ReeferFulton's most SPECTACULARLY AWESOMEST tank build(s) EVAHHH!!!!

noy · #1 06-22-2013, 11:05 AM

nice tank and great shots of the corals!

Skimmerking · #2 06-22-2013, 03:52 PM

SPS is looking sweet mango way to go how are you finding the dosing part. is it easy to do? what is the hardest part about dosing? is it the Testing more to find the sweet spot.

reeferfulton · #3 06-23-2013, 05:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skimmer King

SPS is looking sweet mango way to go how are you finding the dosing part. is it easy to do? what is the hardest part about dosing? is it the Testing more to find the sweet spot.

Thanks for the props . The dosing is going really well. I test alk , Mg , Ca once a week one day before a 10-15 gallon water change . I am still useing Randy's Recipe . I have only made very small adjustments to my dosing amounts. I try not to over react . As long as the parameter tests relatively close to my goal i make no adjustment . If it starts to trend downwards over 3 water tests i bump up my dosing amount by an extra 5mls a day and look for a slight rise on the next test.
I keep a log of all my tests . I also record on that sheet when i make an adjustment and by how much .

So far the only thing that seems odd when following Randy's recipe is i seem to use way more Mg then what randy said i would . Currently i am dosing almost equal parts of all 3. Could be that i am having a boom of coraline growing (since my tank is new there is lots of room for it to grow)
i heard coraline sucks up the Mg i think ?

I think the hardest part is not stressing over the numbers . lol. I keep the Mg at 1350 and higher. I wont make any adjustments to mg unless it hits 1300.

Ca i keep at 400 to 450 ish .
Alk set to 7.5 currently .
Salinity set to 1.026 ish .

If all numbers are low out of the blue i double check my salinity first . make sure its real close . Then the next i would adjust would be to bring up the Mg a very little and then test the following week.

I am still really new at this , and so far my parameters have been really stable , I did notice an increase in demand after adding a dozen frags from the last swap.

Quote:

Originally Posted by noy

nice tank and great shots of the corals!

thanks ! I cannot take credit for the shots . Good ole Rice Reef reef is the island photographer and hes getting good !

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastlight

wow that is pretty crazy. wonder what sort of effects they've had since spreading. i'm jealous you live in a place where they'll survive lol.

I have no idea . when i first saw one i was blown away lol . apparently they are only found on this part of Victoria . My dog like to chase them around . never catches them though so they are safe . I have been thinking of making an out door terrarium that they can live in if they like ..

Rice Reef · #4 07-25-2013, 03:08 AM

We want an update...

Bblinks · #5 07-25-2013, 05:25 AM

Yes please! Pictures pictures pictures!

reeferfulton · #6 07-25-2013, 05:31 AM

You guys are right.
I will put one together soon.

Thanks for the poke

gregzz4 · #7 07-25-2013, 05:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reeferfulton

So far the only thing that seems odd when following Randy's recipe is i seem to use way more Mg then what randy said i would

Forgive me for not reading the whole thread ...

What salt do you use ?

I find with my IO I don't need to dose Mag, but that'll change soon as I'm going to use 2-part very soon, instead of Seachem powders, which have trace amounts of Mag and others

reeferfulton · #8 07-30-2013, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Forgive me for not reading the whole thread ...

What salt do you use ?

I use IO.
I started with 50 lbs of dry rock so maybe I am still playing catchup .

OK finally an update .
I have had really good growth over the last few months . But I have not had really good colors. Actually really poor color.
I have noticed that I really only get polyp extension on a few of my corals as well.

Talking with Brad and Wayne it seems unanimous that i needed to reduce my feeding to try and color up my sps . Which besides green are all roughly shades of browny red.

So I cut way back on my feeding. Well when i did this I quickly noticed that my flame angel likes picking at almost all of my coral LOL. never spotted it before , but now that he is hungry it was obvious.

Also talking with Wayne I have come to the conclusion that my lighting program on the mitras was way off for optimum color .

So now week 2 after my recent changes I have noticed a slight improvement in color i think.. Some of my browny corals are showing signs of green i think lol. And the new growth tips are a light shade of the right color they are supposed to be .

I have also increased my weekly water changes from 10 gallons up to 20 gallons each week.
I no longer run GFO for the last month . As the biopellets seem to be holding there own on the phosphate front.

So I went on the mission to catch the flame angel .. Probably the most shy fish in my tank FYI .
1. Tried just netting him.. .. lol not a chance . cant even look at the net and he would bolt to the back corner.
2.tried the home made trap useing a coke bottle .. Caught my sailfin tang ....
3. Got a really big clear poly back , built a structure out of rodi tubing and sewed fishing line around the edge to form a pull string to sinch the bag up .. Again caught the sailfin Tang.....lol
4.tried moving what rock i could. This damn fish would hide in the most difficult place . i could not even see him..
5. Tried turning the lights on full boar in the middle of the night.. Nope .. didnt work.
6 . Borrowed an official trap from Brad. Day one every fish in the tank was in it but the flame.
day 2 again every fish . multiples at a time even.
later in day 2 , i put in a new era algae grazer on the suction cup.. this peaked his interest at least . all the fish were in and out but him.. Then after around 1.5 hrs . he went in and i was ready ..

It felt so damn good to finally catch him.. I will be trading him in for a wrasse of some sort tomorrow i hope ..

Noticed as of late (with my reduced feeding ) that my skimmer is pulling in less. infact I have turned it more towards wet as i was no longer pulling anything .. So

I will give it another few weeks and see if my colors continue to improve .
And hopefully i will start to have more PE with the angel gone .
wish me luck

gregzz4 · #9 07-30-2013, 01:43 AM

Good luck with the dosing, and great catch
I'll bet if you weren't after him, he would have been in every trap you tried

Bblinks · #10 07-30-2013, 05:55 AM

Hey John, great update and i love the pictures. One thing I want to mention about the paleness of your sps is it might not just be you over feeding. I have always believe in feeding, because of my laziness I do it mostly through broadcast and with the amount of fish that I have they also get an alternative "feeding", plus i dose coral aminos when I see some of the more sensitive species becoming "unhappy". if I were you I probably start by checking the 3 parameters and make sure they are in check then move on to phosphate and nitrate. If everything checks out good then I would inspect them for pests, a quick dip or flash light at night will reveal some telltale signs of either red bug or aefw bite marks. Let's just say you are pest free, the third step will be feeding your corals and or dose some sps amino acid to see how they react. Most of the time some amino acid once a week will do wonders for those sticks. Anyways kee up the good work and I'll see you at the frag swap.

Rich