d2mini's "Essential Focus" Mixed Reef Build

[d2mini]

Here's some more coral...

 

[Velcro]

Here's some more coral...

Just got that twilight dragon from adam as well.. it's a stunning coral.

 

[mwilk19]

Beautiful shots as always. Is it strictly flow that causes that great polyp extension or are there other factors at play?

 

[najer]

Nice as always, that nem pic is stunning! :)

 

[d2mini]

Beautiful shots as always. Is it strictly flow that causes that great polyp extension or are there other factors at play?

Thank you.
I'd say it's a combination of things. Water quality, light, flow...

Nice as always, that nem pic is stunning! :)

Thanks! You can vote for that one in this month's Photo of the Month contest. ;)

 

[d2mini]

Some of my stuff has barely grown at all since the restart about 4 months ago, but the Paletta Pink Tip is starting to take off. :)

 

[d2mini]

Here's a few random fishy pics I grabbed while shooting the coral stuff above. :)

 

[reefwiser]

Dennis are you coming to MACNA next week?

 

[d2mini]

Dennis are you coming to MACNA next week?

No, unfortunately not.

 

[pelphrey]

Great shots!

 

[reefwiser]

Man, an I had something special for you too.:)

 

[d2mini]

I was walking by the tank last night with the lights almost all the way out and saw my Basket Star expanded. Tried to take a few pics for you guys since we don't see these very often in captivity. They don't tend to last, but so far he's been in my tank, in this same spot, since my restart almost 5 months ago. He stays wrapped up tight during the day, and then at night he'll expand to filter feed. In order to take the pics I had to turn my lights up, but as soon as I did that he would start to close. So I had to be quick and unfortunately the pics are not the sharpest or he's no longer open much. But hope you'll enjoy anyway. :)

 

[najer]

What a gorgeous thing. :)

 

[d2mini]

I put this graphic together for Ecotech's Coral Lab program.
PAR numbers along with general coral ID's.
The yellow numbers are generally in the middle of the tank from top to bottom and the row of blue are bottom close to the front glass.

BTW, the wide angle lens causes the illusion that the lights are close together.
In reality they are more evenly spread across the length of the tank. ;)
They are mounted 17" off the surface of the water and here they were running at 75% power, using the Coral Lab AB+ program.
I'm currently experimenting with running them at a lower power due to having a relatively low nutrient tank.

 

[xaflatoonx]

Dennis, are you still using a doser or switched to a reactor yet?
i am sure you have answered this in the past - but any chance you can give reasons for your preference on both please.

 

[d2mini]

Dennis, are you still using a doser or switched to a reactor yet?
i am sure you have answered this in the past - but any chance you can give reasons for your preference on both please.

Still dosing until I purchase a CaRx. I prefer the reactor because it automatically doses alk and calc in equal amounts and provides other minor trace elements as well.
Also cheaper in the long run to run the CaRx.

 

[xaflatoonx]

but what about mag? do you dose it separately?

 

[d2mini]

but what about mag? do you dose it separately?

Yep. It needs mag so little that its not worth it to me to try to randomly add mag media to the reactor and hope I added the correct amount.

 

[xaflatoonx]

thanks Dennis

 

[revhtree]

I put this graphic together for Ecotech's Coral Lab program.
PAR numbers along with general coral ID's.
The yellow numbers are generally in the middle of the tank from top to bottom and the row of blue are bottom close to the front glass.

BTW, the wide angle lens causes the illusion that the lights are close together.
In reality they are more evenly spread across the length of the tank. ;)
They are mounted 17" off the surface of the water and here they were running at 75% power, using the Coral Lab AB+ program.
I'm currently experimenting with running them at a lower power due to having a relatively low nutrient tank.

Nice man and very helpful! I need to see this!

How deep is your tank again?