Some SPS Growth Pictures

[penelty]

Im new to SPS and some of you may recognize some of these corals as many of them I got as frags from fellow members. I got a crappy camera but here are some of my corals when I got them and today. I take pictures every couple months to be able to go through and see the growth.

A.Selago (Coralmaster)
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/Selagogrowth.jpg

Pink Digitatus
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/pdigitatusgrowth.jpg

Green Monti Cap (I got the frag for free because the owner found it under the sand and thought it would die giving it to me :P SO free coral turned out hott)
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/greenmontigrowth.jpg

Teal Stag
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/tealstaggrowth.jpg

Rainbow Styro (Coralmaster)
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/rainbowgrowth.jpg

A. Convexa (Coralmaster)
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/convexagrowth.jpg

Garden of Eden (Coralmaster)
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/edengrowth.jpg

Crazy Green Milli
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/crazygreengrowth.jpg

Purple Birdsnest
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/purpstyrogrowth.jpg

UNKNOWN - Please help me identify this coral please. The person I got the frag from never replied when I asked for the names of the frags so if someone has the name of this one gimmie a shout, the picture does not do its bright green and white justice.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/unknowngrowth.jpg

-Pink with Blue Polyp Styro- I did not enhance the color and it is not an actinics picture, the one on the left is when I got it at JL it was labled Pink Styro but as it grew it got a very vibrant blue color. The main picture is an over the water shot with flash on, the one on the right is from the front with no flash. It is that color blue regularly it looks no different from the photo :D
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/pinkstyrogrpwth.jpg

[scherzo]

Cool! Nice to see the progress..

What kind of lighting and tank do you have these in?

[penelty]

I have a 75 gallon with 50 gallon barrel sump. I am using duel 250W 20k metal halides with 1 65W actinic. I have had softies forever but a couple months ago got the great idea to convert my whole system to SPS oriented. So kinda started from scratch with no real colonies. Been alot of ups and downs in the tank learning zeovit and that SPS require alot more attention to thrive. But within the last 2 months I think I've mastered it and now the corals are booming :)

[mark]

love growth pictures.

When did you start the frags?

[penelty]

I started getting some of my frags in nov last year and got odds and ends added over the next couple months. I had an issue and my tank nearly crashed a few months ago which put alot of stress on the frags and set back alot of the progress. But since then everything is growing like mad. I can sit and look at my tank everyday and something looks alittle different. I took pictures of stuff at the beginning of july and now end of july and there has been a huge change. So the only real growth has been in the last couple months, everything before that was my learning process :(

Heres an example of what I mean, within one month it has grown much more drasticly then the rest of the time I have had them. It is really a shame I did not figure out the things I did in the beginning as I know now. So hopefully they will keep growing like this :)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/julygrowth.jpg

[penelty]

Here is another picture of the coral I dont have a name for if it helps with identifying it :) Flash was used for this photo though

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/6.jpg

[Van-rookie]

Mind sharing what you've done to get the rapid growth ? I am new to sps :biggrin:

I started getting some of my frags in nov last year and got odds and ends added over the next couple months. I had an issue and my tank nearly crashed a few months ago which put alot of stress on the frags and set back alot of the progress. But since then everything is growing like mad. I can sit and look at my tank everyday and something looks alittle different. I took pictures of stuff at the beginning of july and now end of july and there has been a huge change. So the only real growth has been in the last couple months, everything before that was my learning process :(

Heres an example of what I mean, within one month it has grown much more drasticly then the rest of the time I have had them. It is really a shame I did not figure out the things I did in the beginning as I know now. So hopefully they will keep growing like this :)

[lastlight]

That's some speedy growth! Have a FTS?

[penelty]

I am sorry whats a FTS?

But as to what I changed in my tank recently was 2 main things I guess that I realized all at once.

#1 is the way I was doing my water changes. I had only 3 water jugs so max 2 jug water change at a time, so I was doing 2 jug change every 2-3 days to make up the % a week. I have an R/O unit that I had not changed the filters in for probably 2 years and realized it was doing more damage then good. So I finially went out and bought 3 more 5g jugs to do a large water change once a week with r/o water from a refill outlet. That was the first thing I changed and I saw an improvement in the color of the rocks and algae along with the overall health of my corals.

#2 was the way I was doing my zeovit. I started zeovit in March, which I saw all my corals grow more polyps and get a bit better but never thrived. Well I was bored one day and looked up the zeo manual from their website and it had much more detailed instructions then what you find on the bottles. Such as to split the daily dosing of additives to twice a day. Also how they work and overall better usage of them. I am still no expert at the zeovit but as soon as I split up the dosages to twice a day thats when the corals really took off. They didnt get stressed from the load of a whole dose all at once they love it gradual over the whole day. Also the Coral Snow additive which when it clears the water, it can make the water too clear and your lights can burn the corals. So doing my dosing in the morning and night after lights are done is doing the trick.

So between the 2 changes I have made in the last month I am getting much better growth from my SPS but I still have alot to master :P Hope this helps

[Van-rookie]

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Does this mean you do 25G (5x 5jugs) water change weekly ?


#1 is the way I was doing my water changes. I had only 3 water jugs so max 2 jug water change at a time, so I was doing 2 jug change every 2-3 days to make up the % a week. I have an R/O unit that I had not changed the filters in for probably 2 years and realized it was doing more damage then good. So I finially went out and bought 3 more 5g jugs to do a large water change once a week with r/o water from a refill outlet. That was the first thing I changed and I saw an improvement in the color of the rocks and algae along with the overall health of my corals.

[Myka]

Great growth photos!!! FTS is full tank shot. :D I want to see one too! Very nice colors, although using 20K lighting is kinda cheating, but it does look nice. I'm going to up my Kelvin soon, and cheat too. :p I figure if you can make it look even better, why not?

Which ZEOvit additives and products are you using? Are you using the entire ZEO system with the ZEO rocks in a reactor and everything or just some additives here and there?

[Oceanic]

Here is another picture of the coral I dont have a name for if it helps with identifying it :) Flash was used for this photo though

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/6.jpg

I am not really sure the exact type of Acropora that this piece is; however, I have the exact same type that is a huge colony over 8 inches across. The Acro grows in a horizontal almost tabling fashion once mature.

[Snappy]

Here is another picture of the coral I dont have a name for if it helps with identifying it :) Flash was used for this photo though

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/snorklboy/6.jpgMy first thought on this is acropora tumida but it's hard to say for sure.

[penelty]

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Does this mean you do 25G (5x 5jugs) water change weekly ?

It is usually 20g. My tank is a 75g with a 50g sump so I think 20g is a good %?

[penelty]

I am not really sure the exact type of Acropora that this piece is; however, I have the exact same type that is a huge colony over 8 inches across. The Acro grows in a horizontal almost tabling fashion once mature.

thats cause I bought it from you :P

[penelty]

Great growth photos!!! FTS is full tank shot. :D I want to see one too! Very nice colors, although using 20K lighting is kinda cheating, but it does look nice. I'm going to up my Kelvin soon, and cheat too. :p I figure if you can make it look even better, why not?

Which ZEOvit additives and products are you using? Are you using the entire ZEO system with the ZEO rocks in a reactor and everything or just some additives here and there?

lol is it really cheating? I was under the impression there was no such thing as cheating with corals, if they thrive and look good then :first:

As for the ZEOvit I guess I am using just about the whole system. I have 13 of the different additives and I've got the reactor and rocks. I dont have their calcium reactor though... not yet :biggrin:

[Myka]

By cheating I mean that blue lighting increases the look of the coral's color. If you remove the coral from the water or put it under 10K lighting it will not be as colorful as it was under the blue lighting. Just as actinic shots are more intense than MH shots, but actinic photos are like double cheating. :lol: Some people are able to achieve such impressive success with SPS that the corals are the same brightness under 10K lighting or out of the water as other people achieve by using blue lights. For those of us who aren't quite that talented, we cheat and use blue lights. :D T5 users are notorious cheaters in this aspect. :p

I wish I had the patience to dose 13 different additives to my tank daily, plus kneading the carbon, and stirring the rocks!! :lol: For now I will just stick to a few additives. I have also noticed marked improvement in coral color and much increased growth just by using a couple additives (PCV, and SP). I need to place an order and get a few more (CS, AALPS, and PX). I'm excited to get going on these new ones. :D

[Oceanic]

thats cause I bought it from you :P

I forgot you bought this piece from me! DUH! LOL:lol:

[penelty]

yea i like them they made a huge difference before zeo and after. I started out with the Vertex-ZEOvit Professional Pakage (1.5 Litre) (http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/zv-00p152/Vertex-ZEOvit+Professional+Pakage+(1.5+Litre).html) and just added to that :)