Mark's 150 (NanoBox Retro)

[markalot]

I moved my BML LED bar to the back of the tank and place 2 2-bulb T5 fixtures over the front, Coral+ ad Purple +. Looks much better I think, though I really wanted to stay all LED. I made the mistake of looking at an old pic of my 40 with all T5's.

[Arce]

I moved my BML LED bar to the back of the tank and place 2 2-bulb T5 fixtures over the front, Coral+ ad Purple +. Looks much better I think, though I really wanted to stay all LED. I made the mistake of looking at an old pic of my 40 with all T5's.

 

T5s > LED

[jedimasterben]

T5s > LED

[markalot]

FTS with T5's on the front.

 

 

Crazy Blue Acro

 

 

 

I've been dosing a cap of Kent Coral Accel daily for the last few days and you can tell this bird likes it, new white tips all over.

 

 

 

Looks at the cool blue haze on this one.

 

 

Lots of hungry mouths!

 

 

Mushroom rock being cleaned up fast. Foxface ate the Xenia! I like this guy a lot.

[Sk8n Reefer]

That picture of that Acro under your Birdsnest looks great- greenish body with red polyps - very nice- what type is it?

[markalot]

Unknown 1 looks like a. saramentosa maybe?

 

I could be wrong. Nice pick ups though!

 

I think you are correct, thanks. I've seen some pretty wild examples of this coral, some from Battle Corals. I wonder what color morph it will end up being. In my tank, probably brown / green.

 

That picture of that Acro under your Birdsnest looks great- greenish body with red polyps - very nice- what type is it?

 

I think Klein got it correct, pretty distinctive look.

[markalot]

Corals are browning a bit. So what did I do?

 

KH is at 8.5 and it drifted from 7.5 to 8.5 over 3 days. Perhaps enough to brown some?

 

I lowered the light in response to what I think is the bonsai bleaching.

 

Tested Nitrates and Phosphates. <1 Nitrates, looks like 0 phosphates using Salifert high rez (twice the water, twice the reagents).

 

Browning is better than fading or bleaching, and birdsnest are showing growth spurts, so I will do nothing and see how it pans out.

[Arkayology]

Corals are browning a bit. So what did I do?

 

KH is at 8.5 and it drifted from 7.5 to 8.5 over 3 days. Perhaps enough to brown some?

 

I lowered the light in response to what I think is the bonsai bleaching.

 

Tested Nitrates and Phosphates. <1 Nitrates, looks like 0 phosphates using Salifert high rez (twice the water, twice the reagents).

 

Browning is better than fading or bleaching, and birdsnest are showing growth spurts, so I will do nothing and see how it pans out.

Hrmm. The alk drift may have been the cause, but it isn't THAT extreme of a shift. What height is your light at right now? % intensity?

[markalot]

Hrmm. The alk drift may have been the cause, but it isn't THAT extreme of a shift. What height is your light at right now?

 

Not sure on the height, but the PAR is around 300 - 350 at the acro level (uncorrected) down from 350 - 500. My little blue/purple acro on the left was at 500 and seemingly loving it. It hasn't browned.

 

I wonder if the dying / consumed monti's are putting some muck in the water that is making the acros brown? The slimer has browned a bit, but of course growth has taken off at the same time. I'm going to retest PAR tonight or over the weekend to make sure something didn't change too radically.

 

By the way, i didn't mention it but that pretty blue acro I got came with red bugs. I almost didn't dip but thought better of it and set up a 2.5 gallon aquarium with 1ml of Bayer per cup of saltwater. They were obvious on the shorter branch using a flashlight and my 3.5X reading glasses. All were dead when I spotted them, and I knocked them off with a dental pic then blew the coral and nothing else came off. Since this looks to be a hardy coral I left it in the dip for 20 minutes, then double rinsed. It hasn't browned at all. Go figure.

 

So why are they called red bugs anyway? Mostly yellow with a smaller red part.

[Arkayology]

Good catch on the red bugs! I dip everything! I really should get some Bayer Advanced sometime to try it out. I have half a bottle of Revive to use though.

 

Test the PAR and get back to us. I think your plan to wait it out is the best thing you can do at this point.

[gena]

Holy crap, it's blue! It looks like someone took a slimer and dyed it blue. This was after a 15 minute dip in Bayer (1ml per cup of tank water).

 

OMG...a green slimer in blue

 

The blastos look mahvelous!

[markalot]

OMG...a green slimer in blue

 

The blastos look mahvelous!

 

I know!

 

So look at these blastos I moved from my little tank. $5 little frag with tiny heads, and in the 29 covered with bubble algae, hair algae, and aptasia. I scrubbed them off and put in here because I thought they were looking pretty good. Pinkish and green, so far.

 

[markalot]

Test the PAR and get back to us. I think your plan to wait it out is the best thing you can do at this point.

 

 

Didn't check PAR, will have to be this weekend. I really can't tell if they are browning or coloring back up after a minor bleaching event. The pinkish milli had turned very pale but is now "browning" and right now is kind of a cool goldish color. The slimer is back to a bright green ... can it really change over a single day or are my eyes playing tricks. Ah well, I'll do nothing and we'll see what happens.

 

Took a few wider shots and another FTS. I think I've settled now on blue+/purple+ for the T5's in the front. I moved the big green torch to the very back where it gets a sliver of light. It attacked one of my pocis and frankly is lucky to still be alive. I need a smaller torch IF I'm going to have a torch. My gold torch is well behaved, but a really slow grower.

 

 

 

 

 

[markalot]

Forgot one, shot of both tanks.

 

[RollaJase]

Beautiful work Mark.

[gena]

That dual tank pic really puts things into perspective! The 150 is huge!!!

 

 

I know!

 

So look at these blastos I moved from my little tank. $5 little frag with tiny heads, and in the 29 covered with bubble algae, hair algae, and aptasia. I scrubbed them off and put in here because I thought they were looking pretty good. Pinkish and green, so far.

 

So pretty . I need more merlettis. I want to get an all red colony.

[markalot]

Beautiful work Mark.

 

Thanks!

 

 

That dual tank pic really puts things into perspective! The 150 is huge!!!

 

So pretty . I need more merlettis. I want to get an all red colony.

 

Yea, that would be nice. So the Merlettis are the easy ones I suppose?

 

http://www.tidalgardens.com/red-blastomussa-merletti-927.html

 

Those look like something that would melt quickly for me.

[latteslave]

man - missed a lot since the last visit. The tank is looking good and you are getting good colors... hoping the MEN invasion is settling, you have some nice monti

[vlangel]

I think you are getting really great color with the T5s being added. I like the shot of the 2 tanks, nice. I'd have a couch and/or comfy chair there where I could just chill and enjoy them!

[metrokat]

Tanks are looking really good Mark, the fish are healthy and fat, the corals are doing well too. Is the bleaching and browning resolved?

Katropora is getting happier by the photo. That blue stag is awesome, I might have to get a piece if you source ships.

[markalot]

Look into blue gomezi. Super awesome acro. And it has a nice blue color with a purple undertone.

 

I looked at pictures of the gomezi and this one doesn't look exactly like it, the gomezi looks more, uh, refined?. Oh wait, you are telling me to look into one.

 

Right now the blue looks just like the slimer (yongei) and it smelled like it as well. There was not a lot of slime though, so this is probably a wrong ID.

 

If this grows as fast as the slimer I am going to be thrilled. It probably won't.

[markalot]

Tanks are looking really good Mark, the fish are healthy and fat, the corals are doing well too. Is the bleaching and browning resolved?

Katropora is getting happier by the photo. That blue stag is awesome, I might have to get a piece if you source ships.

 

Hi Kat, thanks. Not sure if the color changing episode is over or not. My container of Reef Roids is telling me I've slacked off on feeding, so that's another issue. Old man is going to have to start writing stuff down.

 

SaltyUnderground does ship, but they get this piece from a local hobbiest and I did find Redbugs on it, so prepare to dip if you get one from them. Bayer is very simple to use, 1ml per cup of water is safe for all non-smooth skinned acros. A stink bug (we have thousands outside right now) fell in my dipping tank and died instantly. Maybe I should have worn gloves? Acro had PE in the dip and still looks good in the tank.

 

I've changed my morning routine to dose a cap of Acro Power and a cap of Kent Coral Accel in the sump before heading to work. What little cyano I had is fading, brown snot (a known issue with Acro Power overdoses) is fading, and some corals really putting on a growth spurt. I clouded the tank with PE Mysis / Cyclopese (frozen), algae flake, and 2 teaspoons of Reef Roids yesterday evening. I kept the sump off for an hour while it circulated around the tank. Going to try and do this twice a week with pinches of Reef Roids daily. I was shocked I had no measurable phosphates or nitrates but this may be do to the big skimmer. I emptied it last night and this morning, after the heavy feeding yesterday, it's 1/4 full of brown muck.

[metrokat]

Oh boy, bugs, I best stay away.

 

I need to up my feedings also. I've been lazy. Corals must hate me. I'm about to update my thread with some phosguard related problems I had.

[markalot]

Oh boy, bugs, I best stay away.

 

I need to up my feedings also. I've been lazy. Corals must hate me. I'm about to update my thread with some phosguard related problems I had.

 

Eww, hopefully not too bad, I'll have a look. I had a huge bag of Phosguard in the sump until early last week when I took it out. I'm not sure it made much of a difference with 150 gallons, but I should not have put it in until I KNEW I had a phosphate problem. It may have had something to do with the bleaching I witnessed, but the LPS corals didn't show any stress, including those Blastos I got from you which, shockingly, are doing well.

 

Did I mention my Foxface also eats Cyano and the brown muck? He eats everything bad!

[markalot]

Hmmm,

 

perhaps the blue acro is lovelli? http://coral.aims.gov.au/factsheet.jsp?speciesCode=0043

 

Not this, but the growth looks similar, especially in pics of other frags. http://www.reeffarmers.com/limitedacroporalovelli.htm