illumnae

There is always something new

Thanks! Radions are on AB+ schedule currently at 80% 12 inches above the water

Thank you! Definitely sitting back and taking a breather for now The flame hawk is my wife's favourite fish in the tank! She named him "Derpy" haha!

Sorry I took so long to put the video together. The clips in this video were all filmed on 17 April, about a week after I finished the dipping process, and barely a few days after I rescaped and glued the corals in place. I expected the SPS to be super pissed off from the rough dipping treatment and the new scape, but they seem contented!

I'm just a hobbyist

I've actually asked Iwarna to order them for many months after my previous one passed on last year... they only recently became available again. I got 2 this time, hopefully can pair them up Thank you! It's really been a tough journey with this tank so far. Hopefully it'll all turn out well and I can actually enjoy the tank peacefully instead of endlessly spending and slogging over it!

Here's what the tank looks like now. Long way to go to colour everything up, but it's a start! I'm working on the next video that will hopefully be out soon FTS by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

2018-04-07_12-10-55 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Yup that's where I got them from. Pricing wise best to check with Iwarna

I have 2 Hawaii yellow anthias, Odontanthias fuscipinnis

Thanks bro! It's really quite a backbreaking effort, but if it ends up with a nice looking tank like yours then it's worth it I bought 3 spotted mandarins early on to help keep the problem under control, but surprisingly they fought quite fiercely amongst each other and now left with only 1. I'm considering adding springeri damsels too as they're also reputed to eat aefw

The dip process is finally over and I really hope that nightmare is over. Rocks are now in but the tank is a mess as I haven't had the time to glue the corals in yet. It's a lot easier buying a few a week and gluing them in than 70ish colonies and frags at once. The colour coordination gives me a headache! 20180401_231138 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Sand and tank walls not likely. Rock I removed totally and will be replacing with the new scape. I also swap the eggcrate stand weekly and wash/dry it in tap water in between swaps to make sure no eggs or worms hide there.

Unfortunately my fish are still in the tank so I couldn't do that. I also didn't want to kill off my copepod and micro fauna population

And here's the new scape! Hope it looks good enough... I've set up 2 tubs and will start cycling the rocks in salt water with Fritz and Prodibio bacteria for 2 weeks. I may also dose some TM Reef Mud Vital into the tubs to hopefully seed some additional micro fauna into the rocks.

Dosing certain bacteria strains can help

I set a timer for 5 minutes, but after the timer goes off I individually "blow" them in front of a wavemaker to dislodge any aefw. So by the time they actually make it back into the tank, it's about 10-20 minutes per colony/frag

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/man-jailed-illegally-importing-hard-corals-from-philippines-10023392?cid=FBcna Saw this in the news yesterday. We have such a great legal supply of corals from all over the world here in Singapore, why do this kind of thing?

Here's a short video documenting the tearing down of my tank to start dipping. Filmed in HD.

There are ways to keep them under control but not eradicate them. Fish like spotted mandarins and leopard wrasses are reputed to eat them; and KZ Flatworm Stop helps too. I'll be taking corrective action to eradicate them from my tank soon, but most people will not be willing to do what it takes.

The radion diffusers bro Acropora eating flatworms, one of the most annoying pests for sps keepers. I don't believe in risking spreading it to other reefers just to make a few bucks.

Did a small upgrade to the lights 2018-01-29_06-47-57 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Thank you! Still long way to goto achievd good colouration Thanks! Not going to sell anything as my tank has aefw. Don't want to spread it to anyone else!

4. Sabah wild colonies Sabah wild SPS are notoriously difficult to keep alive, so I'm glad that I managed to keep a couple of colonies. This one was another totally browned out colony I took a chance on - it stayed brown for months, then finally recently coloured up SPS 18 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr This tort/echinata/bottlebrush was neon yellow when I got it. It's now neon green, but has regained some yellow at the tips. Hoping to be able to get it back to its original yellow glory SPS 10 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr 5. Frags from Fantasy Corals FC "CRT Rainbow" SPS 25 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr FC "Superman Acro" SPS 24 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr FC "Rainbow Shabert" SPS 21 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr FC "Jubilee" SPS 20 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr FC "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" SPS 19 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr FC "Sweetie Pie" SPS 15 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr FC "Ultra Walt Disney" SPS 8 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

2. Australia wild colonies A very very interesting deepwater colony. When I first got it, it was red with neon green highlights. It is now purple, but has retained the highlights. SPS 13 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr Very nice colony - Acropora nasuta? It has a mint green body with purple corallites and blue polyps. I have another similar colony under high light that has the same mint green body with purple corallites, but the polys are purple too instead of blue SPS 9 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr Classic SSC. It turned entirely red for awhile, and is now starting to get the green back. I was told that I'm keeping it under too high lights and too low nutrients, hence the loss in green and predominance of red SPS 6 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr Not sure what this is, but it reminds me of snowflakes! Very Christmassy look SPS 5 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr I call this my "Aussie Pikachu" - bright yellow with red polyps SPS 4 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr A "Rainbow" millie from Australia. When I got this colony some tips were showing blue in addition to the orange/red body and green polyps. You can't see it from the picture, but the corallites are now turning gold SPS 3 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr 3. Tonga wild colonies Recent acquisition from a long awaited Tonga shipment. Bought it as a "Rainbow Nasuta" SPS 2 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr From the same recent shipment, a different colour variant of the above colony - this one is pink with blue tips and red polyps. This piece is still not very stable, so I'm closely observing it SPS 1 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr