly, but got to close to the "efflo"
Feb 17 - Pinksand dollar
March 17
Jan 12 - Rainbow nubbin
March 17 - Almost off the plug
MammothReefer
Active member
Jan 12 - Digi
March 17 - Really happy this is holding that base, I never had luck with it doing that before.
This piece will plague me down the road. Fell in a hole, grew out of it, and unlike the encrusting which just crash into each other it is growing just the perfect amount above the sunset monti not to get stung.
some frags (growing not selling)
Jan 12 - purple turaki, and not sure. I got them from Atlantis.
March 17 - Purple turaki hates me, but the other piece is doing really well.
Some neat "elkhorns" I got from Steve Garrett
Tenuis? Hoek.. I donnu but one of my new favorites the blue and orange are more vibrant in person.
I couldn't get the right amount of lighting for this tenella in my DT so it's in the frag for now. It kept bleaching on me.
After just a few years shy of a decade keeping tanks, I finally have my first PM frag and it's growing!
It's so easy for the coluration of a coral to not render correctly. While the photo is exposed nicely (clean whites, and all other colours are true.) I can assure you my RD frag is NOT this vibrant.
March 17 - Really happy this is holding that base, I never had luck with it doing that before.
This piece will plague me down the road. Fell in a hole, grew out of it, and unlike the encrusting which just crash into each other it is growing just the perfect amount above the sunset monti not to get stung.
some frags (growing not selling)
Jan 12 - purple turaki, and not sure. I got them from Atlantis.
March 17 - Purple turaki hates me, but the other piece is doing really well.
Some neat "elkhorns" I got from Steve Garrett
Tenuis? Hoek.. I donnu but one of my new favorites the blue and orange are more vibrant in person.
I couldn't get the right amount of lighting for this tenella in my DT so it's in the frag for now. It kept bleaching on me.
After just a few years shy of a decade keeping tanks, I finally have my first PM frag and it's growing!
It's so easy for the coluration of a coral to not render correctly. While the photo is exposed nicely (clean whites, and all other colours are true.) I can assure you my RD frag is NOT this vibrant.
MammothReefer
Active member
Due to the location (right up against the back of the tank). I can't photograph this tenella well, if I try to get it with the photo box I block the light source and shade it
Luckily I accidentally broke it and the tiny nub survived and is growing. This is a much more accurate coloration then above, but it has very soft pinkish highlights that haven't developed yet in the frag
My favorite thing about posting photos to this thread is taking notice of things that I just don't see day to day. I really never thought this Birdsnest was doing much until I was looking threw these photos. I guess I had forgetting how bad it was looking
Jan 12
Feb 17
March 17
Here are some recent Fts from March 17 (I really need to clean the tanks, and give away the tang to somebody with a larger tank)
I will never buy another acrylic tank. I scratch it every time I clean it, so I stopped cleaning it. Top down viewing is all I need for it anyways.
Luckily I accidentally broke it and the tiny nub survived and is growing. This is a much more accurate coloration then above, but it has very soft pinkish highlights that haven't developed yet in the frag
My favorite thing about posting photos to this thread is taking notice of things that I just don't see day to day. I really never thought this Birdsnest was doing much until I was looking threw these photos. I guess I had forgetting how bad it was looking
Jan 12
Feb 17
March 17
Here are some recent Fts from March 17 (I really need to clean the tanks, and give away the tang to somebody with a larger tank)
I will never buy another acrylic tank. I scratch it every time I clean it, so I stopped cleaning it. Top down viewing is all I need for it anyways.
MammothReefer
Active member
double post
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MammothReefer
Active member
Thanks for the compliments guys!
I did two orders from Mr.Coral the first had some DOAs' so I did a second to use the credits. For the most part the frags did pretty good they were all doing amazing when I had them on a frag rack about 2-3" below the surface in the DT. However when I moved them the frag tank a couple pieces stn'd. I think it may be due to the lower flow, and different lighting, they aren't complete losses but at that size it's easy to loose 50-80% of your frag with any sign of trouble. Over all though they seem to be doing good but are pretty demanding being wild cut tiny frags. I'm hoping they will go back to doing as well as they were in the DT when I upgrade the frag tank.
In total I have 31 frags left still (including about 6 LPS), 3 of those are damaged at this point (of my own fault) and healing, and I think I may have lost 1-2 or time. I don't remember how many I ending up getting because of the 2 orders and the freebies.
These 3 are in my DT on the rockwork
pics of the frag tank aren't very good but..
In this one everything but the center acro is from Mr Coral. The one on the right is really nice in person, as is the milli above it.
The pieces in the bottom of this pic (distorted sorry)
Piece on the round plug in the top of this photo
The upper right (not the tenella)
The little pink milli to the right and the encrusted plug above it
In the top down frag tank shot just above all the pieces in the middle on the same sized round plugs and all the little chalice frags up front are from Mr coral (except the pm).
I would say all in all I had a good experience, it's a crap shoot 10$ fresh cut wild sps frags. Some people however have had terrible experiences. I doubt I will ever order from him again, but I don't regret the order that I did.
I did two orders from Mr.Coral the first had some DOAs' so I did a second to use the credits. For the most part the frags did pretty good they were all doing amazing when I had them on a frag rack about 2-3" below the surface in the DT. However when I moved them the frag tank a couple pieces stn'd. I think it may be due to the lower flow, and different lighting, they aren't complete losses but at that size it's easy to loose 50-80% of your frag with any sign of trouble. Over all though they seem to be doing good but are pretty demanding being wild cut tiny frags. I'm hoping they will go back to doing as well as they were in the DT when I upgrade the frag tank.
In total I have 31 frags left still (including about 6 LPS), 3 of those are damaged at this point (of my own fault) and healing, and I think I may have lost 1-2 or time. I don't remember how many I ending up getting because of the 2 orders and the freebies.
These 3 are in my DT on the rockwork
pics of the frag tank aren't very good but..
In this one everything but the center acro is from Mr Coral. The one on the right is really nice in person, as is the milli above it.
The pieces in the bottom of this pic (distorted sorry)
Piece on the round plug in the top of this photo
The upper right (not the tenella)
The little pink milli to the right and the encrusted plug above it
In the top down frag tank shot just above all the pieces in the middle on the same sized round plugs and all the little chalice frags up front are from Mr coral (except the pm).
I would say all in all I had a good experience, it's a crap shoot 10$ fresh cut wild sps frags. Some people however have had terrible experiences. I doubt I will ever order from him again, but I don't regret the order that I did.
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MammothReefer
Active member
Hey cFloor,
Thanks for the compliments. The current frag tank is 20x20x10, I'm going to switch it out to 36x24x12 frag tank as soon as I finish the stand, and yes it shares a common sump w/my dt.
jadette
Member
Thanks so much for taking the time to post your mr coral frags. I placed a large SPS order from him just to test out my new frag set-up in my sump. He certainly has a decent variety of SPS, and some of the colors are amazing (as you have shown nicely). But the frags are really too tiny for me to get any enjoyment out of them. I've been searching for the "I grew this 8+" colony from a Mr.Coral Frag I got 2 years ago!" post, but I have yet to see one.
Keep the updates coming. This thread is a treat to follow.
Keep the updates coming. This thread is a treat to follow.
MammothReefer
Active member
Ya I don't think I've seen many positive threads about him. When you start off with frags so small it takes sooo long for them to grow to critical mass. I just couldn't pass up on getting such a large variety of millis for the price thought it would be fun to see how they turned out. I figured it could be a neat experiment to get some variety for the frag tank. I wouldn't try to populate a tank with them though that would be painful.
Thanks for the compliment.. however on a more important note.. When is Season 5 of Venture Bro's coming out! It's been 2 years!!! I need more Hank "I am the Bat" Venture!
Thanks for the compliment.. however on a more important note.. When is Season 5 of Venture Bro's coming out! It's been 2 years!!! I need more Hank "I am the Bat" Venture!
MammothReefer
Active member
tiny update, about 90% done with the new frag tank stand. I just need to paint it, and decide if I'm going to wrap the metal stand in a wood cover like my dt. Also thinking about wedling in some pins so I can attach some wood boards for shelves and as a way to hold my wires / dc8s.
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MammothReefer
Active member
Thanks! I'm looking to have it online next week. I was going to get it all set for this week but will be heading out of town.. don't like the idea of setting something new up and then leaving town for a few days. heh.
