JoelRHale Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Check this out while I gather my thoughts. Seven eyes now, BTW. Mine doesn't put out the feeders, what am I doing wrong? Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 So, some of my zoas, my sympodium, and my ORA tricolor lost some of their color. My coralline even started spotting and discoloring. Strangely others did not and actually thrived. My ORA birdnest and ponape birdnest are growing like weeds. I actually fragged them a little to get the shape I wanted and to avoid branches colliding. What caused the loss of color? I thought I had too much light going on. So I dimmed them and ramped them back up. Helped a little, but no dice. Well, at that point I was completely frustrated because these damned things damned things can't be that sensitive to changing the light intensity. I did it very gradually. I thought back and forth about "Maybe there is a sweet spot I'm missing." I even contemplated getting a PAR meter. This has been an ongoing problem and I'm frustrated and a little embarrassed at the state of some of the corals. Hence, no new FTS in a while. So my buddy and me were talking about his 250G monster tank. He's had similar problems. Almost exactly like mine. Well he's been chasing his Alkalinity. That got me to thinking. Maybe I'm getting some Alk swings. You see, I'm my own worth enemy sometimes. I've violated many rules and I've increased my Alk by 2 dKH in one day. So that would cause the coral problems I've been having. I was fixated on the lights, but I don't think that's it at all. The only kit I have left that wasn't Salifert was my Alk. So I picked one out and found that the API kit was off by 2 dKH! that means that the one time that my Alk dropped to 7, it actually dropped to 5 and to make it worse, I bumped it up by 2 dKH that day! Now, I'm pretty sure I have an Alk problem not a light problem. I'm going to dose Alk 2 or 3 times a week for the next 3 weeks to keep the Alk as stable as possible and see how fast they color up. I'm hoping for the best TBH. Link to comment
JoelRHale Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Have you looked into kalkwasser? I'm getting good results so far after about 3 weeks. Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 Mine doesn't put out the feeders, what am I doing wrong? About 30 minutes or so after the lights go off, they just come out. I do feed phyto and zoo after lights out. That probably gets their attention too. Have you looked into kalkwasser? I'm getting good results so far after about 3 weeks. My volume is so small that I'm thinking about doing DIY 2 part from BRS. I'm keeping the dKH at 8 and want to get things back normal for a while, then I'll explore my dosing options. Link to comment
Felicia Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I just noticed you've been active on N-R a bunch today! Good to see you back Now I need to read the last page or two of posts to catch up on what's going on in your tank. I think its time for some new photos! Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 I'm back and I plan on doing it tomorrow. I'm going to keep the old one up, like a timeline. Sorta ripping off Rehype's page, but its nice to see the progression shots. Link to comment
Felicia Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I'm back and I plan on doing it tomorrow. I'm going to keep the old one up, like a timeline. Sorta ripping off Rehype's page, but its nice to see the progression shots. Good idea. I really like the timeline of shots. That way I can see how long it took someone to get their tank looking so awesome. Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 I just watched your vid. The tank is coming along well. The birdsnest you have will grow like crazy. Even with the problems I'm having, mine are out of control. It's really fun to watch the tank mature. My Sunny D's are doing the best out of the zoas. I have like 13 polyps of them now. Pretty crazy. Link to comment
Felicia Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Yeah my sour apple birdsnest seems really happy even though my microbubbles are limiting the PE on some of my other SPS corals. That's exciting about your Sunny D's. Those will be nice to sell or trade once you can start fragging them. My zoas have all started growing like crazy since I moved everything into the new tank. Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 I'll go ahead and break tradition by letting the cat out of the bag early. I'm picking up 2 zoas tomorrow. Paradise and Rastas. These will probably be the last zoas for this tank because I don't really have any more room for them, technically. I will concentrate on SPS from now on. I've already fragged a couple things. I'm waiting for everything to color up nice and pretty before I go ahead and list them for sale and trade. I have a frag of the ponape birdsnest that is all healed and looked fantastic. I'll take a pic tomorrow. It's splitting new little branches everywhere. Link to comment
Spirofucci Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Welcome back JD! Yep a new FTS and alot more pics are in order! Link to comment
gena Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 You know....I'm having ALK issues too!!!!!! Things just weren't looking happy in my tank and I was having cyano issues. Deckoz requested params and that's how I discovered my ALK sitting at 6.3!!!!! I have since started dosing buffer into my tank (CA has been fine) and things are improving 100%. Do you know what salt mix Vivid uses? I traced my problem to my bucket of new Brightwell Neo-marine salt. Newly mixed it was reading 6.1 ALK. I contacted Chris and he's sending me a new bucket so I'll see what that one tests out at. Mostly my zoas and palys were affected by the low ALK. They look great again now that I fixed that problem. My Sunny D's, from Vivid, had a huge growth spurt but have since come to a halt. I'm hoping it was the ALK problem causing that and they will start growing again. They already look better and seem to be interested in eating again. Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 I'm experiencing the same growth issues with the zoas. I'm thinking its the Alk as well. I only buy my water from Vivid and they use D-D. Good stuff. Photo dump coming!!! Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 New FTS and some closeups!!! Link to comment
Spirofucci Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Nice pics Mr. Dirt!!!! What kind of chalice is that? Is it that green in real life? Also.......Where is the FTS????? Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 At the top on the first page! Duh! LOL. Yes it's super bright in person. Sort of hard to get a good pic of the true color. It's called Cornbred's Trash Mummy Eye. My camera is just ok, user sucks too. Here, a FTS just for you. Link to comment
surgicalsense Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Everything has filled out nicely. Link to comment
nickjqz Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 That acan has grown a lot of baby heads! Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 Like ~16 of them. Craziness. Link to comment
Felicia Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 All your SPS's look so happy! And that chalice on the dome is stunning! Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 NOM NOM NOM I just fed the tank and everyone is happy. I'm heading off to get my new corals. Woot! Link to comment
gena Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 That ponape is stunning!!!!!! Everything looks amazing Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 That ponape is stunning!!!!!! Everything looks amazing Thanks Gena. It's probably my favorite right now. I just got back not too long ago. I am loving my new zoas. I am getting quite the collection now. Maybe I should upgrade to a shallow zoa and chalice heaven tank. Hmmm. Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 Very hard to get a pic of these little guys. They are very very tiny. The Rasta is being shy right now. Link to comment
Spirofucci Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I've never seen them in person, but rastas are the shiit. Link to comment
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