A2's Acro Adventure

[Aaron-A2]

I'm starting a new thread to document my journey with SPS/acorpora. My 210 gallon build thread originally started as a mixed reef with a focus on SPS, but over the last year I've fallen hard for sticks and decided it was time to make the relationship official!

As some of you know, I document my progress usually in video format. I'll be posting those in this thread along with many pictures on the progress of my conversion.

Here we go!

 

[Aaron-A2]

Converting From Mixed Reef --> SPS Dominant System

Over the next month, I'm looking at changing a few things on my system:

• Aquascape
• Lighting
• Flow

Aquascape
My goal is two fold. To increase available surface area to put more sticks and to create more high flow areas. I've already done a lot of work on this which can be seen in the progress video below:


Lighting
I'm going to be switching out my (3) Radion G4's for a Giesemann Spectra (MH/T5). I've already noticed significant shadowing using my radions, and to get where I'd want to be using just LED's and no canopy, the cost per light just doesn't make sense.

That said, here's my lighting setup:

• Hamilton 20k 250w MH (3)
• Euroequatics Blue Pop LED (T5 bulb (x4))
• ReefBrite 250w Ballasts

WIP!

Flow
I currently have (2) Maxspect Gyre XF250's in the tank. This is already a lot of flow, but I've already made some changes to the power now that some of my softies and sensitive LPS have been moved from the tank.

Long term, I'd like to add some cheaper powerheads to the back of the tank pointing forward to add even more flow to the system.

 

[lafayettereefer]

Make more videos bro. I like the enthusiasm you have

 

[Thingsibuild]

Your video is well done. It's hard to not be boring when talking about reefs.

 

[Aaron-A2]

Make more videos bro. I like the enthusiasm you have

That's the plan! Thanks

Your video is well done. It's hard to not be boring when talking about reefs.

There's always something to talk about. Good and bad >.<

 

[Aaron-A2]

Nutrient Issue

Over the last year, my n03 and po4 has been pretty much zero. I started with Pukani (cured for 3 months) and due to a pretty absurd string of bad luck with QT, could never get fish in the system to produce the nutrients the coral needed.

As you could imagine, this has caused a loss of color in many/most of my sps. I tried dosing NeoNitro, but the cost seemed prohibitive in a system of my size. I've considered stump remover, but have always been hesitant even though I know many successful SPS tanks that use it.

Solution

A recent suggestion I took was to dose pure N03 to raise nitrates. I had long forgotten I had some GreenLeafAquarium dry ferts for my old planted tank, so I've mixed 50ml GLA N03 and 500ml RODI water. In my system, 15ml dosed is around 1ppm nitrates.

Current Params (1/26/2019)
- N03: 4ppm
- P04: .04ppm

Since I started dosing, I've already seen major color improvement -- mostly in the florescence. So far, I've seen zero algae issues.

I plan to do a a monthly side-by-side to see how much the coral has progressed with the new dosing regime of nitrates.

 

[Aaron-A2]

Some quick photo updates

 

[Aaron-A2]

New video update!

I had way too much fun making this video, so please ignore my 90's style commercial in the middle. The basic tl;dr is I started dosing GLA KN03 mixed in at a 50g --> 500ml ratio. This mixture raises my nitrates 1.00ppm~ for every 15-20ml dosed.

I'm hoping that as I add more fish, I no longer have to dose nitrates or at least not to the same degree, but only time will tell.

 

[Aaron-A2]

Some top down shots

 

[Aaron-A2]

Tomorrow I'm receiving 3 new frags from my man @FarmerTy . Getting two of his own beauties and one other:

• Vivid Confetti
• Ty Ectoplasm
• Ty Eternal Flame

 

[FarmerTy]

Tomorrow I'm receiving 3 new frags from my man @FarmerTy . Getting two of his own beauties and one other:

• Vivid Confetti
• Ty Ectoplasm
• Ty Eternal Flame

I'm always sad to see my babies go but at least I know they will be well taken care of! [emoji4]

 

[Aaron-A2]

I'm always sad to see my babies go but at least I know they will be well taken care of! [emoji4]

I expect my freebie to be a lemon drop. See? I'm nice because I'm not expecting a CSB

 

[Aaron-A2]

Took a few pics today while working on the tank..

RR Lemon Drop

RR The Vinh (finally coloring up after dosing nitrates)

Birdsnest recovering from nutrient deprivation

 

[FarmerTy]

Took a few pics today while working on the tank..

RR Lemon Drop

RR The Vinh (finally coloring up after dosing nitrates)

Birdsnest recovering from nutrient deprivation

Nice pics! What's the last one boss?

 

[Aaron-A2]

Nice pics! What's the last one boss?

That's actually a pink lemonade that @bubbaque sent over. It was really hard to take a good straight-on picture of it since it's so far back -- I'll try and get a top-down shot next time.

 

[bubbaque]

Seems like it encrusted well for you.

 

[Aaron-A2]

Seems like it encrusted well for you.

It's been slow for me, but encrusting well. Overall, I think the lack of nitrates in my tank have been a huge stopper all around. Since I started dosing, the visual improvement has been great. I'm at around 8ppm right now and aiming to hover around 10. I'm increasing very slowly to see if I need to back off.

 

[Aaron-A2]

I brewed up another batch of Nitrate Juice (patent pending) using my same formula... 50g KN03 + 500ml RODI water. For my size system, this increases nitrates by around 1ppm per 15-20ml dosed. I'm using one of my old FW fertilizer bottles which is perfect for the job because it measures out to exactly 500ml full and lets you adjust the dosage up to 20ml.

Not the exact bottle, but it's this type:

On an unrelated note, I DO have this exact bottle for brewing beer. Star Sans is bae.

 

[Aaron-A2]

Received both @FarmerTy and @aquavista99 's frags today and all I can say is I'm speechless. Cheers to the both of you!

And now... picture spam! Both Daylight & Blues.

Vivid Confetti (FarmerTy)

MattV Orange Envy (Tim)

JF Homewrecker (Tim)

MattV Rainbow Envy (Tim)

RR Canada Pretty In Pink (Tim)

AV99 Orange Crush (Tim, obviously)

Pending (Tim)

 

[Aaron-A2]

Weekend Goals

1) Hang the Giesemann Spectra! I've been held up because I could find a machine thread/wood thread in metric locally, so I had to order it. They're here, so time to mount it!

2) Pick up 1-2 emerald crabs. During my rescape, I accidentally crushed my one emerald crab. I tried finding him before I did the work, but it was a nogo. I noticed my bubble algae is starting to come back, so he definitely was doing his job...

Light Acclimation

Switching over to the Giesemann Spectra has me a bit apprehensive on initial acclimation for my coral. My plan is to run the EuroAquatic E5X bulbs (LED's in the form of T5 bulbs) for my normal 10 hour schedule and have the Hamilton 20k Metal Halide bulbs kick on for 4 hours during mid day.

9am-7pm: LED Bulbs (EuroAquatics)
11am-3pm: 20k MH

Looking for suggestions/opinions from those of you that have switched from LED --> MH.