Myka's 69 SPS Tank 2015

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Myka

I don't have much exciting to report. I bought a browned out maricultured A. plana yesterday. Not much for PE yet - it did not enjoy the Bayer dip.

So I was talking to the LFS owner and he said the "plana" came is as a desalwii. It looks too bush-type to be desalwii to me, but I sure am hoping! That's the coral I miss the most from my old SPS tank. To me, plana and desalwii are impossible to distinguish until you have a good growth pattern established - if it tables it's desalwii, and if it's a bush it's plana.

Here it is today, starting to show a bit of color, but not much.



In comparison, here's a known plana frag that I ordered (it arrived brown as a turd). With close pics like these though, it does appear that the corallites are shaped differently. Hmm...


Here's that maricultured mille (or prostrata?) that's an interesting color. I still can't quite get the burnt orange color of the tips on the camera. It's certainly different than a typical Sunset Mille.
Polyps out:


Polyps in:



A new smooth skin I bought yesterday that came in as caroliniana. I could believe that, but maybe multiacuta? It was brighter when it first arrived at the LFS, but it's been there awhile. Can anyone spot Little Kenny's cousin Tiny Tim? He thinks he's tough enough to handle insecticide, but I told him only adults are allowed to choose to be exposed to that type of drug, and when he's 18 he can decide then. Hopefully Snoopy (the Yellow Coris H chrysus) will leave him alone, or he'll have worse problems than a close call with insecticide!

[Proteus]

Not sure about your ph meter but I have a old one I bought when I was studying botany. I found that if I tried to use it directly in dt that I would get low readings. But when I too water out of tank I would get higher readings.
I could only attribute it to the lights affecting the probe. Not sure if it's accurate but may be worth a shot with yours just to see

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Proteus

Not sure about your ph meter but I have a old one I bought when I was studying botany. I found that if I tried to use it directly in dt that I would get low readings. But when I too water out of tank I would get higher readings.
I could only attribute it to the lights affecting the probe. Not sure if it's accurate but may be worth a shot with yours just to see

Thanks for the idea, and actually I unconsciously did this yesterday. I removed a 2L jug of saltwater from the display and set the jug into a cooler. I tested pH at 7.8 in the tank, and also in the jug. Ironically that's the first time I've seen it hit 7.8. I aerated the jug outside for 3 hours, and then tested pH at 8.0. So there's definitely some CO2 in the house affecting the tank, and I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to do something about that or not. Running a line outside won't work since it gets so cold I think it will affect the tank too much. A CO2 scrubber is probably the only reasonable option, but then I'd have to monitor pH all the time and replace the media. So I'm not sure I like that idea either.

[SoloSK71]

Any updates?

Charles