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Unread 10/19/2014, 07:15 AM   #26
Fishy 1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by markalot View Post
Only question is, will I accidentally drop the camera in the water?
That is the question we are all wait to have answered

Quote:
Originally Posted by markalot
I think the bubble algae looks better from the top too
I completely lost it when I read that


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Unread 10/20/2014, 06:31 AM   #27
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Had a small frag, one that's been in this tank but not growing for months, RTN over night. It had some recession at the base last month and now it appears to be kicking the bucket. Hopefully it's isolated. There seem to be certain types of acros I can't grown, smaller branched and deeply colored always give me issues. I have a similar looking frag on my frag rock I haven't mounted yet because it looks at me funny.

It's the little purple nub in this photo, in the upper left, to the right of the turd which I've moved up to better enjoy it's browness.



So I mounted most of my frags, which required me to trim the slimer and the big purple stylo. Took two hands to clip the stylo and I broke off a little more than planned.

Just a few frags.





Right side with the frags scattered around the rocks.



FTS




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Last edited by markalot; 10/20/2014 at 06:45 AM.
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Unread 10/20/2014, 07:29 PM   #28
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Things look good to me! Sometimes I've found that pieces can go up in smoke for no apparent reason. As long as its an isolated incident, I wouldn't worry about it... if two, three or more pieces, and/or established pieces, starting following suit, then time to be concerned.


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Unread 10/20/2014, 08:10 PM   #29
Fishy 1
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Tank looks great Mark. Sorry about the Acro troubles, were in the same boat with that one.


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Unread 10/20/2014, 08:16 PM   #30
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Things look good to me! Sometimes I've found that pieces can go up in smoke for no apparent reason. As long as its an isolated incident, I wouldn't worry about it... if two, three or more pieces, and/or established pieces, starting following suit, then time to be concerned.
Thanks for the reassurance. I haven't lost a coral in so long it took effort not to freak out. I ran the gamut of tests and found a few issues.

Alk 9.6 -- this has been slowly creeping up from 9.1 over a week ago and my goal is 8.5 so I reduced the daily dose another 5ml for both 2 parts. I measured 9.3 yesterday but that's probably a testing or timing issue.

Calcium 450 -- I always dose equal two parts so I let this drift where it wants.

Magnesium ~ 1650 - woops I guess I'll stop adding it weekly and let it drift down.

I've also started adding 25ml/gallon of vinegar to my topoff Kalk mixture to increase the potency and save me $$ and this might be the reason Alk is rising.

Here's the coral. It was a very nice purple with green outlines around the polyps. It looks to have stopped losing skin, for now.




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Unread 10/20/2014, 08:16 PM   #31
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Tank looks great Mark. Sorry about the Acro troubles, were in the same boat with that one.
Thanks Rory. Silly acros anyway.


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Unread 10/21/2014, 03:32 AM   #32
Fishy 1
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Thanks Rory. Silly acros anyway.
Yeah who needs them anyway


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Unread 10/21/2014, 03:50 AM   #33
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Thanks Rory. Silly acros anyway.
The words silly and acros do not belong in the same sentence Mark, i'll let it slide this time................

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Yeah who needs them anyway
Oh that's good to know Rory, i'll chuck your frags down in the sump for Barry to munch on then will i ?

We can all joke around and have a good old time but don't be slagging acros........... not ever.......


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Unread 10/21/2014, 04:33 AM   #34
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Haha lol, I was only joking mate. So please don't go chucking said frags to the muncher . I intend to have a SPS dominant tank eventually (when I can keep them alive). So when that time comes I will be anything but a Acro joker and will defend all things Acro with passion.


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Unread 10/21/2014, 04:47 AM   #35
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Lol don't worry mate, your frags are safe under a blue force field - 400W Radium

Btw Mark, i forgot to mention how good the colors are on your corals and how healthy the whole display is looking - good work mate.
How much Mg are you dosing compared to your alk dose. For my system it's about 30ml for every 130ml of alk and calcium. When i wasn't doing weekly 20% water changes it was more like 30ml to 100ml. I keep 7.5, 410 and 1300 pretty solidly atm with just measurable nitrates.


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Unread 10/21/2014, 05:37 AM   #36
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Lol don't worry mate, your frags are safe under a blue force field - 400W Radium

Btw Mark, i forgot to mention how good the colors are on your corals and how healthy the whole display is looking - good work mate.
How much Mg are you dosing compared to your alk dose. For my system it's about 30ml for every 130ml of alk and calcium. When i wasn't doing weekly 20% water changes it was more like 30ml to 100ml. I keep 7.5, 410 and 1300 pretty solidly atm with just measurable nitrates.
Thanks Biggles!

Wait, I'm supposed to measure? I was doing a glug or so a week from my big jug of Tech-M. I'll start measuring I suppose ... if I have too. I'm going to bring my Alk slowly down to 8.5 and then think about going a bit lower depending on how things look. Thanks for the info on your Mg ratio, that's a big help and a great place for me to start.

The little coral nub didn't lose anymore skin last night. /shrug


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Unread 10/21/2014, 05:58 AM   #37
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Barry ...

I had a Flame Angel way back when I had my 40 gallon running. Beautiful fish that nipped at every stick in the place. I had even nursed it back to health from a bad case of popeye and some kind of discoloration on it's skin.

Look at baby Clown and baby slimer.



I took him back to the LFS where he sold for $70 and got a few free frags, most of which are long gone.

Also learned a good lesson about Hydnophora.

Even my Pipe Organ is in this one, which was reduced to just a couple of polyps by a huge aptasia infestation and then one of my two bad tank crashes. Now it's bigger than ever and growing fast. Pipe Organ is one of those corals that will do well in less than ideal conditions but really take off in good conditions.


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Unread 10/24/2014, 06:02 AM   #38
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Top down photos.

One of my few frags bought from another reefer, this is the best looking acro in my tank, hands down. It doesn't look nearly this good when viewed from the front.

Best guess is either nasuta or subulata


sarmentosa?


I think jacquelineae? The white spot bothers me. There is skin there but it's very light.


ORA Plum Crazy .. bleached, browned, recovering. I had one of these in an older bowfront tank and threw it out because it appeared infested with AEFW. Ha, oops, looks like it has an interesting habit of forming white clear corallites on the stem.


New unknown $10 frag with bright blue polyps.


Purple Fuzz (A&M) unknown


I really like this one, a random frag with bright blue tips and the blue is spreading down the branch.


Another random frag, intense green under blue lights.


UC "Rainbow" milli starting to color up


Random milli frag. This thing grows fast!



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Unread 10/24/2014, 06:07 AM   #39
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A few non acros ...

My favorite Poci, green with a bright yellow base. Of course it doesn't spread while the others bail out on a regular basis.


ORA Ponape birdsnest


My oldest SPS, Purple Stylophora.


Thanks for looking!


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Unread 10/24/2014, 06:41 AM   #40
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Very nice Mark, before I had my Acro disaster I had a Sarmentosa and it looked just like your one (not the color). I love that poci, just stunning


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Unread 10/24/2014, 06:44 AM   #41
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Very nice Mark, before I had my Acro disaster I had a Sarmentosa and it looked just like your one (not the color). I love that poci, just stunning
Thanks Rori. You'll be here someday too, just need some more time with the tank. I don't think I'll ever achieve the colors of some of the "master" sps keepers, but good enough for me. My bubble algae is looking quite fetching, don't ya think?


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Unread 10/24/2014, 07:37 AM   #42
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I hope your right mark.
These are the three rules of reefing that I'm going to put in my Sig tomorrow.

To have a successful reef you need three things.

1. Knowledge, you need to know what you're doing.
2. Patients, things don't happen fast in this hobby and if they do its usually disastrous.
3. Money, you can't be a reefer without lots of it.

I think the bubble algae is coming on well, but if you want better growth, did suggest uping the po4 and no3


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Unread 10/24/2014, 09:30 AM   #43
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Mark, many nice colorful new frags.


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Unread 10/24/2014, 10:27 AM   #44
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Thanks Bernie.


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Unread 11/26/2014, 12:59 AM   #45
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Very nice - loaded with lots of sweet potential & possibilities. Looking forward to seeing these frags grow out.


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Unread 11/26/2014, 02:25 AM   #46
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Hey Mark, love those last sets of pics mate How are things going with the tank and the SPS.


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Unread 11/26/2014, 06:42 AM   #47
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Brown, brown, more brown, stn. I spiked alk soon after taking these pics and have yet to fully recover.


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Unread 11/26/2014, 08:52 AM   #48
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Tank thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...8#post23282548

SPS forum brought nothing but bad luck. I'll return here once I can actually grow colorful sticks. Silly green slimer has never looked better.


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Unread 09/06/2015, 03:29 PM   #49
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Well

It's been a few months shy of a year now and things are looking up, and hopefully I won't jinx it.

Short version of what has changed ....
  • Switched to T5 with LED supplement.
  • Recently reduced light cycle so tank is dark for 13 hours.
  • Recently reduced PAR so 400 is the highest any acro receives.
  • Took GFO offline
  • Added Biopellets and am dosing CaNO3 to keep nitrates between 5 and 10 while letting the pellets reduce PO4 with the NO3 reduction.

Since getting rid of GFO I have not lost any acros or had any recession. I believe I was swinging PO4 all over the place without realizing it and really doing a number on some of the corals. It seems to be dosing Nitrates in order to reduce Phosphates is more consistent and the change is slow enough acros don't show any reaction to the changes.

Tank is now a little over 1 year old and that might have a lot to do with it as well. Enough rambling, on to the latest photos.

Throughout all the tank issues my slimer continued to grow.















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Unread 09/06/2015, 03:52 PM   #50
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Wow Mark, everything is looking really colorful, glad to see things are going well!


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