ADA - the 2 island reef

[JavaJacketOC]

On 12/14/2018 at 1:56 PM, Andreww said:

So this frag has been sold to me as green slimer but it obviously isn’t.

Looks like the tip is getting lighter in color.

Im wondering if it’s a frog skin acro or something similar. 

Opinions?

Photo of colony is of a frog skin acro from the internet.

 

 

Looks like my frog skin acro...simple green but one of my favorites.

 

 

I'm debating if I want to upgrade to a hydra 52HD for my reefer 170. I am only looking for more consistent spread since AI only offeres 80 degree optics. I figure with a 52 I will be able to cut the amount of power I'm currently using with my Hydra 26HD.

 

I've seen a few of these drosted acrylic add ons, I like the idea but I don't want to make one myself, LOL

[Andreww]

2 minutes ago, JavaJacketOC said:

 

 

Looks like my frog skin acro...simple green but one of my favorites.

 

 

I'm debating if I want to upgrade to a hydra 52HD for my reefer 170. I am only looking for more consistent spread since AI only offeres 80 degree optics. I figure with a 52 I will be able to cut the amount of power I'm currently using with my Hydra 26HD.

 

I've seen a few of these drosted acrylic add ons, I like the idea but I don't want to make one myself, LOL

Hey thanks for the ID.

Looks like I need to go buy a real slimer then lol

Only 1 hydra26 over your reefer 170?

Maybe 2 of them raised high about 13-15” or so and higher intensity is better than 1 hydra52.

The diffusers are really not complicated to make/attach. They just need a quick wipe once in a while to keep dust off.

I think the hydras are known to have horrible hot-spotting and I feel like a diffuser evens out some of that even though I haven’t tested with a PAR meter yet.

[Andreww]

Well, this tank is officially 100% SPS as of today. Traded in all my LPS, the last of them were the 2 acan colonies.

Way too much flow for them the stay 100% happy.

Wish me luck as I try to grow the SPS into the glass and water line in this nano while keeping parameters stable.😖

It “should” be easier than to cater to multiple corals from various depths but it will also require more careful monitoring on my part, especially ALK.

 

[Christopher Marks]

16 hours ago, Andreww said:

Already getting more comfortable and eating well. Clam mantle, his new favorite spot to hangout😆

Picture is dark cuz it’s almost lights out.

Awesome shot @Andreww, wow!

1 hour ago, Andreww said:

Well, this tank is officially 100% SPS as of today.

🎉

[Andreww]

New ORA yellow lantana montipora and huge purple ribbon gorgonian.

Heres a pic from ORA website. I thought it looked pretty neat with the yellow skin and blue polyps.

More pictures after I glue them down.

[Tamberav]

yay SPS tank! That is how mine is set up, flow kept pissing everything else off. I have some SPS in my mixed tank though, but easy ones... mostly birds. 

[Andreww]

Shucks .

Had a horrible 2-3 hours.

Removed the Rainbow Monti pieces from the overflow cuz the bottom piece wasn’t liking the shading and faded a lot.Really hating the LED shadowing.

Put it on the sand and polyps already coming out.

The other 2 pieces are fine.

 

Scraped the glue from the overflow. Most of it is removed. The rest, Coraline will grow over it, I hope.

 

Glued the huge gorgonian to a rock on the sand. This thing was coming out of the water.

It was 15 inches tall. I didn’t realize how big it is until I took it out of the bag.

 

Messing again with the clam. Ugh

Had to be moved, the gorgonian was taking its place, sort of....

Took it out of the water, lifted slightly from its rock, cut the threads and put it on the sand.

Already open 30 min later.

 

Starry blenny died.. What in the world?

Noticed it was breathing rapidly, and looked pale.

All the other fish ok.

Then all of a sudden the blenny plunged head first under a rock. Dead!

Dont really know what the reason was.

My other fish weren’t breathing fast or anything. 

Very weird.

 

Glued the yellow monti to the rock, found a perfect spot for that annoying ORA plug.

 

Did a 15% water change and left it alone.

Corals and the rest of the fish look good.

 

[Andreww]

A couple more:

 

[Tamberav]

Gorg's aren't SPS... this thread is full of LIESSS!!

 

Sorry about the blenny, is that a light colored patch on him or just a lighting trick?

 

 

[vlangel]

Sorry about the blenny. 😢 The tank looks real nice though.  Wow, that is a tall gorg!

[Andreww]

3 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Gorg's aren't SPS... this thread is full of LIESSS!!

 

Sorry about the blenny, is that a light colored patch on him or just a lighting trick?

 

 

Lol SPS distant cousin? At least they both have the same taste for high flow and high light.

I didn’t want the clam to be the outsider, got it a friend😁

 

That is indeed a light patch on him.

What would that indicate? Never seen that before. I must mention he looked fine when I got home from work so whatever happened happened quickly in a matter of couple of hours.

 

[Andreww]

31 minutes ago, vlangel said:

Sorry about the blenny. 😢 The tank looks real nice though.  Wow, that is a tall gorg!

Thank you! I cut the last inch of it to fit under water . I guess I’ll have to keep doing that from now on.

[Andreww]

The LFS was nice enough to replace the dead blenny. This one is a little bigger but skinnier as well. 

After an hour long acclimation, he’s in. 

I did see the little bugger nip the clam’s mantle.

I hope it was just a curiosity of his while getting used to the tank and nothing more.

[Tamberav]

These guys are so cute! I may have to put one in my frag tank. They do seem to be nippers though.. brats. Hopefully the other one didn't have any sort of contagious disease. Maybe offer it some nori?

[Andreww]

2 hours ago, Tamberav said:

These guys are so cute! I may have to put one in my frag tank. They do seem to be nippers though.. brats. Hopefully the other one didn't have any sort of contagious disease. Maybe offer it some nori?

I tried . He’s not really phased by my tweezers around his mouth lol

He ate mysis but not nori. His belly is sunken in a little.

Hopefully tomorrow’s a better day for the little guy.

 

 

[Andreww]

Another late night pic.

[Andreww]

Here’s a question. What will happen if I lay a Rainbow Monti frag on top of the red monti cap?

Will one kill the other?

Will they remain healthy but confined to only the frag perimeter?

Will one encrust over the other?

Will they grow into each other?(secretly hoping they will).

Just curious...I wanna experiment a little with the rainbow montis but don’t wanna destroy my cap.

[Tamberav]

Rainbow monti should be the winner and grow over the cap. Some are more aggressive than others, I think the reverse is a killer if I remember?

 

 

[Andreww]

19 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Rainbow monti should be the winner and grow over the cap. Some are more aggressive than others, I think the reverse is a killer if I remember?

 

 

Sounds good to me. Thank you!

The cap tends to grow fast so if the rainbow takes over the middle of the cap colony it’ll make for a striking color combo.

I hope it’ll work out.👍🏻

 

[Andreww]

Monti cap grew into the pink lemonade and is regretting it.

Need to break off that piece and glue it down low on the other rock.

 

[Ocellaris PDX]

18 hours ago, Andreww said:

Another late night pic.

I can never get over how beautiful this tank is!

[Andreww]

Thanks PDX. Hoping in a year’s time will have some nice colonies filling up the space.

A tank with frags doesn’t look that appealing:)

[Andreww]

I decided to build a canopy for the light. 

 

My friend owns a cabinet shop and can order the wood and cut/finish sand the pieces for me.

Im gonna be doing the staining/spray lacquering of the pieces .

 

The material I chose is solid walnut, I’ve built another project out of walnut in my living room so it will match that.

 

The tank looks quite clean with the light the way it is but sitting down on the couch, with the light being 14” from the water, all that glare just messes with our eyes big time.

 

I put a book in front of the light as I was sitting down on the couch and that’s when I decided I have to build a canopy.

 

Ive also got kids and I’d rather not have them look into the light all day every day.

 

That would also give me options to mount another light besides my 26HD for more coverage and angle it as I wish or install an ATI sunpower with LED strips on the sides underneath the hood and not be an eyesore.

 

It will not be a free floating canopy....well it will but not hung from the ceiling but rather screwed into the studs.

I want to have it start from the wall and extend to the front of the tank...a total of 16 inches which shouldn’t be an eyesore from the side.

Then the light cord will be routed through the wall and into the other room . That way there’s no cords coming down the wall...just a clean separation between canopy and tank.

 

Should be done before New Years.

 

 

 

[Andreww]

Anyone seen this?

 

A very basic filtration for a tank this size, no dosing besides Seachem calcium and Alk powder supplements when doing 95% water changes every 3 weeks ,huge colonies of colorful SPS’s.

Some tanks really make you re-think some aspects of this hobby.🤪

 

[Andreww]

Ok, major reality check.

Always thought my tank is full of nitrate and phosphate.

For the past 2 months I’ve been feeding the tank and fish every day, sometimes 2-3 times a day...4 fish in a total water volume of 30 gallons. Weekly 20% water changes. 

My test kits were high range and always showed 0 for these 2 elements so I always assumed the kits were bad.

Had a small dinoflagellate bloom and killed it with a 3 day blackout but now I’m starting to see a few strands taking hold . Always knew dinos are in most cases a very low nutrient issue and PO4/NO3 imbalance.

Freaked out a bit and went to the LFS that happens to carry the high resolution ELOS professional tests for PO4 and NO3.

Phosphate still undetectable and Nitrate at 0.3. 

Mind you, this Nitrate level is after dosing 1ml Seachem Nitrogen 3 times a week ...guess that’s not enough. I’ll up the dose to 3ml.

 

I have some hair algae on one rock but that is receding and being plucked away with weekly water changes. Not growing at the moment just sitting there looking pretty 😑

 

Im sure there’s some phosphates in the rock but I’m still thinking to dose phosphates along with the nitrates. Opinions?

 

This is just unbelievable.

 

I haven’t rinsed the food lately in hopes to elevate these numbers and I’m still very much at 0.

Is my 6” maxima clam consuming nitrates and phosphates?

I even stopped the skimmer for the past 4 days. Running only a filter sock, no other mechanical or chemical filtration.

Chaeto still green but stopped growing weeks ago. That makes sense with low numbers but gee, heading out to get a bottle of Seachem phosphorous to start dosing that as well until I get a measurable amount on my test kit.

 

Opinions from people experiencing the same nitrate and phosphate depletion are very welcomed.