Howdy,
I had a thread in the general forum but frankly all I care about is SPS, and some of my other corals are getting moved or kicked out as the obsession grows, so I figured a thread in here, away from the masses, might be a good idea.
I've only been in the hobby since February 2012, first with a 40 breeder, then adding a 46 bowfront, and then combining those into this 150.
Latest FTS
Equipment List:
- Marineland/Perfecto 150 gallon (72x18x27) tank with dual corner Durso overflows and glass tops
- 2 - MP40's (one on the 40, new one purchased)
- Ecotech Battery Backup
- 2 - WP25's for flow along the back wall
- Maxspect Razor 300W 16K (43.5"), Razor 160W 16K (27"), BuildMyLED Custom strip (~18K), T5HO (Coral+)
- Trigger Systems Ruby 36S sump (36x15x16)
- Reef Octopus XP-2000 Cone Skimmer
- EHEIM 1262 for the return pump
- Timed Topoff with Kalk
- APEX Controller
- Bubble Magus Doser for Alk and Calcium, manually add Mg
Current params (Salifert kits), stable for over a month now:
8.5 KH
440 CA
1350 Mg
PH 7.9 - 8.1
Nitrates < 1
Phosphate 0 ( I don't believe it)
My first big issue was PH. My controller and lab grade PH probe kept showing PH dropping below 7.7 at night and below 7.6 at least twice. The addition of Kalk in my topoff and running the skimmer intake to a window fixed that issue, plus a break in the weather allowed us to open up more.
After some of the corals started to fade/bleach last month I did some research and found that most success with LED's comes from raising the fixtures up, keeping the whites lower than the blues, and supplementing the light to compensate for the sharp point source issues LED have.
My solution was a custom BuildMyLED strip similar to their 20K but slightly warmer. This fixture helps light the front of the tank while a couple of old T5 2 bulb fixtures help with the back of the tank. After the change I tested PAR and made sure no acro was getting above 300.
Since the change I've been regaining good color in all acros so hopefully I'm on the right track now.
Daily Feeding:
- Assorted Flake Food 3 times a day
- A pinch of Reef Roids, usually in the sump return chamber and stirred up
- A cap of AcroPower + a cap of Kent Coral Accel
I feed frozen once or twice a week, PE Mysis and Cyclopese. I was dosing 2 caps of AcroPower a day but started growing some cyano plus some strange brown stringy stuff that faded rapidly once I reduced the dosage.
My oldest SPS is the big purple stylophora given to me by a local coral shop as a great beginner SPS. It's lived through 2 crashes that killed most of my other corals. My oldest acro is the Green Slimer which lived through AEFW and Bayer treatment when I had an outbreak in my 40 over a year ago. I now dip all new acro arrivals in Bayer thanks to that experience.
I have an obsession with trying to color up unknown frags of acros. My latest 3 here on my fraggle rock:
Other pics...
"Fuzzy Purple" with a colorless Strawberry Shortcake on the left
Newer unknown
"Blue Stag" which has since browned significantly.
Working on improving my blue light photo skills.
So the challenge will be if I can grow these acros and maintain or improve colors. Obviously Birdsnests, Stylos, and Pocillopora have not been an issue, but I have yet to match the colors of some of the better SPS tanks here, so that's my goal. Thanks for looking.