SDReef's 330G CDA Acropora Dominant Mixed Reef

[sdreef]

 

[revhtree]

Amazing photos!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[sdreef]

Amazing photos!! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you!

 

[sdreef]

Added a trio of biota yellow tangs. The scopas gave a bit of a chase, but the little guys were able to duck away in the coral structure and everything has settled. Hoping since the scopas is so much larger than the yellows that the trio will be less inclined to fight for dominance.

This trio was QT'd. I got the yellow tangs, blue throat trigger, and the clown tang all QT'd by Ocean Devotion LA. I've found them easy to work with, and have been happy with the service.

 

[sdreef]

Tank is doing well. All of the icp tests have demonstrated low iodine. I'm considering manually dosing iodine with drop or two daily. I'll to send a baseline icp and test again a short interval to see if I can get it dialed.

I noticed the population of asterinas increasing and the coralline diminishing in areas. I attributed the thinning of the coralline to the asterinas and used a flashlight at night to manually remove about a hundred of them. I don' worry about asterinas too much, but just don't want the population to explode. I would consider a harlequin shrimp, but worried the would end up being fish food for the hawkfish or potentially the wrasse.

 

[Hydrored]

Tank is doing well. All of the icp tests have demonstrated low iodine. I'm considering manually dosing iodine with drop or two daily. I'll to send a baseline icp and test again a short interval to see if I can get it dialed.

I noticed the population of asterinas increasing and the coralline diminishing in areas. I attributed the thinning of the coralline to the asterinas and used a flashlight at night to manually remove about a hundred of them. I don' worry about asterinas too much, but just don't want the population to explode. I would consider a harlequin shrimp, but worried the would end up being fish food for the hawkfish or potentially the wrasse.

I absolutely love this tank! I only hope one day I can have my tank look this good.

To give you a comparison I dose 5 drops a day of Reef Iodide and comes in good but still in the lower spectrum.

 

[sdreef]

I absolutely love this tank! I only hope one day I can have my tank look this good.

To give you a comparison I dose 5 drops a day of Reef Iodide and comes in good but still in the lower spectrum.

Thanks, that's a helpful comparison. I was thinking about starting with a couple drops a day so that's reassuring.

Also, I just placed an order for the loudwolf calcium carbonate. I use KZ Zeosym periodically, so I'm going to give this a try. Good to know you've been using that particular product for a while.

 

[VanDalsenReef]

Clown tang is an absolute gem. Definitely my favorite species. I love mine

 

[sdreef]

Clown tang is an absolute gem. Definitely my favorite species. I love mine

Thanks, I’ve been really happy with the addition. I waited to add an acanthurus tang toward the end of stocking. So far he’s been a workhorse and well behaved.

 

[VanDalsenReef]

Thanks, I’ve been really happy with the addition. I waited to add an acanthurus tang toward the end of stocking. So far he’s been a workhorse and well behaved.

Mine is very well behaved. He does try to bite me though from time to time, or any magnetic cleaner or clip

 

[ScottB]

Tank is doing well, but an update on my highlighter tabling acro.

Having reached over 8" in all dimensions after five years my the colony had started to trap detritus in between the corallites.

I moved it to an area with higher flow. Despite this, some areas between the corallites had already been damaged by the accumulation of detritus and a small amount of algae was growing in the area. I was optimistic that with the higher flow the coral would heal and was routinely careful to monitor the coral to ensure to no further detritus as well as manual removal of the algae.

Wednesday evening when I arrived home from work, I noted an area of the coral was necrosing due to a presumed bacterial infection.

I decided I would need to follow @ScottB 's experience and frag the coral. This coral is very thick though, and it would require a band saw which I don't have. I coordinated with a friend to come over the following afternoon to frag the coral.

Thursday morning the infection had spread rapidly. I fragged some of the tips of the coral that I was able to cut with bone cutters. I attempted to cut the colony, but it was too thick, and I considered a chisel and hammer, but decided to wait for the saw a little later in the day.

By Thursday afternoon, more than half the coral was dead. Looking under the coral, the tissue was receding off of even more of the coral.

Yesterday afternoon, we cut the coral with what grossly appeared to be a good margin of healthy tissue. Unfortunately, this morning the cut segments were dead.

The frags that I cut prior to getting access to the saw remain alive and so all isn't lost and I will get the chance to grow out this coral again.

I've been through something similar with huge, flat colonies. I didn't react fast enough a couple times but now I go ruthless early. I have a saw, but TBH I found a "better" way to get more naturally shaped pieces. I drop them on the floor, stem down, and they shatter into more organic shapes. It does create a smelly mess and feels wrong, but it works. Lugols iodine bath after with lots of basting. Clip margins as needed.

I am getting a couple of those pipefish; gorgeous.

 

[sdreef]

The JF Jolt tenuis has grown well. Some branches were growing densely and I decided to be more proactive in maintaining the flow and cut up several pieces in order to keep the structure more open.

My favorite tenuis, sexy coral's orange passion, photo under halides.

Jans pipefish has adapted well to the system.

Earl's

Helfriechi

 

[sdreef]

I performed my first large scale manual water change since starting the tank. Nitrates prior to the water change measured 19 and went up to 21 after the water change. Not sure if it's due to vacuuming some of the sand and stirring things up or just within the margin of error but after a 20% water change I expected the nitrates to go down a little.

I'm toying with the idea of trying some carbon dosing down the line as an alternative method of nutrient management. Mostly, I'm curious to see how the colors of some of the corals may respond to lower nutrients. I was thinking about using TM Bacto balance and Elimi NP. I would be interested to hear if anyone has experience with either these products or carbon dosing and thoughts on pros and cons.

Right now, going to focus on stability and not changing too much. I did start dosing a couple drops of iodine per day and will send a new icp test in the next month.

 

[sdreef]

I harvested the first baby torch from the rockwork. It was adjacent to the jawdropper frag and the polyps were extending far enough to sting another adjacent acro.

The skeleton was short and I was worried with a bone cutter I would damage the skeleton. I used a scalpel to score around the base of the coral circumferentially followed by a thin wire saw I procured from amazon.

This is the more common color morph of the spawned torches. Makes sense, but still interesting that the sexual reproduction resulted in the different color varieties.

Some photos from yesterday evening. All taken under blues.

Chalice

Space Invader Pectinia

PC Rainbow- Currently growing well and colors improving with size.

JF Jolt after recently being cut and rettached to rockwork

Cherry Bomb

Vivid Confetti

Unnamed Millie

RRC Flaming Sunrise- Has been acclimating to the system for about 2 months. Lost color initially and only recently has started getting polyp extension. Starting to look better and looks like it is getting adjusted. Sitting at about 400 PAR

 

[Hydrored]

My preference personally

I harvested the first baby torch from the rockwork. It was adjacent to the jawdropper frag and the polyps were extending far enough to sting another adjacent acro.

The skeleton was short and I was worried with a bone cutter I would damage the skeleton. I used a scalpel to score around the base of the coral circumferentially followed by a thin wire saw I procured from amazon.

This is the more common color morph of the spawned torches. Makes sense, but still interesting that the sexual reproduction resulted in the different color varieties.

Some photos from yesterday evening. All taken under blues.

Chalice

Space Invader Pectinia

PC Rainbow- Currently growing well and colors improving with size.

JF Jolt after recently being cut and rettached to rockwork

Cherry Bomb

Vivid Confetti

Unnamed Millie

RRC Flaming Sunrise- Has been acclimating to the system for about 2 months. Lost color initially and only recently has started getting polyp extension. Starting to look better and looks like it is getting adjusted. Sitting at about 400 PAR

Personally I think those colors are stunning, I wouldn’t change a thing if your nutrients are staying steady. I prefer this product due to laziness and I hate giving TM my money (all subjective) if you go the carbon dosing route-

 

[VanDalsenReef]

I performed my first large scale manual water change since starting the tank. Nitrates prior to the water change measured 19 and went up to 21 after the water change. Not sure if it's due to vacuuming some of the sand and stirring things up or just within the margin of error but after a 20% water change I expected the nitrates to go down a little.

I'm toying with the idea of trying some carbon dosing down the line as an alternative method of nutrient management. Mostly, I'm curious to see how the colors of some of the corals may respond to lower nutrients. I was thinking about using TM Bacto balance and Elimi NP. I would be interested to hear if anyone has experience with either these products or carbon dosing and thoughts on pros and cons.

Right now, going to focus on stability and not changing too much. I did start dosing a couple drops of iodine per day and will send a new icp test in the next month.

I have used bactobalance and it worked well. It can be dosed through a doser so that makes it nice.

 

[sdreef]

My preference personally


Personally I think those colors are stunning, I wouldn’t change a thing if your nutrients are staying steady. I prefer this product due to laziness and I hate giving TM my money (all subjective) if you go the carbon dosing route-

Thanks, I was familiar with those products, I'll look into those further. Do you routinely dose those? If so, manually or on a doser?

I just find myself working a lot to maintain the nutrient levels, and I think I end up with a little more fluctuation in the levels as a result. I've been using TM elimiphos lanthanum product periodically to keep the phosphates below 0.2. Just trying to find a way to keep the levels more consistent.

I have a couple colonies that browned out on me and it could be any number of variables but I wonder if the phosphate fluctuation contributed. Most of the acros are unaffected, so right now I'm going to focus on stability and not making any big changes.

I have used bactobalance and it worked well. It can be dosed through a doser so that makes it nice.

Thanks, that's really appealing. I know the product contains some phosphates and nitrates to prevent bottoming the nutrients out, but did you observe a significant drop in nutrient levels?

 

[VanDalsenReef]

Thanks, I was familiar with those products, I'll look into those further. Do you routinely dose those? If so, manually or on a doser?

I just find myself working a lot to maintain the nutrient levels, and I think I end up with a little more fluctuation in the levels as a result. I've been using TM elimiphos lanthanum product periodically to keep the phosphates below 0.2. Just trying to find a way to keep the levels more consistent.

I have a couple colonies that browned out on me and it could be any number of variables but I wonder if the phosphate fluctuation contributed. Most of the acros are unaffected, so right now I'm going to focus on stability and not making any big changes.



Thanks, that's really appealing. I know the product contains some phosphates and nitrates to prevent bottoming the nutrients out, but did you observe a significant drop in nutrient levels?

So my system is odd. I just try to drop my phosphates as my nitrates are consistently 0.1 or 0. Can't seem to change it but my phosphates will go to 0.06 and after using TM it dropped to 0.04 and wouldn't go lower. So it was a nice product for my own system.

 

[VanDalsenReef]

Thanks, I was familiar with those products, I'll look into those further. Do you routinely dose those? If so, manually or on a doser?

I just find myself working a lot to maintain the nutrient levels, and I think I end up with a little more fluctuation in the levels as a result. I've been using TM elimiphos lanthanum product periodically to keep the phosphates below 0.2. Just trying to find a way to keep the levels more consistent.

I have a couple colonies that browned out on me and it could be any number of variables but I wonder if the phosphate fluctuation contributed. Most of the acros are unaffected, so right now I'm going to focus on stability and not making any big changes.



Thanks, that's really appealing. I know the product contains some phosphates and nitrates to prevent bottoming the nutrients out, but did you observe a significant drop in nutrient levels?

I have used the aquaforest as well. It works as well but can't be dosed from a controller or whatnot. It should be refrigerated as well after opening, their products do work though. I just like TM products. Even after the (salt)water gate.

 

[sdreef]

I have used the aquaforest as well. It works as well but can't be dosed from a controller or whatnot. It should be refrigerated as well after opening, their products do work though. I just like TM products. Even after the (salt)water gate.

That's good to know about the AF products.

I just cleaned out my salt water mixing station. This is what it looked like after 2 years of TM Pro.