The Garden -- Rakies shallow SPS cube

[GoVols]

Rakie,
Thanks for sharing.
That's some great and healthy sps growth :)

Are you still using the "Blue Bucket" salt mix with the ATI E's program?

Thanks, Freddie

 

[lbacha]

Very nice tank

 

[GoVols]

Very nice tank

bacha,
Welcome to Reef 2 Reef :)

 

[lbacha]

bacha,
Welcome to Reef 2 Reef :)

Thanks, glad to be here. Just got back into reefing after a 10y hiatus so these threads are providing some great inspiration

Len

 

[Rakie]

Rakie,
Thanks for sharing.
That's some great and healthy sps growth :)

Are you still using the "Blue Bucket" salt mix with the ATI E's program?

Thanks, Freddie

Yep, still using the Blue Bucket with the ATI Essentials. I like the ATI essentials, after such a decent response from my corals the only other system I'd use would be a Calcium Reactor.

Very nice tank

Thanks, glad to be here. Just got back into reefing after a 10y hiatus so these threads are providing some great inspiration

Len

Thanks! I actually had a long hiatus myself -- I kept reefs since middle school, and when my first reef nuked after a bacteria bloom (this was when a 10 gallon reef was deemed impossible to keep) I walked away for a bit. It seems in this hobby, something will cause someone to walk away for a bit. It just seems to happen.

 

[Rakie]

So I've been busy, and just hoped those last few corals I had that were dying would come around. Eventually I realized they weren't going to, but left 'em in anyways.

Wanna know what de-motivation looks like?

Right here;

So the 4 little dead frags are finally out of the tank now. I've been lucky once, but I shouldn't expect zombie corals everytime.

Aside from that. My tank is recovering from my carelessness. So here's hoping it stays on target for awhile.

 

[Rakie]

So here's some pics. It feels like it's been awhile.

Now this first pic is one of my new favorites. I can't tell you how many times I've been told Assessors are cryptic fish that you never see.. Well, nobody told him this. He spends most of the day at the top of the water pretending he's a flasher wrasse and trying to shoal with my wrasse.

Yellow Assessor

Tierra Del Fuego

Tyree hellfire

JF Fox Flame

I've been snapping multiple pics side by side now for corals. Sometimes something as little as a glimmer line, or the movement of polyps can change the color / focus of the camera. This time I took about 5 shots in quick succession and pulled the best 2 of each.

 

[GoVols]

So here's some pics. It feels like it's been awhile.

Now this first pic is one of my new favorites. I can't tell you how many times I've been told Assessors are cryptic fish that you never see.. Well, nobody told him this. He spends most of the day at the top of the water pretending he's a flasher wrasse and trying to shoal with my wrasse.

Yellow Assessor

Tierra Del Fuego

Tyree hellfire

JF Fox Flame

I've been snapping multiple pics side by side now for corals. Sometimes something as little as a glimmer line, or the movement of polyps can change the color / focus of the camera. This time I took about 5 shots in quick succession and pulled the best 2 of each.

Rakie,

Thanks for sharing.
Your pictures and corals are looking great.

I too have stayed with the Blue Bucket and see no reason to change.

Freddie

 

[Rakie]

Off Topic Update !

My car was stolen, and they messed it up good. Here's what they did;
- Spray painted the hood silver and gray
- Tore up the roof liner
- Sanded the car all over
- Broke the drivers window
- Crashed the car front / back
- Tweaked the frame
- and a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting...

_______________________________

On topic: My Beach Bum is getting less ugly

 

[GoVols]

Off Topic Update !

My car was stolen, and they messed it up good. Here's what they did;
- Spray painted the hood silver and gray
- Tore up the roof liner
- Sanded the car all over
- Broke the drivers window
- Crashed the car front / back
- Tweaked the frame
- and a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting...

Rakie,
I'm sorry about your car.
Did you a @mdbannister have a fall out??? :mad: ...:)

 

[gcarroll]

Dang Tim, sorry to hear about your car. Hopefully they catch the boogers who did it. Typically, most stolen cars son't have that much blatant damage done to them. sell a few frags of that sweet reef and patch up the beast!

 

[Rakie]

Rakie,
I'm sorry about your car.
Did you a @mdbannister have a fall out??? :mad: ...:)

It happens, and nah I haven't given him nearly enough crap for that yet -- Though it's not for lack of trying, he's just patient.

Dang Tim, sorry to hear about your car. Hopefully they catch the boogers who did it. Typically, most stolen cars son't have that much blatant damage done to them. sell a few frags of that sweet reef and patch up the beast!

Yeah, whats even more interested is the officers tell me they used a shaved key, which means they didn't destroy the ignition and seems more along the line of pro work. But then they caught them in the car, at a walmart, with a bunch of spray paint... What can you do, tweakers gonna tweak.

I have full coverage though, so everything will be covered.

 

[kid976]

Sorry about your car dude. I’ve been researching the ATI essentials, I’m thinking of switching from esv but from the directions it looks like I’m going to have dose at 4 times the amount with ATI Essentials. In your opinion is it worth it?

 

[Rakie]

Sorry about your car dude. I’ve been researching the ATI essentials, I’m thinking of switching from esv but from the directions it looks like I’m going to have dose at 4 times the amount with ATI Essentials. In your opinion is it worth it?

Yes* <--- Asterisk.

* It's not a plug and play system, your tank will have to adjust to it. Your alk is going to be all over the place for like a week or two. And as you adjust dose the uptake will change. This happened to everyone I spoke to.

* It's a weaker mix for sure, but not a big deal. You'll probably have to dose somewhere around 2x the amount, not 4x.

* It's nice, no doubt. I like whats happening in my tank for the most part. Growth is solid, colors are improving, etc etc.

* I've used BRS, and ME Corals -- Greatly prefer ATI Essentials myself. ME Corals is extremely potent with crazy pH boost.

* I'm not 100% sold on the zero water changes thing though. I believe water changes are still a good thing in general.

 

[Rakie]

Updated Full Tank Shot -- It's been a long time since one of these. A little cyano has come in, it's been dormant for a long time until recently.

Dark

Lighter

Hard to tell whats going on in my FTS, I'm guessing it's due to my cheapy camera. Ah well, there it is regardless.

 

[kid976]

Yes* <--- Asterisk.

* It's not a plug and play system, your tank will have to adjust to it. Your alk is going to be all over the place for like a week or two. And as you adjust dose the uptake will change. This happened to everyone I spoke to.

* It's a weaker mix for sure, but not a big deal. You'll probably have to dose somewhere around 2x the amount, not 4x.

* It's nice, no doubt. I like whats happening in my tank for the most part. Growth is solid, colors are improving, etc etc.

* I've used BRS, and ME Corals -- Greatly prefer ATI Essentials myself. ME Corals is extremely potent with crazy pH boost.

* I'm not 100% sold on the zero water changes thing though. I believe water changes are still a good thing in general.

Did you use the recommended amount for your tank to start off? Or did start lower and keep adjusting till things leveled out? My parameters are already inline with their baseline parameters so for my 100 gallon tank

 

[Rakie]

@kid976 -- Yes I started with their recommended dose, but it's complicated -- Switching caused my SPS to stop using alk as much so my alk spiked, then when I lowered my alk the corals started using so my alk went low quick, and I had to jack it up again.

So you will want to aggressively test alk at first, to see whats happening.

 

[Maritimer]

There are moments when I'm proud to be human.

This isn't one of 'em.

Very sorry to see the destruction to your ride.

(Your reef, on the other hand, is pretty cool - those rich tones and deep shadows . . . )

~Bruce

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Checking in again on your thread...I just wanna point out that when I told those guys to grab your car and redecorate it for Christmas, this wasn't what I had in mind...I distinctly remember telling them to use green spray paint. ;Facepalm

 

[Rakie]

Life happens, I'm not really taking it too hard. It's not ideal of course, but, meh..