jsdancer
New member
Piper the Valentine's acro is doing just fine. It currently is showing more of a florescent green and it has started to show growth spread at bottom.
Will post a pic soon!!
The Rebirth/Rebuild of my 180g sps thread
- Thread starter jsdancer
- Start date
Piper the Valentine's acro is doing just fine. It currently is showing more of a florescent green and it has started to show growth spread at bottom.
Will post a pic soon!!
jsdancer
New member
Doser is working really well. I am still in the dosing and testing till I have it all squared off then I can test a little less.
jsdancer
New member
Thx sahin!
Wait till you see what I plan to add in the next two weeks!
I am picking up an order of 11 sticks from a fellow reefer and those range from ORA sticks to cali torts.
Then I have another order coming in with higher end acro's!
Will post pics as I get em!!!
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Cool man. Look forward to the pics. I love many of the ORA stuff.
Just be careful with regards to AEFW's man...adding and adding Acros scares me...
jsdancer
New member
Hey sahin! I do dip in Coral RX during the acclimation process and dip a few weeks later before gluing and placing acro's in its permanent location.
The next post is from a well known source who does not have any AEFW. My order coming in on Friday is also from a well respected collector who also has a clean tank of AEFW's.
Agreed it is a scary thing!!
jsdancer
New member
Update on my 180 gallon:
Purchased a probe to replace an aging one which kept telling me my PH was 11.46!
Once calibrated I am now looking at a PH of 7.96. Low to where it needs to be but at least I know I can slowly add a little kalk to boost it up into the normal range of 8.1 to 8.3.
Since I live in Florida I keep my home sealed because I want cool comfort not heat and humidity ! But there is a draw back! The amount of CO2 in my home while safe for us humans is a likely cause of my low PH.
I will run a test and open windows in the next couple of days as we experience a cool front lol! Then will see if I still have a low PH. Will let you all know.
As for the doser it is working like a charm!! I however made a dose time change on dosing ALK. Since I saw that the PH was low I decided to dose ALK in the am hours and CA in the evening hours.
The theory from what I have read is that ALK does raise ALK and PH. Will see if this makes a difference as well.
I was on Facebook and became friends with a fellow south Florida reef enthusiast. Michael sold me a frag pack and if I local picked up he would throw in a few extras to make my drive a little more palatable, lol!
His tank is amazing and he has been reefing for awhile now. I will post a FTS once I get his permission. He runs T5's and LED supplement and is doing ZEOVIT. His growth and colors are awesome!
Here are what I believe are tried and true sps that have stood the test of time and a few pieces I have never had!
Suhorsonoi
Ant Insignis
ORA's Joe the coral
ORA's Miami Orchid
ORA's Cali Tort
Purchased a probe to replace an aging one which kept telling me my PH was 11.46!
Once calibrated I am now looking at a PH of 7.96. Low to where it needs to be but at least I know I can slowly add a little kalk to boost it up into the normal range of 8.1 to 8.3.
Since I live in Florida I keep my home sealed because I want cool comfort not heat and humidity ! But there is a draw back! The amount of CO2 in my home while safe for us humans is a likely cause of my low PH.
I will run a test and open windows in the next couple of days as we experience a cool front lol! Then will see if I still have a low PH. Will let you all know.
As for the doser it is working like a charm!! I however made a dose time change on dosing ALK. Since I saw that the PH was low I decided to dose ALK in the am hours and CA in the evening hours.
The theory from what I have read is that ALK does raise ALK and PH. Will see if this makes a difference as well.
I was on Facebook and became friends with a fellow south Florida reef enthusiast. Michael sold me a frag pack and if I local picked up he would throw in a few extras to make my drive a little more palatable, lol!
His tank is amazing and he has been reefing for awhile now. I will post a FTS once I get his permission. He runs T5's and LED supplement and is doing ZEOVIT. His growth and colors are awesome!
Here are what I believe are tried and true sps that have stood the test of time and a few pieces I have never had!
Suhorsonoi
Ant Insignis
ORA's Joe the coral
ORA's Miami Orchid
ORA's Cali Tort
jsdancer
New member
Nice additions man. I'd love to get the Pearlberry and Hawkins
thx sahin! Those are certainly 2 of my favs! once they grow out u r 1st on list unless u can't wait that long :bounce3:
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
I'm in the UK, so havent come across either
Thanks for your offer though. 
If I were living in the USA I would have definitely snapped up those two by now.
jsdancer
New member
I'm in the UK, so havent come across either
Wow 1st did not realize u were from the UK!
2nd I would have thought that since these 2 corals are so well known and have been around for years, I would have thought that the ORA corals were out by you guys across the pond.
3. Offer will remain once you move to US!
SpSChief85
New member
Just read through your thread Chris and I'll have to admit awesome restart and lately I've been thinking of one myself I've got afew pieces of equipment to pick up first. Very nice collection of sps. You defiantly have me motivated to make some changes.
jsdancer
New member
You go!!! Take the bull by the horns and do it again! There is some satisfaction of knowing that you can do it again. You are a little smarter this time around but don't be afraid of making mistakes. Just make small ones!!
jsdancer
New member
Update 5-4-2015
Things are going super well in the tank. My parameters are staying really stable.
The doser works really really well!
I am so far dosing 30ml a day of ALK to maintain a level of 8.4 - Red Sea test kit
Mag doses 35ml 3 days a week to maintain a level of 1400 - Red Sea test kit
Calcium 45mg a day to maintain a level of 425-450 - Red Sea test kit
Use kalk to top off evaporated water once a week.
I purchased a second hand Digital Aquatics controller from a fellow reefer who bought a Neptune and wanted a little of his investment back. My aqua controller Jr. while working just fine the LCD display light was barely seeable in daytime and at night was not viewable at all. This light went out almost 1 year after I purchased it. Never really had help from the rep and I just said ya know they just lost another customer.
Anyhow pics will follow soon. Just transferred and installed the PC4's, probes, and I do have to say the setup is way better than the aqua controller ever was!
Known issues:
Some acros are pale in color.
Not sure if it's a water parameter issue or lighting one. Checked mh bulbs, they need to be replaced so ordered three new ones and will be here tomorrow.
I will slowly acclimate my corals by starting with 3 hours and increase the source every week by adding an additional hour per week till I get the 5 hours per day of intense 250 watts radiums.
If I see that the coloring is improving then I won't do anything more. If it is not improving then I am going to take off the bio pellets. Will research how to successfully take these guys off a system.
If you all have suggestions please feel free to chime in!
Now for the fun part! New additions!!!
Strawberry shortcake
Got another because the one I do have while doing really well seems to be a look alike, lol!
Unknown but seems to be some kind of lower light acro. The mother colony was about a year old in lfs growout tank and it has a blue/purple body. The growth is definitely different from garf bonsai.
Frag off of a Golden basket millie. This pic does not do it justice and it has not acclimated to my tank yet. But under actinic it coloring is gorgeous! Can't wait to see its growth!
Beautiful acro mariculture piece. Correlates are really light green with blue tips
This acro will be hard to imagine and the pic is bad and it is not acclimated to my tank. a lower light acro, body base is green tips are mauve, the polyps are pinky/red and the outmost coralite area is white.
After dipping this maricultured colony is NOT a happy camper. Lets hope for the best and see what happens once it starts cooking!
Next week I get a frag pack from BSA corals. Will keep you all posted!
Things are going super well in the tank. My parameters are staying really stable.
The doser works really really well!
I am so far dosing 30ml a day of ALK to maintain a level of 8.4 - Red Sea test kit
Mag doses 35ml 3 days a week to maintain a level of 1400 - Red Sea test kit
Calcium 45mg a day to maintain a level of 425-450 - Red Sea test kit
Use kalk to top off evaporated water once a week.
I purchased a second hand Digital Aquatics controller from a fellow reefer who bought a Neptune and wanted a little of his investment back. My aqua controller Jr. while working just fine the LCD display light was barely seeable in daytime and at night was not viewable at all. This light went out almost 1 year after I purchased it. Never really had help from the rep and I just said ya know they just lost another customer.
Anyhow pics will follow soon. Just transferred and installed the PC4's, probes, and I do have to say the setup is way better than the aqua controller ever was!
Known issues:
Some acros are pale in color.
Not sure if it's a water parameter issue or lighting one. Checked mh bulbs, they need to be replaced so ordered three new ones and will be here tomorrow.
I will slowly acclimate my corals by starting with 3 hours and increase the source every week by adding an additional hour per week till I get the 5 hours per day of intense 250 watts radiums.
If I see that the coloring is improving then I won't do anything more. If it is not improving then I am going to take off the bio pellets. Will research how to successfully take these guys off a system.
If you all have suggestions please feel free to chime in!
Now for the fun part! New additions!!!
Strawberry shortcake
Got another because the one I do have while doing really well seems to be a look alike, lol!
Unknown but seems to be some kind of lower light acro. The mother colony was about a year old in lfs growout tank and it has a blue/purple body. The growth is definitely different from garf bonsai.
Frag off of a Golden basket millie. This pic does not do it justice and it has not acclimated to my tank yet. But under actinic it coloring is gorgeous! Can't wait to see its growth!
Beautiful acro mariculture piece. Correlates are really light green with blue tips
This acro will be hard to imagine and the pic is bad and it is not acclimated to my tank. a lower light acro, body base is green tips are mauve, the polyps are pinky/red and the outmost coralite area is white.
After dipping this maricultured colony is NOT a happy camper. Lets hope for the best and see what happens once it starts cooking!
Next week I get a frag pack from BSA corals. Will keep you all posted!
jsdancer
New member
Well update 5-17-2015
Installed the DA controller and setup was fairly easy. The PC4's are labelled and I need to secure wires so that I have a neat setup.Will post those pics as soon as I finished that part of the project.
He is a pick of the controller showing current conditions:
A funny thing happened the other nite! I happened to wake up in the middle of the nite around 3am to a beeping sound. Immediately I knew it was coming from the reef tank. I got up out of bed and opened the cabinet door to find the dosser at work letting me know at 3am that I was out of AlK and needed to add more lol!! Well needless to say I turned the alarm off and now I monitor the jugs and and so far it takes two weeks to go thru the jugs. I may still opt to turn the alarm back on or I may have DA controller monitor it but I will need to add another PC4. Currently researching stuff about the new DA device called "Archon."
Anyhow the halides came in I went ahead and labeled them and started the process of acclimating the tank corals and fish to the new radiums. Started with 3 hours and am in the 2nd week and added an additional hour this week to 4. I plan on staying at around 5 hours total for metal halide photo period. I may opt for 6 hours but depends On how the corals are colored. In my past experience 4 hours was just enough and I had a colorful tank. But with all the new acro's I have acquired I am excited to "cook" them as sps aholics say lol!
As I had stated in the last update I had ordered some acro's from BSA corals. I came across this guy thru Facebook and those that have ordered from him are very satisfied customers.The corals came in and were packed very well.
After acclimating and dipping they were placed in tank. i will go ahead a dip again in 5 days. First dip revealed nothing the frags were very clean. But will do it again.
Installed the DA controller and setup was fairly easy. The PC4's are labelled and I need to secure wires so that I have a neat setup.Will post those pics as soon as I finished that part of the project.
He is a pick of the controller showing current conditions:
A funny thing happened the other nite! I happened to wake up in the middle of the nite around 3am to a beeping sound. Immediately I knew it was coming from the reef tank. I got up out of bed and opened the cabinet door to find the dosser at work letting me know at 3am that I was out of AlK and needed to add more lol!! Well needless to say I turned the alarm off and now I monitor the jugs and and so far it takes two weeks to go thru the jugs. I may still opt to turn the alarm back on or I may have DA controller monitor it but I will need to add another PC4. Currently researching stuff about the new DA device called "Archon."
Anyhow the halides came in I went ahead and labeled them and started the process of acclimating the tank corals and fish to the new radiums. Started with 3 hours and am in the 2nd week and added an additional hour this week to 4. I plan on staying at around 5 hours total for metal halide photo period. I may opt for 6 hours but depends On how the corals are colored. In my past experience 4 hours was just enough and I had a colorful tank. But with all the new acro's I have acquired I am excited to "cook" them as sps aholics say lol!
As I had stated in the last update I had ordered some acro's from BSA corals. I came across this guy thru Facebook and those that have ordered from him are very satisfied customers.The corals came in and were packed very well.
After acclimating and dipping they were placed in tank. i will go ahead a dip again in 5 days. First dip revealed nothing the frags were very clean. But will do it again.
jsdancer
New member
This weekend I did a water change and was up cleaning the salt spray from top canopy and I happened to look down into the tank I a noticed that the view was starting to look really nice and the corals were looking good.
Here a few shots I took. Some I could not get to because the lights just blocked me and since I am using an iPhone 6+ rigged with an old polarized lenses from a pair of sunglasses it lol was a big hassle so could not get as many as I would have liked to.
Here a few shots I took. Some I could not get to because the lights just blocked me and since I am using an iPhone 6+ rigged with an old polarized lenses from a pair of sunglasses it lol was a big hassle so could not get as many as I would have liked to.
