illumnae's SPS shallow reef

[illumnae]

Today's FTS.  Still trying to stabilize the tank - CR tuning undergoing daily.

[illumnae]

Took my camera out of the drybox today to try and get some shots, and realized that I really suck at taking photos after a year and a half of not practicing!  plus the fact that my corals are still very new and not coloured up yet, and you can see from the shots below that I still have a long way to go before my tank can be considered acceptable!  At the moment I'm just doing weekly 10% water changes and daily dosing of some trace elements.  As mentioned above, still trying to get stable parameters before I embark on actual dosing of supplements to try and colour up the corals.

 

[illumnae]

Just a brief pictureless update... I've started using Tropic Marin supplements, starting with Elements A- and K+ and I must say I have noticed an improvement in PE, growth and colouration from my corals.  I know it's not a common or popular supplement system locally, but I must say that I'm quite impressed with the system so far.  To me, it gives similar results to what Fauna Marin used to give me.  Really goes to show that good products speak for themselves, and noisy marketing only goes so far.

I'll be slowly adding in TM Bacto-Balance, Reef Actif and Reef Mud Vital over the next couple of months.

[illumnae]

Seems like not much interest in my tank - I feel like I'm talking to myself 

Had some time last night so took out the camera and Avast Marine Porthole for some top down macro shots.  Corals are slowly starting to colour up but definitely not at their full potential yet.  Still alot of time and TLC needed

Yellow with red polyps Aussie sps:

SPS 1 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Aussie rainbow millie:

SPS 2 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

SSC (alot of pink, green slowly coming back):

SPS 3 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Purple Spathulata (bought it lavender coloured, but my higher nutrients darkened the colour):

SPS 4 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Acropora selago??  From Sulawesi shipment:

SPS 5 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Acropora tenuis - is it just me, or are the corallites turning purple/pink/orange? :

SPS 6 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Icefire Echinata:

SPS 7 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

FC Ultra Walt Disney:

SPS 8 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Another yellow with red polyps Aussie sps, supposed to be Acropora caroliniana:

SPS 9 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Unknown acropora from Sulawesi - this one glows very nicely under actinic:

SPS 10 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Same as previous, but kept under higher light and flow:

SPS 15 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

FC Superman:

SPS 11 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Pink aussie tabling acro:

SPS 12 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Another unknown aussie acro:

SPS 13 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

SSC variant - when I bought this it was entirely yellow with red polyps.  Yellow is turning green and blue tips and pink corallites are appearing:

SPS 14 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Another unknown sulawesi acropora - purple with purple/blue polyps:

SPS 16 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

 

Still have alot of other colonies in my tank, but didn't manage to photograph them all.

[Fadly Hajar]

Lots of gems..

Looking great bro! 

[Xtraster]

Stunning pics!

[chercm]

bro u using radion now ?

[illumnae]

20 hours ago, Fadly Hajar said:

Lots of gems..

Looking great bro! 

 

20 hours ago, Xtraster said:

Stunning pics!

Thank you!  That's why to me it's important to buy corals from trustworthy sources - you're ensured healthy gems!

20 hours ago, chercm said:

bro u using radion now ?

Yup, since January/February

[chercm]

don't know whether the dino came from the DE rock. i just recovered from it 

[Kaijuworld]

Nice tank

[illumnae]

1 hour ago, chercm said:

don't know whether the dino came from the DE rock. i just recovered from it 

Dinos don't come from the rock, they are present in the water and bloom when conditions suit it.

1 hour ago, Kaijuworld said:

Nice tank

Thanks bro!

[SubzeroLT]

Nice pics! 

Have you decided on the sand?

[illumnae]

I'm using Caribsea live sand.  Mostly Special grade mixed with Bimini pink, with the largest grain one in the areas my wavemakers expose the bottom

[cedricang]

Very nice pics Bro  ! 

[illumnae]

I apologise in advance for the shaky footage, some out of focus footage and inaccurate colour.  This is my first time shooting and editing video, so I'm still learning how to use my camera gor video taking.  I also have no idea how to correct white balance like i do in Photoshop.  For more accurate colouration please see my photos above.  If there's interest in my tank, I'll definitely try to do better and make more videos

 

[SubzeroLT]

Do post more. !! Thanks for sharing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Fadly Hajar]

Sps looking great at just 2.5months old. Keep it up bro!


Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[cedricang]

May be using a tripot or something to minimize the shaking would be much better    overall I applaud you for a cool first video attempt 

[illumnae]

On 22/08/2017 at 11:50 AM, Fadly Hajar said:

Sps looking great at just 2.5months old. Keep it up bro!


Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app
 

 

On 22/08/2017 at 10:36 AM, SubzeroLT said:

Do post more. !! Thanks for sharing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you!

On 23/08/2017 at 2:59 PM, cedricang said:

May be using a tripot or something to minimize the shaking would be much better    overall I applaud you for a cool first video attempt 

Thanks bro!  I use a tripod for front shots bro, but top down shots hard to use one, mostly need to shoot handheld

For my next video attempt, I shot a feature video of one of the fish in my tank.  It's the Australian 5 stripe hogfish.  Many thanks to @FuEl  @Iwarna for helping me to source the fish from Cairns Marine!

 

[cedricang]

Nicely done Bro !! This is a nice hawk, should be a very hardy one 

[illumnae]

Please join me in welcoming the latest inhabitant into my tank, Bodianus sanguineus!  I've been wanting one of these since my Bodianus bennetti (previously Bodianus sp "Kimura"?) passed on, and thankfully Iwarna Aquafarm managed to source one for me from Blue Harbor Osaka recently.  Really good timing in light of the potential ban on collection of ornamental fish looming in Hawaii!  Sorry for the many dust spots in the picture, the fish just stirred up the sand!

Hog 1 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Hog 2 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

 

Here's a recent FTS too to end off.  Colours and stability in the tank are improving week by week.  I'm really very impressed with the Tropic Marin Bio-Actif system.  It's perfect for a newbie reefer like me to get a nice sps system going

FTS by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

[Daniel Poh Yang Zheng]

oh please... u newbie??! but it is amazing!! love the colouring, wonder what amazing light u using....


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[cedricang]

Nice shot, looks majestic

[illumnae]

20 hours ago, Daniel Poh Yang Zheng said:

oh please... u newbie??! but it is amazing!! love the colouring, wonder what amazing light u using....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Still very new la, compared to so many experienced reefers on this forum!  You know what lights I'm using ma, you fixed them up for me!

Colour wise I think there's still a long way to go - corals are definitely colouring up but the picture still lacks the glow of the more mature SPS tanks around.  Could also be the corals that I picked are just not so brightly coloured?

1 hour ago, cedricang said:

Nice shot, looks majestic

Thanks bro!  He's not very majestic la... definitely not one of the more dominant fish in the tank.

[cedricang]

3 hours ago, illumnae said:

Still very new la, compared to so many experienced reefers on this forum!  You know what lights I'm using ma, you fixed them up for me!

Colour wise I think there's still a long way to go - corals are definitely colouring up but the picture still lacks the glow of the more mature SPS tanks around.  Could also be the corals that I picked are just not so brightly coloured?

Thanks bro!  He's not very majestic la... definitely not one of the more dominant fish in the tank.

I am referring to the FTS... very majestic looking