jda's 240g Acropora Rebuild

[jda]

I have had good luck with large angelfish leaving acropora alone. I have sponge and some straggling Z&P that they can eat all that they want. I am a huge fan of Genicanthus and have stuck with them for about a decade, but I have had all kinds going back further. Chrysurus are my favorites. I have had good luck with the Chaetodontoplus Genus too.

Going after my clams will be no good for the french. I have had one before and they seem to take to prepared foods with gusto when small and have left my stuff alone... Grey too. I have a queen in there now and it is doing well, so maybe they can FaceTime and set some ground rules.

 

[revhtree]

I have to reboot about every three years and I am going to document this time. In about May, I took out all of my large SPS and started over with frags from .5 to 1.5 inches, or so. I removed some colonies the size of dinner plates, cantaloupes and stags that were 12 by 16 inches. I left the clams and some of my slower growing frags. Some of the old colonies started to grow again from the base.

After spending about a month getting rid of some algae, apitasia and sponge that was hidden deep beneath colonies, I mounted some stuff in June and some has really taken off and some is going slower.

These photos are under 14k Phoenix on m80 with no supplemental lighting and no editing. This is the way that they came out of my phone - for better or worse.

I got a waterproof iPhone case just for this and I don't have a lot of good photos from before. Here is an example of what I took out...




Here are some of the new ones.

RR Pink Cadillac


BC Skinny Love - Yes, this is the real color


JKR Rainbow


AV99 Orange Crush


RR Wolverine - this is more purple and yellow in real life


My Two Blue Squamosas - my pride and joys... the little one is about three inches if you need some scale



BC Set for Stun - this one is more teal in real life and is one of the nicest pieces


ORA Pearlberry - did not mean to take this one out, but another colony fell on it and destroyed it


RMF Red Gecko - might be worst photo of them all, this one is more white and red but will show growth I guess


Efflo


JF Homewrecker


Westside Rainbow Tort


Tyree Superman


Fast Growing Deepwater


BC Space Laser


Electric Red Millepora -this one shines and really is this red in real life without any tricks


...more to come.

Just amazing bro!

 

[jda]

98 degrees with snow forecast for Tuesday, so staying inside for a cleaning day since the weather is going to be cooler soon. Cleaned all of my Tunze Pumps, emptied out about 3/4 of my Chaeto (I missed a few weeks), got new/clean baskets for my CSBs and other things.

Probably going to clean the fuge on my other tank (not the one in this thread), which is a disaster.

 

[nereefpat]

Man, I love those 6 gallon Oceanic buckets

 

[HolySmoke]

I have to finish reading the thread but I just want to say I love your methodology and KISS approach, with equipment that is proven and bulletproof. The one take away after seeing that tight natural growth is to try some 14 or 20k bulbs

 

[jda]

Some growth shots. Not much here with the chalices with maybe 1/2 total with 1/4 on each side and covering the super glue. Need to put some more snails into the frag tank...

 

[jda]

Few acropora...

Reef Raft Pink Caldillac


ORA Pearlberry


WWC Pink Panther (not much here)


Metallic Red Millepora


Little Baby Homewrecker (not much growth here, but some)


BC Space Laser


RR The Vihn - the angles are different on this one, but it has grown a lot


RMF Red Gecko

 

[HolySmoke]

Really impressive growth for just over 30 days. I have a question, do you keep frag tank at NSW levels as well? preferred method of nutrients reduction if needed? GAC for yellowing compounds?

I'm trying to keep nutrients lower than I have ever attempted before. .08 used to be my goal I want to keep it pinned at .02 but first I need to clean the rock. Im sure there is plenty of p04 bound up in there and it will slowly leech into the water column. I thought about daily LC dosing but am consider rowaphos in a reactor.

Thanks for sharing the pics and your expertise.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Looking good!

 

[jda]

Frag tank is on the same sump/system. It gets the benefit of the rock/sand, multiple skimmers and fuge.

GFO or LC are no problem as long as you go REALLY slow and do not strip too far. Lowering P is fine, but having a big-time up/down roller coaster of GFO/LC drop and then rock-release rise is not good. Make sure that you have a Hannah Ultra low so that you can really slow down, or stop, when you are getting towards your target number. Most people who had issues with the stuff went too fast, or went too low. Just a few tablespoons of LC changed frequently, or a very small amount of LC, is a good start. You always add more later, but hard to take it back.

Read the N and P paper in my signature - it is a mess... sorry. Cutting back on feedings is not the way to attack this... exporting more is. You corals can still be happy if you keep the availability high while you remove some of the residuals.

 

[HolySmoke]

Thanks for that thorough response. I will check out the paper in your signature. I definitely fall in line with high in/out reefing but was curious your preferred method of dealing with elevated nutes. I have definitely seen a correlation with LEDs and higher nitrates so wasn't worrying about p04 too much. Im gonna go super slow but wanna try and get P04 levels low while feeding heavy oyster and Pe mysis soaked in selcon.

thanks again.

 

[jda]

Got some new frags. Some of them were under cared for, so they will take some time. Some are going well and need mounted.

• Gonzo's Cookie Monster - I had a nice colony of this, but forgot that it was in dip and it turned to goo overnight... don't forget to set timers on your phone if you walk away from something out of a tank
• Blue Tenuis with Yellow Polyps on the Axial Corallites - not sure how this one will turn out
• CC Voodoo Magic - Pinky the Bear Cousin from what I can tell
• Palmers Blue Millepora - top 10 coral IMO that is in short supply in Colorado
• PM - my "colony" has been grey and I expect it to die any time, so I secured another frag. It is holding on, much to my delight. Colony is in quotes because it is only about 2.5-3 inches which I consider more of a "teen mom" for most acropora
• CC Kombucha - Center broke off and I have what is left. Giving it a shot - I love this coral, so wanted to try it out. The dark in the center is algae growing on the dead middle - once it heals and grows some, I will scrape all of this down to bare skeleton for it to heal and regrow.
• JF Serial Killer - I might have some more like this one, but it looks promising. I have never seen not under internet photos. This one is pretty light in color

 

[SeaDweller]

What do you suppose is causing your PM to hate life?

CC VM should be a little more special than T PB.

 

[jda]

I guess that it got mad when I changed so many thing in the tank. Just removing so many colonies changes the flow, light, etc. I also had to adjust the CaRx for less output after alk raised a bit. This is not a super easy coral to begin with if you are not super stable.

I don't know what to expect from the CC Voodoo Magic. These are both photos of it offered for sale online and they don't even look like the same coral. First photo is from Pirates and second from Vivid. Even though Vivid is a well known photoshop and BS artist with their photos, this still does not even look close to similar...

 

[joseserrano]

I guess that it got mad when I changed so many thing in the tank. Just removing so many colonies changes the flow, light, etc. I also had to adjust the CaRx for less output after alk raised a bit. This is not a super easy coral to begin with if you are not super stable.

I don't know what to expect from the CC Voodoo Magic. These are both photos of it offered for sale online and they don't even look like the same coral. First photo is from Pirates and second from Vivid. Even though Vivid is a well known photoshop and crap artist with their photos, this still does not even look close to similar...

That second picture is criminal. There is no way their coral looks anything like that.

 

[bubbaque]

It looks like the first pic.

 

[SeaDweller]

My CC VM is finally doing something after a year (from therman). It almost died. twice. But now it's hitting it's stride. I have T PB colonies in my tank, and it sort of resembles the first pic you posted, but under blues, the two colonies are completely different to my eyes, colorwise.

I wouldn't trust a guy like @bubbaque ... I mean .. that guy's colors are just so super unreal it makes me hate my tank.

 

[Chris Brown]

Might be a good time to talk cleanup crew. I get all (well, most) of my crew from ReefTopia out of the Florida Keys - I like the better than reef cleaners and the like with always higher quality product and I like some of the species and variety out of the Keys better.

Asteas - I love them, but they cannot always right themselves in the sand. These are good algae eaters and I like to have them in my tank. They will grow from dime sized to smaller-than-a-quarter in a year or two. I have a couple that are slightly larger than one inch and you can see a difference in growth pattern on their shell from the wild and captivity. These do die regularly with plenty of algae around - throw their shells behind the rocks for other creatures to use. I order these 100 at a time.

Ceriths - Absolute bad ***** for algae. They can right themselves in sand and get into small places. I keep about 100 of these in most of my tanks. They are amazing at their jobs. Perhaps my favorite snail. I order these 100 at a time too.

Pincushions - Great for turf algae and to eat coralline (totally a plus for me). I have glass tanks, so no issue, but I have heard that they can scratch acrylic. They will not usually eat hair unless you have a bunch of them and the other "easy" algae is gone, but they will destroy it in time. I helped a friend with a 180g that he did dry rock and it was covered in hair and between 2 dozen pincushions and siphoning the longer algae, he was algae free in about 5 months - after this, he had to give most of them away, but he was happy to do so. These stupid things can pick up and carry around small frag plugs, so secure them down. The pincushions will also eat the short turf algae that can cover rocks. These can all die if you add an algaecide... they seem to die from the poison that the algae takes up (my own words and ideas, I have no real idea why they die). I keep 3 or 4 in the this tank at all times, but sometimes more if the algae wants to ramp up - I move them back and forth from the frag tank or fuge.

Peppermints - There are more than half a dozen kinds of peppermints, but the ones from the Keys have always destroyed aiptasia for me. The ones from other parts of the gulf do not always. L. Wurdmanni are the ones from the keys. I usually have to raise them in a fuge until they molt a few times and get the deep red color - at this size, they are hardy and easy. They need to be fed or they can eat coral - they are not coral eaters by nature, but they are not going to be happy about starving to death and they cannot live on fish poo. You or I would also likely try and eat coral under the same circumstances. They only seem to live about three years, so they need replacement. If you get lucky, you can sometimes see some females with eggs and tiny babies, but I have never seen any of them live. They will not always go after the huge aiptaisa that can eat them, so you sometimes have to knock these back with kalk, but they otherwise do a good job. One reason that I order from ReefTopia is that the collect from the Keys only.

Cucumbers - I love them in my sand and they are wonderful cleaners. They will divide if the ecosystem will allow it and they also seem to change sizes from small to large. Sometimes I do not see them for months and then one day, they are out doing their thing.

Fighting conchs - Good sand stirrers and cleaners. I do not see these much either, but they are hardy and appear to do very well. They do not grow much for me.

Emerald Crabs - The ones that I get from ReefTopia are awesome algae eaters. They eat bubble algae too with a gusto. Like the peppermints, they will need fed when the algae is gone or else they will eat coral and try and catch fish. They do not do either when food is present. They will not be happy to live on poop either. The red ones act the same, just with a different costume.

Blue Leg Hermits - I like to keep a handful of them around. They will eat some algae and they are also good cleaners of many items and also will break down poo. I leave the dead astrea snails in the tank and the blue legs are less likely to assasinate a snail for their shell when they can find their own just laying around. They nearly always end up in an Astrea shell. I also like Halloween Hermits from Hawaii, but they are really expensive. I really like the larger scarlet hermits too.

Nerites - Great glass cleaners and will also do a good job on the pumps and other things on the glass. They are small and hardy and they leave eggs everywhere. They seem to like being up near the top of the rim cleaning that area. I get these 20, or so, at a time.

Fish - Yeah, right!? I have had a few rabbitfish that are good at cleaning up, but otherwise, fish are a joke to me. Magnificent Rabbits have been good for me when they get the idea that they are not going to get much else food - so you have to feed them at first to get them going and then cut them back later sometimes to nearly nothing.

Mexican Turbos - I do not seem to have enough algae for these, but they eat a lot too. These will also eat some hair algae when the other stuff is all gone, but they do not seem to prefer it. They are also clumsy and brutal/relentless movers of anything in their way unless your stuff is secured down well. I have mostly stopped using them since I seem to get the colder water ones and they are short lived. The ones from the Gulf do better at 78 degrees than the ones from Baja or the Gulf of California. (FYI - lots of snails offered in the hobby are colder water creatures, so read up well... if the info says 65 to 78 degrees, then they will suffer at 78 degrees for long periods of time).

I have a sally lightfoot that is probably six or seven years old. I have no idea how it is still alive, but I see it from time to time. It is probably 5 inches across now and has never bothered anything. I have no idea what it does and I do not usually see it, but it is in there. It was a free gift once when ordering. I would probably not order another one, but I don't have any issue with it.

I "borrowed" some Harlequin Shrimp when I had thousands upon thousands of Asternia starfish that I need to whittle down. The Asternia starfish were good algae/film eaters for me and harmed nothing, but at some point, you just cannot have countless numbers on everything. The Harlequin shrimp pair did their job over about two years and then I caught them and gave them away to somebody else - they were going to starve if I did not. They were not seen much and nothing seemed to bother them.

I like me some cleaner shrimp, but they are not part of any kind of clean up crew that I have seen. These are decorations for me.

Most of these things can tolerate some elevated levels of N and P, but the urchins, cucumbers, conchs, shrimp and others will do better with more seawater levels. The shrimp need iodine/iodate/iodide to molt and can die without supplements (water changes work). The snails need balanced levels of carbonate, calcium and magnesium to make their shells. ...so basically real reef tank water will do.

I've been meaning to ask you for a while if you thought bumblebee snails would do much for the dreaded vermetid snail? I seem to be getting a lot of vermetids recently?

 

[jda]

I have never used bumblebee snails. I have never had good luck with non-algae eating snails like even Nassarius which are short lived for me, so I never tried bumblebee snails.

I had a whole bunch of the smaller verms and they just kinda went away after a few years. They were more annoying than harmful. I have no idea why they died back.

I have heard two things that I cannot substantiate... a few of the locals stopped changing water and they think that the lack of trace elements eventually got to the verms. Another put in a LOT of hermits which he claimed stole all of their food. I did introduce a fresh batch of hermits not long ago, but this was more of a normal replacement rather than for the verms.

 

[therman]

Late to the party, but I second @scchase on this one. I got a frag from him that is encrusting and just starting to take off, and HOLY COW! Almost certain this will become one of my all time favorite corals. Phenomenal color, even under daylight.

Trick light version and regular