A little coral collage

Hagios · Aug 15, 2020

@najer Thanks so much...I've always value your input and experience.

Charlie’s Frags · Aug 15, 2020

Hagios said:
@Chaswood79 that's TSA's Rainbow Fusion. It has been a steady, but slow grower. I use to think JFs Jolt and it were from the same maricultured colony since they seem to arrived in the hobby scene about the same time and they look pretty similar. I don't see as much of the Fusion around, and I think it my be due to it being a slow grower.

I am one of those guys that rarely check the nitrates and phosphates. When I do they have been non-detect. I've been in the hobby a while. From the time way back when they use to preach ULNS. I pretty much control supplement the tank with various additives like everyone else to to ensure everybody gets fed.

You dose no3 and po4 or ammonia/ammonium?

Hagios · Aug 15, 2020

Chaswood79 said:
You dose no3 and po4 or ammonia/ammonium?

Nope to pretty much nada! When the tank was under a year old I use to add concentrated KNO3. Since then I have switched over to using several of the Pohl's Korallen-zucht products at recommended dosages every other day. Unfortunately, Korallen-zucht is a bit cryptic as to revealing what's in their products, but they work for my system. Just fyi, I don't do zeovit, that's too much of a pain in the butt for me. I use their B-Balance, Xtra special, AcroGlow, and aminos. Other sources of nitrogen and phosphorus are provided for in daily feedings of fish, and morning feedings with a mix of Polyp Lab Reef-Roids and Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast.

Charlie’s Frags · Aug 15, 2020

Hagios said:
Nope to pretty much nada! When the tank was under a year old I use to add concentrated KNO3. Since then I have switched over to using several of the Pohl's Korallen-zucht products at recommended dosages every other day. Unfortunately, Korallen-zucht is a bit cryptic as to revealing what's in their products, but they work for my system. Just fyi, I don't do zeovit, that's too much of a pain in the butt for me. I use their B-Balance, Xtra special, AcroGlow, and aminos. Other sources of nitrogen and phosphorus are provided for in daily feedings of fish, and morning feedings with a mix of Polyp Lab Reef-Roids and Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast.

What’s the b balance for?

Hagios · Aug 15, 2020

Chaswood79 said:
What’s the b balance for?

Quote from BRS website:

B-Balance replaces important minerals and additives commonly removed by protein skimmers.

Benefits include:

Red enhancement in Stylophora, SPS and Pocillopora corals.
The ability to keep difficult corals like Cespitularia
More robust corals with healthier base encrustation, even in shadow areas

B-Balance contains important minerals and additives, particularly those that are partially removed by protein skimmers. This product is particularly effective helping maintain hard to keep species like cespitularia spp. Supplementing B-Balance has also been shown to bring out intense red and pink coloration in SPS corals.

Guide of SPS coral coloration (make them more vivid, bright) | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

This guide endeavors to assist you with the ever popular SPS coral. This was written by member Shadowramy and it explains specific ideas and strategies in which you can do to affect the color of your…

reefbuilders.com

Quote taken from Reefbuilders site:

Reds/Pinks and some Purples

Primarily for coloring reds and pinks in Montiporas, Pocilloporas, Birdsnest, other Stys and Seriatoporas. The supplement is Potassium (not potassium iodide). If you are using a high potassium salt mix such as Oceanic, Tropical Marine Pro and you are doing regular water changes, you are more than likely not going to need to supplement this much.

For dosing you can use your monitporas, especially caps as indicators. Supplementing is required when Montiporas display slower growth and appear washed out to grey appearance. Indicators on Stys and Pocs are when they look like they have been exposed to air. Polyps are completely withdrawn and colors are light. Other indicators of potassium deficiency is when the pinks turn into a light brown and when acroporas loose their color and get lighter and pale. A major potassium deficiency is seen when tissue is lost, mostly starting from the base opposed to spotting (patchy look). And overdose can lead to tip burning so don’t mistake tip burn for new growth. Tips burns will be white with no polyps.

Camaro Show Corals · Aug 15, 2020

Very nice pictures! What is your camera set up?

Hagios · Aug 15, 2020

The Camaro Show said:
Very nice pictures! What is your camera set up?

Ha...your gonna laugh. I've been putting if off and putting it off on getting an SLR due to cell phone tech advancements.

All I'm using is a Galaxy Note 9 with a Polyp Lab smart phone filter to get rid of the nuclear glow.

Graffiti Spot · Aug 15, 2020

Hagios said:
Quote from BRS website:

B-Balance replaces important minerals and additives commonly removed by protein skimmers.

Benefits include:

Red enhancement in Stylophora, SPS and Pocillopora corals.

The ability to keep difficult corals like Cespitularia

More robust corals with healthier base encrustation, even in shadow areas

B-Balance contains important minerals and additives, particularly those that are partially removed by protein skimmers. This product is particularly effective helping maintain hard to keep species like cespitularia spp. Supplementing B-Balance has also been shown to bring out intense red and pink coloration in SPS corals.

Guide of SPS coral coloration (make them more vivid, bright) | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

This guide endeavors to assist you with the ever popular SPS coral. This was written by member Shadowramy and it explains specific ideas and strategies in which you can do to affect the color of your…

reefbuilders.com

Quote taken from Reefbuilders site:

Reds/Pinks and some Purples

Primarily for coloring reds and pinks in Montiporas, Pocilloporas, Birdsnest, other Stys and Seriatoporas. The supplement is Potassium (not potassium iodide). If you are using a high potassium salt mix such as Oceanic, Tropical Marine Pro and you are doing regular water changes, you are more than likely not going to need to supplement this much.

For dosing you can use your monitporas, especially caps as indicators. Supplementing is required when Montiporas display slower growth and appear washed out to grey appearance. Indicators on Stys and Pocs are when they look like they have been exposed to air. Polyps are completely withdrawn and colors are light. Other indicators of potassium deficiency is when the pinks turn into a light brown and when acroporas loose their color and get lighter and pale. A major potassium deficiency is seen when tissue is lost, mostly starting from the base opposed to spotting (patchy look). And overdose can lead to tip burning so don’t mistake tip burn for new growth. Tips burns will be white with no polyps.

Amazing pictures! Thanks for sharing, it’s always nice to see such great pics of healthy acros.

I just started using pohls extra and have been using sponge power for a while. Have you used the special and the extra and noticed a difference other than strength? Any other bottles from them you would suggest for use in a low nutrient tank with just acropora? I am curious about some other products they make but haven’t gotten to use any others yet for any length of time. I did enjoy some of the aquaforest bottles but I feel like zeo stuff is much more concentrated and acropora specific. The I loved the aquaforest micro e, energy and vitamins bottles and am not sure what to use from zeovit that would be similar, the small amount of copper sulphate in the energy was really nice but could have used more honestly. I could never get much of a pastel look with aquaforest and am to scared to try zeospur2 because everyone says it’s really concentrated, have you used it before?

I really don’t like that reefbuilders article much although some of it is useful for some. It’s kinda just for uln systems and i see a lot of people refer to it for use in high nutrient systems which it won’t really help much for and most wont ever need to supplement potassium or iron ever. I think it could have went into a lot of other ways to improve the colors it covers and would have been much more helpful. But it was written at the peak of uln systems and isn’t really bad until a new reefer gets a hold of it and starts dumping potassium and iron and such into their tank which would be problematic at best.

Hagios · Aug 15, 2020

Pedoconfuego said:
Amazing pictures! Thanks for sharing, it’s always nice to see such great pics of healthy acros.

I just started using pohls extra and have been using sponge power for a while. Have you used the special and the extra and noticed a difference other than strength? Any other bottles from them you would suggest for use in a low nutrient tank with just acropora? I am curious about some other products they make but haven’t gotten to use any others yet for any length of time. I did enjoy some of the aquaforest bottles but I feel like zeo stuff is much more concentrated and acropora specific. The I loved the aquaforest micro e, energy and vitamins bottles and am not sure what to use from zeovit that would be similar, the small amount of copper sulphate in the energy was really nice but could have used more honestly. I could never get much of a pastel look with aquaforest and am to scared to try zeospur2 because everyone says it’s really concentrated, have you used it before?

I really don’t like that reefbuilders article much although some of it is useful for some. It’s kinda just for uln systems and i see a lot of people refer to it for use in high nutrient systems which it won’t really help much for and most wont ever need to supplement potassium or iron ever. I think it could have went into a lot of other ways to improve the colors it covers and would have been much more helpful. But it was written at the peak of uln systems and isn’t really bad until a new reefer gets a hold of it and starts dumping potassium and iron and such into their tank which would be problematic at best.

Have you used the special and the extra and noticed a difference other than strength? Any other bottles from them you would suggest for use in a low nutrient tank with just acropora?

Good questions and complicated since all systems are unique. I consider myself kinda old school in reef system philosophy utilizing a ULNS with relatively controlled imports and exports. Goal being, KISS (keep it simple stupid). I went straight to the Xtra Special and the other aforementioned supplements and basically experimented with dosages starting at about half the recommended daily dosage. Dosage increase or decrease was based purely on observation. Uptake of course is dependent on coral load, so this is where observation is key. Pay attention not only to color but also to health of the skin of the acro, how well it's encrusting and night time polyp extension.

Also, as a side note it took me a little while to find my tanks ideal alkalinity (this varies between all systems). This is important as it directly affects growth and nutrient rate uptake.

I could never get much of a pastel look with aquaforest and am to scared to try zeospur2 because everyone says it’s really concentrated, have you used it before?

Sorry, not going to be much help here since I am inexperienced in both.

Hagios · Aug 17, 2020

Here's some pics of RRC Sangria. After seeing its potential it was hard to pass up. It is still fairly young in the tank, but I'm hoping that the hints of pink will morph into the hot fuschia as seen RRCs pic.

RRC Sangria pic: