Swannyson7's 180g mixed reef

All the frags I've given you are much bigger than the colonies I have now:squigglemouth:. Everything looks great as usual and there always seems to be stuff I've never seen before.
 
Are you having trouble with any other SPS? It may be flow related if all of your parameters are in check and other SPS is doing well. I doubt that lighting is the source of your problem, but what are you running for lights?

No my other frags are doing great, I only have 2 others though. I am running 8 ATI T-5 bulbs (4 on each side of the tank): 4 blue+, 2 purple+ and 2 actinics in an aquaticlife fixture. I just can't figure out why the green in the polyps has disappeared yet the coral still grows and shows excellent PE.
 
Great pics man. Looks like your stuff is growing out nicely.
Thanks! It's a constant swap between growth in my SPS and growth in everything else, but it's slowly filling in. I'm at the point where I can't really add much of anything else, so I just have to sit back and wait for everything to grow out.
All the frags I've given you are much bigger than the colonies I have now:squigglemouth:. Everything looks great as usual and there always seems to be stuff I've never seen before.
There's not really much of anything new in the DT. I did get some JDWs last week that are settling in nicely in the frag tank as well as a couple of other LPS frags. Just let me know when you're ready for frags and I'll have plenty for ya buddy. I've already got some stuff cut for you and I can always give you fresh cuts of anything that catches your eye.
Looking great Swanny! How is that BTA with everything around it? Don't they sting each other?
I'm guessing you're talking about the GBTA next to the clam and digitatas? It decided to roam there after a split about 6 months ago and I never got around to hitting it with a powerhead to encourage relocation. It stings the digitatas around the base, but luckily they grow quickly enough that it's not a real problem. The maxima doesn't seem the least bit bothered by it, but that tan acro with the green polyps & purple tips had a softball sized base that had a large portion killed off. It doesn't seem to be affecting it's vertical growth though, so I'm in no rush to try to move it. I'm afraid of where it might end up if it goes on the move again.
No my other frags are doing great, I only have 2 others though. I am running 8 ATI T-5 bulbs (4 on each side of the tank): 4 blue+, 2 purple+ and 2 actinics in an aquaticlife fixture. I just can't figure out why the green in the polyps has disappeared yet the coral still grows and shows excellent PE.
That should be plenty of light for the birdsnest, so I'm not really sure what your problems could be. I'd recommend starting a thread with a couple pictures and your parameters to see what all of the SPS experts have to say. It may just be a similar variety of birdsnest without the exact color, or possibly excess PO4 in your system? Mine is an ORA, but I've had other wild green birdsnests without as intence of coloration. Also, where is it placed in your tank, and did you start it off low and then move it up? Even high light corals should be acclimated to your lighting and you're better off starting it with too little light and moving it up than to blast it with too much light and bleach it. HTH
 
Really amazing craftsmanship on your stand/hood as well as great growth on your corals! Very impressive. I really like the idea of putting your controller and control center flush with the stand :)
 
That should be plenty of light for the birdsnest, so I'm not really sure what your problems could be. I'd recommend starting a thread with a couple pictures and your parameters to see what all of the SPS experts have to say. It may just be a similar variety of birdsnest without the exact color, or possibly excess PO4 in your system? Mine is an ORA, but I've had other wild green birdsnests without as intence of coloration. Also, where is it placed in your tank, and did you start it off low and then move it up? Even high light corals should be acclimated to your lighting and you're better off starting it with too little light and moving it up than to blast it with too much light and bleach it. HTH

Thanks for the help. I have opened a thread in places about this and I get a mixed range of answers of course lol. That is why I was curious as to where you had your birdsnest as it looked so nice and green! :wink: When I got the frag, it was under the stock lights in the tank (aquaticlife) and it wasn't until I switched to ATIs that the green went away. That is why I think it must be the lights. I didn't think I had to move anything down as everything else seemed fine with the change (LPS and zoanthids). Thanks for the help though! I'm not sure if I want to move it now that it seems happy growing in it's spot. Oh and I haven't seen any PO4 on the test kits for awhile as I run GFO.

Also do you feed any of your corals anything? If so, what do you feed and how often?
 
Thanks for the help. I have opened a thread in places about this and I get a mixed range of answers of course lol. That is why I was curious as to where you had your birdsnest as it looked so nice and green! :wink: When I got the frag, it was under the stock lights in the tank (aquaticlife) and it wasn't until I switched to ATIs that the green went away. That is why I think it must be the lights. I didn't think I had to move anything down as everything else seemed fine with the change (LPS and zoanthids). Thanks for the help though! I'm not sure if I want to move it now that it seems happy growing in it's spot. Oh and I haven't seen any PO4 on the test kits for awhile as I run GFO.

Also do you feed any of your corals anything? If so, what do you feed and how often?
Sorry I couldn't be more help, but I agree with you about moving it. It may just be adjusting to your lighting still, but if it's growing steadily, it's probably in a good spot even if it isn't fully colored up. Do you have any algae growth in the tank? If you have any algae in the tank, it will give you a false negative reading on your PO4 test kit as it consumes the phosphates. Another thing to point out is that I run my tank very blue, so it may just be differences in color temperature. As for coral feeding, I add Amino Acids daily and also broadcast feed a couple times a week with coral frenzy, live baby brine, and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs for the SPS. For the LPS, I target feed twice a week with cyclopeeze, frozen mysis, frozen clam, and other frozen carnivore preparations.
 
Wow Swanny, your SPS corals have insane colour.

One question for you; do the zoas growing around the SPS coral bases affect the SPS coral in the way of stings or chemical warfare that harms the SPS?
 
Thanks Sahin! The bases of some of the SPS have been stung by Z&Ps, mainly on the digitatas. However, they haven't sustained enough damage that they are receding beyond the very bottoms of the base so I'm not too worried.
 
Sorry I couldn't be more help, but I agree with you about moving it. It may just be adjusting to your lighting still, but if it's growing steadily, it's probably in a good spot even if it isn't fully colored up. Do you have any algae growth in the tank? If you have any algae in the tank, it will give you a false negative reading on your PO4 test kit as it consumes the phosphates. Another thing to point out is that I run my tank very blue, so it may just be differences in color temperature. As for coral feeding, I add Amino Acids daily and also broadcast feed a couple times a week with coral frenzy, live baby brine, and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs for the SPS. For the LPS, I target feed twice a week with cyclopeeze, frozen mysis, frozen clam, and other frozen carnivore preparations.

You are actually a lot of help!! I don't have any algae in my tank at all besides a little film on the glass every couple of days. I do run GFO and I just wonder if that has anything to do with the color. I would really rather run biopellets but it's not in the budget right now. As for the lights, I run mine pretty blue as well (4 blue+, 2 purple+ and 2 actinic)

As for the coral feeding, do you use a specific brand of amino acids? I really need to get myself some coral frenzy or coral snow. Right now I just spot feed with cyclops which the SPS really seem to like, but I'm not sure how much nutrition they can get from that. Thanks again for the help! I might have to get more varieties of food!
 
You are actually a lot of help!! I don't have any algae in my tank at all besides a little film on the glass every couple of days. I do run GFO and I just wonder if that has anything to do with the color. I would really rather run biopellets but it's not in the budget right now. As for the lights, I run mine pretty blue as well (4 blue+, 2 purple+ and 2 actinic)

As for the coral feeding, do you use a specific brand of amino acids? I really need to get myself some coral frenzy or coral snow. Right now I just spot feed with cyclops which the SPS really seem to like, but I'm not sure how much nutrition they can get from that. Thanks again for the help! I might have to get more varieties of food!

I wouldn't attribute lack of color to running the GFO... if anything that should help your color unless it's a ULNS. I run GFO, EcoBak, & chaeto in my system to reduce PO4, and dose Aminos to add some nutrients back into the water column. I use Brightwells AA's, but I've heard good things about the zeovit stuff as well.
 
Well... Hurricane Irene has taken it's toll on my tank. The storm ended yesterday at around 4 PM, but I didn't lose power until I had already left for work at 9:00 PM... leaving my generator as a pretty lawn ornament. When I got home this morning I found a dead sailfin tang, dead yellow tang, dead solarensis wrasse, dead tomini tang, and an RTNed Strawberry shortcake, The Melanarus & Hippo tang were in pretty rough shape, laying on their sides on the bottom of the tank and breathing rapidly. All of the other fish were at the tank's surface gasping for air. I got the generator fired up as soon as I got home from work and the power finally came back on about 30 minutes ago. The melanarus & hippo seem to be doing better, so I think they'll make it.
 
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How'd you make out over in Waterbury? I heard that only a few people out your way lost power.
 
Thanks Chris. I guess the silver lining is it gives me the opportunity to rethink my tang stocking. To be honest, I'm the most bent out of shape about the sailfin. I got him for free from a local reefer when they bought a used setup & all of it's contents. He was about 6-7 inches long and came from a 60g cube. Talk about a case for the tang police!
 
Well the week just continued to go poorly with my tank. One of my fish splashed water onto one of the vents for my LED fixture, so it shorted out a ballast. Then one of my MP40's got a snail sucked into it and bent the propeller shaft. I ordered the rebuild kit for the Vortech and Luke really took care of me and I've a new ballast along with a spare on the way free of charge! Right now I'm running a MJ1200 & a Evo1400 to make up for the downed vortech, but some of the corals look ticked off by the change in flow. Hopefully the all the parts get here soon and then I'll be good to go!

I also ordered some new fish to replace the tangs that were lost during the outtage. One of my LFS is doing a "hurricane relief" program where they're selling fish slightly above wholesale. I've got a yellow tang, convict tang, powder blue tang, blonde naso, and a yellow eyed kole tang on the way, all for under $200. I'm afraid that the two acanthurus tangs (convict & powder blue) might not get along, but if that's the case then one will go into my other tank.
 

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