Sander_Bos
Member
Wow nice colors!
In Holland we say : sick beautifull
In Holland we say : sick beautifull
rigleautomotive's Tank Pics Thread
- Thread starter x2uranium
- Start date
aandfsoccr04
Active member
Beautiful collection Dan. One of my favorites across all of the US!
D' kingfisher
New member
how abt a full tank shot.
rigleautomotive
Premium Member
Thanks peeps.I appreciate the comments.I am working on a video since I can not take a FTS for the life of me.I tried both my lenses and both Nikons and the images do not even come close to nice enough for nme to post.I have been very busy but I promise I will have a decent update soon .TY
rigleautomotive
Premium Member
BTW,I have quite a few images up on fb also.Ck it out if you feel so inclined
Hi Dan,
Can you elaborate on your elimination of CO2 driven CalRx? How do you run your CalRx now or are you still running it at all? I am assuming with your mature tank your Alk and Cal demands must be high. Can you maintain proper Alk and Cal with just a Kalk reactor?
Anyhow, any and all inof you can share would be great. I have a mature 180-gl sps tank and just introduced dosing ESV 2-part to help stabilize my system. I got this tip from a local TOTM guru and it has helped tremendously. I am still using a Kalk reactor and CO2 driven CalRx, but would like to knw if I can eliminate the CO2 portion of my setup.
Appreciate any help you can provide.........
trueblackpercula
New member
Outstanding !!!!
rigleautomotive
Premium Member
I should have been more clear.what i have done is went from just using a calcium reactor to using kalk as my main source of maintenance.Eliminating the CO2 and getting a much more favorable ph daily range.I have been able to maintain levels at NSW numbers with just Kalk and weekly water changes with a bit of tweeking on the mixes to keep it in the sweet spot.Adding CaCl and MgCl to the mix to help with any deficiencies at the weekly water changes and periodically adding some CaCl and MgCl to the DT to keep it in range.But primarily using kalk for the majority of the daily consumption.Mixing a stll vessel with a steep amount of kalk,increasing evap by fan cooling,and dripping 24/7 was my best results.
Useful_Idiot
Artificially Intelligent
Beautiful tank, Excellent pics! I've been following your thread for a long time and find your experiences very helpful. I was wondering when you first started using kalk you didn't like it what did you do differently when implementing it a second time that it worked? And other than the coraline algae did you see any changes in your tank or sps?
When you talk about the color of your sps with the vho's is it a color that happens immediately when the lights are on? Or is it a coloration the coral develops after a few weeks of being under them?
When you do your yearly cleaning under your live rock do you see a drop in po4 after?
When slowing down the flow at night to get better pe why do you think this is beneficial to sps? I agree lack of pe shows a unhappy acro but do you see them actually catching particules and eating?
In your experience the wild pieces you've acquired do you think it is possible to keep them the same color as they come in?
Thanks for keeping this thread going and helping the rest of us learn from you.
When you talk about the color of your sps with the vho's is it a color that happens immediately when the lights are on? Or is it a coloration the coral develops after a few weeks of being under them?
When you do your yearly cleaning under your live rock do you see a drop in po4 after?
When slowing down the flow at night to get better pe why do you think this is beneficial to sps? I agree lack of pe shows a unhappy acro but do you see them actually catching particules and eating?
In your experience the wild pieces you've acquired do you think it is possible to keep them the same color as they come in?
Thanks for keeping this thread going and helping the rest of us learn from you.
rigleautomotive
Premium Member
Thank you. I am glad some can find help in my failures and successes.It will save some from giving up on this great hobby ,from being ignorant to the small,most often free,secrets that make life thrive in our reefs.And steered away from useless anecdotes that have no proven positive effect.
When I started using Kalk,a IV drip method was employed and was very unstable.The gravity drip would block or flow to quickly and create instability.the next method I tried was a kalk rx and this was also not capable of adding as much alk with out the negative effect of strong ph swings.When I started mixing a large batch(50 gal) of limewater and dosing constantly with a quality dosing pump,24/7,I got the most punch from kalk with this method.Evap needs to be heavy for this to work on a heavily stocked stoney coral reef..The changes I saw were dramatic.Polyp extension,reduction in Nuisance algae,both macro and micro,PO4 levels running lower and more easily controllable,better growth rates,deep colored coraline,etc...
The color improvement (with VHO tubes)was actual pigment changes and not a perceived color added from non natural light.It takes months for the pigments to fully develop given all other parameters and provisions are accounted for.Perceived color is something that has become very evident with the diode explosion.You can color a white acro any shade of the rainbo with the right diode slamming it but under daylight,it is still white.This is what I call perceived color,not actual pigment.Actual pigment shifts that occur in corals that color a certain shade can be seen under daylight or ambient room light.
The bottom cleaning I do yearly does most definitely lower the average PO4 readings and also allows less aggressive control in maintaining acceptable range.
Slowing flow and turbulence at dark photo period is something that occurs naturally with most wild reefs.The tides and flow rates will had a ebb time period where very little flow is observed.When I simulate this,I see very extended feeding responses from stoney corals and acroporas being the most noticable.Acroporas that will show very little to no PE will show much better PE and positive response to food items.I see corals catching particulates of different micron sizes and even if the particle is too large for the mouths,it is still held for some time and I assume nutrition is gathered.mesenterial filaments and digestion can be seen in most cases even with acroporas that are believed to not feed on particulates of this micron size.
It is possible to keep a wild the same color if NSW and daylight is used.Adapting to artificial light and the different density of plankton in a captive,closed system will bring the pigment shifts.This is the way the coral adapts to feeding in the new conditions it is placed in.Or sometimes,does not adapt and over a period of 6 months or so,slowly wastes away or has a rapid necrosis event.Giving and owing to a bad rep to sensitive stoney corals from the wild in the more advanced levels of the hobby.Many will only buy captive grown sps with known lineage as the wilds tend to be a gamble at best.IME if I take 10 wild acroporas that look perfectly healthy and keep them in a very high water quality situation,only half will survive long term.And out of that half,only one or two will have attractive colors,formation and survivability.
When I started using Kalk,a IV drip method was employed and was very unstable.The gravity drip would block or flow to quickly and create instability.the next method I tried was a kalk rx and this was also not capable of adding as much alk with out the negative effect of strong ph swings.When I started mixing a large batch(50 gal) of limewater and dosing constantly with a quality dosing pump,24/7,I got the most punch from kalk with this method.Evap needs to be heavy for this to work on a heavily stocked stoney coral reef..The changes I saw were dramatic.Polyp extension,reduction in Nuisance algae,both macro and micro,PO4 levels running lower and more easily controllable,better growth rates,deep colored coraline,etc...
The color improvement (with VHO tubes)was actual pigment changes and not a perceived color added from non natural light.It takes months for the pigments to fully develop given all other parameters and provisions are accounted for.Perceived color is something that has become very evident with the diode explosion.You can color a white acro any shade of the rainbo with the right diode slamming it but under daylight,it is still white.This is what I call perceived color,not actual pigment.Actual pigment shifts that occur in corals that color a certain shade can be seen under daylight or ambient room light.
The bottom cleaning I do yearly does most definitely lower the average PO4 readings and also allows less aggressive control in maintaining acceptable range.
Slowing flow and turbulence at dark photo period is something that occurs naturally with most wild reefs.The tides and flow rates will had a ebb time period where very little flow is observed.When I simulate this,I see very extended feeding responses from stoney corals and acroporas being the most noticable.Acroporas that will show very little to no PE will show much better PE and positive response to food items.I see corals catching particulates of different micron sizes and even if the particle is too large for the mouths,it is still held for some time and I assume nutrition is gathered.mesenterial filaments and digestion can be seen in most cases even with acroporas that are believed to not feed on particulates of this micron size.
It is possible to keep a wild the same color if NSW and daylight is used.Adapting to artificial light and the different density of plankton in a captive,closed system will bring the pigment shifts.This is the way the coral adapts to feeding in the new conditions it is placed in.Or sometimes,does not adapt and over a period of 6 months or so,slowly wastes away or has a rapid necrosis event.Giving and owing to a bad rep to sensitive stoney corals from the wild in the more advanced levels of the hobby.Many will only buy captive grown sps with known lineage as the wilds tend to be a gamble at best.IME if I take 10 wild acroporas that look perfectly healthy and keep them in a very high water quality situation,only half will survive long term.And out of that half,only one or two will have attractive colors,formation and survivability.
M Woodhill
New member
The tank just makes me sick. Fab job!
rigleautomotive
Premium Member
Mark,I tried but I can not get a quality one for some reason.Focus is terrible with stock lens and the macro can not effectively shoot the full tank.I am working on a video and a lens that can shoot a better wide angle image .Also I did major reaquascaping and removed the large clam so that area is not fully grown in and presentable at the moment.some Areas are very nice and I try to post some images of these as the areas that I have disturbed recently,still look a bit troubled.
thanks for the kind comments.
thanks for the kind comments.
rigleautomotive
Premium Member
