chips growth sequence

[psteeleb]

here is my chips growth sequence (at least this was sold to me as a Chips acro - and it looks like a younger one I got from ORA)

1 month after I got it
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh283/psteeleb/chips0610.jpg

2 months
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh283/psteeleb/chips0611.jpg

3 months
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh283/psteeleb/chips0612.jpg

4 months
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh283/psteeleb/chips0701.jpg

8 months
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh283/psteeleb/chips0705.jpg

11 months
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh283/psteeleb/chips0708.jpg

18 months (about a month ago)
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh283/psteeleb/chips0804a.jpg

top down (also a month ago)
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh283/psteeleb/chips0804top.jpg

[chadfarmer]

they grow fast

[57vert]

awesome, simply awesome

[mixed_reefer]

very nice!

[fishfanatic06]

Tank specs please, thanks!

[Brewen]

Great series, thanks for sharing.

[psteeleb]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1320654

above is a link to my log, here is a brief

-280g RR, 40g sump w/ fuge, 3600gph sequence dart return
-3 250w MH run for 10 hours
-2 400w MH run for about an hour and a half (I just changed light reflectors and ballasts)
-VHO atincs
-Dose using Randy's DIY 2 part
-4 koralia #4s
-850gph closed loop
-performance marine bullet 2 skimmer
-carbon reactor (TLF)
-2 phosban reactors (TLF)

[BradR]

OMG I'm jealous. What alk/Ca/Mg you running. Feed much? Flow?

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12432052#post12432052 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BradR
OMG I'm jealous. What alk/Ca/Mg you running. Feed much? Flow?

thanks

Alk - I seem to always struggle keeping Alk up. It typically runs in the high 6's to low 8's. I have to overdose the 2 part but I'm finding out I may have been dosing too fast causing some precip. Regardless, with exception to a couple coral types, I have had very good growth.

Ca - always hits around 500, was even higher in the early months as I was dosing purple up plus I think I was getting some leaching from some DIY portland cement rocks

Mg - runs aorund 1350, it was pretty low about two weeks at 1280 so I dosed up some to 1480 and will have to monitor it and change my dosing schedule to keep it from dropping.

Feeding - I'm still playing, initially I was dosing DT's and Marine snow twice a week. Daily fish feedings included a cube of cyclopseze but I cut this back to every other day (the fish also get pellets and mysis).

I've been making some changes to the tank; lighting, aquascape etc and cutting back on softies to make more room for SPS. I'm also treating for AEFW's and once I get these controlled and things back to a normal routine I may go back to the higher dosing levels as I seemed to be getting more color and growth. But it could be the light changes so I want to give it some time.

This coral has lost some, if not all of it's purple, and I want to get it back. It may be that it's getting a lot more light with my new Lumabrites and shifted to green accordingly. This in mind, I'm thinking about lowering it down about 8" to see how it does. To do this I needed to get rid of some softies and then build in another shelf area.

Color loss could be attributed to several things or combination of things. Is suspect lighting is at the top of the list. Other contributers may include feeding less, having my hands in the tanks more, less frequent water changes and my Ozone generater dying on me (reducing skimmer effectiveness).

[DurTBear]

That is absolutely beautiful and amazing. Been on a search for ORA Chips for a while now and this is exactly why!

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12435421#post12435421 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DurTBear
That is absolutely beautiful and amazing. Been on a search for ORA Chips for a while now and this is exactly why!

thank you

here's my other chips from about 3 months ago
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh283/psteeleb/chips2-26a.jpg

I moved it near the other one and with the more intense lighting it also lost it's purple and turned more green as seen here, taken about a month ago
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh283/psteeleb/chips.jpg

[nismo driver]

WOW that was nice to start with but really turned into a beauty the way it tabled out.. just really shows how much these corals can change in appearance from frag to full blown colony. fantastic

[PSam]

Gorgeous coral!

[Ti]

looks great!

[OnlyCrimson]

wow, yeah i want one.

[BradR]

Thanks for the info. Off to check my Mg..