SPS Dominated 47G Reef

[biggles]

Here's the pic i promised mate. There are two WP-25's on the end wall 40" away and they're basically hidden in the gloom. It's hard to show in a pic but the water is a blur of fine particulates. Some acros extend mesenterial filaments whilst others sulk with no PE for 20-30 mins after the initial sand stir, regardless of the reaction all the acros are back to normal within about 2 hours.

Prior to stirring the sand i place a 100 micron filter cloth in the sump baffle with pegs as this way i see zero loss of 'visible to the eye' life such as pods and mysis etc. If any are in the baffle when i want to remove it i simply chase them out prior to taking the cloth out.
This is the cloth in place just before i removed it 8 hours after i stirred the sand.

A clean cloth beside the used one. I don't like to have the cloth in place for any longer than 8-12 hours as i know it's removing life from the water i can't see with my naked eyes. I've run the cloth for 24 hours without disturbing the tank and it looks almost as dirty as in these pics so that should give you some idea of how much 'stuff' is circulating through my system water most of the time.

Hope you don't mind me posting the pics in your journal mate but they show what i'm talking about a lot better than trying to describe things - my 'dirty' may be different to yours etc so this way it's more obvious what i mean.

 

[Fail_sh3d]

Here's the pic i promised mate. There are two WP-25's on the end wall 40" away and they're basically hidden in the gloom. It's hard to show in a pic but the water is a blur of fine particulates. Some acros extend mesenterial filaments whilst others sulk with no PE for 20-30 mins after the initial sand stir, regardless of the reaction all the acros are back to normal within about 2 hours.

Prior to stirring the sand i place a 100 micron filter cloth in the sump baffle with pegs as this way i see zero loss of 'visible to the eye' life such as pods and mysis etc. If any are in the baffle when i want to remove it i simply chase them out prior to taking the cloth out.
This is the cloth in place just before i removed it 8 hours after i stirred the sand.

A clean cloth beside the used one. I don't like to have the cloth in place for any longer than 8-12 hours as i know it's removing life from the water i can't see with my naked eyes. I've run the cloth for 24 hours without disturbing the tank and it looks almost as dirty as in these pics so that should give you some idea of how much 'stuff' is circulating through my system water most of the time.

Hope you don't mind me posting the pics in your journal mate but they show what i'm talking about a lot better than trying to describe things - my 'dirty' may be different to yours etc so this way it's more obvious what i mean.

Brilliant.

 

[billygoat]

Great looking setup!

 

[sahin]

Hey mate, i'll take a few pics tomorrow when i stir up the sand so you can see there's nothing in a shallow sand bed to worry about in regards to stirring it for mechanical removal of accumulated wastes - the same doesn't apply to a deep sand bed of course. I'm actually going to remove the sand again as i'm sick to death of the stuff i have blowing around. Now that i have the two WP-25's and the 6095 all ramping up and down the bloody lagoon pool look at the front is worse, the Xmas tree is going under lol.
I want something in a larger grain size but not so big that it looks like pebbles - any ideas on brand name aragonite sand as i can get some of that here online.
As always you're way to generous with your compliments mate, i really like it here and i'm always coming across new things from the observations of fellow SPS keepers such as yourself :thumbsup: I joke around a lot because that's the way i am (mom was scared by a clown whilst pregnant with me apparently....) but hopefully i manage to get some useful info across in a way that everyone understands.
It's funny about the 'blue out' your brother sees lol, to me that's confirmation that the light spectrum and water you're running is on the money mate. I'm quite certain that all you need is to 'enrich' the water more whilst maintaining control of your nutrient levels and all your colors will improve.

Hope you don't mind but here's a little pic of part of my sump walls so you know what i mean by 'enriching' your water, this is the sort of thing i like to see spread throughout my sump - lots and lots of filter feeders which means the water is full of food otherwise they wouldn't populate so well. The more life you see in your display and sump that's dependent on the water to supply its nutrition the better your water is for SPS to capture a steady supply of food from - seems bloody obvious to me which is why i do things the way i do lol. No idea if it's right but i think it is to some degree, liberal doses of food coloring prior to taking pics also works wonders.........

You know they're not going to let up on you about the FTS Sahin :wavehand: Btw how is that SSC frag going now mate, hope it's going well for you.

Many thanks for posting all that VERY useful info. And I'd never mind you posting anything in my thread mate.

I keep my sump squeaky clean. I literally scrub down the sump and completely clean it out every 3 months to keep it clean. I do get Pineapple sponges, small limpet things and other weird sponges growing in the sump, but when I clean out they are removed.

However, my overall I never touch. Detritus doesnt really settle there, and I have a large yellow sponge growing there, as well as other sorts of sponges. I also have those limpet things, feather dusters and other stuff.

I can see how my methodology is so flawed in terms of feeding my SPS. The usual way of keeping water squeaky clean is not the best for SPS corals.

I am VERY grateful for your efforts to pass on your knowledge and experience.

 

[sahin]

Here's the pic i promised mate. There are two WP-25's on the end wall 40" away and they're basically hidden in the gloom. It's hard to show in a pic but the water is a blur of fine particulates. Some acros extend mesenterial filaments whilst others sulk with no PE for 20-30 mins after the initial sand stir, regardless of the reaction all the acros are back to normal within about 2 hours.

Prior to stirring the sand i place a 100 micron filter cloth in the sump baffle with pegs as this way i see zero loss of 'visible to the eye' life such as pods and mysis etc. If any are in the baffle when i want to remove it i simply chase them out prior to taking the cloth out.
This is the cloth in place just before i removed it 8 hours after i stirred the sand.

A clean cloth beside the used one. I don't like to have the cloth in place for any longer than 8-12 hours as i know it's removing life from the water i can't see with my naked eyes. I've run the cloth for 24 hours without disturbing the tank and it looks almost as dirty as in these pics so that should give you some idea of how much 'stuff' is circulating through my system water most of the time.

Hope you don't mind me posting the pics in your journal mate but they show what i'm talking about a lot better than trying to describe things - my 'dirty' may be different to yours etc so this way it's more obvious what i mean.

Excellent post! :thumbsup: I hope anyone else reading your posts and threads realises just how previous your posts are.

I am already seeing a difference in my corals...and I have only been trying to implement your feeding regime for a week. I hope the positive progress continues for my corals.

I have been keeping a close eye on my PO4 level and it hasnt even budged one bit...and I have been REALLY feeding my tank. As long as I can keep the PO4 and algae at bay, I am going to keep up with this high feeding regime and see where it takes me.

 

[sahin]

Great looking setup!

Many thanks mate. I just searched up you tank thread. Bloomin heck mate, you have very nice display with smashing acro colours! :thumbsup:

 

[Bello]

Just a quick update regarding the Abro: Its not lost any more tissue, so I now have high hopes it will make. Its got nice PE and looking fine. So its happy I guess.

I like the green and pink version as well...but I think I have enough green SPS in my tank...any more green and if Biggles ever sees the FTS shot he will make some smartass comment...LOL j/k.

Nah, I like the red version. IF I can get it coloured up one day, it will be a sweet piece for sure.

Glad to hear it's doing well :thumbsup:, more hope for me when I finally find one . I'd be happy with either though.

Well, you know me by now.....I like green ..... I've made it my mission to protect all green acros from biggles , and so far I'm doing a crap job

 

[sahin]

Glad to hear it's doing well :thumbsup:, more hope for me when I finally find one . I'd be happy with either though.

Well, you know me by now.....I like green ..... I've made it my mission to protect all green acros from biggles , and so far I'm doing a crap job

Been a week since I got the Abro frag. PE is very good and the tiny bit of STN looks healed over now. Just hope it colours up now.

 

[Scotty freddy]

Awesome photos and colours sahin! Corals look beautiful mate great job

 

[biggles]

I can see how my methodology is so flawed in terms of feeding my SPS. The usual way of keeping water squeaky clean is not the best for SPS corals.

I don't think you're methods are flawed mate, people have success with lots of different water conditions. I think the overall balance in the system is much more important regardless of your nutrient methodology. I've always had decent results doing it this way so i stick with it.

I am already seeing a difference in my corals...and I have only been trying to implement your feeding regime for a week. I hope the positive progress continues for my corals.

I have been keeping a close eye on my PO4 level and it hasnt even budged one bit...and I have been REALLY feeding my tank. As long as I can keep the PO4 and algae at bay, I am going to keep up with this high feeding regime and see where it takes me.

Glad to hear everything is going well mate. Many things change when you start to feed more and as long as you can keep a grip on your nutrient input/output and give your system time to adjust to the changing nutrient conditions you shouldn't have too many dramas.
Remember i always use all good quality live rock so i have a big head start on anyone cycling with lifeless dry rock in regards to bio diversity in my system. Those two little clowns i added to the sump are now cleaning sand away from a spot behind the rocks - more food will be going into the water once they get the whole egg laying thing worked out over the coming months hopefully. :thumbsup:

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Happy new year Sahin. :celeb1:

May reef Gods bring the colours you want to your corals in the new year....

 

[sahin]

Happy new year Sahin. :celeb1:

May reef Gods bring the colours you want to your corals in the new year....

Thanks mate, same to you. :thumbsup:

 

[sahin]

Small update...

Small update...

OK, so further to all the brilliant SPS feeding information from Professor Biggles I've took some top down shots of some of my better coloured SPS. I still have MANY brown turbs wasting space and consuming valuable Ca and Alk... :mad2:

Overall, I am seeing deeper colour in most corals that are already coloured up. The brown turds continue their disobedience and refuse to colour up.

Lets start off with my Tort: It is being blasted with about 400 PAR yet maintains a very deep blue colouration.

Next up is my pink "Millepora". This one used to be a bit more pastel in colour but has since deepened in colour:

Here is another shot of it from a different angle (I'm unsure if its the same branch though):

This one is a deepwater which has been colouring up. I couldnt capture the light blue tips (underneath is my pink/red Chalice):

These two are at WAR: The Yellow/Green one with the blue tips is much slower growing but it is the stronger of the two. The two corals grew right up against each other, and then the Yellow/Green decided to attack and caused the 5mm deathline. The one on the right has a beautiful deep green metallic look with all new branch tips in a sky blue colour terminating with purple tips. I couldnt catpure the purple tips though. Notice the brown turd frag on the top left. Not all my SPS are coloured up!

Here is a better shot of the right hand side of the green one. This branch is getting about 250 PAR and has pretty good colour. You can just about see the purple tip ends. Notice the blurred A. tenius underneath all brown with a few blue tips:

And finally my prized SPS. This one used to be brown with slight purple tip face and a little green on the base. Its now coloured up beautifully and the growing tips are turning a beautiful sky blue. Just about managed to capture the skyblue tips. This coral SHIMMERS under the point source nature of the White LED's which was missing with T5 only:

Hope you like the photos. After adjusting the photos to what they look like in real life, I went back to my tank and looked at each coral with my topdown viewer to ensure colours were faithfully represented.

I can honestly say that the ATI T5/LED Powermodule CAN colour up corals just fine.

Why I still have brown some brown or less than stellar coloured SPS, I dont know.

But hopefully in another 6 months, ALL the SPS will have coloured up.

I am going to continue the current SPS feeding regime, but in addition, I am going to pick up a few select pieces of quality cured liverock to place in the sump...not only to increase the microlife, but also to bring in a bit of bacterial diversity. Maybe I am just crazy...but I will try this before I give up on the brown SPS and get rid of them.

 

[Fail_sh3d]

OK, so further to all the brilliant SPS feeding information from Professor Biggles I've took some top down shots of some of my better coloured SPS. I still have MANY brown turbs wasting space and consuming valuable Ca and Alk... :mad2:

Overall, I am seeing deeper colour in most corals that are already coloured up. The brown turds continue their disobedience and refuse to colour up.

Next up is my pink "Millepora". This one used to be a bit more pastel in colour but has since deepened in colour:

Here is another shot of it from a different angle (I'm unsure if its the same branch though):

This one is a deepwater which has been colouring up. I couldnt capture the light blue tips (underneath is my pink/red Chalice):

Here is a better shot of the right hand side of the green one. This branch is getting about 250 PAR and has pretty good colour. You can just about see the purple tip ends. Notice the blurred A. tenius underneath all brown with a few blue tips:

That pink mill is awesome.

I have that same deep water and the green one you posted. Blue growth tips and everything.

Things are looking great, my friend. The photography is great.

 

[Froggy]

Absolutely beautiful corals Sahin!

If you still have brown corals mixed in with those beauties they may be genetic turds haha. You have beautiful corals.

On a side note, what are you using to post process your pictures to show the true look? My recent pictures were blue and became over saturated somewhat when I tried to adjust them with a cheapo program.

 

[sahin]

That pink mill is awesome.

I have that same deep water and the green one you posted. Blue growth tips and everything.

Things are looking great, my friend. The photography is great.

Thanks. I will look into your thread again to compare. Both of these are just unknowns I picked up.

 

[sahin]

Absolutely beautiful corals Sahin!

If you still have brown corals mixed in with those beauties they may be genetic turds haha. You have beautiful corals.

On a side note, what are you using to post process your pictures to show the true look? My recent pictures were blue and became over saturated somewhat when I tried to adjust them with a cheapo program.

Thanks mate. I may have one or two genetic turds. But one or two others I know must be colourful.

My photos come out the camera looking pretty much the same as what I post.

What makes the difference in getting that HEAVY blue look out is to use the WHITE BALANCE setting on your camera and set it as high as possible...ie some cameras go upto 10,000K etc. Or take a custom WHITE BALANCE READING with your camera if it allow you to, or shoot all in RAW rather than jpegs, and then use a RAW converter to remove the BLUE look.

I use Photoshop to resize, adjust levels, brightness, sharpness, and adjust saturation above or below to get the images looking like what I see when looking down into the tank. I then check the images on my Ipad as well...sometimes things can look VERY saturated on say my Ipad, but look fine on my Windows Laptop.

The whole process is a LOT easier with Metal Halide lighting, unless you use 20K with heavy actinics.

 

[Dukester]

Wow sahin, your photos are amazing and your corals are looking beautiful, the color is really coming out in them and they are popping like crazy!!! I also really agree with your comment above about the white balancing, its an absolute must imo to have it locked down on the camera before you start shooting, i use a cheapo diy "pringles" white balance filter over the lens and it works perfect. What camera and lens combo are you shooting sahin, if you mind me asking?

 

[Fail_sh3d]

Thanks. I will look into your thread again to compare. Both of these are just unknowns I picked up.

I would post better pictures in my thread but that'll be a couple months. Once I get the camera, I'll post pick of these two. Same here on the unknowns.

Tank is looking great, Sahin.

 

[sahin]

Wow sahin, your photos are amazing and your corals are looking beautiful, the color is really coming out in them and they are popping like crazy!!! I also really agree with your comment above about the white balancing, its an absolute must imo to have it locked down on the camera before you start shooting, i use a cheapo diy "pringles" white balance filter over the lens and it works perfect. What camera and lens combo are you shooting sahin, if you mind me asking?

Thanks mate. Your tank is an inspiration for me.

I am using an almost 10 year old Nikon D70 body with a Tamron 90mm Macro. The white balancing on the D70 is cr@p compared what todays camera's are capable of. The camera doesnt pickup purples well at all...and if it picks up greens nicely, then the reds suffer...But I have learnt to deal with its limitations over the years.

A Canon T4i DSLR with a decent lens bought used will make for a very decent camera, rather than picking up a brand new Point and Shoot.