Made in Africa - A Shallow Reef V2

[4x5]

 

FTS - February 08, 2018;

Image of the tank as it stands today, it's rocking some lovely Cyano - apparently it's all the rage.  Things are going pretty well with the tank considering it's been on auto pilot for a few months. As I mentioned previous I was travelling a lot at the end of 2017 and in January I had to leave again. Funnily enough when I got home the tank was looking better than it had in a long time but nutrients had dropped quite a lot as all that was happening was fresh top up water for 6 weeks. My Mr Pacman didn't enjoy the lack of nutrients and died, which was strange since it was always a hardy coral for me but I am not shocked that it happened. More recently I had an Alk spike which I believe is due to a rise in Phosphates which caused a slow in coral growth - most of the corals are OK - so no major disaster. 

 

 

 

I decided to add a Magnifica Anemone and a Pink Skunk Clownfish to the tank - it's a super neat combo I've always wanted. I'll add a smaller mate in for the Clownfish when I find one.

 

 

My beautiful Tenuis has some burnt tips at the moment but this image was taken when I returned home.

 

That's it for now, I'll try get some more pictures up soon - and hopefully be home long enough to be more involved around here. 

[4x5]

On 08/01/2018 at 9:04 AM, calireefer said:

Beautiful tank! Following.

Thanks.

On 10/01/2018 at 12:46 AM, RollaJase said:

Happy New Year buddy, hope all is well. Looking forward to an update .

Happy New Year! I hope you are well.

[Berlibee]

Looks super nice. The photo of the clown man is amazing, but I've told you that 5 times already. 

[medinar83]

Sick tank!!!! camera skills are on point as well! 

[Reefkid88]

 !!!!!!!!

[4x5]

13 hours ago, Berlibee said:

Looks super nice. The photo of the clown man is amazing, but I've told you that 5 times already. 

 Thanks!

13 hours ago, medinar83 said:

Sick tank!!!! camera skills are on point as well! 

Thank you!

3 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

 !!!!!!!!

Hey!

[teenyreef]

That tenuis 

 

I've had the same problem with alk fluctuations in my 10g. A swing in nitrates or phosphates slows coral growth, and suddenly alk starts climbing. And in a 10g tank, alk can go up in a hurry.

[4x5]

13 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

That tenuis 

 

I've had the same problem with alk fluctuations in my 10g. A swing in nitrates or phosphates slows coral growth, and suddenly alk starts climbing. And in a 10g tank, alk can go up in a hurry.

It's beautiful indeed, hopefully it pulls through. I had a badly timed trip now, Alk was just below 8 when I left which is still low enough (although I like to peak at 7) for me not to be alarmed but when I got back it had gone up to 8.9 and the Tenuis did not like it. The Slimer looks OK, it's just stopped growing for the moment which is not big deal to me, the Millepora seem OK as well but Tenuis IME can be so finicky if something upsets them. I fragged a little piece and glued it elsewhere, probably a bad idea to disturb it now but figured I'd give it a go.  I find it interesting though how some corals are enjoying it - it's tough to keep everyone happy.

[4x5]

 

This kid's bed looks comfy. 

[dpoltsdsu]

This looks amazing. How has the anemone been doing?

[4x5]

1 minute ago, dpoltsdsu said:

This looks amazing. How has the anemone been doing?

Thanks. It seems to be happy. 

[pappadumplingz]

Hey mate, glad to see the tank is still going strong. Hope you are doing okay with the drought and all.

[4x5]

22 minutes ago, pappadumplingz said:

Hey mate, glad to see the tank is still going strong. Hope you are doing okay with the drought and all.

Hey, thanks. The drought has been an eye opener for the city, we're down to an allowance of 50 litres person per day now but we've adjusted our life accordingly and learnt how to recycle water. We're just hoping we can avoid running out, our "day zero" has been moved to June now (previously April) which hopefully means we can stretch it till the rains arrive. Worst case I might need to go bath in the ocean or take an extended vacation somewhere. I've thought about shutting down the tank because of it but I've had some of these creatures too long to talk myself into it - for now I'll just cut down on water changes.  

[Berlibee]

Amazing photography. Really epic images of the clown.

[samnaz]

I'm currently skimming through your shallow reef v1 thread and first of all let me just say WOW, it's incredible, and the photos are some of the best I've ever seen. You are very talented and I love your style. 

 

I'm curious, how do you keep the sandbed so perfectly clean? 

[jamo130788]

why dont you just go pull some water out of the ocean for water changes? I used to do that when i lived in Cape town, took a 5 gallon bucket down to three anchor bay in sea point and then ran it through a filter sock when i got home. 

[Sancho]

On 2/12/2018 at 4:44 AM, 4x5 said:

 

FTS - February 08, 2018;

Image of the tank as it stands today, it's rocking some lovely Cyano - apparently it's all the rage.  Things are going pretty well with the tank considering it's been on auto pilot for a few months. As I mentioned previous I was travelling a lot at the end of 2017 and in January I had to leave again. Funnily enough when I got home the tank was looking better than it had in a long time but nutrients had dropped quite a lot as all that was happening was fresh top up water for 6 weeks. My Mr Pacman didn't enjoy the lack of nutrients and died, which was strange since it was always a hardy coral for me but I am not shocked that it happened. More recently I had an Alk spike which I believe is due to a rise in Phosphates which caused a slow in coral growth - most of the corals are OK - so no major disaster. 

 

 

 

I decided to add a Magnifica Anemone and a Pink Skunk Clownfish to the tank - it's a super neat combo I've always wanted. I'll add a smaller mate in for the Clownfish when I find one.

 

 

My beautiful Tenuis has some burnt tips at the moment but this image was taken when I returned home.

 

That's it for now, I'll try get some more pictures up soon - and hopefully be home long enough to be more involved around here. 

You always bring the sexy on! Tank looks amazing!

[4x5]

14 hours ago, Berlibee said:

Amazing photography. Really epic images of the clown.

Thanks baller.

7 hours ago, samnaz said:

I'm currently skimming through your shallow reef v1 thread and first of all let me just say WOW, it's incredible, and the photos are some of the best I've ever seen. You are very talented and I love your style. 

 

I'm curious, how do you keep the sandbed so perfectly clean? 

Thanks, I loved that tank. I've found that over time sand beds stay pretty clean, don't stress diatoms or cyano - one day you'll wake up and they are just gone. I did also replace that sand in that tank a couple of times when I was changing my mind over barebottom or sand.  

7 hours ago, jamo130788 said:

why dont you just go pull some water out of the ocean for water changes? I used to do that when i lived in Cape town, took a 5 gallon bucket down to three anchor bay in sea point and then ran it through a filter sock when i got home. 

I can get from the aquarium for free as well. I just prefer to make my own water as habit, doing less water changes isn't ideal but I'll make it through till we can hopefully use a little more water.

6 hours ago, Sancho said:

You always bring the sexy on! Tank looks amazing!

Thanks Sancho! I hope you are well. 

[Lugmos12]

Beautiful tank!

[4x5]

March 17, 2018 - Random Pictures;

A few images of corals taken over the last little while.

 

 

 

I'm not the biggest Chalice fan but I love these and they are super interesting to photograph.

 

 

Some early morning polyp love. 

 

 

I added the first Acro frag to my tank in a long time yesterday. If all goes well, I'll be adding some more because Acros.  

[pappadumplingz]

Wow those macro shots look great. Also got added an acro to my tank last week, but my first as opposed to my one hundredth haha. And glad to see that your tank is running smoothly, considering the circumstances.

[4x5]

On 3/2/2018 at 3:50 PM, Lugmos12 said:

Beautiful tank!

Thanks.

9 minutes ago, pappadumplingz said:

Wow those macro shots look great. Also got added an acro to my tank last week, but my first as opposed to my one hundredth haha. And glad to see that your tank is running smoothly, considering the circumstances.

Thanks. Congrats on your first Acro, that’s awesome. 

[Drew11]

Photography is on point. Tank is awesome as well. I'm so tempted to put an ATI fixture on my 50g build. I've been running LEDs since I entered the hobby about 6 years ago. 

[Halo_003]

Looks amazing!

[Asureef]

On 2/12/2018 at 7:44 AM, 4x5 said:

 

FTS - February 08, 2018;

Image of the tank as it stands today, it's rocking some lovely Cyano - apparently it's all the rage.  Things are going pretty well with the tank considering it's been on auto pilot for a few months. As I mentioned previous I was travelling a lot at the end of 2017 and in January I had to leave again. Funnily enough when I got home the tank was looking better than it had in a long time but nutrients had dropped quite a lot as all that was happening was fresh top up water for 6 weeks. My Mr Pacman didn't enjoy the lack of nutrients and died, which was strange since it was always a hardy coral for me but I am not shocked that it happened. More recently I had an Alk spike which I believe is due to a rise in Phosphates which caused a slow in coral growth - most of the corals are OK - so no major disaster. 

 

 

 

I decided to add a Magnifica Anemone and a Pink Skunk Clownfish to the tank - it's a super neat combo I've always wanted. I'll add a smaller mate in for the Clownfish when I find one.

 

 

My beautiful Tenuis has some burnt tips at the moment but this image was taken when I returned home.

 

That's it for now, I'll try get some more pictures up soon - and hopefully be home long enough to be more involved around here. 

 

 

The lighting from that window, the surface of the water, the clown and anemone, that composition in that clownfish pic is .  

 

Amazing job!