Mark's 150 gallon

[markalot]

The nasuta, which has always had good color, is losing some of it, however other corals are doing quite well.

Finally I have real pink on the pink milli.



But the real success is from the SSC, it's actually growing. This is a frag from purchased over a year ago.


Moved the Red Planet up and to the other side of the tank in more flow. Seems to be doing well and maintaining decent color.



Trying to get a picture of the Lokani ... you wouldn't guess I just fed these fish not 15 minutes earlier!


The slimer is a pretty good indication of PO4 ... if the tips turn yellow PO4 tends to be elevated. I had to clean the glass for the first time in a week so obviously I let them drop way too low.

[MichaelW]

Every time I see those stags I drool a little bit.

[reefmutt]

+1
I might have mentioned how much I like them...
They look so good together!

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by markalot

The nasuta, which has always had good color, is losing some of it, however other corals are doing quite well.

Finally I have real pink on the pink milli.



But the real success is from the SSC, it's actually growing. This is a frag from purchased over a year ago.


Moved the Red Planet up and to the other side of the tank in more flow. Seems to be doing well and maintaining decent color.



Trying to get a picture of the Lokani ... you wouldn't guess I just fed these fish not 15 minutes earlier!


The slimer is a pretty good indication of PO4 ... if the tips turn yellow PO4 tends to be elevated. I had to clean the glass for the first time in a week so obviously I let them drop way too low.

That's one sexy stick forest!

[markalot]

Originally Posted by MichaelW

Every time I see those stags I drool a little bit.

Thanks Mike.

Originally Posted by reefmutt

+1
I might have mentioned how much I like them...
They look so good together!

Thanks. Lucky placement, I had no idea the blue stag would grow so fast.

Originally Posted by mhucasey

That's one sexy stick forest!

Thanks Matt.

The Nasuta continues to look unhealthy, I may have to break it off and dip it, however everything else is improving. The Horrida has gained a racing stripe.



I did my first water change in here since breaking my back. 25 gallon Brute on wheels for dirty water, with a cheap pond pump to drain it. I've been slowly switching back to Kent reef salt, the salt I used when I first started in the hobby, mixing at around 50/50 with Red Sea blue bucket. I've also been slowly raising Calcium from the 400 where it's been for a while up to 450 to better match the elevated levels of Kent. KH remains at 7.8.

A few more pics.

Closeup of the Jacquelineae, not the prettiest coral but has potential and at the moment is growing like crazy.


My stylos, purple and Orchid. Kind of wishing I added some more Chromis, they love to hang out in the stylo/stag forest and they look darn good. Why the long face?




The slimer used to have 4 dead areas at the base, now only one is visible. Skin almost blue way down there and looking extremely healthy ... why can't all acros be this easy? I'm ignoring the fact the Red Robin might look a little more red, I don't believe it. How awesome would it be to have a red, blue, and green stag forest?


After the water change the Sarmentosa was showing unusually strong polyp extension.


This little frag is still the one I watch the most. It shows a sky blue color occasionally and I suspect if I can achieve more stability and higher water quality this might be a real stunner.


FTS

[Wazzel]

Tank looks really nice Mark. Love the blue stag.

[markalot]

A few more things ....

I replaced the wet side of my left MP40 (with quiet drive controller mod) with the newer QD wet side. The change is that the top solid area was removed so the cage is similar to the MP10, meaning it tends to suck in air if positioned too close to the surface. Flow IS noticeably stronger. I did the QD upgrade because my old controller dies, so that's two things that have broken on this pump.

I re-aimed the RW-15 on the back left to improve circulation around the stags, I worry this will be a big issue as they get larger however the increased flow from the MP40 helps tremendously. I credit the health of the Horrida to the RW-15 on the other side of the tank aimed directly at it. Without a crap ton of flow the Horrida will quickly show reduced polyp extension and then skin loss.

[markalot]

Originally Posted by Wazzel

Tank looks really nice Mark. Love the blue stag.

Thanks Mark!

[rholguin]

Tank looks amazing!!!! Love the center two stags.

[plyle02]

Mark,
Tank looks great man, keep up the awesome work, those stags are cool Anyway, all your corals look great and the PE looks nice as well

[markalot]

Originally Posted by plyle02

Mark,
Tank looks great man, keep up the awesome work, those stags are cool Anyway, all your corals look great and the PE looks nice as well

Thanks Perry!

Some of my acros are doing quite well but honestly I almost nuked the tank with a series of unchecked newbie mistakes.

I changed bulbs.
I lowered fan speed to increase PAR.
I added some carbon to clear the water.
I reduced vinegar to clear up the water from having too much bacteria (vinegar + biopellets).

I OWN a PAR meter, but it doesn't work unless I use the damn thing.

My PAR goal is 400 at the base of the highest acro and 200 on the sandbed. I was near 600 and 350 on the sandbed. Golly, I wonder why my chalices croaked? I haven't even cleaned the glass lids. Combine this with the fact I had been feeding less due to the back injury and I suppose it could have been worse.

I raised the fixture and put a couple of actinic bulbs in to help lower the PAR.

Bulb lineup is coral (Gieseman version), actinic, blue, coral, actinic, blue.

I also had to lower the LED intensity a bit. I will be watching KH very closely because I expect usage could drop here for a bit. The slimer was getting about 700 PAR and loving it.

I've lowered the output of the biopellet reactor and reduced vinegar in the topoff to 15ml a gallon from 20ml.

Did a full set of tests, just in case.

KH 8.0
Ca 410
Mg 1330
NO3 2.5
PO4 < .05
Salinity 35ppt

Another clue I ignored is how healthy the corals on the frag racks were doing compared to under the main lights. I saved 3 frags from my big purple Duncan colony that died a horrible death. I placed 2 of these on frag racks and one in the rocks. The one in the rocks is nearly dead. Very low nutrients plus a crap ton of light will do that.

Now I have to find the balance where everyone will be reasonably happy.

This acro was hit the hardest, but you can see healthy skin making a comeback already.


I did more pest checks, with flash, of the AEFW magnets and found nothing, plus those bite/scratch marks are gone so perhaps it was a nutrient issue all along.

My big Valida is receding, hopefully the lighting and nutrient fix stops this.


Other than that most of the acros look healthy, with nice puffy skin. I love this one, sitting on the top of the "dong" on the left side. Seemingly unphased by lighting or nutrients.


Wild acro frags on the left frag rack showing good color and healthy.


Miami Orchid (impossible to photo) could care less.


Slimer never cares.


Teal is the same way.


Now I must be careful not to overdo any changes. I've diluted the Kalk in anticipation of a KH rise. Will evaluate daily but I would rather be sitting at 7.5 then 8.0 so a slow drop will be good.

[mhucasey]

We are working in parallel here - It must be Murphy's law week! I had the lights drop in the water, which ended up burning out some bulbs, leading to changing the bulb layout to a brighter mix. I added sand which was like putting a mirror on the bottom, and changed the photoperiod. I shudder to think how high the par is in there. To top that off I over adjusted the Bopellet reactor so it was just recirculating the same goop over and over. So far only lost a couple of frags, but its crazy how the tank disasters snowball!

Its good that you can see the recovery happening that quickly, thats a very good sign. Its also a good thing that you are anticipating an ALK change, just be careful to not overthink/overadjust.

Oh, and I'm still super jealous of your Teal stag. When spring comes we should swap some frags. I'm growing a big crop of my best corals as frags as we speak

[markalot]

Originally Posted by mhucasey

We are working in parallel here - It must be Murphy's law week! I had the lights drop in the water, which ended up burning out some bulbs, leading to changing the bulb layout to a brighter mix. I added sand which was like putting a mirror on the bottom, and changed the photoperiod. I shudder to think how high the par is in there. To top that off I over adjusted the Bopellet reactor so it was just recirculating the same goop over and over. So far only lost a couple of frags, but its crazy how the tank disasters snowball!

Its good that you can see the recovery happening that quickly, thats a very good sign. Its also a good thing that you are anticipating an ALK change, just be careful to not overthink/overadjust.

Oh, and I'm still super jealous of your Teal stag. When spring comes we should swap some frags. I'm growing a big crop of my best corals as frags as we speak

Yea, Murphy's law.

Colors are coming back quickly, I'm quite surprised at how fast. Is it the lower light, less vinegar, both? The actinic bulbs really seem to be bringing out some more colors as well.

I have never shipped a coral but I've got a lot of folks pining over that blue stag, which I thought was common but haven't seen it for sale since I bought it. Check a store called salty underground. They have one listed, Aquacultured Blue Acro Coral, that may be it. I was told it had been grown for years by a local hobbyist who brings in frags from time to time. I was buying berghia and added this to my order on a lark.

Make sure to dip for pests and triple check.


After 2 dips...



it was a solid light blue when I got it, I have yet to achieve that color.

3 weeks after i got it was the great Alk spike of 2014 that browned or killed half of my acros.

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by markalot

Yea, Murphy's law.

Colors are coming back quickly, I'm quite surprised at how fast. Is it the lower light, less vinegar, both? The actinic bulbs really seem to be bringing out some more colors as well.

I have never shipped a coral but I've got a lot of folks pining over that blue stag, which I thought was common but haven't seen it for sale since I bought it. Check a store called salty underground. They have one listed, Aquacultured Blue Acro Coral, that may be it. I was told it had been grown for years by a local hobbyist who brings in frags from time to time. I was buying berghia and added this to my order on a lark.

Make sure to dip for pests and triple check.


After 2 dips...



it was a solid light blue when I got it, I have yet to achieve that color.

3 weeks after i got it was the great Alk spike of 2014 that browned or killed half of my acros.

I've never shipped one either, but that stag is anything but ordinary. We will talk in the spring. Right now shipped frags would probably freeze!

[MichaelW]

If you do start shipping out frags of that teal let me know 2! I love your combo of slimer and teal

[reefmutt]

Glad to see you are on your feet!
I love your fts. Looks great!
Nice macros as well.

[markalot]

Originally Posted by MichaelW

If you do start shipping out frags of that teal let me know 2! I love your combo of slimer and teal

Thanks Mike, I will be sure to let you know but honestly I dread even thinking about shipping.

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Glad to see you are on your feet!
I love your fts. Looks great!
Nice macros as well.

Thanks Matt!

Took a bunch of topdowns until the back started to protest. The actinics seem to be either fooling the camera (and my eyes) or creating some new colors in the corals.

Here's the acro the browned out big time and appears to be recovering. Normal color is green with purple highlights. Note the brown base, which was green just a couple of weeks ago.


The Lokani is getting purple on it now. To the right is the Hawkins echi which browned and lost a few tips but continues to encrust.


Jacquelineae is growing fast but look at all the brown.


I threatened to get rid of this one but it's slowly showing more and more color. Tips have a distinct almost pink color to them with more green showing up in the interior.


Maricultured Valida might be showing some green lower on the branches.


I get nervous even looking at this frag. It was a nice size UC super blue tenuis and a rapid PO4 drop killed all but a tip that I saved by snipping and super gluing to this frag plug. Finally, after 6 months, I see new encrusting. Whew!


Right hand frag rack, illuminated by the main lights with the help from two old BML strips well above the tank. PAR is still low, 200 or a little less, and yet colors are doing quite well. Middle bottom is a frag of the Jacquelineae that I accidentally broke off some time ago. It did not brown. Why?


Artsy pic of the teals tag. I have to be careful, I can almost hit this tip with the topdown box.


From the other frag rack, under a single old BML strip and even lower PAR. Saved this branch from a dying maricultured colony.


One more teal.

[joshky]

Man you have some gorgeous SPS mark, nice update!

[biggles]

Originally Posted by joshky

Man you have some gorgeous SPS mark, nice update!

Couldn't have said it better Josh, that teal stag makes all mine look like rubbish Mark.

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by markalot

Artsy pic of the teals tag. I have to be careful, I can almost hit this tip with the topdown box.



One more teal.

You should do more top downs of the teal stag...don't worry about hitting it with the box, thats how baby corals are made

The Lokani looks good no matter what shade its showing, and things are looking pretty good all around. That first Acro is the old avatar one, right?

[nemodan]

Happy Thanksgiving day Mark.

Tank and corals looks amazing !!! Those stags are so nice. I hope one day my tank looks like yours.

Cheers
Daniel

[glaukos]

beauty pics bud,thanks for sharing

[Wrangy]

Loooking really really nice Mark!! As everyone keeps saying those stags are to die for! but the lokani I would kill for

[reefmutt]

Dom, not if I killed you first!
Love that lokani!!
Nice shots! Feel free to go all artsy whenever you get the urge!

[markalot]

Originally Posted by joshky

Man you have some gorgeous SPS mark, nice update!

Thanks Josh!

Originally Posted by biggles

Couldn't have said it better Josh, that teal stag makes all mine look like rubbish Mark.

Appreciate the kind words, even if you'er wrong Andrew.

Originally Posted by mhucasey

You should do more top downs of the teal stag...don't worry about hitting it with the box, thats how baby corals are made

The Lokani looks good no matter what shade its showing, and things are looking pretty good all around. That first Acro is the old avatar one, right?

Ha! Yep, same one, thanks.

Originally Posted by nemodan

Happy Thanksgiving day Mark.

Tank and corals looks amazing !!! Those stags are so nice. I hope one day my tank looks like yours.

Cheers
Daniel

Thanks Daniel, but you know I'm trying to get mine to look like yours!

Originally Posted by glaukos

beauty pics bud,thanks for sharing

Originally Posted by Wrangy

Loooking really really nice Mark!! As everyone keeps saying those stags are to die for! but the lokani I would kill for

If only it was Firetruck red! Thanks Dom.

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Dom, not if I killed you first!
Love that lokani!!
Nice shots! Feel free to go all artsy whenever you get the urge!

Ha, thanks.

And thanks everyone for the kind words, it really means a lot.