PDR's Hot Mess

[PDR]

You could try out SPS for a bit? They really aren't that hard and seem to be pretty popular right now, especially as technology makes their care easier.

However, I do think a BTA tank would be really fun too, especially since the ones in your display look really cool.

I honestly thought about it, but I just have no passion for sps like I do other coral, but I may give it a shot someday. Either way I want to give this tank some time in "time out" to see if it starts behaving lol.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

A logical decision, hopefully it can make up its mind about its parameters. Are you going to leave any "canary-in-the-coal-mine" corals in there?

 

[PDR]

A logical decision, hopefully it can make up its mind about its parameters. Are you going to leave any "canary-in-the-coal-mine" corals in there?

Yeah, I currently have cabbage leather, sinularia, 4 kinds of gorgonians, xenia, cespitularia and mind blowing palys in the tank. I plan on selling the leathers and gorgonians but plan on keeping the palys, xenia, and cespitularia. Not the best coral to use as a test since they are all basically indestructible...but there will at least be something in there.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

What about LPS like acans? Those are basically just bigger zoas in terms of color? Oceans floor has some pretty nice ones (though they’ve probably got some problems with them too).

 

[PDR]

That leather video is really cool, I've never seen that before.

I uploaded a couple more vids of the pulsing leather. I posted it on my DT build thread since it's in there now. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/pdrs-softy-reefer-350.401687/page-4#post-5275208
Post #77

 

[PDR]

What about LPS like acans? Those are basically just bigger zoas in terms of color? Oceans floor has some pretty nice ones (though they’ve probably got some problems with them too).

I do like acans, but I have had really bad luck keeping them for some reason. I currently have an acan echinata and war coral in my DT. They haven't died in a month, but also don't look as good as they did in the store.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

I've had a lot more luck with them since I made my lighting much more blue. They love it. Acans need a lot of feeding to be really happy.

 

[PDR]

After a lot of debate, my current plan is to turn this into a dedicated zoa grow out and frag tank once it matures and stabilizes. I seriously considered trying out sps in this tank, but after taking everything into consideration I believe that would be best saved for a future setup.

 

[PDR]

Scratch all that. I have no idea what I'm going to do with this tank. For various reasons, I think I will be moving away from farming zoas. They just do so well in my DT, I don't really feel like reinventing the wheel. I'll just grow them in my DT and frag them as necessary. I decided to remove the sand from the tank, but I did put some in the sump that may eventually become a fuge if I ever have excess nutrients. I was contemplating farming BTA's, but since you really need a separate tank for each type of BTA, it just didn't seem worth it. I have seriously been considering trying out some SPS. The tank already runs at lower nutrients, can now handle more flow due to the sandbed being removed and already has lighting capable of growing sps well.

I did move both wrasses to my DT and the tang does seem to be enjoying the extra 2" of vertical space. I haven't arranged the rock work at all and I obviously have not finished cleaning all of the sand dust out of the bottom.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

What sps are you considering? You could probably test with a montipora, those grow fast and aren't hard.
I don't really understand BTA's but why do they each need a different tank? Maybe its possible to build something into the tank to allow it to be possible?

 

[PDR]

What sps are you considering? You could probably test with a montipora, those grow fast and aren't hard.
I don't really understand BTA's but why do they each need a different tank? Maybe its possible to build something into the tank to allow it to be possible?

I actually got some montipora and birdsnest today

Different strains of BTA's can release toxins and/or bacteria that can irritate and even kill other strains, especially when manually propagating them.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Thats awesome post some pics. You couldn't use heavy UV under slow flow to kill bacteria and heavy carbon to remove toxins? You could just direct flow towards overflow so that it didn't mix toxins. Or you could use acrylic to separate the types while flow pushing all output into filter rather than throughout tank.

 

[PDR]

Thats awesome post some pics. You couldn't use heavy UV under slow flow to kill bacteria and heavy carbon to remove toxins? You could just direct flow towards overflow so that it didn't mix toxins. Or you could use acrylic to separate the types while flow pushing all output into filter rather than throughout tank.

Honestly, IDK if that would work or not. I just know there have been many people who have tried it and failed. I do know that running carbon does not work, don't know about the UV. The main issue is that people don't really know what causes the deaths, just that it happens when mixing strains (sometimes).

There isn't much to see atm, but I'll get some pics once things have grown out and I have some more sps. I'm in the process of working out some trades. So far the frags are looking good, so that's a plus.

 

[PDR]

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