danano

The Blue Face, one of my favourite large angels. And staghorns, love the look when grown out.

Before introducing corals into the tank, I dip everything in Coral RX. Double the recommended dosage and duration. I typically leave the coral in the original packaging with LFS water, add Coral RX into the bag and shake it vigorously for several seconds. I repeat last step after about ten minutes later and let it sit for another 10 minutes. After shaking the bag with the coral in it one more time, I remove it and place it in a container filled with tank water and leave it for a few minutes. As a final step, I inspect the container and coral/plugs/rocks closely for any undesirable parasites before introducing the corals into the tank. If I discover any, I will dip it one more time. Note that dipping corals alone is not full proof. Even after introduction into the tank, I monitor the corals closely for health. Good polyp extension plus encrusting growth after about a week are good signs. Continued growth at the base and tips, and improved colouration over time is what I strive for. Any deterioration would be cause for concern requiring closer inspection, investigation and treatment, if necessary.

Hey Darren. Sorry to hear about the nasty fw. When restarting, you could consider adding several wrasses, a natural method for keeping parasites (if any) in check. Hang in there and all the best bro!

Joe.... simply inspirational!

Awesome nano and beautiful corals! Thanks for sharing bro.

Medium to strong turbulent flow, a must have for SPS. Even with good flow, I use a turkey baster every so often to remove detritus and sand stuck in the corals. Beneath the waves....

Thanks Rob et al. Happy to share my passion and the little and simple things I do to care for a small piece of the ocean in my living room. Sunset Montipora.

Nice. What do you keep in your semi-outdoor system without a chiller?

Let there be light! Two AI Hydra 52HDs and a single OR2 60 Blue Plus provide ample illumination for the corals in the 650mm x 650mm x 500mm glass box.

A flower bouquet for MOTHER'S DAY

I've been using the Coral Box WiFi Dosing Pump since September, and it's been reliable and fairly accurate. The doser and mobile app are easy to setup, use and maintain. With calibration and accuracy down to 0.1ml, it allows for some serious fine tuning and dosing in very small quantities. However, for the three major elements (Ca, KH and Mg), I find 1ml adjustments do just fine. The fourth channel is for water top-up, to address the 500ml daily evaporation rate. The check valves that come with doser are connected to the outlet hoses to prevent backflow and minimise air bubbles in the tubing.

Did another test today, CA and KH dropped a little. Mg no change from a week ago. CA 395 KH 7.0 Mg 1360 Manually topped up Ca by 30ml and tweaked the daily dosage from 30 to 33ml. Not touching KH for now, still within acceptable range. Currently dosing 184ml/day. And MG, 12ml/day.

Coral clusters. Stylopora, Tubipora Musica and Goniopora. Happy reefing and have a great weekend y'all!

The Forest Fire has taken on an interesting growth form with branches tightly clustered together. The banching monti is less than six inches from the surface in between both light fixtures, and the flow is moderate and fairly constant. An example of how light and flow influences SPS growth.

At low tide....

The SSC has grown on me, I'm starting to like it....

Here are two screenshots of the aircon controller. I upgraded and equipped an existing Daikin Aircon with this WiFi and cloud feature. Fortunately, the nine year old Aircon model I had was compatible and the controller module worked.

I've got two of these focused on the tank.

Two return pumps for redundancy, one Skimz QP4.0 as the primary, and the other, a Skimz QP2.0 for the chiller. Both controllable DC pumps, so it's easy to regulate the flow rate. I would have liked to install a redundant chiller as well. However, space constraints prevented me from doing so. As corals and other marine life are particularly sensitive to large temperature swings, I manage this aspect my controlling the ambient temperature, especially when I'm away travelling for more than a day. I've installed a wi-fi enabled cloud controller for the Daikin air-conditioning system in my living room. This allows me to control and pre-program the temperature setting and timing of the Aircon operation from anywhere in the world. The redundant features, along with a cloud cam, have given me peace of mind when away from home.

They are about half the original size when used up.

And the new ones going in. A bi-weekly exercise.

Changing out the BRB today. Here are a few pics for reference. The old/used reef balls about to be replaced...

Done. Fresh filter wool.

Changing out the filter wool today. For mechanical filtration. This is done every ten days or so.