xM3THODx Posted July 20, 2019 Author Share Posted July 20, 2019 Major change in dosing....I learned about Carbocalcium from one of Jake Adams aka Reefbuilders video. It was at a Reef Show and he was a the Tropic Marin booth talking about Carbocalcium and was really excited about what I heard so I couldn't wait to give it a try. I went from dosing around 40mls of 2 part to 18mls of Carbocalcium. I Never looked back since. Added benefit was it freed up a dosing head...so I was able to add Acropower to the doser. Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 20, 2019 Author Share Posted July 20, 2019 Photos taken Sept 16. A closer look at the growth of some lps. 2 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 20, 2019 Author Share Posted July 20, 2019 Photos taken Sept. 22, in the middle pic the Acan. Bowerbanki was a single 2" polyp that looked like a Scolymia, but over time started to develop poylps around the edges. Photo taken Sept. 29, FTS 1 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 20, 2019 Author Share Posted July 20, 2019 Photos taken Oct.9, Something I started to notice is that the coral were looking a bit pale. Maintenance and feeding schedule were the same as always. At this point I decided to buy the Hanna phosphate ULR colorimeter and Salifert Nitrate test kit. Results were both undetectable. So first couple of things I did is stop water changes and feed a bit more. 1 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 20, 2019 Author Share Posted July 20, 2019 Photos taken Oct. 8 I heard good things about this coral food called Benereef for Benepets and I've already been feeding the coral twice a week on their feeding schedule but after testing for low phosphate and nitrates I start to broadcast feed every night but never going overboard. Always keeping a close eye on corals and any reactions negative or positive. This is where hobbyists say you can read the corals and gauge if they're happy or not, you can learn this only if you stare at your tank long enough . I continue to test for phosphate and nitrate levels until they were detectable. These two Acros, middle: unknown name and right: ORA Joe the Coral end up taking off after the changes. Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 Right Photo taken Oct. 28, Well here it is, the big reef scape change. I removed 90% of the Scripps Acro apart from a sizable stick to the left of the green Acro. I also removed a chunk of the ugly shaped red digitata on the right. The red Digi was encrusted on the the rock so I knew it will fill in and start sprouting new tips soon enough. I decided to take the opportunity to try and get a graft going between red and green so I break a small piece of the green on the right and glued it where the red chunk was removed as in the pic. The reef at this point feels and looks 100 times more pleasing and only improves from here. Colors and growth of all coral are benefitting from the daily feeding to note. I forgot to note that the red Acan. Bowerbanki was moved to the left side of the tank back in Sept. The depth of the tank look way better now as you can see different colored Acro tips. 1 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 Taken Nov.3rd, Monthly update pics I take and post on Instagram. I don't know why pics when transferred to pc come out terrible but it's all I have so hopefully it's not too annoying. Anyway, most coral are now in their final spot. I do buy a few new sps frags to take place of the spot of the scripps Acro. The growth of all corals are becoming more evident. 1 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 Nov.30th, So I pulled the trigger on Black Friday and purchased the Illumagic Blaze X-60 over Radions, basically came down to spread. I'll add the Reefbrite XHO as a supplement in the next few days. Dec. 3rd, Monthly update shot with new light in place. Not wanting to shock the tank, I ran the new lights at low intensity without the warm spectrum, so the reason for the dominating blue spectrum in the pic. Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 Photo taken Dec 11. From here on no major changes are made. I test all once every two weeks and adjust accordingly aiming for 8-8.5dkh. Kalk is dosed at full saturation at 2mls every 1.5 min. One year Anniversary pic from the start.... Photo taken Dec.14, Side view with new Acro frags on the sand bed waiting to be glued onto rock work. 1 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 Photo taken Jan. 6, Monthly progress... The algae has been growing on the back glass and not surprisingly on the rock work. It takes me a few maintenance days to scrape it clean. Nothing has changed as far as feeding, so I assume a snail has died sparking the algae growth. I do half gallon water changes for a couple of weeks during the time of the cleaning the glass. 2 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 Photo taken Feb. 2nd, Back glass is cleaned and tank is looking fresh. 2 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 Photo taken March 1st, Monthly progress... April 1st, Monthly progress 1 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 Taken May 2nd, Monthly progress Taken June 2nd Monthly progress 2 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 Taken July 1st, Monthly progress.... Just added before this pic is the Yellow Fiji Leather on the left. It was a coral I had planned there since the beginning and finally came across a seller. The small colony just above the blastomussa popped off the back middle area while cleaning the back glass. It was for the better that it fell off the rock because it was getting shaded from the Joe the coral colony. I also had to frag off the Setosa that was in the middle, now under a lot of shade, to save it....The millis one either side was stinging it and I'm sure will end up dying. The frag was glued to the right side of the rock work and continues to grow. There are other frags in between that will be lost due to overcrowding and stings from the millis. Fragging will soon occur to allow growth of others. Until the next update....Happy Reefing! 3 3 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 24, 2019 Author Share Posted July 24, 2019 Yellow leather has settled in and doing its thing. The Acan garden underneath now getting some relief from the high par exposure but benefit some bright light when the leather decides to close up midday. 7 Quote Link to comment
fissues Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 I really like how this tank has progressed; it looks great. Awesome job. 2 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 27, 2019 Author Share Posted July 27, 2019 On 7/25/2019 at 11:05 PM, fissues said: I really like how this tank has progressed; it looks great. Awesome job. Thank you, much appreciated! Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted July 27, 2019 Share Posted July 27, 2019 @xM3THODx this is a gorgeous nano reef, wow! Incredible growth and development of both your SPS and LPS, everything is growing together and filling in so well. You've done a great job of balancing the aquascape as they've grown out too, it's really pleasing. Stopping SPS from outcompeting each other takes dedication! Keep up the good work! 1 1 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 28, 2019 Author Share Posted July 28, 2019 So my Cali tort has been going through a very slow tissue necrosis. What started as a scratch or scrape of tissue on a single polyp midway up the branch has moved to 2-3 polyps a day, As it moved lower to the connecting branch I had to make a decision to finally cut the infected branch. The stn was isolated to this one Acro only as the rest of the colonies continue to grow. Even the other half of the Cali Tort was healthy and growing as you see in the third pic where I glued it back onto the rock work. Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted July 30, 2019 Author Share Posted July 30, 2019 I decided to start broadcast feeding my tank every night again with Benereef due to the sps presently looking pale. 8-9 months ago I was going through the same thing and fed every night but noticed the vermetid snail proliferated so I stopped. At this point I feel the sps health is more important than a plague of vermetid snails. I do have bumble bee snails currently that may help control the population and I plan to add a few more. Monthly update pic for Aug.1st and 1 week-is in on nightly feeding... 8 Quote Link to comment
lizzyann Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 Just came across this tank, very nice! Your leather is so huge and fluffy! I love mine and it has been with me for maybe a year now, but I feel like it still hasn't reached it's very best self. 2 Quote Link to comment
WV Reefer Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 On 7/30/2019 at 2:25 AM, xM3THODx said: I decided to start broadcast feeding my tank every night again with Benereef due to the sps presently looking pale. 8-9 months ago I was going through the same thing and fed every night but noticed the vermetid snail proliferated so I stopped. At this point I feel the sps health is more important than a plague of vermetid snails. I do have bumble bee snails currently that may help control the population and I plan to add a few more. Monthly update pic for Aug.1st and 1 week-is in on nightly feeding... Beautiful picture. The overall shape right now is almost perfect. 2 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted August 5, 2019 Author Share Posted August 5, 2019 10 hours ago, lizzyann said: Just came across this tank, very nice! Your leather is so huge and fluffy! I love mine and it has been with me for maybe a year now, but I feel like it still hasn't reached it's very best self. Ah the Yellow Fiji leather is one of my all time favs, especially being the very first coral I bought. It took a great while before I found one available for sale and didn't have much in choice in size. Ideally half that would've been perfect, but beggars can't be choosers. It's kinda rare to find these available so my goal is to farm it and hopefully you and other owners consider also. 1 Quote Link to comment
xM3THODx Posted August 5, 2019 Author Share Posted August 5, 2019 10 hours ago, WV Reefer said: Beautiful picture. The overall shape right now is almost perfect. Well I appreciate your compliment very much, Thank you! You can barely see it but there's a strawberry shortcake right in between the leather and the green sps colony that suppose to fill in that gap. It think it'll be visually pleasing with a bit of red in that area. What do you think? 1 Quote Link to comment
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