Acro_leaf's SPS RS Nano Peninsula

[Acro_leaf]

Hi All

After taking a backseat last year due to personal reasons I figured i'd restart a tank thread now that my tank has finally turned a corner and looking like its re-balancing itself after a pretty lengthy battle with nutrients, bacteria, loss of microfauna etc

First the details

Tank: Red sea Desktop Nano Peninsula (G1)
Light: Ecotech Radion XR15w G6 Pro
Flow: Ecotech VorTech MP10 mQD + Stock Redsea return pump
Filtration: Red sea Desktop Skimmer
Temperature Control: Elitech STC-1000WIFI controlling a 150watt heater and small hang on cooling fan.
Monitoring: Focustronic Alkatronic Pro
Dosing: Focustronic Dosetronic Pro
ATO: Red sea Smart ATO

Stock

2 x common Clownfish (18.5 years in my care)
Small clean up crew consisting of mixed snails, cleaner shrimp etc
Assorted SPS frags/mini colonies grown from frags, also chalice, acan and favia coral.

Parameters

Water Volume: 90L / 23.7 USG
Nitrate: ~10-15ppm
Phosphate: ~0.93ppm
Alkalinity: 8.03 dkh
Calcium: 480
Magnesium: 1260
PH: 7.6-8.1
Salinity: 1.025
Temperature: 24.3 *C / 73.4*F

Dosing / Water changes etc
TMC All For Reef - 7ml daily
Aquaforest Magnesium - 10ml daily (to raise low magnesium)
Nyos Pure Salt - previously infrequent but roughly 1x25% a month water change, this has been increased to 9-10% weekly.
Periodic Calcium carbonate, MB7.

Feeding

Mixed frozen 2-3 x a week, Prime Reef flake.

 

[Acro_leaf]

Current Full Tank shots - 7th March 2026

 

[Tahoe61]

Welcome back. Looks like you never left. Congrats on rounding the turn.

 

[Acro_leaf]

Thank you, Tahoe.

I’ve kept some form of saltwater tank for the past 20 years or so, and for most of that time I’ve had a strong interest in SPS everything from a 30ltr nano to a 750XXL. Last year was a bit rough though—my morale and love for the hobby took a bit of a hit and unfortunately the tank did too. I did lose a few pieces, but thankfully most of the corals managed to pull through though not without scars/burnt tips etc but I know with time they'll recover.

The tank was broken down and moved about 5–6 months ago, and since then it’s been a real test of patience. I’ve been going back and forth battling cyano and diatoms, along with browned-out acros, algae smothering coral skeleton etc.

That said, I think I may have reached a bit of a turning point over the past few weeks or so. My filter sponges have suddenly exploded in growth, pod populations are noticeably up, and I’m seeing plenty more micro bristle stars. Cyano is still lingering on the sand in a few places, but it’s far better than it was before. Even more encouragingly, most of my remaining acropora are starting to show new growth tips and some of their colour is returning.


With this renewed sense of optimism, I actually placed an order for some SPS last week, which should be arriving in the next few days. Photos will of course be shared once they arrive

 

[Tahoe61]

This hobby at times truly test our resolve to continue in SW.

Us long timers often have enough equipment furloughed to start back up without breaking the bank.

Getting new sps frags is exciting. Please share your haul.

 

[Acro_leaf]

This hobby at times truly test our resolve to continue in SW.

Us long timers often have enough equipment furloughed to start back up without breaking the bank.

Getting new sps frags is exciting. Please share your haul.

Ain’t that the truth.

I still have a Deltec 1000 skimmer and a Deltec TwinTech 1500 calcium reactor sitting in storage for a big tank “one day”. Some changes last year made me have to be a bit brutal with culling equipment and stock though.

Even so, I’ve still got three storage boxes full of supplies and equipment, four buckets of dead live rock out in the garden, and three bags of new marine sand in storage — and that’s not even including the stuff currently in use.

Yep, I’ll admit I’m pretty excited for my coral haul. I’ve spent the last day or so window-shopping different online suppliers too despite my wallets protest.

I still have my heart set on replacing some of the old stock I’ve lost over the years through time and mistakes. I think a lot of long-time reefers end up reminiscing about livestock they once had and wanting to recapture a bit of that nostalgia.

Now if only metal halides weren’t so expensive to run — and so hot…

If anyone in the UK happens to have an Icefire Echinata frag available, please reach out. I’ve been hunting for a replacement for years

 

[Acro_leaf]

So this morning I spent a bit of time pottering around the tank. Touch wood, all but the last traces of cyano/diatoms seem to have cleared from the sand bed. It’s been so long since it looked properly clean that it honestly surprises me each morning when I walk past.

I’m planning to do a ~20% water change later tonight in preparation for the frags which, all being well, should arrive tomorrow.

Out of curiosity I ran a quick nitrate, phosphate, and magnesium test to see where things are sitting before the water change. These were taken about an hour after feeding the tank a small pinch of flake.

My nitrates are still a bit elevated at around 15–20 ppm. That’s slightly unusual for me — historically I’ve always struggled with low nitrates across all my tanks, so seeing them this high is new territory. I can’t say I hate it, but I do keep expecting algae issues to follow, which so far haven’t really materialised. I suspect with routine water changes this should reduce further im not currently worried more just aware of it.

Phosphates seem to have come down to a more comfortable 0.067 ppm. I suspect that may be linked to being more proactive with blowing detritus off the rocks, along with dosing calcium carbonate/coral snow with MB7.

Finally, magnesium is still a little low at around 1200–1220 ppm, so I’ve increased my dosing from 10 ml to 15 ml a day to see if that helps bring it up.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank is looking great!

 

[Acro_leaf]

Tank is looking great!

Thank you, Gumbies R Us – you’re too kind! It certainly looks better than it has in compared to the past year, but compared to a lot of the other tanks on here, it’s still got a way to go.

Incidentally I was just contacted by the coral seller who’s dispatching my order today for tomorrow. They let me know that two of the frags I ordered (Ricordea yumas) aren’t looking their best compared to the rest of the order (SPS), and they’d be happier if I swapped them out or took some credit instead.

Although it’s slightly disappointing, I really commend the seller for reaching out rather than shipping sub-par corals. In the end, I swapped them for another Acropora.

Admittedly, I’ve already been puzzling over where some of these sticks are going to be mounted, but one more at this point seems trivial at this point.

Salt is heating for a water change tonight and i'll try and remember to take a few extra shots to see what we're working with.

 

[Acro_leaf]

Water change completed — roughly 20%. The new water was mixed to 1.026. The tank itself is currently running around 1.024, but my plan is to gradually bring it up to 1.026 through water changes so I can get a bit more benefit from the trace elements.


While I had the lid off, I figured I’d grab a few top-down shots of the existing corals.

You can still see some of the damage from last year’s neglect — a few algae-covered tips here and there. Once growth starts to pick up a bit more I may consider snipping those tips to encourage cleaner regrowth, but for now I’m honestly really happy with the progress the tank has been making. Regrettably my photography needs some significant improvements but I figured some photos were better then none!


The main top rock


sold as "Purple Passion" - showing great new growth tips, basal encrustation and encrustation over old tips.

This is a tennius Sp during its peak it was blue and red, grown from a small 1 inch nub its now getting on for fist size.

This was sold as a green/peach milli, at one stage it was more milli like but i've not seen long polyps on it in a very long time, as you can see it stripped back pretty aggressively but the remaining flesh is thick and slowly re-encrusting.


A noid lime green acro that started off mucky brown, this has noticeable pale new growth tips and has acted as quite a good indicator coral.


Another noid which a slightly more interesting growth format, again you can see that it took some damage in the centre but its recovery is good.



My Cali Tort, again really starting to get some of its colouration back and new growth, It is however starting to get pretty close (that photo makes it worse then it actually is) to the noid posted above

Montipora Palawanensis - slightly hard to tell but the polyps on this are a very nice violet - lavender colour, another indicator coral, this pales out significantly as my nutrients become low and is one of the first to tell me i need more nitrates (not that this is an issue currently)


A chalice thats virtually bullet proof, its not grown much but i've had it for years and years and it still seems to hold on.


Hard to tell from this angle but thats a Seratapora grown from a tiny nub - again recovering

A old school style duncan, it gave me a bit of a concern a week or so ago as it decided to sulk for 3-4 days out of no where but its now back to its full fluffy glory.


Green Acan (or what ever they're called these days, it was an Acan when i brought it :D)



And a pocillopora

 

[Acro_leaf]

Wahoo new coral day

Always a good feeling when your mail order package arrives this order was 7 SPS that caught my eye.
Sold as

"Tabling" Acropora (This looks like an old school granulosa which is exactly what I was after and is a fantastic piece)
"Bubblebath Unicorn" Acropora
"Hot Fuzz" Millipora
"Bill Murray" Acropora
"Rainbow Loom" Acropora
"M.O.C Shortcake" Acropora
"Berries and Cherries" Acropora

If I'm honest I'm totally out of the loop with lot of the named pieces and just picked what looked like nice pieces so I'm hoping once they've settled down I'll be able to put a "name" to a piece as they grow out.

For now they'll sit on sand bed for a day or so then I'll probably mount them and put my light into acclimatisation mode so I don't burn any of them

Without further ado here's some photos with what i believe they are based on their WYSIWG photos etc they've grown quite a bit since the website photo (no bad thing) - ether way they'll probably change colour significantly before we're done.

Cherries and Berries

Bill Murray

HotFuzz Milli

Bubblebath Unicorn?

Rainbow Loom

The tabling/Granulosa and the M.O.C Shortcake

 

[Acro_leaf]

Well, I’m glad to say all the SPS look absolutely fine this morning. Not that I had any major concerns, but it’s still nice to see. All of them are showing healthy polyp extension overnight. I’ll probably leave them on the sand bed for a few more days before thinking about mounting them.

On a slightly more troubling note, you may have noticed in a couple of the photos that I have 2–3 patches of hydroids (or a similar type of pest). They’ve been slowly increasing over the past year or so and I figured it’s about time I did something about them. After doing a bit of research, it looks like they might be more of a challenge than I first anticipated.

Thankfully they don’t seem to be affecting the corals, and I don’t appear to have one of the highly motile varieties. At the moment they’re just forming small clumps that slowly grow over time, developing a sort of bristled silicate/calcium structure.

From what I’ve read there aren’t many guaranteed ways to eliminate them completely, so I suspect I’ll have to tackle them with a few different approaches. For the smaller patches I’m tempted to simply smother them with Milliput. For the larger clusters, I’m considering looking into Aiptasia treatments — something a bit more gel-like that I might be able to get them to ingest as well as bumping up my cleanup crew a little.

But i'd be interested in hearing peoples thoughts you can see them on the right hand side of this photo.

 

[Acro_leaf]

Well this morning I came down to a small patch of burn on my granulosa frag, annoyingly overnight a snail had knocked over cherries and berries acro onto it.

Thankfully the damage wasn't too bad and only the granulosa showed signs of damage vs both - its probably 3mm in diameter so I expect it to make a full recovery shortly but did prompt me to throw the frags onto the rockwork with a bit more space between them.

They aren't in perfect spots and they're only placed vs stuck in situ for now whilst I gauge their response before sticking them down with milliput but as a precaution, I've thrown a short light acclimatisation mode on the radion starting intensity 70% over 10 days and I'll monitor the frags closely over the following week.

It has however reminded me to buy a small discrete frag rack - I don't buy frags in large numbers often so its typically not an issue but it wouldn't harm to have a small frag rack .

On some better news yesterday my American import of coral magazine came - I think i've got around 10 years worth now in storage maybe more but i did enjoy this issue with its articles on acropora health, spawning etc the seasonal charts I found interesting too and made me ponder about seasonal variation.

 

[Acro_leaf]

So after yesterday's burnt coral it reminded me to buy a frag rack. Which unexpectedly turned up 24 hours later.

After searching around a bit I settled on the reef casa 5 plug frag bar.

Its great, small compact, looks great being minimalist with no glowing florescent parts. There's just one problem that I spotted virtually immediately the plug holes are tiny!

Not a single one of pile of plugs fit. To say thats frustrating is an understatement.

Ill see if I can carefully drill them out or round file them out without cracking the case but man is that frustrating. Theyre probably 2mm too small on each hole.

Whist I was placing an order i also took a bit of a chance on a product new to me but hopefully it'll help me slowly get on top of the hydoids; F Aiptasia, its meant to form a harder shell which blows off after a few days vs the conventional liquid that you inject.

Ether way ill be ultra cautious and just try a very small amount to begin with.

 

[Acro_leaf]

And with a small amount of effort with a grinding bit, a round file and some sandpaper

 

[Acro_leaf]

So been just over a month since I last updated.

Life personally has been very busy/challenging as a few things change for me personally, but the tank im happy to report is ticking along nicely.

Today was a great day however as I managed to add a coral thats legitimately been on my wish list ever since it first hit the scene may many years a go and as one of the most iconic acropora that comes to my mind as a classic.

Foxflame acropora and im in absolute love with it - i think this is the most expensive single frag ive brought in memory certainly the past 10 years.

In other tank news not alot to report really still seeing growth for the most part but still got a few snaggles to iron out but ill get there in time.

I managed to burn my small shortcake frag with another acro (thanks snails) but its not regressed any worse for the past few weeks and shows happy polyp extension.

All in all not bad at all - id like to grab a few more bits over the next month but with things personally that might need to take a backseat but ill see if I can sneak a coral or 2 into the budget.

 

[Acro_leaf]

Well, I think I could cry. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure I’ve just found an Acropora-eating flatworm in the tank — a fairly large red flatworm on one of the Acropora frags.

Although I dipped the corals, evidently one still managed to get through.

It was around 5–6mm long and was on one of the acro frags that had been looking a little nibbled/rough. The problem is… I accidentally lost the flatworm “somewhere” in the tank, so now I’m trying to get ahead of a potential outbreak before it becomes a bigger issue.

I’ve had an incredibly stressful month with personal issues, so the tank has unfortunately been on the back burner. Things are hopefully starting to settle down now, but I can’t help kicking myself over this.

I’d already been considering adding a new fish or two, so I’m now toying with the idea of one of the pygmy wrasse/possum wrasse species, as I know they can be pretty affective with helping with these sorts of pests.

I haven’t really researched in-tank treatment options yet, so I’d really appreciate any feedback, suggestions, or experiences people have had dealing with AEFW. Unfortunately, I’m completely tied up with a critical exam for the next four days, so I’m hoping to crowdsource some advice before I disappear down the Google rabbit hole!