Polarcollision Posted May 28, 2013 Author Share Posted May 28, 2013 Thanks for the suggestions Nano! It's an honor having one of the nano-reef greats drop by! Here's more detail: The pink lemonade tissue shade looks OK, not too dark, not too light. It's just missing the bright yellow color. And the pretty pink polyps don't really come out--just the center longer one. And only partially at that. The flesh is mostly a pinkish tan color now, except for a tiny hint of yellow where it gets direct light (opposite the viewing angle since it is up front). The Cali Tort hasn't grown much in 4 months. I see polyps on the original frag that survived my super noob stage of being starved. I thought it was going to RTN at the time so I bought a second 1" frag. The original has recovered and is twice as dark as the second frag, but they could both be better. I put the Cali Tort up higher on the column with the other SPS. Should it come down lower? If the Pink Mille likes higher light I could switch them around since it is a bit lower. The Cali was dark blue with very little green int he same place until I starved the tank. Was a noob thinking I had to keep absolute 0's on NO3 and PO4. Now those are stable at about .25-.05 for NO3. The ELOS PO4 test is hard to read since the blue color is so faint. It might be .05 or it might be 0. Probably not 0 since there's a bit of algae growth. Once a week I kill the pump and flood the tank with phyo, zoo, and all kinds of foods. Maybe I should increase to twice a week? I'm open to suggestions. Here's the current list: Brightwell zooplanktos-S and L, KoralColor, CoralAmino, Reef Nutrition phyto-Feast, ROE, Oyster-feast, Hikari Mysis, blood worms and spirulina brine shrimp. With the move and studying to keep my grades competetive the I, Fe, and K testing slid, but all three always read low. Need to test those this week and dial in the dosing. Are you having issues with the green or blue, or both colours on the Cali Tort? The Cali Tort seems to have deeper colours for me if it is lower in the tank. It also responds well to potassium between 380-400ppm, mainly for the blues. Are you saying the tissue on the Pink Lemonade is dark? Perhaps get it growing and the new growth will have better colour. I have found this to be the case with many of my acro's. Old growth stays dark and the new growth is bright and vivid, at least in my tank. It's hard to make all the corals look great at the same time, SPS are tricky that way. Have you checked potassium (K) levels? What are your current PO4 and NO3 levels? Try target feeding zooplankton foods to the SPS once and a while. Amino Acids will also help. Christine Bump, going back a few pages. Did you find a good way to dose Iron? How about the other tests, what did they show? I have Seachem Iron for freshwater and Randy Holmes-Farley has mentioned this will work, but I don't have a test kit yet so not adding any. I bought the Red Sea combo kit for Iron, Iodine and Potassium. They also have a dosing kit that includes trace elements that typically deplete at the same rate as the indicator minerals tested for in the kit. I've been slack on testing and dosing though... so I, Fe and K are my prime suspects ATM. Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted May 28, 2013 Author Share Posted May 28, 2013 You own an amazing tank, so cute! Aquascaping is very inspiring - lovely shapes and colors, congratulations! I will definitely drop by often to see how it grows. Waiting for more updates... Thanks Ali! There's not much to update right now. I tried to save the pink birdsnest that was left out of water too long in the move, but it kept declining. Figured it was better to take it out than risk setting the tank up for an RTN chain while I was out on vacation last week. I'll likely put the orange setosa or maybe the Mille up there in its place. Do you have a link to your tank? I'd like to check it out. Quote Link to comment
joel sandoman Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 How did I miss this? Beautiful tank! 1 Quote Link to comment
Ali_Maga Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Hi Polarcollision, I'm new to this forum and it will be my pleasure if you take a tour around my waterworld: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/327543-magdalenas-waterworld-21g/ Can't take my eyes of your tank. Long live ecsenius stigmatura blenny lovers! 1 Quote Link to comment
Herptile Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 I need to look for those coral foods you mentioned. If not the same brands, maybe just something similar. Keep us updated. I need some tankspiration. 1 Quote Link to comment
Zia Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Bummer on the pink bn. If that was the only casualty during the move, not bad. New pics Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 Tank looks about the same as last month, so not much for photo updates right now. I pulled out some of the pink and gold palys that were overrunning prettier palys. Same for the CARs. Looks like it might be time to start making frags with the great zoa growth lately. :-) Here are a few landscape shots taken over the last year in place of tank photos. Enjoy! 8 Quote Link to comment
Sahin Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Wow, thats some amazing photography! Quote Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Brightwell zooplanktos-S and L, I have tried these products and soon after tossed them in Le Garbage! Corals don't respond and they just pollute the tank, I also remember them containing amino acids as well as some other stuff... Here I looked it up... Ingredients Purified water, Brachionus sp. (zooplankton), unhatched Brachionus sp. and crustacean eggs, proprietary amino acids, Ascorbic acid, Citric acid. http://www.brightwellaquatics.com/products/zooplanktosst.php Your likely OD amino acids with the food and amino acid supplement, could be the reason some corals won't colour up. Also kind of concerned about the product containing Ascorbic and Citric Acids, as I believe they also function as a carbon source for bacteria. If you feed twice a week, I would not increase overall amount of food, rather divide what you were feeding weekly into two doses. AND, your photography is world class 100%, I do hope you make a decent living from it at very least. I tried once to make a living with my photography years back, failed miserably, it was the time when digital was taking over the commercial market (yes I am old), I never had enough money to upgrade my equipment (in those first years it would have cost 100,000 to do it right). I got pushed out of the market as "film" became obsolete. My last gig was shooting the Juno Awards (Canada's Grammy's) back stage (circa 1992), most photographers were already shooting digi and uploading to media sources within an hour... not me Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 Wow, thats some amazing photography! Thanks Sahin! The PNW is so beautiful I have to try and capture it. Brightwell zooplanktos-S and L, I have tried these products and soon after tossed them in Le Garbage! Corals don't respond and they just pollute the tank, I also remember them containing amino acids as well as some other stuff... Here I looked it up... Ingredients Purified water, Brachionus sp. (zooplankton), unhatched Brachionus sp. and crustacean eggs, proprietary amino acids, Ascorbic acid, Citric acid. http://www.brightwellaquatics.com/products/zooplanktosst.php Your likely OD amino acids with the food and amino acid supplement, could be the reason some corals won't colour up. Also kind of concerned about the product containing Ascorbic and Citric Acids, as I believe they also function as a carbon source for bacteria. If you feed twice a week, I would not increase overall amount of food, rather divide what you were feeding weekly into two doses. AND, your photography is world class 100%, I do hope you make a decent living from it at very least. I tried once to make a living with my photography years back, failed miserably, it was the time when digital was taking over the commercial market (yes I am old), I never had enough money to upgrade my equipment (in those first years it would have cost 100,000 to do it right). I got pushed out of the market as "film" became obsolete. My last gig was shooting the Juno Awards (Canada's Grammy's) back stage (circa 1992), most photographers were already shooting digi and uploading to media sources within an hour... not me I didn't see much of a response with these foods either. It hurts my wallet to throw them out so I'm feeding the anemones and mussels in the temperate aquarium instead. In other news, I finally had a free hour to complete the RedSea potassium test -- only to find out bottle D had crystalized before I ever opened it. Still no reading on potassium and now I regret spending $$ on a useless test kit. urg. However, I've begin switching salt from Reef Crystals to Red Sea Coral Pro which is supposed to have a better blend of trace minerals and potassium. It is tough to make a living in photography. With the rise in digital photography, everyone's hoping to sell their photos. :-) With landscapes, an amateur is always willing to sell a good shot for less than the excellent pro shot and most people glancing don't really notice that difference in quality anyway. Despite that, I do sell enough to make the hobby more enjoyable, even if it isn't enough to quit the day job for. Being at these beautiful places under stellar conditions is most of the reward anyways. I'm sure you have great memories of gigs, too! 4 Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 Just want to put it out there that Red Sea has fantastic customer service. I sent an email to them about the crystalized reagent D and they're sending all new reagents out. Makes me feel so much better about buying into the product line. :happydance: 2 Quote Link to comment
eitallent Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 So I have been missing out on your thread!! Your pictures are amazing! I am cruising on over to your photography website after typing this up. Your nano is beautiful. I loved the video and the music made it feel so magical. Thank you for sharing it. I am really forgetful therefore I have a request to make so that I do not miss any more of your posts. Would edit your thread title to Polarcollision's Nuvo 8g? This way when the email notifications come in I know it is your Nuvo 8g! Pretty please with sugar on top? BTW I wish you lots of luck with your studies! 3 Quote Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Yes ReaSea is great for service, I had an issue with my reagents when I got the K kit. I was not getting any colour change at titration. I emailed them and they sent me a refill box (all 4 reagents) free. Kit works great for me now, takes a while I agree but I don't mind it if I know I'm getting a accurate result. Previously I was using Elos K kit, completely impossible to read accurately IMO, waste of money. Salifert makes a K kit now but it is not available in Canada, easy to use but I have my doubts on it's accuracy, a lot of people like it though, I never tied it. 2 Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted June 20, 2013 Author Share Posted June 20, 2013 So I have been missing out on your thread!! Your pictures are amazing! I am cruising on over to your photography website after typing this up. Your nano is beautiful. I loved the video and the music made it feel so magical. Thank you for sharing it. I am really forgetful therefore I have a request to make so that I do not miss any more of your posts. Would edit your thread title to Polarcollision's Nuvo 8g? This way when the email notifications come in I know it is your Nuvo 8g! Pretty please with sugar on top? BTW I wish you lots of luck with your studies! Awww. That just made my day! I can't describe how much I love getting out in the Washington wilderness. My goal with the photos is to let people know just how stunning it is and maybe, just maybe, they want to go see these places in person too. Flickr.com/photos/polarcollision is where most of them end up. Haven't updated the website in ages, sadly. The band is Amethystium. Peaceful music for chilling out or studying! And I changed the thread title just for you. :-) Going back to school the second time is motivation to get the most out of it. Thoroughly enjoying learning everything about how the body works. Especially the biochemistry. Wow. No words. It's just beautifully amazing. Yes ReaSea is great for service, I had an issue with my reagents when I got the K kit. I was not getting any colour change at titration. I emailed them and they sent me a refill box (all 4 reagents) free. Kit works great for me now, takes a while I agree but I don't mind it if I know I'm getting a accurate result. Previously I was using Elos K kit, completely impossible to read accurately IMO, waste of money. Salifert makes a K kit now but it is not available in Canada, easy to use but I have my doubts on it's accuracy, a lot of people like it though, I never tied it. Oh - good to know about the K tests. I took off the tiny little pipette cone to suck up the crystalized ragent, hoping it would crumble under pressure. All it ended up doing was make a gusher all over my hand, arm and desk from back pressure. Then I panicked after reading the reagent chemical warnings. What a mess! :-) There's so much debate over the different brands that my head hurt trying to sort it out and I just bought the combo kit. LOL Don't mind the hour to test, but it's not going to be every week, that's for sure! I think it's worth purchasing extra drams and pippettes for the reagents to prevent contamination (and to be able to get the two long tests going simultaneously.) 2 Quote Link to comment
eitallent Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Thank you! I visited your website. Your oils are wonderful. @_@ The landscape pictures are so vivid, it feels like your are in the pictures but better. Now we need more pics of your corals and tank. I am so demanding. Aren't I? 1 Quote Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Glad you changed the thread name 2 Quote Link to comment
spartan1391 Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 What's the bright green coral on the top right of your scape? Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Sorry for the off topic post. I'm on the veggie detox like I planned! I'm so excited. So far in just one day I've had a little bit of a lot of different kinds of food: french green beans, cauliflower, 2 kind of squash, lentils, yogurt, cucumber and tomato, bitter gourd, eggplants. Yummy. Your photography is very nice BTW! 1 Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted June 22, 2013 Author Share Posted June 22, 2013 Thank you! I visited your website. Your oils are wonderful. @_@ The landscape pictures are so vivid, it feels like your are in the pictures but better. Now we need more pics of your corals and tank. I am so demanding. Aren't I? :-) I love painting, especially putting together the concepts. The first one with the cats is about superposition and how it reminds me of making choices. Sometimes everything is completely different from one simple decision: like deciding to care for my coworker's abandoned betta fish. Opened up this whole world of aquarium keeping. The one I'm painting right now is about patterns. Take a look at the universe structure compared to the structure of neurons in the brain. Same pattern. It's nuts! It might be a few days til I can get a FTS, but I got a few pics of algae and dinos from the aquarium... Glad you changed the thread name I aim to please. :-) What's the bright green coral on the top right of your scape? That's a branching duncan. The local LFS got a huge head straight from the ocean with those crazy green shades. It's already popped 6 or more new baby heads and the clown fish is starting to try hosting it. Sorry for the off topic post. I'm on the veggie detox like I planned! I'm so excited. So far in just one day I've had a little bit of a lot of different kinds of food: french green beans, cauliflower, 2 kind of squash, lentils, yogurt, cucumber and tomato, bitter gourd, eggplants. Yummy. Your photography is very nice BTW! It sounds really good! Have you noticed how clean you feel? It took about 4 days of eating right and suddenly I had energy level from 10 years ago. I'm telling you, plants are amazing fuel. The other day I decided to try and rip off Progresso Minestrone soup. God I love it! But could do without the salt and other stuff they add. The recipe turned out so yummy! Good thing cause it made about 12 meals. In tank news, I finally got the nerve to dose peroxide tonight. Didn't even need that horse tranquilizer for anxiety. 0.5ml/10 gallons to start. Zoas closed a bit and montis pulled in their polyps half way. Everything else looks completely the same. 1mL/10gallons tomorrow morning and then dosing bacteria in the afternoon. After moving house, the sand bed took a hit and hasn't been quite the same since. It gave some turf algae a chance to take hold and I've got a dino outbreak on the sand. They've gotz to go. Die, algae. Die. http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/28337F5D-E94F-42EF-A327-8C07834C970C-11368-00000E420A96CD29_zpsdf26e26c.jpg.html'> Where it's taking over (sorry - crappy iPhone pics again) http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/51685ED5-58B3-44EB-8E3A-CB57C1B85944-11368-00000E4235E0E6D3_zps79ad8777.jpg.html'> Here's what's coating the sand. Thought it was cyano and blew it off. Turns out they're dinos. Best ID so far is Prorocentrum Lima http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/DPP07DD0616001521_zps53e68492.jpg.html'> These little red things are growing among the dinos. Cool patterns. Smaller than the dino (blurry yellow bit) http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/DPP07DD0616001010_zps455cd17c.jpg.html'> Zoomed out. Black is sand crystals. The gold specs are dinos (the red color on the right side is just light diffraction) http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/DPP07DD0616001848_zpsf8be35b3.jpg.html'> Pod eating the algae. They bubble up and die in peroxide. It was sad. http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/DPP07DD0616002230_zps5cf898e6.jpg.html'> Full strength peroxide didn't really phase the algae. http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/DPP07DD0616001C38_zps82b41313.jpg.html'> I love this dog http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/JMBqrJ5_zps79f817bc.gif.html'> 6 Quote Link to comment
sunburn Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 Amazing photos and beautiful tank! Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 Super awesome microscopy! Are you sure peroxide didn't make a dent in the algae?! Not even after 3 minutes? Quote Link to comment
spartan1391 Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 I might have to get some of those Duncan's if I can find them. Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 You are an amazing photographer! Also, the microscopy photos are really cool! Quote Link to comment
Deckoz2302 Posted June 22, 2013 Share Posted June 22, 2013 Holy crap how did I miss your thread Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted July 2, 2013 Author Share Posted July 2, 2013 Temperate aquarium pics! Green baby dragon (sculpin). She's not quite an inch long. At first I was worried about feeding her, but she's a little bad-### and has no problem snarfing up mysis. Momma sculpin. Whenever I come up to the tank she hops up on the highest rock waiting for her mysis. Notice the reddish patches? She turns those on when she likes her food. http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/DPP07DD0701132256_zpsc59f82c3.jpg.html'> I think this one is a strawberry anemone http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/DPP07DD0701131D39_zps1326bf76.jpg.html'> Christmas tree anemone http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/DPP07DD0701130B33_zpsbb5fe237.jpg.html'> Saddleback gunnel http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/DPP07DD0701131559_zps782671ae.jpg.html'> Giant barnacle http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/DPP07DD0701131216_zps3a7c3838.jpg.html'> Striped hermit http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/DPP07DD0701131A50_zpsd63bb41f.jpg.html'> Limpet http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/DPP07DD0701130252_zps515784ab.jpg.html'> More strawberry anemone http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/DPP07DD0701130723_zpsef42576f.jpg.html'> You know it's hot when Namara plops herself down in front of the fan http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/F693D770-B121-4037-8C4E-FDA516F80A61-17848-000016FA89E3DCA5_zpsf262c369.jpg.html'> http://s137.photobucket.com/user/polarcollision/media/793101D4-5EEF-46B8-A52F-58E1BC3B5CAE-17848-000016FA95430AAF_zpse35300ee.jpg.html'> 4 Quote Link to comment
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