Your Latest Aquisition

[ReeferMaddness843]

Acros were my last corals to add. And the addiction is real there. Lol. I was given a booger sized, very literally on sizing, frag of some brown acro. I lost it on the plug a while ago in my 90, and suddenly found it one day. All bright and green. So I mounted it and it turned into this over time. That gave me the confidence needed to start sps, acro specifically as I had kept montis with no problem. I have lps, softies, fungai, etc all with no problems aside from the fluke melt or random loss. Those are very few and far between though. Here's the pic of the acro that got me going as well as pics of zoa mountain and acro island. (Second pic, top center is the booger I got all grown up)

 

[Havoks]

Same here, the pocillopora in the pic is my last addition and the first sps I put in my tank, a week now and no signs of decay, if it keeps on going ill add an Acro next. With two prime hd over my 20gal i think i have the lighting for them, also my water parameters are really stable.

 

[Havoks]

Made the change to this tank on Friday night, new sand and 500gph return pump.

 

[tcarter1936]

Terrible photo s but 8 new peices will post new pics soon now that they are in the tank

 

[Havoks]

Looks like sps is what everybody wants to have in their tank

 

[tcarter1936]

Looks like sps is what everybody wants to have in their tank

Ironically I've had the most bad luck with LP's, my tanks had more ups than downs but I'm getting it more and more stable by the day. ALK swings paled all my corals. Now with the new peices I should be able to start two part soon.

 

[tcarter1936]

Ironically I've had the most bad luck with LP's, my tanks had more ups than downs but I'm getting it more and more stable by the day. ALK swings paled all my corals. Now with the new peices I should be able to start two part soon.

Correction more downs than ups

 

[Havoks]

I think filtration is a subject that most of us take for granted, just use something and automatically think is working. We must check our water constantly to make sure filtration is doing its job. Even when our tanks are stable and everything in it is growing, that is when is more important to keep checking to make sure it stays that way.

 

[BrettMallette]

Im mostly LPS need sticks to fill in high areas as well as im rly starting to dislike my minefield of a tank. Its sweeper central after lights out and something is always trying to kill something else. So thats why ive decided to go sps have over 50 lps and softies so time to start the sps addiction

 

[BrettMallette]

I think filtration is a subject that most of us take for granted, just use something and automatically think is working. We must check our water constantly to make sure filtration is doing its job. Even when our tanks are stable and everything in it is growing, that is when is more important to keep checking to make sure it stays that way.

I dont remember the last time i checked nitrates or phosphates nor do i run a sump or do frequent water changes. Can have top of the line gear and still struggle with a reef. In the end it all boils down to years of failure and learning from your failures to really succeed.

 

[BrettMallette]

If ya look top left i had a massive hollywood stunner chalice under the tang and clown there. Then candy cane got angry and killed 90% of it overnight lol

 

[Havoks]

I guess when things are doing good is when we get lazy and think they will stay like that with no attention from us. The most ive gone with no water changes or tests is 2 months. Needless to say in my small tank a little bit of wrong can go really bad in no time and destroy all my efforts for the past year.

 

[RussiReef]

This is my newest addition to the coral family - Kang Pao Monti

 

[Liquid360]

This is my newest addition to the coral family - Kang Pao Monti

Really nice!! I've had FAR better luck with acropora than montipora which is counterintuitive. I LOVE montis, but I've killed more than a few and will wait a VERY long while before I try another.... perhaps even an entire week

 

[Liquid360]

In my case, all my numbers were solid. I did water changes religiously. I have a 100g tank/30g sump with an NYOS 160 skimmer, a Geosreef GFO reactor, a Kessil H80 in the fuge, a 250w Halide pendant, and Kessil a360. I have mangroves in the sump also with chaeto. Even with all the water changes, testing almost daily, changing GFO monthly.... for temp stability I even run a $1500 probe chiller to keep my reef at constant +/- zero, perfect 78deg. There was no way to make my tank anymore stable. All my water was run through an AquaFX 3 stage RO filter.
My tank has been running for years. I can't explain it because my water ALWAYS tested perfect and was a rock of stability. I'm on disability and have nothing but time for such things. In the end, I added a DI to my RO unit and made large water changes of 45g every other day for a week. Suddenly the polyps of the Acro and Milli extended for the first time and everything has been perfect. I NEVER would've believed, nor can I actually prove, that the DI has done anything, but the results speak for themselves. These corals are really odd, VERY complicated little animals.

 

[BrettMallette]

I guess when things are doing good is when we get lazy and think they will stay like that with no attention from us. The most ive gone with no water changes or tests is 2 months. Needless to say in my small tank a little bit of wrong can go really bad in no time and destroy all my efforts for the past year.

Most of my coral ive had for years so can go by what a coral is doing over a week to figure out if i need to test or do a waterchange. Its all about finding the balance. I also run no sandbed so a good turkey basting and a cpl of hours worth of floss on my jebaos tends to get rid of the nasties. Ive also been experimenting with high alk and high ca. As well as high light and flow so low nutrients would mean id melt the crap out of everything or worse brown everything out from too high of Alk and not enough nutrients.

 

[BrettMallette]

In my case, all my numbers were solid. I did water changes religiously. I have a 100g tank/30g sump with an NYOS 160 skimmer, a Geosreef GFO reactor, a Kessil H80 in the fuge, a 250w Halide pendant, and Kessil a360. I have mangroves in the sump also with chaeto. Even with all the water changes, testing almost daily, changing GFO monthly.... for temp stability I even run a $1500 probe chiller to keep my reef at constant +/- zero, perfect 78deg. There was no way to make my tank anymore stable. All my water was run through an AquaFX 3 stage RO filter.
My tank has been running for years. I can't explain it because my water ALWAYS tested perfect and was a rock of stability. I'm on disability and have nothing but time for such things. In the end, I added a DI to my RO unit and made large water changes of 45g every other day for a week. Suddenly the polyps of the Acro and Milli extended for the first time and everything has been perfect. I NEVER would've believed, nor can I actually prove, that the DI has done anything, but the results speak for themselves. These corals are really odd, VERY complicated little animals.

Highly possible something was making it past the RO side of things since the di removes metals i do believe (not 100% sure as i dont own a ro/di unit) only way to know for sure is with an ICP test. But now that you have everything happy again i wouldnt worry unless something takes a downhill turn again. On a side note im out of the country til next week so hopefully i dont come home to a disaster

 

[Liquid360]

I'm going with my family on a cruise next year so I've only just begun the terrific expense of automating my entire tank so that while on the cruise I'll be able to play a major roll in losing it all and flooding my home. My new Apex ATK arrives tomorrow and this begins the Great Automation Of 2017

Highly possible something was making it past the RO side of things since the di removes metals i do believe (not 100% sure as i dont own a ro/di unit) only way to know for sure is with an ICP test. But now that you have everything happy again i wouldnt worry unless something takes a downhill turn again. On a side note im out of the country til next week so hopefully i dont come home to a disaster

 

[Havoks]

Nice, I will try something like that eventually.

 

[RussiReef]

Really nice!! I've had FAR better luck with acropora than montipora which is counterintuitive. I LOVE montis, but I've killed more than a few and will wait a VERY long while before I try another.... perhaps even an entire week

I can totally agree with you that acro is much harder species to keep than monti, but don't GIVE UP on your LOVE of montis and please don't KILL yourself waiting that loooooonggggg LOL.