Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board - GQLMAO's Small Peninsula Tank

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Just a small update:

I have been noticing a decline in my montipora and birdsnest for some reason. After reading online I had a hunch it was a potassium deficiency. My current vodka dosing is .5ml per day split into two doses, 3 hours prior to feeding and right after feeding. I suspect the additional carbon source is generating more bacteria, therefore slowly up taking the potassium. I guess over the course of 3 months it took its toll and by using a salt low in potassium and I started noticing these affects more and more after 4-5x 10 percent water changes. I decided to give potassium a shot, after dosing and switching to a salt with higher trace elements, the colors have come back significantly.

I have noticed that the majority of my SPS were darkening to the point where it was brown... I have stopped using KZ vitalizer, pohl's xtra, SPS amino acids, LPS amino acids and sponge power all together. The only thing I use is coral snow to allow for water clarity and to possibly bond to small organic waste that the skimmer otherwise isn't able to pull out. I have stopped the KZ for approx. 4 days and the results are considerably better, the dark tissue began to lighten and I can start to see the actually colors again. I suspect that there wasn't any need of the AAs at this time in my tank, I do feed heavily once a day. Once the corals lighten up more, I will begin dosing KZ in small moderate amounts to see if I can tweak everything to how I wanted.

I am able to ramp my lights up to around 5 hours for the 6 bulb channel and 9 hours for the 2 bulb channel at 100 percent, my SPS seem to be getting really use to it and I am seeing significant color changes on the blues, and purples,. Greens are good. Reds and pinks will need more work... I suspect it was too much KZ giving my corals unneeded nutrients causing excessive amounts of zooxanthellae to hide the actual colors. I should see better results in a couple weeks time!

Just wanted to post some tank details and current situation since I have noticed that this thread was more of a photo dump. If you have any suggestions feel free to chime in.

That sounds reasonable and i would agree with your assessment. Sounds like you've got it all under control. Just remember, brown doesn't mean dead, so there's hope. Keep on reefin' on :-)

Thanks Kien!

Well, since I moved everything to my old little cube, things are looking better. I would say certain zoas will need atleast a week or two before they get back to their original size and color. Overall I am happy that I did it,

On to some pictures, the tank is lit by only Royal Blue Leds. Color balanced is pretty much maxed out with the camera and editor, any more yellow would create excessive noise.

Green Ric:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps61b0d584.jpg

Blue Ric:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...pse50496be.jpg

Multi Color Ric:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps5a216ed8.jpg

Bella Blue:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps981069bd.jpg

Rastas:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psc48c76b2.jpg

Fruit Loops:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps91d8631a.jpg

La Lakers:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psa379e5db.jpg

Orange Oxides:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psb48d1abb.jpg

those bellas just pop eh , your getting some nice colors from the zoos keep it up my friend and ill be getting mine off you some day :P

cheers

denny

Haha... Yea right. You are my Zoa guy in Calgary :P I plan to have it that way for a long time Denny :P Much easier to access those rare zoas.

Very nice! Now let's see them SPS! :biggrin:

How do you like your ATI fixture? Im waiting for mine to come in from Concepts, I cant wait. I used the Radions as well before... What is the biggest difference you see between the two fixtures?

Orange Passion ? 😄

I am still using both fixtures, I have the radions over my little LPS and zoa tank. In my opinion LPS and zoas look the best under RB leds, T-5s don't give me enough of that fluorescent pop. I am using the T-5s in my SPS tank, I cannot give you a direct comparison when I was using the 2 since I would need another Radion fixture to match the coverage of the T-5s. However after going T-5s on SPS, I would not go back to LEDs unless something game changing comes out, all depends on personal preference. Some good things with T-5s, uniform coverage, no spot light affects, very uniform and gradual spectrum, no discoball effects.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve... (Post 884732)

How do you like your ATI fixture? Im waiting for mine to come in from Concepts, I cant wait. I used the Radions as well before... What is the biggest difference you see between the two fixtures?

Haha, I knew you were going to ask that. Yes I did get some.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayner (Post 884740)

Orange Passion ? 😄

That's exactly what I said when I first put them in my tank. Then I just took the camera and shot like a mad man.:biggrin:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus (Post 884749)

Wowza!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayner (Post 884740)

Orange Passion ? 😄

Agreed!

You can look at Dave's piece it's pretty much the same :) I won't be taking SPS pictures until I am happy with the way the tank sits, right now I am still nutrient deprived and the SPS are lighter than what I'd like them to be. Very slowly adjusting it so I am getting more nutrients in the water, I don't want to show you guys a brown stick and calling it orange passion next week :P

Quote:

Originally Posted by lpsreefer (Post 884879)

Agreed!

wow, look really killer in there Stanley !

Thanks Kien! Did you ever finish that gundam?? I haven't seen it on the thread yet. I want to see it :biggrin:

Quote:

Originally Posted by kien (Post 884883)

wow, look really killer in there Stanley !

Very Nice Stanley - but your missing one 😄

When the time comes... :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by wayner (Post 887932)

Very Nice Stanley - but your missing one 😄

when you coming to my house for zoo pics lol nice pic quality way better than mine:P

i pay frags!!

:P

Awesome photos Stanley. Acros and Acans both look amazing

Any time Denny :) I don't accept cash anyways, just frags :P

Quote:

Originally Posted by denny@concept (Post 887934)

when you coming to my house for zoo pics lol nice pic quality way better than mine:P

i pay frags!!

:P

Thanks Dave, can't make those LPS pictures happen without bigshowfrags :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hydrologist (Post 887938)

Awesome photos Stanley. Acros and Acans both look amazing

Holy crap! Nice collection Stanley. Where the heck did you get all those reef raft frags?? Where can a guy get in on some of that??

The acans are super nice and them RR are even sweeter! Were these RR frags from the fragbox RR order or thru Concepts?

Thanks Kien. I have some more reef raft stuff, I just haven't posted them up yet. When they start colouring up the way I want them to, I will post some more pictures. I actually have some frags I made about a month and a half ago. PM me if you would like more details :).

Quote:

Originally Posted by kien (Post 888000)

Holy crap! Nice collection Stanley. Where the heck did you get all those reef raft frags?? Where can a guy get in on some of that??

Yes I acquired most of them through Fragbox, some through Concept and some through Bigshowfrags. I actually have a lot more RR pieces but my tank isn't exactly tip top shape yet. Still waiting for pieces to color up, the pieces I posted are probably 60 percent of the way there. On a side note, my RR purple monster is starting to color up like yours, only after 2 months of sitting idle. :)If you were curious on what other pieces I have, heres the list:

RR Jumba Juice
RR Wolverine
RR Pink Floyd
RR Red Bull
RR Red Diablo
RR Blue Matrix
RR Pink Matrix
RR CJ Pinky
RR Poison Ivy
RR Orange Passion
RR Purple Monster
RR unknown pieces
RR Blue Peacock
RR Subzero
Purple Planet
Strawberry Shortcake (2 types)
RR Pearlberry
Tyree Pink Lemonade

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rice Reef (Post 888021)

The acans are super nice and them RR are even sweeter! Were these RR frags from the fragbox RR order or thru Concepts?

Quote:

Originally Posted by gqlmao (Post 888027)

RR Jumba Juice
RR Wolverine
RR Pink Floyd
RR Red Bull
RR Red Diablo
RR Blue Matrix
RR Pink Matrix
RR CJ Pinky
RR Poison Ivy
RR Orange Passion
RR Purple Monster
RR unknown pieces
RR Blue Peacock
RR Subzero
Purple Planet
Strawberry Shortcake (2 types)
RR Pearlberry
Tyree Pink Lemonade

That is quite a list! Lmk when they are colony size and ready to frag... I'd consider flying out to get some! :biggrin:
Pls update us on the growth on your collection!

For sure! My tank is still working out the kinks... It will be another few months till the colors really pop and I will be taking more pictures then. So far I can tell, most of the RR stuff are decent growers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rice Reef (Post 888040)

That is quite a list! Lmk when they are colony size and ready to frag... I'd consider flying out to get some! :biggrin:
Pls update us on the growth on your collection!

That list is off the hook! I've never been lucky enough to find any RR frags :-(. I guess I just haven't been looking hard enough maybe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kien (Post 888086)

That list is off the hook! I've never been lucky enough to find any RR frags :-(. I guess I just haven't been looking hard enough maybe.

Kien, you don't have to look too hard anymore... :biggrin:. Can you go and snip and ship some for me?

A small update, some more Reef Raft and SPS Pieces for the SPS fans, I am very happy that the colors are coming on. I think a couple more months and I will have something more substantial to show:

Strawberry Short Cake, it has been paling and losing color around the base ever since it touched my tank. It has stopped, I think my light is a little too much, hopefully it will recovered.

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psc1b1a4ce.jpg

Fiji piece, it was completely brown, then completely bleached, now it has recovered somewhat:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psf7bf187c.jpg

Fiji Piece:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psbf508584.jpg

RR Pink Matrix: The pink coralites are coming :)

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps7e14c782.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps358ecafc.jpg

RR Red Diablo:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psd2f34abd.jpg

RR Blue Peacock:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps13b26c67.jpg

RR Blue Matrix:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps827f36f9.jpg

RR CJ Pinky:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps36f3c2ac.jpg

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/m...psd0f93a36.jpg

I had the opprotunity to see this tank in person today and it was amazing. I cant wait to see when the sps grows out. Outstanding! Has a wicked acan collection as well

+1

Lots of sexy packed into two small tanks. I don't envy some of the decisions you'll have to make when things grow out!

Zoas are doing well thx again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baker (Post 892706)

I had the opprotunity to see this tank in person today and it was amazing. I cant wait to see when the sps grows out. Outstanding! Has a wicked acan collection as well

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastlight (Post 892729)

+1

Lots of sexy packed into two small tanks. I don't envy some of the decisions you'll have to make when things grow out!

Zoas are doing well thx again.

Thanks guys! Yes, unfortunately I think my decision on having certain fishes in these tanks will force me to either return them to the LFS or put them up for sale in a few months time. I dread the time where I am going to have to rip apart my tank to net them.:cry:

Quote:

Originally Posted by gqlmao (Post 892730)

dont rip it apart, Just borrow some rubbermaid bins. drain, scoop, refill... Painless. Thats what Brad (Aquattro) does with his 180.

That actually sounds bullet proof. Thank you for the advice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by freezetyle (Post 892784)

dont rip it apart, Just borrow some rubbermaid bins. drain, scoop, refill... Painless. Thats what Brad (Aquattro) does with his 180.

Glad to chime in. I would hate to see you rearrange you rocks and coral when it isn't necessary. You have such a nice tank