Top down shots
- Thread starter Big E
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reefmutt
Active member
Totally amazing as usual, Ed
Very interesting change in the blueberry cheesecake.
Have your nutrients changed over the past year?
I like the deeper green in the body, now..
Maybe it’s just because it’s a bigger colony, now..
Also, is that some supacalafrajalistic ultimately ultimate orangetastic passion in the bottom left of the group shot?
Very interesting change in the blueberry cheesecake.
Have your nutrients changed over the past year?
I like the deeper green in the body, now..
Maybe it’s just because it’s a bigger colony, now..
Also, is that some supacalafrajalistic ultimately ultimate orangetastic passion in the bottom left of the group shot?
Big E
Premium Member
Hi Matt, thanks!
The inner branches are a deeper green where they are exposed to less light. Yes, I agree as the colony has grown it has developed different hued colors. The outer branches that are exposed to full light carry the lighter color.
My nutrients have been failry consistent over the past year--- PO4 .03ppm and No3- 5.0ppm
Yes that's the Orange Passion I've posted previoulsy. This new pic is about 3 weeks ago.
reefzone123
New member
Big EE doing it Big!!! Beautiful shotss!
reefzone123
New member
Hi Ed
I got some corals from you last year. Everything has been growing and healthy. However, this year my corals has been on the pale side. Here is an example of my red planetand bubble gum milli that I got from you. I tested my Nitrate today it is zero (red sea pro). I don't have fudge. I do run GFO, carbon and biopallet. My feeling is, the tank is too ULNS. After reading your post about PO4, N03 and corals color. I want to give it a try and increase the N03. What is the better way to increase N03? Thx
Ethan M
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
dammnn feed your corals bro!!! lol j/p guarantee u got it sorted out!! lol
reefzone123
New member
Pink lemondade brownish coloration
pink lemonade 052517 by Big E 52, on Flickr
I moved it more to the center of the tank so it would get full spectrum from all angles....same (par) distance from the lights.
pink lemonade by Big E 52, on Flickr
Here's some experimental porthole shots. I'm not a big fan of using it, but I wanted to shoot from angles and with the pumps on.
Porthole 101017 by Big E 52, on Flickr
Porthole 3 101017 by Big E 52, on Flickr
porthole 2 101017 by Big E 52, on Flickr
porthole 5 101017 by Big E 52, on Flickr
holy color explosion!!!
reefzone123
New member
As far as restoring pictures---
I went back and tried to back fill pictures that answered specific questions or to re-post charts, graphs, ect. If there is something anyone wants to see from a previous post let me know and I'll do that. I have a few more weeks to edit my posts.
Instead of going back to replace every photo of corals I'm just going to post past pictures in new posts, so there's going to be some big photo dumps in the near future.
Here's a few new shots--
This is a wild frag I picked up that was a drap olive color that did nothing for over a year. Last 4 months or so it has taken off.
rose petal by Big E 52, on Flickr
Wild Mother colony..........not sure the frag will ever be like that as the colony was very raw and pastel (stressed).
wild 5 by Big E 52, on Flickr
Dragon Scale milli starting to show some potential
dragon scale by Big E 52, on Flickr
Nigripes and Malu
malu and clowns by Big E 52, on Flickr
Pink shortcake update-- this has developed a nice light green growth edge.
pink shortcake 070917 by Big E 52, on Flickr
Bought this as an AquaSD but it seems to have much more intense orange/yellow. I re-posted previous shot for comparisons. I wish it would grow faster...you can see the milli on the right has much faster growth.
asd milli 073117 by Big E 52, on Flickr
ASD rainbow Milli- R.jpg 022617 by Big E 52, on Flickr
Tierra del Fuego-- growth tips shot
tierra del fuego by Big E 52, on Flickr
potential potential potential!!! awesome!!!!!!
Big E
Premium Member
Thanks Tony...........and yeah I know.
Super nice tank man!!!! Can only imagine what it looks like in person
Got frags
Thanks!
codydemmel4
Active member
Ed, I know you only do water changes and feed your tank a lot for supplements.
How do you stay up on Iodine or dont you worry about that? I just got my triton test back and I like you, do not dose anything else besides 2 part and 20% weekly water changes of Instant Ocean but my Iodine showed 0 which concerns me a little bit. I am also adding 1 drop a day of Lugols but clearly the corals are soaking that up in a couple hours, just wanted to see your thoughts.
How do you stay up on Iodine or dont you worry about that? I just got my triton test back and I like you, do not dose anything else besides 2 part and 20% weekly water changes of Instant Ocean but my Iodine showed 0 which concerns me a little bit. I am also adding 1 drop a day of Lugols but clearly the corals are soaking that up in a couple hours, just wanted to see your thoughts.
Big E
Premium Member
Hi Cody,
I don't pay attention to Iodine as I don't see any value in tracking it for keeping my acros. I've never dosed a drop of it in any of my tanks in 25+ years.
If I wasn't doing water changes or if I had a macro algae filter maybe it would be something I'd look into.
You can't assume the corals are sucking it up because it's not showing on a test, nor that there isn't enough present for certain organisms Read these articles they should help.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/3/chemistry
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/4/chemistry
I don't pay attention to Iodine as I don't see any value in tracking it for keeping my acros. I've never dosed a drop of it in any of my tanks in 25+ years.
If I wasn't doing water changes or if I had a macro algae filter maybe it would be something I'd look into.
You can't assume the corals are sucking it up because it's not showing on a test, nor that there isn't enough present for certain organisms Read these articles they should help.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/3/chemistry
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/4/chemistry
Wally.B
Active member
Hey Ed,
Maybe I missed the fact when I read through many parts of your whole thread.
I thought you were a BASICS person in the way you gave me advice on my Tank.
I thought BASICS meant no supplements, or coral foods.
I've recently started using AquaForest ABEV (nothing else except some reef roids) and can see a tiny bit of improvement.
What do you supplement for such Astonishing Corals and Colors?
I'm upgrading to a brand new Tank, and due to high Cost of Tropic Marin Salt (which I used before), it will get more expensive with bigger tank.
So I'm thinking going AquaForest Reef Salt, with their Component 1,2,3 dosing, and continue AquaForest (Amino,Build,Energy,Vitalizer). (Go the AquaForest system, and eventually convert to their Strong version of each elements).
New tank will start with Cooked Rocks, Bayer Dipped everything and all new water to put the old Tank History behind me.
Your thoughts?
Big E
Premium Member
I have been running GFO full time the past year. Previously I would just use it if levels peeked over .10. For consistency purposes I decided to run 24/7.
I use half the recommended amount and change it out monthly.
Activated carbon on and off
Oversized skimmer keeps my nitrates stable.
I don't dose anything......I just feed the fish all they need to keep them fat and healthy. All the nutrients, elements, ect. come from the fish food particles or what the fish produce in ammonium, urea and fish waste.
My suggestion is to run a basic setup before going to an overall commercial system. I've seen too many people have problems going full into these systems when the tank hasn't established itself any kind of natural balance.
Once you've stabilized your livestock load and have some corals in there then I would see where you're at and go from there. That's usually at least 6 months down the road before I would start throwing all that crap at the tank.
If you like the AF alk/calc system I'd use that and nothing else
An oversized skimmer can help and may be all you need.
I don't want to sound harsh, but I don't see the need to spend all that extra money.
Ask yourself this...........is there anyone with a tank thread with a full blown AF system that started off a new setup with frags and has grown into a beautiful acropora dominated reef over the past year or two you can follow and bounce questions off of? Or are you just going to jump in and hope some random poster can help you........or maybe some AF rep that can hold your hand.
I'm not specifically picking on AF.............this would apply to any method you decide to follow.
An example of this is Discusheckel's tank. He's been running Tropic Marin Bacto balance for 2-3 years and keeps his thread updated and the tank looks to be very successful.
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eastlake
New member
Hey Ed, I saw some of the acans you have for sale in another thread and they're absolutely beautiful. I got some at the last swap and it's my first time keeping acans, I just wanted to ask how much you do or don't feed them, and what kind of growth do you get from them? Any info would be great, cheers!
Wally.B
Active member
Ed, Thanks for clarifying. The post before confused me. I misread "feeding" "Supplements".
I was always convinced you were a non additive doser of anything.
I will try simple for the new tank. Key will be as you say "BASIC", and also you suggested "start clean".
Cook rocks/dip rocks/corals, and just let New Water and Oversized skimmer do their work.
Get more fish with larger tank.
I do have an oversized skimmer RLSS DB8i on shelf that I bought while ago, but never really liked/used (tank too small, and skimmer hard to tune).
If you have any good tank threads that I can follow for a proper start with my new tank .Pass on via (PM or post).
Thanks.
Big E
Premium Member
Hi, good to hear from you and thanks! I don't feed them a lot, maybe twice a month I'll squirt some mysis to some heads. With the way the flow is in my tank they get fish food particles passing by them, so I'm sure they snag some of that as well. That tank gets flake foods,mysis, & frozen raw sea foods cut/mashed up, so there are a lot of particles and juices floating around.
If you only have two-four heads I'd probably up the feeding to about 3 times a week.
I learned they can handle more flow than I first thought. If you put them in a spot where they're getting some laminar flow they should do well. Mine grow fast now but that's more to do with them being established colonies.
All mine are on the floor of the tank, so they don't need a lot of high lighting.
That RLSS could work........... the pumps on that skimmer had issues, I'm not sure that's still the case now. Also, what I mean by oversized is 3-4 times what the manufacturer recommends.
For example I had a Deltec skimmer that was rated for 500g on my 160g total system and was able to keep nitrates non detectable and P04- .03.
I'm now running an Aquamaxx that was rated for 400g with a total volume of 90g. It's not as good of a skimmer as a Deltec so it needs some help.
Big E,
I've read your post from the beggining. Thank you so much for your patience and support for the whole community. Your frags are inspiration for us.
May I ask your opinion about my tank?
I would like to start having SPS on my aquarium. Right now I have softies and some LSP.
I'm about to buy a new fixture for my tank because it came with a little canopy with 3xT5.
I've found two fixtures with similar prices:
ATI 4x39W (non-dimmable)
Fiji sun 6x39W
I'm afraid that 6 would be too much for my tank (38x18x18), what do you think?
I've read your post from the beggining. Thank you so much for your patience and support for the whole community. Your frags are inspiration for us.
May I ask your opinion about my tank?
I would like to start having SPS on my aquarium. Right now I have softies and some LSP.
I'm about to buy a new fixture for my tank because it came with a little canopy with 3xT5.
I've found two fixtures with similar prices:
ATI 4x39W (non-dimmable)
Fiji sun 6x39W
I'm afraid that 6 would be too much for my tank (38x18x18), what do you think?
Big E
Premium Member
Hi Hoono,
You need a 6 bulb fixture.
I'm not familiar with the Fiji Sun but Hamilton makes quality fixtures. I don't know if it will perform the same as an ATI unit as I don't know what type of ballasts are in the Fiji Sun. I would talk to Hamilton and ask them the brand and spec of ballast they're using. See if you can get some feedback from some users of their T5 lights as well.
ATI Sunpowers have a long track record of success with Sps, so if you have to pay extra for a 6 bulb unit it might be the best thing to do.
Another option is you could buy a 6 bulb LET fixture and mount it in your existing canopy. That would give you the performance of an ATI fixture.
The bulbs won't last quit as long so there's a trade off.
You need a 6 bulb fixture.
I'm not familiar with the Fiji Sun but Hamilton makes quality fixtures. I don't know if it will perform the same as an ATI unit as I don't know what type of ballasts are in the Fiji Sun. I would talk to Hamilton and ask them the brand and spec of ballast they're using. See if you can get some feedback from some users of their T5 lights as well.
ATI Sunpowers have a long track record of success with Sps, so if you have to pay extra for a 6 bulb unit it might be the best thing to do.
Another option is you could buy a 6 bulb LET fixture and mount it in your existing canopy. That would give you the performance of an ATI fixture.
The bulbs won't last quit as long so there's a trade off.
