Myka's 33g LPS Reef (New pics Apr 21)

Myka · #1 04-16-2009, 03:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raisemyrent

FTS!!!

Sorry Myka, but we need one. Plus, how else are we other 33 gal owners supposed to get aquascaping ideas?

Just yesterday I was looking at my tank thinking after 2 years and 4 months I'm actually fiarly happy with how my tank is looking right now. It really needs to grow in though as many of my nicer corals are still large frags. I will try again. My rocks are finally starting to color up as of late, so maybe I will be able to get a decent shot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sharuq1

Your gorg is gorgeous! What type is it?

No idea, but it is not photo-synthetic.

Myka · #2 04-16-2009, 05:08 AM

Got a couple new corals today. A Hammer that's off to the left and isn't open yet, and a rock with a few different types of Blastos that pretty much dead centre, but they aren' in very good shape, so hopefully they will perk up.

I have done a few things differently in my tank lately. Mainly upgraded to 2x250w DE MH with 2x39w T5s, and also started dosing the ZeoVit Nano Power pack. The Pohl's Xtra and Amino Acid LPS both ran out 10 days in (why they wouldn't use bigger bottles for these one so they last a decent amount of time is beyond me). I have been daily dosing the Sponge Power and Coral Vitalizer. With these two changes on the tank I have noticed a dramatic difference in the Valonia. It is disappearing!!! *happy dance* Also, my rock which has been rather white "forever" (the tank is 2 years 4 months old) for no reason I can figure out has started to darken up. I can't really say what is happening, but it just overall looks darker which is awesome!! So, I can finally get a FTS! When the rocks were whiter they would throw the white balance off and my photos would come out "bleached", and I couldn't figure out a way to get decent shots.

So, after 2 years and 4 months I am relatively satisfied with my tank, although the corals still need to grow!! So, by popular demand here is a FTS with just T5s on:

lobsterboy · #3 04-16-2009, 05:09 AM

sweet lookin reef Myka

tang daddy · #4 04-16-2009, 05:50 AM

nice pics!!

to get the blastos to perk up I feed them mysis 2 times a week.....

as for your brain being bleached try moving it lower certain lps don't like too much light. I had a donut do the same and under 175's is starting to recover.

Myka · #5 04-16-2009, 06:03 AM

Thanks for the comments guys!

Quote:

Originally Posted by tang daddy

to get the blastos to perk up I feed them mysis 2 times a week.....

as for your brain being bleached try moving it lower certain lps don't like too much light. I had a donut do the same and under 175's is starting to recover.

I will try to feed the Blastos, but I have never had success when they look like crap they never eat for me. It seems I have to wait for them to recover before they will accept food.

Which brain are you talking about? The Lobo? This thread is a year old...the Lobo bleached out a bit about 6 or 8 months ago from being too close to the T5s. It's up to snuff nowadays though I think...it's hard to say how dark it's going to get, but I'm hoping it will get to be a rich blood red like some Lobos I've seen.

The only coral in my tank that is bleached right now is a Hammer frag, and I have no idea why it bleached out when all the other Euphyllia around it didn't. Oh, and the new Blastos I just bought are pretty bleached out too.

tang daddy · #6 04-16-2009, 06:10 AM

Myka I was reffering to the piece on the sand bed between the lobo and bubble but then again maybe it's just the pic....

as for blastos mine almost died a few times because it was badly neglected until it went in my sump then it got fed daily and now has 10 new heads....+1 on trying to feed them when they're closed it doesn't work maybe wait till they poof up then they accept food right away oh and speaking about off lining the skimmer, I would give it a shot your tank and corals will love it. My newly set up 50g is superhealthy without a skimmer however the WC's is relentless. All the corals seem so much more vibrant tho in my sps tank there has to be one

brizzo · #7 04-16-2009, 06:16 AM

Hurray for finally defeating the bubble algae! Tank looks good! How is running skimmerless working out for you? My tank is bare bottom no skimmer

Let's hope some coraline starts growing!

Myka · #8 04-16-2009, 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tang daddy

Myka I was reffering to the piece on the sand bed between the lobo and bubble but then again maybe it's just the pic....

as for blastos mine almost died a few times because it was badly neglected until it went in my sump then it got fed daily and now has 10 new heads....+1 on trying to feed them when they're closed it doesn't work maybe wait till they poof up then they accept food right away oh and speaking about off lining the skimmer, I would give it a shot your tank and corals will love it. My newly set up 50g is superhealthy without a skimmer however the WC's is relentless. All the corals seem so much more vibrant tho in my sps tank there has to be one

Oh the Open Brain! That's funny though, my tank sitter mentioned she thought the Open Brain was bleaching too. Honestly though, I've been so distracted with my other corals I don't even remember the last time I looked at it.

Maybe it IS bleached!!

Wow, that's bad eh? I don't even notice?? I will take a closer look at it tomorrow, and I will try to take a more accurate photo of it when the lights are on tomorrow. I know it has a heck of a lot more color than it did when I bought it 2 years ago when it was just brown!

Oh and my halides were only on for two 2 hour intervals per day, and this week I bumped it to 4 hours straight. 2x250w DE is defintely too much light for LPS on this shallow tank, although I do have crappy bulbs in the fixture.

The light will work well on my 90 though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nazerine

Hurray for finally defeating the bubble algae! Tank looks good! How is running skimmerless working out for you? My tank is bare bottom no skimmer

Let's hope some coraline starts growing!

My tank has been skimmerless for about 8 or 10 months. At first it was a gong show, but now it has evened out, and I'm waaaaaay happier running it without a skimmer. For LPS anyway... Ya, I hope some freakin coralline moves in! Or red turf algae...at this point I don't even care, I'm just sick of white rocks with no plausible explanation.

es355lucille · #9 04-16-2009, 02:34 PM

Nice tank Mindy! With the new lights for this tank, I am sure your coral growth will increase now. We need to see a shot with the new lights!
What is the reddish coral center at the bottom of the rocks quite large --> is that an Acan??

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Myka · #10 04-16-2009, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raisemyrent

wohoo! is there a FTS dance?

did you try scraping off a bit of coralline into the tank?

You can do a happy dance, and I will watch.

No, I never got around to stealing some coralline scrapings to see if there are other species or something that will grow better in my tank. I'm going to see nazerine tomorrow, so maybe he will scrape some for me. Haha! There IS coralline in my tank...you can see it on the back pane of glass, but I haven't scraped that back pane in over a year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by es355lucille

Nice tank Mindy! With the new lights for this tank, I am sure your coral growth will increase now. We need to see a shot with the new lights!
What is the reddish coral center at the bottom of the rocks quite large --> is that an Acan??

The new lights have crappy MH bulbs. They are Coralife 10,000K so they are quite yellow and fugly, but the shimmer is still nice! Hahaha!! The red coral in the front looks "reddish" because there is green on it too. It's a Favia. There is a pic of it earlier in this thread, but it had a lot more green back then, now it is 75% red.