CoralDanimal's Red Sea Reefer 425 XL Mixed Reef

[Nelson Tiago]

TOP notch! following along, keep posting!

 

[CoralDanimal]

TOP notch! following along, keep posting!

Thanks - I really appreciate that!

The tank is in a bit of flux right now. I took out the monster toadstool on the left because it was really starting to take over the tank (and I wanted to have real estate for more SPS ).

For a quick 2022 review, the tank has been okay. Some corals continue to grow at crazy rates (TSA Bill Murray, Bali Green Slimer, ORA Red Planet, all milleporas), but some of my corals - particular my tenuis - just haven't had the best coloration or polyp extension. After exploring everything, I decided to change salts. I've been using Tropic Marin Pro for the past 1-2 years and even though it's the most expensive and cleanest salt, it correlates with my tank's decline in coloration so I switched back to Red Sea Blue Bucket since that's the salt I used when the coloration was best. I've been doing weekly 15-20% water changes and the coloration is definitely improving. I don't know if it's the salt or if it's just because I'm doing big water changes and potentially there are certain trace elements that are getting replenished - it's always so hard to know given how many variables/inputs are constantly changing with the tank.

Here's a top down shot during a recent water change that shows how big the TSA Bill Murray & Slimer are getting:

 

[revhtree]

Thanks - I really appreciate that!

The tank is in a bit of flux right now. I took out the monster toadstool on the left because it was really starting to take over the tank (and I wanted to have real estate for more SPS ).

For a quick 2022 review, the tank has been okay. Some corals continue to grow at crazy rates (TSA Bill Murray, Bali Green Slimer, ORA Red Planet, all milleporas), but some of my corals - particular my tenuis - just haven't had the best coloration or polyp extension. After exploring everything, I decided to change salts. I've been using Tropic Marin Pro for the past 1-2 years and even though it's the most expensive and cleanest salt, it correlates with my tank's decline in coloration so I switched back to Red Sea Blue Bucket since that's the salt I used when the coloration was best. I've been doing weekly 15-20% water changes and the coloration is definitely improving. I don't know if it's the salt or if it's just because I'm doing big water changes and potentially there are certain trace elements that are getting replenished - it's always so hard to know given how many variables/inputs are constantly changing with the tank.

Here's a top down shot during a recent water change that shows how big the TSA Bill Murray & Slimer are getting:

How's this beauty doing?

 

[officialreefbros]

I've circled in red what I've removed:

Your tank looks amazing!!! What type of toadstool is that? It looks so cool how its growing out of the sand and becoming a forest rather than a huge stem

 

[CoralDanimal]

Your tank looks amazing!!! What type of toadstool is that? It looks so cool how its growing out of the sand and becoming a forest rather than a huge stem

Thanks! I've upgraded to a Red Sea Reefer S-850 (about twice the size in terms of gallons), but I lost a lot of these corals to dinos when I did the transfer

As for the toadstool, it's the "Biota Cultured Ultra Green Toadstool Leather Coral". The reason why it looks like it's growing out of the sand is likely due to the lights. I run my tanks with relatively high PAR - in between 250 - 400 depending on where the coral is in the tank. Similar to zoas, when there's low light, they "reach up" to the light which is what typically makes the toadstool present with a huge stem. But in strong light, similar to zoas as well, they recess back a bit with effectively no stem. Hope that's helpful!

 

[officialreefbros]

Thanks! I've upgraded to a Red Sea Reefer S-850 (about twice the size in terms of gallons), but I lost a lot of these corals to dinos when I did the transfer

As for the toadstool, it's the "Biota Cultured Ultra Green Toadstool Leather Coral". The reason why it looks like it's growing out of the sand is likely due to the lights. I run my tanks with relatively high PAR - in between 250 - 400 depending on where the coral is in the tank. Similar to zoas, when there's low light, they "reach up" to the light which is what typically makes the toadstool present with a huge stem. But in strong light, similar to zoas as well, they recess back a bit with effectively no stem. Hope that's helpful!

Dang, I hate when that happens! But at least now you have a ton of room to grow out even bigger!

Oh wow cool! Thanks for the info! I have a random green toadstool but only around 50 par so its mostly stalk lol, but I do like zoas in the lower par when they get really large heads. Let me know if you ever have a frag sitting around, I'm in SF frequently lol

 

[REEFRIED!]

I love your thread. Great read. So did you have black bugs? What happened with that?

 

[CoralDanimal]

Dang, I hate when that happens! But at least now you have a ton of room to grow out even bigger!

Oh wow cool! Thanks for the info! I have a random green toadstool but only around 50 par so its mostly stalk lol, but I do like zoas in the lower par when they get really large heads. Let me know if you ever have a frag sitting around, I'm in SF frequently lol

Yes! I really miss certain colonies that were big, exhibiting great colors, and had great PE, but it's a journey and I'm excited to get there with the new tank which has many new corals.

I sold the toadstool in the picture you referenced because it was 18" in diameter and was effectively taking up 1/3rd of the tank, but I kept a frag of it and once it grows out and can be fragged again, I'll set one aside for you I live in the North Bay (Marin) so I'm about 30 minutes north of SF.

I love your thread. Great read. So did you have black bugs? What happened with that?

Thanks! It's hard to know for sure what I had - grey bugs, black bugs, white bugs - but I definitely had a parasitic copepod that was going after my acros. I did get rid of them, but it was painful. Many rounds of interceptor at 10X red bugs dosage. For me, it was 1.5 23ml tabs for my 100G. 3 treatments, 3 weeks apart each. I ended up having to do this twice because the first time around, I missed one of the treatments and I didn't eradicate them. Every time I'd look at the tank with a flash light when the lights were off and I came across them, my heart sank because they're so hard to beat.

When I transferred from my 425 to 850, I put all of my acros through a bayer dip just for good measure and I have 4 wrasses (blue star leopard, regular leopard, yellow coris, cleaner), a target mandarin, and a copperband butterfly so my fish crew probably helped as well. I haven't found any pests in the past 6 months thankfully.