Ainara's reef - Work in progress

[reefmutt]

Originally Posted by markalot

Looking good.

Bacto balance sure is an interesting product, I like the way it provides PO4 and NO3 to make sure the tank doesn't starve. I have yet to find it available in the states.

Mark, Bulent had sourced a shop in Europe that was willing to ship to Canada.. maybe they'll ship to the US as well.... well, at least until Trump gets into office. Then, all bets are off.

[kainic]

Last update of the year.

Routine/dosing changes:

Dec 19th --> Increased TM Bacto Balance to 1.5ml per day. It's the recommended dose in the instructions.
Dec 8th --> Started dosing Brightwell Neophos to increase my phosphate readings to check if my aquarium was phosphate limited. I'm dosing 1ml to increase phosphates by 0.02ppm. In less than a week my nitrates dropped from 50ppm to 10-17.5ppm (more than 10 but less than 25 in Salifert test). Phosphates have been around 0.01-0.05.
Started to feed a pinch of flakes in the morning so feeding thrice per day. Flake in the morning, 1 cube of frozen food at midday and 1 cube of frozen food at noon.

These are the only changes as per my routines. We have to sum the addition of the female Genicanthus Melanospilos (Dec 5th), so we should expect a higher nitrate reading if anything.

Some corals show now a better polyp extension and a slight change in color. I'll keep this routine and check phosphate 3 times per week to avoid overdosing.

Milleporas and tenius had hard times in my tank and all except 1 died in 2 weeks since introduction. Last week I bought a tenius to test my tank, I really like tenius but was unable to keep them alive.



Not the best color and polyp extension could be better but it's alive and much more happy than any tenius has ever been in my tank.

Red planet has decided it's time to grow some branches.




2 maricultured recent additions. No idea of the species, so I'd be very pleased if you can ID them.



My tricolor is now getting some color and increasing its polyp extension.


Even my LPS are thriving now! A Red Goniopora happy as a clam!


I need to improve my photography skills, but first of all I'm trying to improve my reefing skills.

I wish you RC community a happy new year. Best wishes for you all.

[reefmutt]

What a dramatic improvement on that red planet!
Looking much better, Sergi.
Glad to see the phos helped bring down the n!

[kainic]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

What a dramatic improvement on that red planet!

Yeah! Now also the SSC has improved its color, from a pale pink everywhere to a reddish pink with green base.


Phone pic of my Icefire echinata. Bought it 2 months ago and placed in a shaded area. Its polyp extension has always been good, but lately I'd say its really great. Moved to a zone with more light and more flow to see if I can get a better color.
Today my Nitrate reading was 7.5ppm, lowest in months if not a year. I'll try to keep it there for a while.

[kainic]

Got my hands on a Tamron 90mm macro for my DSLR. I previously got a Nikkor Micro 55mm (old school macro lens) but its focal length was too short, so I replaced it with the Tamron lens (not as sharp but its focal its perfect for aquarium photography).

I followed some of the tips Reefmutt posted in his thread. I still need to shoot hundreds of pictures to get the touch, but if you compare this picture with the one in my previous post you'll see that this lens has its potential.


My Red Planet keeps morphing. Improving PE everyday and getting a deeper color. Brightwell Nephos has a lot to say in this change. Even dosing 1ml per day (should increase my phosphate by 0,016) my readings are constantly under 0.02 so I increased the dose to 1.5ml daily.


This week I'll get my so much desired Montipora setosa frag. It will have a dedicated rock, so it can grow as much as it wants. Hope it survives the cold trip and it adapts well to my aquarium. /crossfingers

My vermetid snail population is getting plague dimensions so I introduced 4 Engina mendicaria snails to reduce its population. Bumble bee snails are a natural predator for vermetid snails but also predate on snails smaller than them so I will have to watch them close. Theorically they do not reproduce in our aquariums, so its population will be under control. They are being pretty active but I have not seen them in the act of eating a vermetid snail, yet. I'll keep you informed.

Thanks for reading

[reefmutt]

Originally Posted by kainic

Got my hands on a Tamron 90mm macro for my DSLR.

Hey Sergi. This is very very pretty!
I love this shot.
Very nice detail, clarity and shallow depth of field that really accentuates the polyps. .
It's colour looks way better as well.
Do you have a top down viewing box?

[kainic]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Hey Sergi. This is very very pretty!
I love this shot.
Very nice detail, clarity and shallow depth of field that really accentuates the polyps. .
It's colour looks way better as well.
Do you have a top down viewing box?

Thanks for the compliments. I don't have a top viewing box... yet. It's on my purchase list but when you need to populate the tank with more corals it's hard to spend on other things.

Setosa, yongei and sarmentosa incoming. I'll update with pictures later this week.

[reefmutt]

I hear you.. corals take precedence over everything!!

[kainic]

Some pictures I took yesterday. Hope you enjoy!













Loving the Tamron 90 lens

[reefmutt]

Very nice shots, Sergi!
Love the acro crab and the bushy pavona.

[kainic]

Updating with some topdown shots

My beloved SSC


A small frag of Acropora sarmentosa


I was looking for an Acropora desalwii for quite long. I think it was worth to be patient.


Slowly going where I want it to be.


Enviado desde mi SM-G900F mediante Tapatalk

[reefmutt]

Really beautiful shots Sergi!
Love that desalwi as well.
Very similar looking to plana
What about an updated fts?

[sahin]

What a turn around for your corals. I think the corals were starving. What do you think?

[kainic]

Originally Posted by sahin

What a turn around for your corals. I think the corals were starving. What do you think?

I totally think they were starving.

What's the current state of the tank. Still high NO3, even higher (50ppm) and PO4 around (0.07-0.1). Some people said that they needed their PO4 to reach 0.2 to see their NO3 decrease. Ed (Big E) started a nice discussion in Matt's thread (here) about ratios. I'm far from the "ideal" ratio for the bacteria to work. Now I'm having a Marine Pure 8*4*4 block, 3l of Siporax and carbon dosing. Not sure what route should I take. I'm happy with the survival and pretty ahppy with the colour of some corals but I know that lower levels would give me the colour I'm looking for.

I did rearrange my scape because I almost had no space on the sides between rock and glass. The corals did feel the change and lost some color.

I'm now battling AEFW. Found them in my A. florida when doing my rock basting routine. When I saw them I blamed myself for not realising before. The colony showed poor polyp extension and lost some colour and I did not relate it to any pest. D*mn!

I purchased a Macropharyngodon bipartitus, 4 Chrysiptera springeri and started dosing Zeovit Flatworm Stop. I do baste my colonies every second day and dip my frags twice per week. I'll keep with this routine for 8 weeks and see if I can manage the infestation. If I see not positive results, I'll have to chisel encrusted colonies to dip every single acropora in the tank. Now I'm more for the control than for the erradication.

Thanks for visiting Sahin (please update your thread )

[kainic]

Picture update with 2 new corals (pink lemonade and SSC) and growth pics (2 months apart)

[kainic]

Growth on Acropora tortuosa.




Nothing impressive right? Well, first picture is October 30th and second picture is November 3rd. Growing faster than my monti caps. Edited: 3rd pic is Nov 9th

[MMOORE0324]

Tank is looking great and coral growth is awesome! Following along.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[reefmutt]

Wow, Sergi, that growth is amazing. That tort is taking of!
All the corals seem to be getting into a growth spurt.
Very nice!

[kainic]

Montipora setosa
DSC_0159.jpg by Sergi Florit, en Flickr

Acropora florida
DSC_0151.jpg by Sergi Florit, en Flickr

Acropora "Hawkins" echinata
DSC_0139.jpg by Sergi Florit, en Flickr

Acropora nana "tricolor"
DSC_0133.jpg by Sergi Florit, en Flickr

Acropora "Ice&Fire" echinata
DSC_0128.jpg by Sergi Florit, en Flickr

Acropora granulosa
DSC_0125.jpg by Sergi Florit, en Flickr

Acropora "Cali tort" tortuosa
DSC_0122.jpg by Sergi Florit, en Flickr

Acropora millepora
DSC_0114-2.jpg by Sergi Florit, en Flickr
DSC_0114.jpg by Sergi Florit, en Flickr

[kainic]

Acropora "Red planet" hyacinthus
DSC_0105.jpg by Sergi Florit, en Flickr
Same coral 6 months before
DSC_1756.jpg by Sergi Florit, en Flickr

Pink lemonade
DSC_0095.jpg by Sergi Florit, en Flickr

Acropora "SSC" microclados
DSC_0092.jpg by Sergi Florit, en Flickr

[MMOORE0324]

Outstanding Sergi!

[reefmutt]

Beautiful shots, Sergi.
Corals are haaaaaapy and growing fast!

[DiscusHeckel]

Just subscribed.

What are you dosing in these days and what are the latest nutrient test results Sergi?

[kainic]

My daily dosing routine is:

- 3ml TM Bacto Balance
- 3ml TM Elements A-
- 3ml KZ Flatworm Stop (I had AEFW and this helped me a lot to win the battle, I'm dosing it for prevention)

Weekly 1 spoon of TM Reef Actif (man, the growth just exploded!)

My nitrates are 25-50 on Salifert (I'm just ignoring it) and my last PO4 test was several months ago, it was 0.09 (I'm not ignoring, just not testing)

My export system is:
- 3L of Siporax
- Nyos Quatum 160
- Chaeto sandwich
I took my MarinePure block offline, I think it was doing nothing for my system.

I know my colors could be much much better, but I'm really happy how my tank is doing now. Nothing dies, everything grows at a good pace and when I look at my tank all I see is vibrant and happy corals (and lots of tiny vermetid snails ).

Stop chasing numbers for me.

Thanks for subscribing Bülent and I appreciate your coments Matt & Matt.

[codydemmel4]

Hey Sergi.

How is everything goin currently? Are you still dosing everything you were back in November and at the same levels, especially interested in reef actif. Awesome to see how the tank responded over the past year.

With your nitrates and phosphate levels that high, do you have any algae or do you have a large clean up crew?

Also, are you two part dosing or do you have a calcium reactor? I couldnt find it anywhere unless I missed it.