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Thanks for all of the comments:
Believe it or not I use tap water and I don't get any algae growth anywhere in the tank. I don't do major water changes anymore but I do clean the filter media I have in my sump every 3 days which takes out a lot of detritus before it has a chance to break down. I also clean my skimmer once a week and it’s a bit oversized for my tank so that helps. Every 3 weeks I will use a kent pro scraper on the back walls of the tank. It’s basically a big metal blade that scrapes off the coralline growth. I also dose a little bit of vinegar and vodka which I find really keeps my nutrients low, sometimes too low which is why some of the corals are a bit pale at the moment. |
The last few pictures I will be posting for a while. I have to return the camera tomorrow so it will be a few weeks to a month before I post any new ones. Enjoy!
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2705.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2711.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2745.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2748.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2751.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2769.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2685.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2703.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2/IMG_2530.jpg |
Hello everyone, I have a quick update. I have sold the big Duncan colony in the top left of my tank to make room for some of the sps which are growing very fast. I do miss it already; most people only notice the LPS corals because the sps don’t move lol. I sold it for basically a $1 per head to a fellow reefer so hopefully it will have more space in his tank. In hindsight I should have frag it up but Duncan’s take a bit moiré time and skill to frag because of their dense skeletons.
I will post some more pictures soon; I just need to get a hold of a DSLR again. |
I found one last picture of the tank before I moved it and as a consequence caused it to crash and kill all of my sps corals except one.
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...shenz/r047.jpg |
Just took some new pictures of my 50g reef. I used a different lens this time then the last round of pictures. Last time I used a macro lens which was difficult to use but took better close up pictures, these pictures are taken with a normal all purpose lens that came with the camera. The photos are unedited and I think show some color improvement and growth. Enjoy!
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/008.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/018.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/025.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/026.jpg This coral was a dark brownish green a month ago and now its forest green with crazy polyp extension. http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/023.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/031.jpg This bird nest has grown a lot, it has been fragged twice in the last month so the growth isn’t as noticeable in pictures http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/041.jpg Growing very quickly http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/054.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/083.jpg I fragged the birdnest on the left for a friend but they are both fast growers. http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/059.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/086.jpg Zonthids are spreading like wildfire like they used to in my old tank. http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/062.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/064.jpg Fast growing digitata that has been fragged multiple times in the last month http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/066.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/099.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/078.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/109.jpg I think this picture turned out the best; Red palys that grow like weeds. http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/103.jpg This picture shows of the aquascape nicely http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/111.jpg Feel free to comment or criticize... |
Really nice tank. Aquascape is fantastic! I may have to do some re-arranging.... oh wait... I already did that and what a head ache ha ha! I guess I will admire yours :p
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Thanks, I agree aquascaping is one of the most frustrating things i can think of. Everything gets knocked over, rocks never go exactly where you want them to, clown fish and damsels bite your hands lol.
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Nice tank! Is there a SWstore in FtMac? Tap water in FtMac? Ya sure, I work there and they say dont drink the tap water. Once again. Really nice.
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Yeah there is a pet store that carries salt water fish and corlas but it is insainly overpriced and poor quality. I order everything online and have it shipped. I use nothign but good ol fort mac tap water. I have recently had it tested and it came up zero phosphates, zero nitrates, and 8.3 ph so its great for a reef.
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Growth and color change in about 1.5 months
Before addition of potassium http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...ct12010084.jpg After addition of potassium http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...2026TH/031.jpg |
I love the fact that you don't have much rock in there to let the corals grow. So many people pile the rocks high at first to give the "full reef" impression, but you've chosen to start it a lot lower. I did that as well giving each one of my corals approximately 8-10" to grow to the water surface. Nice work and nice looking tank!
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Ok that hurt Dez. My tank's 26" tall come on I had to start somewhere haha.
Chris the new shots look way better and wow is the tank filling up fast. Have the same green digi and I can't get over how fast it grows. Tap water to boot. WOW! |
I feel i should give some thanks to Dez, a couple of the corals in there are from his tanks. Everything is slowly coming together. I have some new bulbs coming monday which will help improve color a bit more becuase the ones i have now are going on 9 months old. I will eventually have to remove a few colonies to allow for some of the nicer ones to grow into big show peices. The tap water up here tested out to be really good with a ph of 8.3 and 0 phos and 0 nitrate. My only worry is some trace metals that might build up over time but i have been using the water up here for 2.5 years now and nothing bad has happend yet.
Thanks for all of the feedback! |
Looking good :biggrin:.
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Wow, big color difference since I saw it last.
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Just wanted to make a quick update. The growth has really started to take off again. My dkh is droping 1.5 per day which is annoying to dose but a good sign for the corals. I also stopped dosing vinegar (carbon) Because it was causing some corals to go pale. I will take some more pictures over christmas.
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Are you dosing any other products?
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Yes i dose brightwells potassium, iron, idodie, and a product called coral kolor. I don't know how well there working or if one or the other is making the different but growth is very fast and colors has imporved on most sps. I also dose mag chorlide.
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It has been a few months since I have updated this thread but I took a couple of quick pictures with a cheap digital camera to show some progress. I had to get rid of a few corals to make room for the growth I have been getting. Also I have begun dosing a few zeovit products and they have been helping a bit with color.
I still have never done a water change on this tank and do not plan on doing one unless the corals show some sign of stress. I do dose a lot and test often but other than that I just let nature take its course. I think you will eb able to notice some big growth from the last pics even though I have fragged mostly every coral in there. Enjoy! http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/SAM_0341.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/SAM_0346.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/SAM_0348.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/SAM_0349.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/SAM_0351.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/SAM_0353.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/SAM_0355.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/SAM_0360.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/SAM_0361.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/SAM_0350.jpg |
Nice tank! No water changes and using tap water. I'm jealous. Good job.
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Thanks! Yeah just plain ol tap water lol. If i had an ro unit set up in my house i would use it for top off but i am way to lazy to truck back in forth filling up water from the grocery store.
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Super awesome looking tank man and the growth in there is amazing. When was the last time you did a water change? I was doing water changes every 6 months or so but I now do them once a month just to mix things up a bit. My corals do very well and there is great growth too.
I used to use tap water for a few years too but have been getting water from Safeway for the last couple of years. Everything did well but there used to be some diatoms on the sand. They went away as soon as I started using water from Safeway. By the way, I have the same size tank but don't run a skimmer and I use MH+T5 combo instead of just T5s. Cheers |
I used to do water changes every two weeks on my reef. As time went on i tried to reduce it and found it didnt have any effect on the corals growth or the tanks health. If you look back on the thread you will see my tank before i moved it and the sps corals in there are different then the ones i have now. When i moved the tank it crashed and i lost everything except the two lps corals i have and half my zoas. this tank has been set up since august and there hasnt been a water change on it yet. The skimmer and the filter pads in my sump remove the bulk of the excess nutrients which always me to feed the corals a bit more to help with growth. I do add trace elements and lots of iron, iodine, and potassium. Also i have to dose a ton of calcium, alk, and mag to keep up with the corals demands. Dont get me wrong i am not saying i will never do a water change i am just saying i dont see a need yet. Maybe for spring i will do a big 20% change just to be safe and to replenish some of what i cant test for.
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One more question. Are you happy with the AquaticLife T5 HO Light Fixture? I have been thinking about getting rid of my HQI fixture and replace it with T5s. I looked at the Tek Elite but it does not have fans or moonlights.
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The aquaticlife fixture is well built and produces a lot of light, but the only advantage it has over a tek is the built in timer, leds, and fans. The tek elite dose have fans i think but its missing the other features. the regular tek dose not have fans or anything else for that matter. If i hounestly had to pick again from the tek elite or the aquaticlife it would be a toss up. Not because i am not happy with the aquaticlife, but instead because i have heard that the tek elite produces more par then the aquaticlife. The only other downside to the tek is you are going to have to buy the legs, splash shield, and bulbs seperatly. If you have a few extra bucks i would go with the lower end ATI fixture.
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Nice work! Although '"nice" doesn't even begin to describe how wicked it is.
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Your reef is growing in really nicely. I dig it. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks for the great compliments. Its definetly growing in well. I have a question for some of you with mature tanks. Do you let the corasl just grow or do you have to constantly frag. I keep getting corals that grow into each other and fight. fragging takes a bit of work and i dont have many people to give the frags to up here.
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Wow.. very nice growth going on there... I have been wondering how your tank has been doing the last couple of months.
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Just an Updated:
I sold three large colonies to make some room for the corals growth which really changed the look of the tank. I just had an RO unit installed. I have been using tap water for years with great success. I often wondered if anything would changed if i switched to RO water. I got a great deal on the system so i decided might as well give it a shot. I will post pics in a few weeks time after the tank has some time to get used to the RO water. |
Here are a few new pictures of my reef taken from my iPhone. I took them about 2 weeks ago and since then I have moved a few corals around to create some more space. If the pics look alight I'll take some more soon.
http://tapatalk.com/mu/d15b6bfb-6538-d618.jpg http://tapatalk.com/mu/d15b6bfb-655a-49fe.jpg http://tapatalk.com/mu/d15b6bfb-6578-a595.jpg http://tapatalk.com/mu/d15b6bfb-65d4-9c39.jpg http://tapatalk.com/mu/d15b6bfb-660b-c1a9.jpg |
Yikes they look blurry when I uploaded them. I will have to upload them to photobucket later and try from there.
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Looks good......but can we bigger versions? ALso that effect is a little too much maybe.
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What effect the white border. I posted it with a tapatalk app and it didn't really turn out. I am get my home Internet setup soon and I'll re post. I cant even really tell how the pics look.
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Ya the border.....not sure if I like it...personal choice though. The pictures look great .....but are a little small.
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yeah i agree the boarder is larger then i thought. Its the first time i tried to post from my iphone and i guess it has more limitations then i thought. I will use the DSLR and snap a few new ones and post them though photobucket next week.
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So here are the same pics from above but i uploaded them from my computer instead of the app i have on my iphone. I dont think i like the border so i wont be using that again. The pictures look pretty good for a camera phone but the quality is no where near a DSLR.
Let me know if you have any thoughts or comments. http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...iphone1032.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...iphone1031.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...iphone1021.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...iphone1015.jpg http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...iphone1018.jpg |
I sold a birdnest colony and fragged a bunch of my A.staghorn corals. It allowed me to move a few things around and to make my sand bed a bit cleaner. Take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think. As always questions and comments encourgaed.
Pictures were taken with my iPhone 4. Full Tank shot: http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/may21004.jpg Hammer coral (slow grower for me): http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/may21016.jpg Full Tank shot: http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/may21008.jpg Zoanthids (Fast growing): http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/may21015.jpg Full tank Shot: http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/may21005.jpg Zoanthids and Red palys: http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/may21014.jpg Palys: http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/may21012.jpg Full tank shot: http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/may21004.jpg Fire red Plays (don't knwo thier real name): http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/may21010.jpg Zoanthids: http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/may21009.jpg |
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