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Unread 07/19/2018, 06:04 AM   #1826
markalot
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Update.

I now know what killed some of my acros, and of course it was another dumb mistake by me. My calcium doser had been acting up, sometimes the dosing container would still have solution in it when the Alk ran out. I thought I had corrected this, I tested a few months ago, but I severely underestimated the dosing error. Calcium tested at 260.

It took an entire gallon of the BRS Calcium two part to get it back up to 450. Since then everything has taken off and pretty much returned to normal.

The Lokani and the two frags I have are rapidly growing and have that healthy glow back.



Look at all the polyps, it can't decide where to grow next.



We went on vacation soon after i discovered the issue so I dosed enough Calcium to get the tank to reach 320 and then let it ride at for the 6 days we were gone. Alk was 5.9 when we returned but everything looked great. Alk usage has continued to rise since then.



I rescaped a but a couple of weeks before we left to fix some shading issues (it was more the calcium issue than shading, but I didn't know that yet). I also had to get the big sarmentosa off the back wall because the mag rock was know longer strong enough to hold it. One benefit it it's now close to the front and easy to get a picture of. A very pretty acro, for green, with a pink glow on the tips.




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Unread 07/19/2018, 04:50 PM   #1827
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The issue was with calcium and not low p04?


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Unread 07/20/2018, 06:51 AM   #1828
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Originally Posted by Ucantwin View Post
The issue was with calcium and not low p04?
That's my best guess at this point. Calcium had been dropping the entire time, I lowered PO4 which probably pushed some acros over the edge but I suspect they would have suffered anyway.

Still, it's just a best guess. I said 'I now know' above ... a statement I should never make when it comes to a reef tank.


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Unread 07/22/2018, 09:16 AM   #1829
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Nice to see that things again are starting to go well.

Cheers
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Unread 07/22/2018, 05:39 PM   #1830
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Gorgeous Mark!


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Unread 09/15/2018, 02:52 PM   #1831
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About time for an update.

With calcium fixed and now a couple of months healing things are doing quite well.















This one almost died but man, what a recovery. It's still stuck, very slow base growth, but great color.




It's near impossible to get top downs on the left side of the tank. Might need to trim some.



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Unread 09/15/2018, 02:54 PM   #1832
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Lokani recovering nicely.



... and now I have two frags of it.





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Unread 09/15/2018, 03:38 PM   #1833
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Holy crap , Mark! Fantastic turnaround.
Just beautiful.
Haven’t check d in since your calcium issue.
Human error is such a b i t c h!!
I’m in love with this your lokani all over again


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Unread 09/16/2018, 04:09 AM   #1834
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Fantastic, Mark.
Wonderful colors and growth.
Happy tank!


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Unread 09/16/2018, 11:42 AM   #1835
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Very nice pics!!!!
The final FTS is impressive.


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Unread 09/16/2018, 04:24 PM   #1836
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Absolutely love it Mark!! the tank is really looking beautiful!!


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Unread 09/17/2018, 06:41 AM   #1837
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Very nice pictures.


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Unread 09/17/2018, 10:11 AM   #1838
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Beautiful tank! Now to go back and read the whole thread.


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Unread 09/19/2018, 02:00 PM   #1839
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Reading this thread makes me want to try lower alk ranges. I have never consistently been below 9 dkh. I am really loving your coloration. How many hours is your light cycle?


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Unread 09/19/2018, 06:00 PM   #1840
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor40 View Post
Reading this thread makes me want to try lower alk ranges. I have never consistently been below 9 dkh. I am really loving your coloration. How many hours is your light cycle?
Thanks for all the comments everyone.

It's a 12 hour light cycle, t5's only on for 5 hours. Without the T5's PAR is around 250 max. The Lime (white) LED channel is on for 8 hours.


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Unread 09/25/2018, 11:04 AM   #1841
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Well done Mark !!! One of the best tanks in the Forum.

Cheers !!!
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Unread 09/27/2018, 10:18 PM   #1842
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Looking absolutely stunning Mark


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Unread 09/28/2018, 12:18 AM   #1843
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Always interesting to hear reefers speaking of coloring up.

Almost like turning a switch? I only wish..

In your specific tank for example, is there a nitrate level that must not be exceeded or brown SPS stay brown or go brown?

Phosphate level same question?

Do you tweak light height and duration very often?

When you personally use term color up, do you mean I place frags in my tank and hope they color up?


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Unread 09/28/2018, 07:34 AM   #1844
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nemodan View Post
Well done Mark !!! One of the best tanks in the Forum.

Cheers !!!
Daniel
Ha, I don't know about that, but I do love big corals and crowded tanks. Thanks Daniel.

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Looking absolutely stunning Mark
Thanks Greg!

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Originally Posted by lanshark View Post
Always interesting to hear reefers speaking of coloring up.

Almost like turning a switch? I only wish..

In your specific tank for example, is there a nitrate level that must not be exceeded or brown SPS stay brown or go brown?

Phosphate level same question?

Do you tweak light height and duration very often?

When you personally use term color up, do you mean I place frags in my tank and hope they color up?
I almost never tweak the lighting. I sometimes dose Nitrate because otherwise it's 0, and I regularly use PhosphateRx, 1 drop per day, most days.

Let's take the Red Robin as an example. I've had it for aprox 900 days, my best guess. Out of those 900 days it's been a good red probably ... 15 days, maybe? When it's red it's stunning, but it needs more stability or something that I don't regularly provide.

The green and purple acro I call Katropora loves nitrates. At 20 nitrates it's stunning, with purple on the tips that match the purple on the test kit. At 20 nitrates some of the other acros will lose color, not much, but not as bright. The Red Robin was brown.

Ever single acro is different in my experience, you just get used to the tank and learn how they behave. My blue stag acro has NEVER regained a nice blue since my crash almost 2 years ago. It's brown with bluish tops and bluish polyps. No clue why.


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Unread 09/28/2018, 10:40 AM   #1845
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I so enjoy your thoughts. It is fascinating as well as frustrating to see how different parameters enhance or diminish colors. Your experiences with some corals enjoying and others not at varying nitrate levels is really informative. Plus I have had similar experiences where some awesome coral has a sweet spot that I am only able to achieve rarely and inconsistently like your Red Robin. Thanks for always sharing. Your thread continually provides insight


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Unread 09/28/2018, 02:02 PM   #1846
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+1 What he said.... I learn something new every day ...

So, it’s not always take a browned out acro and place in your tank or someone’s ULN tank and they just color up, may take months of trying various flows and placement before their happy.... Thanks for feedback!


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Unread 10/01/2018, 09:59 AM   #1847
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Quote:
Originally Posted by watchguy123 View Post
I so enjoy your thoughts. It is fascinating as well as frustrating to see how different parameters enhance or diminish colors. Your experiences with some corals enjoying and others not at varying nitrate levels is really informative. Plus I have had similar experiences where some awesome coral has a sweet spot that I am only able to achieve rarely and inconsistently like your Red Robin. Thanks for always sharing. Your thread continually provides insight
Thanks for the very nice comment. Hopefully it helps someone, but I'm not sure I have ever accurately identified any specific issue, other than instability caused by me mucking with something.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lanshark View Post
+1 What he said.... I learn something new every day ...

So, it’s not always take a browned out acro and place in your tank or someone’s ULN tank and they just color up, may take months of trying various flows and placement before their happy.... Thanks for feedback!
Thanks lanshark.


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Unread 10/01/2018, 10:17 AM   #1848
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Mark's 150 gallon

What is your experience with taking frags from sun lit tanks? I bought the most beautiful pastel blue Stag from S. Garrett and it was last blue I ever saw on the coral. My skills didn’t help the issue


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Unread 10/01/2018, 03:58 PM   #1849
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What is your experience with taking frags from sun lit tanks? I bought the most beautiful pastel blue Stag from S. Garrett and it was last blue I ever saw on the coral. My skills didn’t help the issue
None.

My understanding is that to get the best blue you have to run a lot of daylight bulbs. The best Oregon tort I've ever seen ran under 6700K halide bulbs.


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Unread 10/07/2018, 10:00 AM   #1850
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Ok it only took me two days to go through all 74 pages but it was an amazing read. Great job with the tank and it looks amazing. I have learned a lot from your experiences and will try to replicate it from here on. Keep up the good work.


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