Official Picture Entry Thread for BC Bonfire Grow-Out Contest

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ScottB

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That sucks! I'm sorry for the losses. I too lost a couple of acros this month and several others are severely damaged, but luckily the bonfire wasn't one of them. It got a little damaged at the tips, but it healed within a few days and is growing and looking better than ever. Contact me at the end of this and I'll send you a frag for free as long as you pay for shipping (providing it's still alive and doing well then).

The tank wasn't looking great after my last update. I sent in an icp test, but I didn't wait for the results before I did a water change. I knew something was wrong, but I just wanted to know what. Turns out I had tin and aluminum. I have no clue where it's coming from. My last test said the same thing, which I sent in for the same reason. I've checked all potential causes and everything looks good, so I'm at a loss. It might be leaching from the plumbing, which could make sense, but the tank has been running for over a year now. I'll have to stick with biweekly water changes until it either disappears or I figure out what's going on. I always rinse my arms with hot water for several minutes before putting it in the tank and I have a 200gpd 7 stage rodi filter, so I don't think it's from that either. No rusted metals near the tank from what I can see. If any of you have had heavy metals in your tanks that seemingly came out of nowhere, did you ever find out what the cause was?
Mixed opinions around here about tin but aluminum is not an issue for acropora. Some say leathers are negatively affected but no personal experience.
 

Oregon Grown Reef

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Mixed opinions around here about tin but aluminum is not an issue for acropora. Some say leathers are negatively affected but no personal experience.
I run carbon to keep the water clear so par isn't diminished. I have a uv sterilizer I run most of them time, except when I need to use carbon. My alk, calcium, magnesium, and all elements were in range; my alk especially was stable. Nitrates and phosphates at 8 and 0.04 respectively. I have a filter roller and skimmer that keeps everything at 0 most of the time, so I'm dosing and testing several times per week to keep those numbers up. No crazy heat spikes. I installed the window A/C early this year. Not sure what I'm missing.
 

ScottB

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I run carbon to keep the water clear so par isn't diminished. I have a uv sterilizer I run most of them time, except when I need to use carbon. My alk, calcium, magnesium, and all elements were in range; my alk especially was stable. Nitrates and phosphates at 8 and 0.04 respectively. I have a filter roller and skimmer that keeps everything at 0 most of the time, so I'm dosing and testing several times per week to keep those numbers up. No crazy heat spikes. I installed the window A/C early this year. Not sure what I'm missing.
Sounds like your nutrient export tools are greater than your (natural) nutrient input.

What is your fish load relative to water volume and how often do you feed? My sticks always suffer when I don't have enough fish waste running through the system.
 

Oregon Grown Reef

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Sounds like your nutrient export tools are greater than your (natural) nutrient input.

What is your fish load relative to water volume and how often do you feed? My sticks always suffer when I don't have enough fish waste running through the system.
That could be it. I feed Larry's Reef Frenzy twice a day. Enough to get a good cyclone going for a few minutes. This is a 40 breeder with a yellow eye bristletooth (I've already got a 150 it's going to, so calm down tang police), 2 bangaii cardinals, a black cap basslet, and a molly miller blenny. I made the mistake of not turning the power heads back on once, so it sat overnight with no flow other than the return. When I turned it back on, it was a complete mess. There was more poop in there than I feed in 1 sitting, and that was just overnight. To your point though, I did also start dosing amino acids after my last water change too, so the corals could just be perking up because they're getting easy food. I'll try increasing my feeding to 3 times per day.
 

Justdrew

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66B9B21A-FB55-42F1-A90B-E73D514C24C5.jpeg

July before I forget again.
 

ScottB

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66B9B21A-FB55-42F1-A90B-E73D514C24C5.jpeg

July before I forget again.
Darn. I gotta get on this photo thing. Thanks for the reminder. Feeling like it could be a HUGE month now that 3 liters of kalk are getting dumped in there each 24 hours. Never been more proud of my pH chart. Wonder what the corals think...
 

Scdell

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Darn. I gotta get on this photo thing. Thanks for the reminder. Feeling like it could be a HUGE month now that 3 liters of kalk are getting dumped in there each 24 hours. Never been more proud of my pH chart. Wonder what the corals think...
So one keeps saying.
 

ScottB

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Without some spare hands around to photo with the calibration measurement tool, this month's post coming in olde school. Besides, I didn't want @Scdell to suffer any more anxiety than necessary.

Oh, and @Kattkrazie you'll be delighted to learn that my worms are (finally) taking a real beating. The weekend round of dips revealed none. They have headed for the hills -- at least temporarily. I can try to save a few for you if you need some.

Like others, my Bonfire is spending some effort basing out on the rack but still managed to add more muscle. Calipers read about 1.44" so a little better than last month but nothing like that first month & change.

Neither picture does the color justice; it really has a nice warm glow to it with more orange (less pink) than captured here.

IMG-5351.JPG
IMG-5352.jpg
 

DMG Reef

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Without some spare hands around to photo with the calibration measurement tool, this month's post coming in olde school. Besides, I didn't want @Scdell to suffer any more anxiety than necessary.

Oh, and @Kattkrazie you'll be delighted to learn that my worms are (finally) taking a real beating. The weekend round of dips revealed none. They have headed for the hills -- at least temporarily. I can try to save a few for you if you need some.

Like others, my Bonfire is spending some effort basing out on the rack but still managed to add more muscle. Calipers read about 1.44" so a little better than last month but nothing like that first month & change.

Neither picture does the color justice; it really has a nice warm glow to it with more orange (less pink) than captured here.

IMG-5351.JPG
IMG-5352.jpg

Thanks so much for the generous offer, but I just counted and I have exactly the right number of AEFW - zero. Congrats on beating them!
 

ScottB

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Thanks so much for the generous offer, but I just counted and I have exactly the right number of AEFW - zero. Congrats on beating them!
No problem; think of it as a "standing offer". If there is one thing these worms have taught me, it is that they are able to lie low somewhere, long enough for me to get complacent so that they can mount a little comeback.
 

Scdell

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Without some spare hands around to photo with the calibration measurement tool, this month's post coming in olde school. Besides, I didn't want @Scdell to suffer any more anxiety than necessary.

Oh, and @Kattkrazie you'll be delighted to learn that my worms are (finally) taking a real beating. The weekend round of dips revealed none. They have headed for the hills -- at least temporarily. I can try to save a few for you if you need some.

Like others, my Bonfire is spending some effort basing out on the rack but still managed to add more muscle. Calipers read about 1.44" so a little better than last month but nothing like that first month & change.

Neither picture does the color justice; it really has a nice warm glow to it with more orange (less pink) than captured here.

IMG-5351.JPG
IMG-5352.jpg
Looking good!!!
 

Scdell

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Like others, my Bonfire is spending some effort basing out on the rack but still managed to add more muscle
I agree with this. What are we 4 months into it so far? Everyone's frag seems to be doing about the same. If this keeps up we may have a 20 way tie at the end. Interesting contest for sure.
 

ScottB

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I agree with this. What are we 4 months into it so far? Everyone's frag seems to be doing about the same. If this keeps up we may have a 20 way tie at the end. Interesting contest for sure.
Yup cannot argue with that observation. Initially my frag grew straight up but since has been building and basing out. Despite limited PE on mine I am really happy with the colors on this piece.
 

Mr_Knightley

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July update. Things have been going pretty slowly lately, growth on the piece is pretty minimal this month sadly. I also already regret mounting it at this weird angle but it's too late to fix that xD

The coral (and the other acros in the tank) are all healthy and hearty, just this one hasn't grown much. I guess it's another conundrum to figure out xD

IMG_2578.JPG
IMG_2581.JPG
 

ScottB

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July update. Things have been going pretty slowly lately, growth on the piece is pretty minimal this month sadly. I also already regret mounting it at this weird angle but it's too late to fix that xD

The coral (and the other acros in the tank) are all healthy and hearty, just this one hasn't grown much. I guess it's another conundrum to figure out xD

IMG_2578.JPG
IMG_2581.JPG
That PE in the first pic is some of the best I have seen on this piece.
 

Scdell

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That PE in the first pic is some of the best I have seen on this piece.
I noticed you're kinda chasing the PE thing around.
Don't know I you've seen this thread or not but here's a link
I think it's kinda like the question of why coralline grows like crazy in one tank but not another.
 
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