Keoni Coral Flat Build

Keoni · Feb 27, 2012

I have been on the hunt for some really nice aquacultured sps. I made a trip up to Costa Mesa to see Steve at his coral farm. If you haven't been there already, it's awe-inspiring for those serious sps collectors. Definitely a number of collector items available that have been grown out from frags. Natural light driven system with different layers of biological filtration including cryptic zones. I made out on some frags.

THANKS STEVE!!!!

Me on an early Sunday morning shopping the sticks

On the back side of the tank.

for right end of the tank

more acro pics

the most insane acro florida that i have ever seen. crazy branch tabling. i've never seen a florida do this.

and more acros.

steve taking care of my frags.

It was an awesome morning. "EYE CANDY EVERYWHERE"!!!!!!!!!

I'll post my pickings shortly

Keoni · May 1, 2012

Been awhile since I updated so here it goes.

I had a series of issues one after the other since my last post. I had a PO4 spike that I can only attribute to some old LR that I had from my previous tank after a series of reasoning and deduction. You know what that means, nutrients = ugly-butt algae!!!! It was serious battle as we all know. Got all the elements kicking in full gear to keep the PO4 in check now. Still fighting the battle but on a smaller scale. More of a gunfight now than a full scale invasion. Just when i got my water quality back in check, something else declared war on my tank as STN continued. I did an equipment deep clean and "low and behold" I discovered 2 rusted down pump shafts. After serious patience, ramming my head against the wall, and hard work, signs of healthy water were in site. I brought my water back down to an ULNS slowly so I wouldn't shock my SPS. My water params were in check with PO4 (.014 Hanna), NO3 (0 Salifert), PH (8.2), Dkh (7.7 Hanna), CA (420, Salifert), Mg (1440 salifert). I also have a grounding probe just in case I have stray voltage going through the tank (i did have an issue awhile back). After running at these levels for about a week, my SPS are doing a little better. STN has stopped from what I see and this is where I am today.

The pics are with my limited edition Iphone camera. my sps is a mixture of frag-grown, and wild and mari-cultured mini-colonies that I picked up from LFS, reefers and on-line retailers. I added a cool border that I found in an iphone app. Maybe someday i could buy a decent DSLR so I can take semi-decent pics. forgot to take an FTS.

the left side of tank

a crocea (a freebie from by buddy Fan) and a deresa. both from Aquasd.

a tongan BN from LA

some other SPS on the right side (samoensis, mille, ORA bn, etc. etc.)

I wish I had better pics. maybe next time i post, i'll have a real camera so pics won't be so saturated.