My 65G Shallow Reef Tank

[sahin]

Bulent, last month you ordered Pohls Xtra. How do you rate this product so far?

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by sahin

Bulent, last month you ordered Pohls Xtra. How do you rate this product so far?

I have approached to reefers on Zeovit.com to find out what this product contains. This has turned out to be a futile attempt. Sadly, noone knows the answer though a guy on here (@Allmost) is adamant that it does contain some amino acids among "other things".

I started to use it on 6th May with a daily dose of 0.5 ml (i.e. 0.2 ml per 100 l). I then increased the daily dose to 0.75 ml (i.e. 0.3 ml per 100 l). The following day I decided to stop using it. There are two reasons for it: First, I noticed a very slight increase in cyano density as well as frequency of its reappearance after syphoning. Second, Herr Hans-Werner Balling says that because I use Tropic Marin NP bacto balance, I should not really be dosing any additional nitrogen source. Doing so alters delicate nitrate-phosphate balance, which this products tries to achieve at very low levels.

During the course of using this product, I did not notice any difference in the coloration of my corals nor did I notice any difference in polyp extension. However, I do not think I used the product long enough to arrive at a firm conclusion.

Cheers

Bulent

PS. FWIW, the reason why I started with a daily dose of 0.2 ml per 100 l is that one of the prominent zeoheads advised people that this amount works for him best. I just took his word for it.

[this is me]

Very nice tank!! Love all the large colony of staghorn corals. The aptasia scrubber is impressive as well.

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by this is me

Very nice tank!! Love all the large colony of staghorn corals. The aptasia scrubber is impressive as well.

Thank you.

Some branches of my staghorns are getting more and more difficult to frag due to the thickness of their branches.

I struggled to frag one of the branches of my Acropora copiosa last weekend. I did not want to give up because the buyer was paying good money for it. When I eventually cut it, its diameter was 19 mm. I am glad that I did not cause major disturbance to adjacent corals and branches during the struggle.

As for aiptasia, they are getting a bit of a nuisance. They started to cover an anti syphon hole on the plumbing inside my weir. When I switch off my return pump, almost 90% of my weir's volume is drained into sump as opposed to only 30% because there is no anti syphon break. As a result, some of the sponges growing in the weir get exposed to air. Fortunately, there is enough capacity in my sump to accommodate excess water from the weir.

[sahin]

Bulent, any chance of posting me a decent size frag of this stag:


I will post a nice sized frag of my Red Planet back to you.

Or if you are coming down to London any time soon, let me know. I like the fact that it grows so thick branched.

[DiscusHeckel]

I was in London yesterday, but stayed only for a few hours (remember I offered to lend you my lux meter the other day).

I have fragged the coral you are interested in heavily three times in the past three months, as the pictures show, to raise funds for the purchase of my new Deltec skimmer. It needs to recover before I will frag it again. When that happens, we will work something out. Its growth rate is very good though. So, hopefully, you should not wait too long. If you look at the photo below, the new growth is nearly 2" (i.e. 45 mm). I pruned that particular branch on 15th March. It is not bad is it? However, it is likely that it requires considerably more time to reach the same thickness of the original frag. The new growth shape resembles a man's middle finger sticking up in the air though. I am not happy with that.

Anecdotally, my experience suggests that water flow plays a major part in the thickness of staghorn coral branches. For example, the mother colonies of both A. aspera and A. copiosa were in my friend's tank originally. They did not have thick branches at all. My friend did not provide as aggressive water flow as I do in my tank.

[biggles]

That stag is beautifully colored Bulent Looking at the colors you're pulling now days Sahin i reckon that thing will look great in your system mate.

[sahin]

Originally Posted by biggles

That stag is beautifully colored Bulent Looking at the colors you're pulling now days Sahin i reckon that thing will look great in your system mate.

Yup I really like that teal sort of colour. And it would stand out in my tank like a showpiece.

Cant wait for Bulent to tell me my frag is ready.

[markalot]

I love the color of your stags, and the aptasia scrubber.

I tried Phols, which I should NOT have, in my higher nutrient tank and have been dealing with white/pink snot ever since. It's slowly fading since I stopped using it over a week ago, but never again.

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by biggles

That stag is beautifully colored Bulent

Andrew, thank you for your endorsement sir. Colours I am pulling are still struggling for promotion to the premier league (in football terms (or soccer for my American friends)). However, at least growth is excellent.

Originally Posted by markalot

I love the color of your stags, and the aptasia scrubber.

I tried Phols, which I should NOT have, in my higher nutrient tank and have been dealing with white/pink snot ever since. It's slowly fading since I stopped using it over a week ago, but never again.

Thank you.

I have also reduced the amount of KZ sponge power I am dosing 2 drops per day instead of 3 drops. This has also slowed down cyanos' reappearance frequency considerably. This product is very effective in promoting sponge growth though. There has been an exploition of white sponges and feather duster worms in well oxygenated areas of my tank (e.g. weir and the first compartment of my sump into which water from main display tank drains).

My understanding is that KZ products' positive effects are observed best in ULNS systems, as such if you have high nutrients, then it is a good idea to start with a very significantly reduced dose (e.g. 20% of recommended dose).

[biggles]

I see you have the same pesky polyp things growing on some of your rocks just like me lol. The acros don't seem to have a problem killing them as they encrust.

You sell yourself way short my friend, that stag blows me away and i would love it and pet it and never let it go lol......

[Scotty freddy]

Wow Bulent your tank amazing buddy I'm a big fan of red digitata and setosa too, and that stag is a very awesome unusual colour!

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by biggles

You sell yourself way short my friend, that stag blows me away and i would love it and pet it and never let it go lol......

Thank you for your compliment. It has boosted my confidence.

Originally Posted by biggles

I see you have the same pesky polyp things growing on some of your rocks just like me lol. The acros don't seem to have a problem killing them as they encrust.

I can trace the origins of the brown star polyps to my nano tank, which I kept six years ago. Here is a picture I took all those years ago:



Brown polyps were not a pest at the time and in fact I did not know that they could be a pest until they have become one. Fortunately, they are not as fearsome as their green coloured cousins. Once I have completed placing acropora frags to remaining rocks, I may "plant" a few Montipora monaseriata frags to cover the areas between the frags/colonies. I would rather look at an encrusting purple montipora than a bare rock/brown star polyps.

I considered buying camel shrimps with the hope that they would eat the polyps, but they could also eat my acropora polyps too. The risk was not worth taking.

Originally Posted by Scotty freddy

Wow Bulent your tank amazing buddy I'm a big fan of red digitata and setosa too, and that stag is a very awesome unusual colour!

Thanks Scotty. Both these corals are quite popular among local reefers when I offer them for sale. However, some folks do not seem to be prepared to pay a little more for my setosa frags. They do not appreciate the fact that it takes a small setosa frag years to become a large colony, e.g.

The first picture was taken on 12th April 2012. I took the second picture a few minutes ago. The colony is now 7" X 5" X 4".

[sahin]

Wow, thats some growth on that Setosa! The two photos really show just how much growth has taken place.

[Big E]

Nice job...............love the grown out colonies & the elegant aquascaping of your display.

[Scotty freddy]

I completely understand how long it takes with setosa mate, I had 2 fully encrusted frags given to me and I split them so I had 4 and glued them all to 1 rock. That was some time ago and they have only just started to join together now!

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by sahin

Wow, thats some growth on that Setosa! The two photos really show just how much growth has taken place.

Thanks Sahin.

Originally Posted by Big E

Nice job...............love the grown out colonies & the elegant aquascaping of your display.

Thank you. Mixing B+ with C+ as per your recommendation is really effective for coral growth.

Originally Posted by Scotty freddy

I completely understand how long it takes with setosa mate, I had 2 fully encrusted frags given to me and I split them so I had 4 and glued them all to 1 rock. That was some time ago and they have only just started to join together now!

FWIW, I have found that my setosa frag did not grow much until it started to receive a minimum of 250 mmol/m2/sec PAR.

The colony currently receives between 240-345 mmol/m2/sec PAR under 7.5 month-old ATI tubes (5 X B+ and 3 X C+).

[DiscusHeckel]

I have recently migrated all my seven feather duster worms to my display tank from the sump after Mr. E.T. the file fish promised me that he may not harm them.

The worms did not seem to appreciate the linear flow in the sump as well as the fact that being exposed to calcium hydroxide 14 hours a day is not a good thing for them. Three of them recently shed their crowns as a result though they grew news ones. I did not want to take any more risks with their well being. Here are some close-up shots I have just taken with my iPhone.

In addition, I have recently bought three Acropora frags from cut from wild colonies. One of which is a Acropora microclados. The mother colony looked very similar to the new strain reported in reef builders (the first picture in the link). So, watch this space...

[DiscusHeckel]

It looks like the link to reef builders web page is blocked. Here is the picture of the coral from that page. if anyone wants the actual link, just send pm.

[biggles]

How are the new frags going mate, that one in the pic looks very pretty.

[DiscusHeckel]

Hi Andrew,

I am wondering the same thing. I am on holiday in Turkey until early July.

My next door neigbour has been looking after my tank. He looked after my tank before, but it is the first time I have asked him to dose trace elements and and other chemicals with a syringe. He did a practice run, but I am still a little apprehensive it. I will report back on my return.

Bye for now...

[sahin]

Originally Posted by DiscusHeckel

Hi Andrew,

I am wondering the same thing. I am on holiday in Turkey until early July.

My next door neigbour has been looking after my tank. He looked after my tank before, but it is the first time I have asked him to dose trace elements and and other chemicals with a syringe. He did a practice run, but I am still a little apprehensive it. I will report back on my return.

Bye for now...

Just came back from holiday to Morocco. My tanks was largely fine. Hope yours will be too. Let us know how things are when you're back.

Have a good time on holiday.

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by sahin

Just came back from holiday to Morocco. My tanks was largely fine. Hope yours will be too. Let us know how things are when you're back.

Have a good time on holiday.

Thanks Sahin.

My 19-year old son had to go back home from airport because I left his passport at home by mistake. When he rejoined us two days later, he told me that our neighbour was enjoying himself while doing the daily chores.

I dived in the sea yesterday and spotted a few nice invertebrates. I wondered if I could bring some back to the UK with me. The Agean sea is not tropical sea even though the water temperature reaches up to 28C in our place. Would invertebrates survive in my tank in long term?

Cheers

Bülent

[sahin]

Originally Posted by DiscusHeckel

Thanks Sahin.

My 19-year old son had to go back home from airport because I left his passport at home by mistake. When he rejoined us two days later, he told me that our neighbour was enjoying himself while doing the daily chores.

I dived in the sea yesterday and spotted a few nice invertebrates. I wondered if I could bring some back to the UK with me. The Agean sea is not tropical sea even though the water temperature reaches up to 28C in our place. Would invertebrates survive in my tank in long term?

Cheers

Bülent

Bulent that sucks leaving the passport at home.

If the local temps are generally cooler most of the year I don't think long term survival will be achieved.

Wouldn't you have CITES issues in any event? Turkey isn't within the EU yet.

[DiscusHeckel]

I do not think Turkey is bound by CITES regulations as it is not part of EU.

I have just read on BBC website that the UK is embracing herself for the hottest day of the last ten years. My thoughts are with my fish tank. Although I had set up cooling fans connected to temperature probes, I cannot help worrying. I normally keep my tank water quite warm during the winter months in preparation for this sort of event, so that any further rise in temperature will not create any shock to my corals. So far it has worked, but whether it will work this time is yet to be seen.