Coral408’s Max S650 Reef Journey

[coral408]

Hope you enjoy more growth...
Iphone’s camera with a Polyp Lab lens.

JF Fox Flames

Garf Bonsai

WD

Tricolor Valida

UC Candy Corn

IC Tropical Punch

ASD Rainbow Mille

RR The Vinh

Diabolic Pacman

 

[coral408]

...and some more...

WWC Christmas Mirabilis

Vivid Fire Garden

Pink Lemonade

Paletta Tricolor

PC Rainbow

WWC Dragon Slayer Acro

Unknown?

WWC Terra Red Acro

MrV’s Super Red Table

TSA Mile Hight Latistella

Blueberry ( not sure?!)

Red Planet

Green Goblin

ORA Pearl berry

UC Wild Orchid

unknown?!

ASD Pink Lloyd Mille

V’s Nirvana

Rr Rainbow Loom

Rainbow Fruit Acro

Fruity Pebble

Rr Orange Passion


Rr Pink Cadilac

 

[coral408]

Within last 2 years, the aquascape has been changed several times to accommodate the coral growths and to my interest in sps dominant mixed reef.
From May 2018,

to Nov 2018,


Mar 2019,


then Nov 2019,


finally, in May 2020

 

[coral408]

It seems the corals respond happily with more PE and faster growth since PH level has been raised. For the last 9-10 months, the PH is up to ~ 8.25 from ~7.9 during daytime and to above 8.0 during nighttime by introducing fresh air to the tank. I did install a CO2 scrubber in the sump and not using it any longer due to the fact that the Co2 media deteriorated too quickly and PH dropped back below 8.0 within 2-3wks with new media replacements!

 

[coral408]

Here are some new growth comparisons for the last 10 months,

Wald Disney


JF Homewrecker



PC Rainbow


TGC Cherry Bomb , a long time growth, finally...

TSA Rainbow Millies


RRC Lady in Pink, ...an amazing survivor !


RR Orange Passion

 

[coral408]

An update with close up photos...

 

[coral408]

Update: some top down photos of the tank,

 

[coral408]

... and here is top down FTS

...with a Polyp Lab lens...

 

[coral408]

Update FTS as of Jan 22, 2021...

 

[coral408]

Update ...

The tank has been rebounded for about two
months after a minor crash last Fall.
At first, the center electric control box somehow was exploding in front of my eyes while I intended to turn off for feeding! fortunately, I was there on time to unplug the main power source,...smoke and sweat...! all lights, flows and other equipments were run on minimum for several days by the back up batteries.
I did contact Red Sea to inform the problem and need a new control box. Red Sea was so nice to send me a brand new one without charging within a week including a new main return pump with minimal charge. I’m glad Red Sea showed the efforts to build their customer trusts.
I made a dumb mistake trying to rearrange a corner of the scape as waiting the box to arrive. While the corals were under stress by lack of whatever they needed normally, I added more stress with disturbing their environment. I noticed some coral colonies started having signs of RTN. Within days they got worse, some of corals barely made, and the others totally lost including some of my favorite ones.!!!
Then, it came to the lost of my Sohal Tang and one of my “white snow” anemones.
The Tang got itch and unfortunately died several days later after removing him to new qt by his aggression! The anemone decided to jump out and found on the floor later despite a cover net with tiny hole opening for feeding access! that was a pain!
I think that’s unexpected part of reefing experiences and life has to be moved on..!
So far, right now everything seems running smoothly, no signs of RTN detected for quite awhile.
parameter is steady for last 2 months:
Kh ~ 7.8-8.5
Ca ~ 470
Mg ~ 1400
Salinity ~ 1.025-1.026
NO3 ~ 5.0- 10.0
PO4 ~ 0.06 - 0.20 ( try to keep <= 0.10!)

 

[coral408]

Just 2 weeks ago, another mistake I made while controlling the PO4 level. I was over dosing the Lanthanum Cloride and stripped the PO4 to 0.0 ppm. I normally keep PO4 ~ .06- .20 but this first time with a new bottle, several extra drops of Lanthanum pulled down the phosphate to undetectable level. I was a little nervous since knowing that some reefers had problems with their corals when the Phosphate was stripped too low!
For the next several days I heavily fed more, tripple the amount of feeding, removing chaeto, filters and added new GC in attempting to remove the excess Lacl!

It took 4-5 days for the phosphate back up to .06ppm and stable ~ < 0.10.
One thing I noticed that during the PO4 level was low, the corals seemed doing alright. Polyps were fully extended and corals appeared more colorful! Perhaps, I caught the problem early so the nutrients weren’t completely wiped out!
I don’t know if some of you have that same experiences? I welcome and appreciate your inputs.
Early today I took some photos of the corals with my old Nikon instead of the Iphone as usual.
Please be easy since I’m still learning aquatic photography with SLR camera!

Here’re topdown shots! straight from the camera no filter,
SCOP

Sanjay’s Leprechauns Beard

ASD Rainbow Mille

TGC Cherry Bomb

RRC Orange Passion

Lady in Pink

WD

 

[coral408]

Recently, I manually dose 30-40ml alkalinity daily beside Carx to keep the level ~ 7.7- 7.9. The Kh is going down a little since it was ~ 8.5-8.9. I guess more alkalinity is consumed as the corals grow. Don’t you agree? last week I change new bulks for the T5 hybrid, C+ and B+. This may stimulate the growth of the corals and affect the kh consumption.
BTW, Please forgive for my English since it’s my second language!
Here’re some more photos with a Nikon 60mm micro lense.

 

[coral408]

WWC Little Red Ferrari

Golden Hen Millepora

Cc Fire Walker Mille

Strawberry Shortcake

Rr The Vinh

Unknown, please help identify!

 

[coral408]

JF Homewrecker

ORA Pearlberry


Rr Pink Cadilac


Forgot the name!

 

[coral408]

My alkalinity was dropped close to 7.0 since last week! I found out the dosing pump for Carx didn’t work properly so there wasn’t sufficient amount of alkalinity provided to the tank!
I’m happy to replace the old pump to a new Kamoer peristaltic pump. It’s working great and wifi controllable!

 

[coral408]

and here is the new pump,
the old...
the new...

 

[coral408]

Also, a new package of CUC, about 50, is added today including, turbo, cerith, astrea, nassarius, trochus and one emeral crab.

 

[coral408]

It’s awhile to update some new photos of my growing corals… sorry for some blurry pictures…still learning!

 

[coral408]

Some more … with macro lens.

 

[SteveMac84]

Hope you enjoy more growth...
Iphone’s camera with a Polyp Lab lens.

JF Fox Flames

Garf Bonsai

WD

Tricolor Valida

UC Candy Corn

IC Tropical Punch

ASD Rainbow Mille

RR The Vinh

Diabolic Pacman

Stunning