madweazl December 14, 2017 Author Share December 14, 2017 (edited) A YEAR IN REVIEW Interesting time in the aquarium, it's really exciting yet really boring at the same time. There isn't much room for additional corals so I haven't purchased anything in quite a while; outside of a weekly 10 gallon water change and the typical cleaning/maintenance of the pumps, skimmer, and carbon reactor, I've just been in observation mode. I had to move a few things around a while back which stunted the growth on those frags but the others are doing exceptionally well. Watching them slowly spread out across the rock has been enjoyable but it was slow going and then without warning, they shoot up like weeds. The original branch(s) of the frag are dwarfed by new growth within two weeks after showing little to no vertical growth in as many months. After a really rocky few months with the Copps rainbow undata, things are looking up. I've almost killed it two or three times now and I'm honestly not sure how I saved it the last time because it was losing tissue rapidly. Out of ideas to explain the difficulties being experienced, I started doing weekly water changes; it responded instantly and is finally growing. I've never had a coral this sensitive before and I really wish I could pinpoint the root cause of my issues with this one. On the plus side, it's really rewarding when this one is looking good (even if it leaves me scratching my head). The cyphastrea is really becoming a big issue in the tank; it spreads incredibly quickly and has started to climb up one of the frags. I need to remove it before it takes over the entire tank but it's on a large rock that will leave a large void in the aquascape and may affect the integrity of the aquascape as well. I was hoping the acro would be able to defend itself enough to curb encroachment but that just isnt the case. I'll have to move the acro this weekend and get rid of the cyphastrea. The monti cap has just about outgrown the tank and will also need to be re-homed. I was hoping to hang on to it long enough for transfer to the 150g but I'm not sure that is going to be realistic at this point (I do have a small frag in another area of the tank). It was clinging to life about a year ago so it's really nice to see it doing so well. The "problem child" continues to color up and is actually spreading. I'm pretty sure this is the slowest grower of the bunch but that is likely due to its requirements never being completely satisfied; thankfully, I think that has been overcome now. Lighting I'm continually impressed with the Kessils; simply stated, they provide a beautiful to look at environment. I loved the look of metal halide tanks years ago because of the life like shimmer they produced; the Kessils provide that in a form factor that fits my smaller canopy. I really wish I had purchased three A360WEs for this tank but at the time, I was positive I'd be keeping a mixed reef and didn't think there was any need for the additional expense. It didn't take long for plans to change and two A360WEs wouldn't provide the requisite light for an SPS dominant tank. The manner in which I mounted the Kessils (through the canopy) precluded me from adding a third unit without making the canopy look like a block of Swiss cheese so I had to turn to T5s. I originally started with a Blue+ and a Coral+ but I hated the lavender hue the Coral+ cast on the tank. During the black Friday sales, I grabbed another Blue+ to replace the Coral+ and that got rid of the lavender hue but now the tank was extremely blue with the Kessils running at 60% color. I subsequently increased the color of the Kessils to 75% and am pleased with the "look" of the tank; the "problem child" will likely be the first to object to the lighting changes but all is well so far (knock on wood). Flow About a month ago, I dramatically increased the flow within the sump from roughly 3.5x per hour to 10x per hour. I havent noticed any changes that I can attribute to the additional flow and it significantly increased the amount of noise coming from the overflow. I will continue to monitor for any potential benefits but if none are observed, I'll probably slow it back down decrease the noise level. Flow within the display was increased by roughly 50% with the swap to dual MP40s from the Jebao PP8s I was originally running. Turnover is approximately 35x per hour in the display now with one MP40 on the left side and the other on the right side of the display. This moves the sand around slightly from time to time but has otherwise been great. My only complaints with the WE series is the noise level and the level of maintenance they require over the Jebaos. I've had a massive influx of baby snails the last few months and they've wreaked havoc on the MPs because they're small enough to crawl into the pumps and bind them up (I literally have to tear one down for maintenance a few times a week because of these rotten little critters). Consumption rates Alkalinity and calcium consumption has increased by almost 100% in the last six weeks. I never would have expected the rate to jump by that large of a margin in such a short period of time. While the frags have certainly shown a large amount of growth relative to their size, I grossly underestimated dosing rates during the growth spurt. I've matched the depletion rate now but still need to increase it a bit more to get back to my target level of ~8.0 dKH. Between travel for work the past month and the increased growth, the tank has been running between 6.4-7.2 dKH for the past two or three weeks; everything looks quite good so I cant complain too much. Edited December 14, 2017 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D805 December 14, 2017 Share December 14, 2017 Nice update. Just getting back into the hobby have to agree about that kessil shimmer. Was running MH in the early 2000's and these kessils really give off a good comparable shimmer. Makes me want to replace my AI Hydras on my Red Sea Build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl December 16, 2017 Author Share December 16, 2017 And finally a decent image of the undata. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl December 17, 2017 Author Share December 17, 2017 (edited) When I purchased the toadstool (Sep 2016), it was just a little bit bigger than the baby on the right (guess there was some tissue left behind when I moved it months ago). They're one of my favorites but it's growing rapidly and will have to be rehomed soon. Edited December 17, 2017 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl December 30, 2017 Author Share December 30, 2017 Mr. Goby partied a little too hard last night... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl December 31, 2017 Author Share December 31, 2017 (edited) Sometimes the coolest aspects of reef-keeping are the ones that largely go unnoticed. Edited December 31, 2017 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl December 31, 2017 Author Share December 31, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flooddc January 1, 2018 Share January 1, 2018 The undata looking really good man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl January 2, 2018 Author Share January 2, 2018 (edited) Yea, I'm pleased with how it is coming along though I'm pretty sure something gnaws on it occasionally. Couple of new joins from Darkseeker's tank. Wild acro with yellow tips (not present yet). Forest fire digitata that has started to opened up instantly. And lastly, a Vivid rainbow delight that is less than pleased with today's events (freshly cut and I hooked it up with some epoxy). It will be interesting to see these react as we have vastly different lighting. I have Kessils running 75% color (somewhere in the 12-14000k range) and he is running Radions with the AB+ profile that is 18500k according to the Ecosmart Live app. The rest of my frags from other members have done really well. Epleeds runs T5 only and CustomRide runs MH/T5; frags from their tanks have done well but it would be interesting to see how different those frags look from the colonies they came from at some point. Edited January 2, 2018 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime January 2, 2018 Share January 2, 2018 Love the wild coral, cant wait to see if you get the yellow tip with your lighting. Forrest Fire Digita is one of my faves, I'm glad to see it about a little bit more in the community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl January 3, 2018 Author Share January 3, 2018 Protest over; now time to heal up and encrust! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl January 5, 2018 Author Share January 5, 2018 (edited) This poor little RR Wolverine has had quite a ride the past six months. Not long after placing it in the tank, it was coloring up and doing really well but the cyphastrea that I thought was a good distance away, started growing at mach light and quickly began to infringe on this poor little acroporas frag plug. I moved and cleaned the frag plug of the cyphastrea but it didn't do much in the new location (even started to brown out again). I was out of space and long over due for some house work that included moving and getting rid of some larger corals to free up some space. After getting rid of some stuff, I dropped a new rock in the tank to create some much needed surface area for the transplants, including the Wolverine. It didn't take long to color back up and has started moving outward again. Color is extremely intense now - almost radioactive - and seems to get brighter every day and as an added bonus, it's in a great spot for viewing; it will be awesome to see it mature. Similar to the RR Wolverine, this Cali tort had to be relocated but this time, it was due to inadequate lighting. It had colored up a bit in the initial location however, there was no encrusting happening and I thought it was taking too long so off it went. It colored up quite a bit more in the new location but it still wasnt growing (outward or upward). It looked healthy otherwise so I let it be and finally, after a couple of months, it has started to encrust fairly quickly and is branching. It still has some coloring up to do but the removal of a few other corals in this area has allowed to me to increase lighting intensity. Edited January 5, 2018 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl January 5, 2018 Author Share January 5, 2018 (edited) While completely unintentional, the yellow tang in this image helps illustrate just how intensely yellow the RR Wolverine has become (behind and to the right of the acropora that's in focus). And what I was actually trying to capture was how well "problem child" has colored up. There is still some room for improvement but it's getting quite beautiful and will contrast spectacularly well with the RR Wolverine as they both grow out. Oh yea, the yellow tip has a very mellow, yellowish tip; I expect the base to get a darker blue and hopefully the tips will become more vivid as well. Edited January 5, 2018 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl January 10, 2018 Author Share January 10, 2018 (edited) The little smooth skin has just about healed up now. I had to move it recently because the lepto was starting to grow onto the plug but that didnt seem to set it back much. The taller branch hasn't fully re-encrusted yet but very close (just missing a bit at the tip). I didn't have much hope in saving it initially but something turned around for the better (no clue what caused it unfortunately) The pipe organ was snuffing this one out; that resulted in a small amount of die off and paling out but since the move, it's shown rapid improvement as well. Word of caution, pipe organs are no better than GSP! I think they even grow faster! Edited January 10, 2018 by madweazl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D805 January 10, 2018 Share January 10, 2018 Looking good. Nice growth on your corals. What's your dosing regiment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl January 10, 2018 Author Share January 10, 2018 Nothing fancy; 10% water change every week and dose two part every 90 minutes (16 times daily). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D805 January 11, 2018 Share January 11, 2018 Nothing fancy; 10% water change every week and dose two part every 90 minutes (16 times daily). Looks like its working for you. I need to pick up a dosing pump. Any recommendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl January 12, 2018 Author Share January 12, 2018 I just use the BRS dosing pumps and run them off a Reef Angel. The pumps are pretty noisy when the first start with a "pop" about 80% of the time but aren't too bad while running. Not sure if I'm going to use the same pumps on the 150g yet or not but I don't have anything bad to say about them other than the noise. Oh, they dose about 1.9ml/min vs the 1.1 they're rated for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl January 14, 2018 Author Share January 14, 2018 I cant wait for this coral to grow out; going to be exquisite. Polyps are so vibrant in person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl January 15, 2018 Author Share January 15, 2018 Been a slow grower but it's a nice looking coral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl January 17, 2018 Author Share January 17, 2018 I was surfing the interwebz the other day and stumble across the photo below which looked to be a match the frag I refer to as "problem child." I contacted the member that had posted the picture in the hopes of identifying the coral and they responded quickly, stating it was an ORA blue voodoo. Heh, if it is the same coral, no wonder I call it problem child LOL. After doing a bit more digging on the coral, it looks like it may actually be an ORA Borealis but Roscoe's is another possibility. In the end, I dont much care about the given name but I'd like to ID the actual species but I'm still terrible with acroporas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl January 19, 2018 Author Share January 19, 2018 My CUC has been dwindling and I've kept procrastinating on putting in another order to bring it back up to where it should be. While the tank looks pretty good and everything is doing well, I figured I better get this done before it's too late. Should have some new critters coming in next week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D805 January 19, 2018 Share January 19, 2018 I was surfing the interwebz the other day and stumble across the photo below which looked to be a match the frag I refer to as "problem child." I contacted the member that had posted the picture in the hopes of identifying the coral and they responded quickly, stating it was an ORA blue voodoo. Heh, if it is the same coral, no wonder I call it problem child LOL. After doing a bit more digging on the coral, it looks like it may actually be an ORA Borealis but Roscoe's is another possibility. In the end, I dont much care about the given name but I'd like to ID the actual species but I'm still terrible with acroporas. Beautiful looking coral. My CUC has been dwindling and I've kept procrastinating on putting in another order to bring it back up to where it should be. While the tank looks pretty good and everything is doing well, I figured I better get this done before it's too late. Should have some new critters coming in next week Where you ordering your CUC from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madweazl January 19, 2018 Author Share January 19, 2018 I use Reef Cleaners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D805 January 19, 2018 Share January 19, 2018 I've used them before. Great customer service and CUC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now