SDReef's 330G CDA Acropora Dominant Mixed Reef

[Petcrazyson]

July 2023 FTS

Tank is doing well. Survived me being out of town for a couple weeks. Happy to report polyp extension much improved. The polyp extension worsened for a few weeks, and I was considering if it could be nipping from the goldflake. Angelfish was innocent after all and not responsible for the worsened polyp extension. Only intervention was to bump up the water flow, cleaned and recalibrated the skimmer, and otherwise stable chemistry.

Recent ICP test from prior to the trip. Parameters stable, phosphates down below 0.1 for the first time since tank was 6 months old. Nitrates had bottomed out to zero a few months back. I dialed back on the volume of TM elimi-np for the carbon dosing, and feel there's good balance between the heavy feeding and nutrient export.

Salinity 35 psu
kH 7.7
Ca 432
Mg 1396
Nitrate 2.7
Phosphate 0.07

Hung's rainbow, growing well. Tempted to cut a frag that's getting shaded, but don't want to disturb the growth.

BC Kenberry

Unknown highlighter table

Splice

RR Pink Floyd

RMF Candyland

TGC Bugatti

Smurfette Millie

Spotted Mandarin Dragonette, Gonzo's Cookie Monster

C. lineatus, barely caught him in frame while flashing.

Madagascar flasher, Most recent addition, acclimated and doing well with his tank mates.

S. quoyi, continues to be do well after two years

C. roseafascia

A. lennardi, continues to grow rapidly, colors transitioning.

Beautiful as always!

 

[sdreef]

Outstanding!!!
Beautiful selection of fish and corals that are absolutely healthy and colorful And that Hungs is insane!

Thanks, Perry. The Hung's has been doing well for me. My impression is people have issues when they frag it. Not positive if that's true, but it seems many vendors who have sold it, don't have it available. Seems like this is a coral that likes to stop growing after being fragged. I may have the wrong impression here, but I've been reluctant to touch it. There's an area I'm eyeing to prune due to self-shading. At some point, I'll give it a snip.

Gorgeous! A thing to aspire to!

Thanks! Your tank is looking amazing as well

Beautiful as always!

Thank you!

 

[Petcrazyson]

Thanks, Perry. The Hung's has been doing well for me. My impression is people have issues when they frag it. Not positive if that's true, but it seems many vendors who have sold it, don't have it available. Seems like this is a coral that likes to stop growing after being fragged. I may have the wrong impression here, but I've been reluctant to touch it. There's an area I'm eyeing to prune due to self-shading. At some point, I'll give it a snip.



Thanks! Your tank is looking amazing as well



Thank you!

POTM again? Hint hint

 

[ScottB]

Great looking reef and nice pics as always.

 

[sdreef]

November 2023 FTS , tank is three years old

As some of the corals have attained a decent size, I was in need of more flow. I've added an additional MP60 per side. Currently flow consists of two MP60's per side and one MP40. I also have a Red Sea reef wave 45 on each half of the tank. Max flow per the MP60s is currently set to 55%. I've observed better colors and polyp extension since increasing the flow.

Regarding lighting, I changed the halides after two years. There was visible increase in the amount of light. Probably won't go more than a 18 months in the future.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

November 2023 FTS , tank is three years old

As some of the corals have attained a decent size, I was in need of more flow. I've added an additional MP60 per side. Currently flow consists of two MP60's per side and one MP40. I also have a Red Sea reef wave 45 on each half of the tank. Max flow per the MP60s is currently set to 55%. I've observed better colors and polyp extension since increasing the flow.

Regarding lighting, I changed the halides after two years. There was visible increase in the amount of light. Probably won't go more than a 18 months in the future.

Looks amazing!

 

[VanDalsenReef]

Amazing growth. How are the purple queens?

 

[sdreef]

Looks amazing!

Thank you!

Amazing growth. How are the purple queens?

I have four of the anthias doing well after three years. I went through a period where they would frequently transition to male and then I would lose them to aggression. Things have been stable for a while now, and the remaining anthias are doing well.

 

[sdreef]

Some current daylight photos of some of the acros.

Jawdropper, slow to pick up, but coloring up, slowly starting vertical growth.

Rainbow Splice, slow but steady. I see photos where it has taken off in some systems. Has not been the case under my care, but continues to appear healthy and grow at a steady pace.

Hung's Rainbow- Has done quite well has continued to grow into a decent size colony at a steady pace.

BC Gilded lily- Browned out for a long time and encrusted seemingly for years. Has recently started to color up heading in the right direction

BC Kenberry

WT Mother of Pearl- Very pretty coral. Blues and greens are radiant under full spectrum. Still small but growing fast.

Highlighter table- I've had this piece for about 8 years. Lost the larger colony to a bacterial infection due to flow issues once it was 8-9". Fortunately saved a couple frags that have recovered well and tabling out again.

 

[ajax969]

Beautiful tank and amazing thread to read through with a ton of information.

 

[sdreef]

Beautiful tank and amazing thread to read through with a ton of information.

Thank you!

 

[sdreef]

Tank is doing well. Coral growth and colors have been good. Several of the stags have breached the surface.

With that said, I'm working to figure out why I don't have better polyp extension on many of the millepora such as the frag below (Copps 24K).

The chemistry has been stable and periodically I've dipped pieces and fortunately have not found any pests.

I've considered flow, which I increased recently with two additional MP60's. For some reason, the pumps were not syncing up correctly. I've re-programmed the pumps and happy with the overall flow in the system right now for the first time in a while. This has improved the polyp extension slightly on several of the corals and possible that with more time, I'll see more of an effect.

The only angelfish in the system is a captive bred goldflake who has been a perfect citizen from everything I've seen.

But I think I've identified one of the main culprits, and it's the captive bred yellow tangs. Nothing too severe, just a mild grazing, but enough to account for reduced polyp extension. They are picking at the apical tips of some of the colonies where there is no algae to be found. I'm contemplating removing both yellow tang from the system. I don't want the angelfish or others to pick up this bad behavior.

Some other fish photos from this weekend.

Chevron tang, C. hawaiiensis

Potter's leopard wrasse, four years old, M. geoffroyi

Really working (unsuccessfully) to catch this Madagascar flasher, P. hemitaeniatus, flashing.

Earl's fairy wrasse, C. earlei

M. pascalus, 3 years and going strong.

Radiant wrasse

 

[sdreef]

Occasionally it's fun to see the corals under blues. I have two reefbrite XHOs that give the corals a little extra pop and I use for early morning and the evening. These are all filtered shots under actinic lighting.

JF Jolt

TGC Bugatti

BC Bloodbank

BC Gilded Lily

Reefer's Cove Poison Envy

RRC Jawdropper

 

[sdreef]

Here's a quick video showing the yellow tang nipping one of the colonies. Unfortunately they're going to need to be removed. I like having yellow tangs in the system and I think these two are outliers. I'm planning to add new ones.



Here's a quick phone photo of the coral getting nipped in the video just to show there is no algae where they are grazing. . Time to get out the fish trap....

 

[sdreef]

For over a year, I've noted the amount of skimmate has decreased. I would compensate adjusting the skimmer. This skimmer also allows adjustments by increasing power on the DC pump, raising the water level by raising the outflow pipe, and there's a valve on the outflow pipe for fine tuning as well.

Despite all the adjustments, this was over a week's worth of skimmate last week which is not adequate. I could also see the bubbles in the skimmer body were reduced. Previously, I'd decalcified and cleaned the pump over a year ago, but I decided it was time to take a look inside the skimmer and get things cleaned.

Skimmer body was pretty filthy. What really impressed me was how plugged up the bubble plate was. It's remarkable I was generating any bubbles at all. A variety of stomatellas and snails have apparently found their way into the skimmer over the past three years and their shells perfectly block the bubble plate holes.

I took apart the skimmer and circulated in buckets with white vinegar over night. Brushed and washed off the parts and reassembled the skimmer the following morning. Lubricated the O-rings with a little silicone grease and placed the skimmer back into action.

After 12 hours, I've matched over a weeks worth of skimmate at with about 40% less power output on the pump. Pump is currently set at 38W.

This morning the phosphates measure at 0.19 and the nitrates are at 6.5 prior to any feeding. I am interested to see how these numbers trend now that I have a functioning skimmer again. I've had a few minor patches of cyano on some of the rocks, and I suspect these will resolve with the skimmer functioning well.

I expect the reduced function of the skimmer had a meaningful impact on my nutrient export over the past year or two. I've compensated to a degree using other filtration and export means, but I should have done this maintenance two years ago. I'm planning on doing this more regularly moving forward on an annual basis or as needed if I notice the output decreasing.

This morning on the reef

 

[sdreef]

Spent some time this past week adding some new frags to the rock work. Many of the corals seem quite happy, but there are some that have been slower to adjust. I spent a bit of time playing musical chairs with some of the corals to adjust light and flow conditions.

Took some phone pictures. Here is looking from above the water surface. The rainbow loom colony is a little over a foot in diameter at this point.

I have dedicated a corner of the tank to the torches that spawned in the system. here is one of the few that remains its original location. Its polyps are extending close to the Copps 24K millie above it, and it will soon make its way to the sand bed with its siblings.

Here are some progression photos for some of the frags this past year.

Hung's Rainbow has been happy in it location. Here are two photos from December 2022 and December 2023

Gonzo's Cookie Monster
January 2023 and December 2023. Received this via a shipment and one of the branches had broken in transit. Can see where I had glued the branch back. Growing rapidly

Peng's Heart of the Ocean
Received two small frags and placed adjacent to one another. The frags have nearly based together and growing well right now. These are photos from May and December.

Really deep blue coloration on the tenuis. I placed a Oregon tort frag in the foreground for reference.

Smurfette millie, hasn't taken off yet, but fully encrusted the base it's sitting on. Colors have been intensifying recently and growth rate is picking up. Photos from February & December 2023

 

[sdreef]

Three years of progression

December 2020

One Year

Two Years

Three years, December 2023

Anthias in formation in the morning flow

The Janns continues to do well, but he's a challenge to capture. He hangs out in the back and beneath the rock overhangs where light is limited. When he darts out in front, the camera has hard time focusing in on him.

Color keep getting better on the goldflake as he grows.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

The progression of your tank is stunning! Crazy how much can change in just a few years!

 

[sdreef]

The progression of your tank is stunning! Crazy how much can change in just a few years!

Thanks!

As the acros have grown, I've progressively increased flow. Fewer LPS than early on as a result. Currently LPS is limited primarily to Euphyllia and Goniopora. I just added an additional MP60 per side, and have placed these pump guards to protect the smaller fish as well as allow me to place the pumps a little higher near the surface moving the water over the top of the corals.

 

[IntrinsicReef]

Amazing collection of fish and corals. And the photos! Stunning!