Mark's 40B and 46 bow

[markalot]

<-----Needs those arrow pointy thingees.

 

Irfanview, if you use a PC. Simple image editing and will even read RAW files directly from my camera.

 

So it's probably unrelated but since adding my MP10 and putting it in Reef Crest mode, full power, my coral growth has exploded. I did a 5 gallon water change with Red Sea Salt on Monday, KH after change was 7.8. Two part dosed Tuesday, missed Wednesday, checked it last night and I'm down to 6.2. Dosed standard dose to raise it to 6.8. As long as I don't miss a day I should be able to keep up for now, but obviously some kind of drip solution is in my future.

 

I'm reading my coral book from Borneman. Good book, but some interesting observations. Corals need stability, but corals can survive salinity changes, especially going lower due to rainfall and runoff. Wouldn't salinity changes also indicate changes in Alk and Calcium as well? In other words, perhaps corals can survive most slow changes to bad parameters, as long as it's not extreme, it's the correction done by us when we see something bad that does the most harm.

[gena]

Looks like I need to take some of this area again. Both of these are crappy and I had to push the brightness way up.

 

 

 

In that second shot you can see my older rics still showing injury from the salinity accident. The big yellow ones in the back really look good, but shadowed by that rock overhang. The bright green one floated behind blue/yellow clump and refuses to budge.

I've noticed that ricordeas really respond (negatively) to salinity issues. Mine started to shrink and bleach when my salinity was too high (bad calibrating on my part).

 

You have a nice collection, for sure Thanks for the photos!!!!!

[Veng]

Rics are looking great!

[Kfmmartin19]

Hey Mark, ur tank is really nice! I just posted this:

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/320061-40b-sps-lighting-idea/

 

and then I saw that u did something similar. How do u like what u did for your lights and how does it do with SPS? Care to comment what u think of my plan? Either here or on the thread is fine. Thanks!

[markalot]

Picture dump.

 

The tank is a year old this month. 1 year ago I filled this up with tap water, instant ocean salt, and algae infested rocks. Please don't try this at home, do it right instead.

 

February FTS

 

T5 and LED on

 

Blue White Reefbright LED only

 

Fancy angled shot, which would look a lot better if I cleaned the glass more often. Fred makes his first appearance.

 

Remember that test acro I purchased after the crash?

 

 

Under LED only

 

A shot I like of my little valley

 

The SPS mountain

 

Orange Montipora digitata

 

And now some boring photos of growth and recovery.

 

What remains of the green stylophora that I had to frag to save. This was the top and it's started to grow already. I have one more frag mounted here, another in the 20, and 2 more still in the sandbed.

 

 

The brown clump of Acro is starting to make some moves and color up. Polyp extension continues to improve.

 

 

 

Here's that watermelon colored Acro clump. I bleached the heck out of the top bit it's growing and regaining color.

 

 

 

Here's what's left of my pink birdsnest. Two broken stems survived, one in here and one in my 20. Both doing quite well, but a long long way to go.

 

 

This is my Blue Stylophora that survived the salinity accident basically unscathed. Taking an angle shot here, so it's blury, to show the new growth coming out the top. This is mounted sideways to it's starting to branch up.

 

 

 

How about some purple Duncans....

 

Last but not least, Fred holds still long enough for a clear picture. He loves to hang out under the rock mountain.

 

 

Whew, that's all for now. Thanks for having a look.

[metrokat]

Happy Birfday tank!

[markalot]

Happy Birfday tank!

 

Thanks Kat, and thanks for stopping by.

[eedn2010]

The tank looks great!

[markalot]

The tank looks great!

 

Thanks Eedn.

[gena]

Happy Birthday to your tank Already a year, huh?? It goes so fast. Everything is looking fantastic. Yes please...I'll take some purple duncans.

[markalot]

Hi Gena, thanks! The purple Duncans are now back home in the 20 gallon after a few months in the 40. I'm not sure if I like the purple or the regular colored ones better. The guy at the LFS is convinced it's all about lighting and they may drift back to normal colors at some point. He had a nice blue/yellow Duncan raised under very bright MH lights that he's convinced will revert under lower level lights.

 

I guess I'll find out.

[gena]

Hi Gena, thanks! The purple Duncans are now back home in the 20 gallon after a few months in the 40. I'm not sure if I like the purple or the regular colored ones better. The guy at the LFS is convinced it's all about lighting and they may drift back to normal colors at some point. He had a nice blue/yellow Duncan raised under very bright MH lights that he's convinced will revert under lower level lights.

 

I guess I'll find out.

That purple looks really nice! In which tank are you running the same ATI bulb combo as me?

[markalot]

That purple looks really nice! In which tank are you running the same ATI bulb combo as me?

 

This one, plus one reefbright LED strip and an all blue low power strip (think stunner).

 

-front-

blue+

purple+

(blue led strip)

Blue/White Reefbright strip

blue+

coral+

 

The Reefbright is bright enough to whiten up the tank just a bit, and with just it and the blue lit I get a very nice purple white color with lots of shimmer morning and evening.

 

My camera is set to 10K white balance plus I apply an in camera warm effect to produce near accurate colors.

[gena]

I thought so, but didn't know you were running LED with it as well. The color looks even better with the added LEDs! I love that first FTS shot with all lights running!

[Spirofucci]

Nice! Love that angle shot!

[markalot]

Thanks Mark!

[metrokat]

Nice score on the strawberry shortcake Mark!!!!

[markalot]

A quick update.

 

Everything is going swimmingly. I'm having a real hard time keeping my KH above 7, but nothing seems stressed, so I'm not stressed.

 

FTS (I really need to clean the glass!)

 

This is a mystery coral that hitched a ride on my blue polyp rock I purchased at least 6 months ago. Slowly but surely it's getting bigger and coloring up, but still no idea what it might be.

 

 

And finally here's the watermellon / strawberry colored acro frag which continues to rapidly expand over the plug.

 

[markalot]

I'm starting to drip kalkwasser, wish me and my tank luck!

 

KH was a whopping 6.2 this afternoon. Purchased a small jar of Kent kalkwasser, mixed 1/4 teaspoon into 1 gallon of ro/di water and used the Toms aquapump to slowly drip it into my HOB refugium. After waiting for it to mix I let it drip for 1 hour. KH barely moved, but PH up to 8.8 so I stopped. Dosed 2 part to raise KH to 7.2 and have my timer set to drip for 4 hours tomorrow morning from 4 to 8 am. I'll be up at 5:30 to check on it.

 

Since I use glass lids over the tank I'm not sure how long I have to drip to meet the topoff demands and not sure if that will be enough to meet my calcium needs.

 

Pics below taken after dripping for an hour and then dosing 2 part. Everything is looking really good ... let's hope I don't kill it.

 

 

My test acro, which is now the best looking coral in the tank!

 

 

And because I can;t resist an acro with green polyps, especially since I killed the only one I owned, I had to pick up this lowly frag at the local store.

 

 

FTS with just the reef bright and blue LED strips on.

 

[markalot]

Yawn.

 

After 30 minutes of dripping, KH 6.7 PH 8.0. I had to loosen the top of the container to let some air in which lead to a faster drip rate.

 

I'll check once more before heading into work.

[markalot]

After a little over an hour of drip the tank was at the level I usually run it at, KH and PH unchanged.

 

Next step is to mix a stronger solution and try again. I dosed 2 part to bring my KH up to 7.5.

[markalot]

Latest FTS

 

 

I'm now using a 2.5 gallon container with 2 heaping teaspoons of kalc, dripping for 1 hour every morning. Almost keeps uo with evaporation but barely makes a dent in alk usage. I also discovered my mag was way down around 1000.

 

... looks over at Red Sea Salt container...

[markalot]

The strawberry, or whatever it is, acro. You can see how it's encrusting down the side now, but the camera does not capture that this area is light yellow in color. Very cool looking.

 

 

Some of my Montipora collection.

 

Thankfully I broke off a piece of my orange cap before it perished in the 20. Finally starting to put on new growth.

 

 

 

One or both of these frags is destine for the 20 once it's stable again.

 

Idaho Grape

 

Pokerstar

 

 

Superman

 

 

Forest Fire digitata

 

[markalot]

Last pic.

 

The Acan on the right has been in the 40 the entire time. The two on the left were in the 20 and looked horrible when I moved them but recovered quickly.

 

... and Fred says hello.

[gena]

Good luck with the water chemistry! Nothing seems to be bothered by it, judging by all the gorgeous colors!!!!! I love that new green polyp acro