Learning/rebuilding from my epic fail

[reefmutt]

You are so right. It is pretty unique, whether it's crazy coloured or not. If the crazy coloured photos never happened, it would still be a very interesting coral.
Under a lot of blue plus bulbs, it seems to become the most intensely coloured.
I am definitely going to grow it out as much as possible. Up high and lower in the tank.
Don't worry it will be well documented. What isn't in my tank?!?
Thanks for the kind words!

[FloformAustria]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

My lights are fixed about 10 inches above the water. I use a viewing box and rest the end of the lens on the bottom of the box to shoot. I use the Lcd screen (it swivels) to view what the camera is seeing. The lcd give me the image as well as technical details like shutter speed and aperture. These I can adjust with controls on the side of the camera. So basically I am standing with my belly against the front glass, looking under my lights at the camera lcd screen which is floating in a box over the corals.. The shoulders get a bit tired but it's a good workout! Then I transfer directly from the camera, via wifi, to my phone. I use snapseed exclusively for warming and sharpening, save and then upload to the mobile photobucket app.. Super easy system. I may starte playing with Lightroom though which is a whole other ball game, however..

thanks Matt!

yeah i use lightroom and photoshop alot (not to unrealistically enhance my coral pictures )
but the idea with the viewingbox is quite nice. only problem left is lens that can only get sharp around 25mm... topdowns are going to be a challenge for me in my shallow part of the tank

Cheers, Flo

[reefmutt]

Your best option would be a short macro lens. But 25 mm is about an inch. That's pretty close..
Canon makes a 60mm macro. I don't remember what type of camera you are using... If canon has a 60mm macro, I'm sure Nikon does as well.
A short macro lens will have the best ability of allowing you to shoot in your shallow section.
I want to get it for shooting corals that are near the surface.

[FloformAustria]

thanks matt

i´m using Nikon D610, got to macro lenses at home for testing...

but i got something other... Sony Rx with an underwater housing... haha lets wait and see what i can get today^^

[reefmutt]

Oh yeah!! Looking forward to that!
I'll be watching.

[ryanrid]

Matt Tank is off the chain!!! More pics pls

[reefmutt]

Thanks, Ryan!
It's been a while since an update, so here goes..
Tank is doing pretty well. Cyano has returned.
About a month ago I stopped dosing nitrates and no pro.. It wasn't really doing anything for me.. Since then, I have just been watching nutrients and I started using PO4X4 because it is efficient and very low iron compared to gfo.
N: 1-2ppm
P: .08
I got inspired by Matt's cal rx tear down so I did mine as well. After several years, it was due. Cleaned it all up, added new media. I discovered that my expired Red Sea ca test kit was giving me false low readings so I used the opportunity to correct the high ca by leaving the reactor off line for a few days and only dosed buffer..
The slight alk dips and nitrate drops really bothered one of my struggling deep waters. This one:

It is now half rtned. A little bummed.. Maybe it'll recover..
This is by far the most nitrate sensitive coral I have. When n is below 5ppm, it loses its intense blue/purple.. And at the moment, it may lose its life..
Otherwise everything is status quo..
Alk: 6.7-7 and steady..
Ca:420
K: 400
Here's a fts.. I've been rearranging again.. Removing, adding... Adding some more.. I can't stop..

Here are three a little closer:
Left...



Here's a top down of centre section:

Here's a nice shot of one of the oldest corals in the rebuild. A ssc. Top done. It is over a year old it took a solid year of spreading out and has only recently started to grow up. This is the first time I have taken a pic of this coral since I put it in because it never did anything.

Here it is when it went in.. February 11 2015

Couple random shots.
My other, deeper, smaller Jawdropper:

Pink lemonade:

[reefmutt]

Here a few shots of an orange passion colony hat I have in my frag tank..
Growing like crazy and pe is also nuts.. I do not get anything like this in my dt.. Could be because of my dwarf angel who like to pick at polyps..


The artsy fartsy shot:

All the corals in my frag tank have tremendous pe.. I wish I had it my my dt.

[milsaltnewbie07]

Wow Matt. Your tank continues to amaze me. Its so overstocked with beautiful acros .wow man

[FloformAustria]

wow Matt amazing pictures!! Tank looks really great and your corals are awesome!
nice macros!!

Thanks for sharing

Flo

[reefmutt]

Originally Posted by milsaltnewbie07

Wow Matt. Your tank continues to amaze me. Its so overstocked with beautiful acros .wow man

Originally Posted by FloformAustria

wow Matt amazing pictures!! Tank looks really great and your corals are awesome!
nice macros!!

Thanks for sharing

Flo

Yeah.. Overstocked being the operative word, here!

Thanks, guys!

[vinhle00]

Looking amazing Matt! So you stopped using seachem phosbond ?

[mhucasey]

The tank is looking great! I love those top downs, and the FTS gives a great geographic perspective on where everything is. Interesting about the coral with the RTNd branch- I had a few of those here and there and I noticed that the location on the coral was on the side that gets hit by the undertow flow from the gyres. The affected corals were only on that side of the tank. I think that I have narrowed the cause down to salt crystal burns from the top down viewer(I wasn't wiping them down after using them) or one of the supplements or trace elements hitting the coral in high concentration before it could mix and disperse through the tank.

[reefmutt]

Originally Posted by vinhle00

Looking amazing Matt! So you stopped using seachem phosbond ?

Thanks! I'm not using the Phosbond only because I ran out.. I have found that whether I use Phosbond of phosguard, I get a p of around .08. When I stop po4 absorbers altogether, it rises to around .14-.2
I still don't want to use gfo because it is so messy so I'm going to give the po4x4 a try. It's supposed to be as efficient (at least) as gfo.. I find that tough to swallow but it is most definitely less messy..
I'd like to pull po4 down closer to .02 just to try and slow down the cyano, bubble and bryopsis.. Not to mention the brown leafy macro algea growing in my frag tank.

Originally Posted by mhucasey

The tank is looking great! I love those top downs, and the FTS gives a great geographic perspective on where everything is. Interesting about the coral with the RTNd branch- I had a few of those here and there and I noticed that the location on the coral was on the side that gets hit by the undertow flow from the gyres. The affected corals were only on that side of the tank. I think that I have narrowed the cause down to salt crystal burns from the top down viewer(I wasn't wiping them down after using them) or one of the supplements or trace elements hitting the coral in high concentration before it could mix and disperse through the tank.

Thanks, Matt! I've never been very successful at keeping that particular type of coral. This one has been the longest living in my tank ever. It encrusted well and coloured up for almost a year.
For me, I don't think it was hit by salt of excessive flow. I really saw it change dramatically when nutrients dropped.
Between the ca rx fluctuations and dropping n, I think it just wasn't happy...

[glaukos]

I really can feel you matt with that "can't keep my hands out of the tank" disease
There must be a pill or something for it

Please don't get bummed buddy for a single coral!
All the others look amaaaaazing and from my humble exp there will always be a single coral that it'll simply refuse to play nice
With a coral collection that nice i wouldn't shed a single tear my friend.
Tbh i'd be happy if i had only your SSC

Thanks for sharing the pics

[plyle02]

WOW, WOW, WOW....Matt, you did it again and posted the FTS with all them unbelievable beauties. Your collection is so freaking sick, I am in envy, good thing you have a large tank dude, you are going to need every inch of that tank Your colors are spot on my friend, and as always, I love seeing the spread of colors!!! Cheers Matt!

[Wrangy]

.... f*ck me!
What are you doing to us Matt!?! In all my years of admiring reef tanks there are very few that can come close to what you're achieving right now matey
The tank is simply just stunning and it blows this individuals mind you should be awfully proud of what you have going Matt I'm a little lost for words lol

[Pife]

I would love to have the view of your tank in my living room. Kudos to you for your amazing tank.

[nemodan]

Very nice Matt ..... Congrats !!!

Daniel

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Here's a fts.. I've been rearranging again.. Removing, adding... Adding some more.. I can't stop..

This is a very inspiring FTS. I love the depth of your tank (back to front). Thanks for sharing Matt. I love that orangey green plate coral (left hand side of your pyramid butterfly fish).

[markalot]

Beautiful Matt, simply beautiful. Forgive my commoner taste but what is that groovy orange/red cap left of center, near the bottom?

[reefmutt]

Originally Posted by glaukos

I really can feel you matt with that "can't keep my hands out of the tank" disease
There must be a pill or something for it

Please don't get bummed buddy for a single coral!
All the others look amaaaaazing and from my humble exp there will always be a single coral that it'll simply refuse to play nice
With a coral collection that nice i wouldn't shed a single tear my friend.
Tbh i'd be happy if i had only your SSC

Thanks for sharing the pics

Thanks, Mike. You are right, there always is a coral that won't cooperate. Often, I just remove them but since some corals, like that ssc, can take a frickin year to start to grow, it's always tough to take them out. And that deep water is special. I think I'll leave it until it's completely gone.

Originally Posted by plyle02

WOW, WOW, WOW....Matt, you did it again and posted the FTS with all them unbelievable beauties. Your collection is so freaking sick, I am in envy, good thing you have a large tank dude, you are going to need every inch of that tank Your colors are spot on my friend, and as always, I love seeing the spread of colors!!! Cheers Matt!

Thanks, Perry! I wish my tank was approximately twice.. Or 3 times as big! Then I'd be happy... Or maybe just a lot poorer.. I guess the limitations have their benefits.

Originally Posted by Wrangy

What are you doing to us Matt!?! In all my years of admiring reef tanks there are very few that can come close to what you're achieving right now matey
The tank is simply just stunning and it blows this individuals mind you should be awfully proud of what you have going Matt I'm a little lost for words lol

Dom, wow, you are way too kind! I feel like the tank is just a jumble of little bits and some of them are nice. Recently, I seem to be walking away from the tank in frustration.. I usually feel better offer a good top down viewing but I still feel like there isn't any flow to the tank.. I guess that's really my fault as I keep adding tiny little pieces.. As the corals truly grow out and I become more and more restricted in terms of new additions, I'll probably be more at ease.. It's a slow puzzle.. Like a game of Tetris........

[reefmutt]

Originally Posted by Pife

I would love to have the view of your tank in my living room. Kudos to you for your amazing tank.

Thanks, man! In my old house, I had my tank in the living room. That was when we had no kids and my wife travelled for work a lot.. Made practically naked tank maintenance easy.. Although the odd stranger peering in the living room window to see what the blue glow was sometimes got a surprise! Now that it's in the basement, underwear maintenance is mandatory!

Originally Posted by nemodan

Very nice Matt ..... Congrats !!!

Daniel

Thanks, Daniel. I appreciate you looking in and I sincerely hope your tank turns around soon! As they say here in French Canada, 'lache pas!!' Don't give up!!

Originally Posted by DiscusHeckel

This is a very inspiring FTS. I love the depth of your tank (back to front). Thanks for sharing Matt. I love that orangey green plate coral (left hand side of your pyramid butterfly fish).

Originally Posted by markalot

Beautiful Matt, simply beautiful. Forgive my commoner taste but what is that groovy orange/red cap left of center, near the bottom?

Bulent and Mark, thanks!
I think you guys are referring to the nauti spiral. Like all montis, it grows fast. That's why I put it low..
Here it is from the top town.. From two months ago


It's much bigger now..

[Myka]

That Jaw Dropper is sweet!!! The growth pattern is fan-FREAKING-tastic! I like yours better than the Photoshopped Google Image versions.

[mhucasey]

Dear lord... I hope naked tank maintenance and peering neighbors didn't ever happen at the same time