New Aqua Scaping! BC14 FTS after 2 months.

wow, its friggin nice as hell, i was just wondering, when you do water changes, do you vacum the substrate? and whats your lighting? thanks. keep it looking nice.

thanks LoBo. So far I've been doing 20% water changes weekly, but I've noticed that my Calcium levels have been harder to maintain that way. Might switch to 10-15% weekly or every other week instead. Don't vacuum the substrate, but I'll often use a spare pump to stir things up before I siphon. Lighting is 20k with Coralife's hang-on 150 watt halide.

ic thanks, and im guessing you use purple up? thats how you got your tank so nice and purply? ive been using purple up for the past month but im not noticing much difference =/, any thoughts? and btw how much did the lighting cost you?

Yes I do use PurpleUp, but I haven't seen results yet either. The purple you see now came with the rock! My highly frequent water changes have made it difficult to reach 500ppm. I'm sure that having to rescape a few times had a lot to do with it as well. *The lighting costed me $300ish.

purple up i watered down kalkwasser btw.

Definately a top 10% tank here on NR

icc, thanks for answering my question. btw, i thought you should never exceed over 420, but im guessing your corals use it fast?

I suppose so they do, Lobo. My calcium quickly falls below 400ppm when I retest, so I figure the corals could be consuming it quickly. Or else it might be far too frequent water changes.

yea, i dosed my tank with purple up this morning and i tested it at around 7 and it was 320 ppm, and all i have is some mushrooms and some zoos. I cant imagine your tank haha.

Nice tank. What's that perfectly pie shaped pink-orange polyped coral in center top? It's some kind of monti cap?

Now that you mention it. I'm trying to ID the 2 upper-most corals at the very top. I've been meaning to take a pic back to the LFS(s) where I originally bought them. Can anyone else help?

how much $ do you have in that 14?

With lighting, ATO, and everything, I'd say at least $2k. I just try not to think about it. hehe

the red and yellow is a turbinaria species of some sort.

i think you're absolutely right, NippySan. thanks.

Such a stunning tank! Congrats!

I've got upwards of $1200 in my BC 14... I give it another 6 months until things really start to grow... I bought most of my coral as little tiny frags ha...

cool. got pics?