Achilles Tang Posted July 10, 2004 Share Posted July 10, 2004 Sorry guys, been busy and all... even my tank has been neglected, hehehe... Inspite of me using medication to try to get rid of red planaria, the flatworm plague has returned to run amok and the #$(&)@ montipora-eating nudibranchs are still steadily but surely chewing up my monti caps... still have a few bryopsis patches that refuse to go away... did lose some colour in some specimens due to the last flatworm killing medication exercise. The worst thing recently to happen was that my white xenia colony has split into at least 4 colonies and one of them got too close to my Tunze stream and got chewed up... and its toxins caused some minor RTN/STN patches. But overall, my tank's still doing ok... with growth of some SPS corals still exploding! My pinkish birdsnest constantly grows right up to the water surface and I have to break off the tips that get scorched everytime I turn off my return pump and the waterline drops, exposing about a centimetre of my birdsnest coral's tips, directly under a 400w Iwasaki bulb! No time to even change water (yeah yeah... excuses! ) but I have been dosing AquaConnect Energy Elements Trace elements to see if there are any effects and as mentioned by my friend who uses them... noticing that my reds & purples are alot stronger now.. *shrug*. Call me a critic before... but perhaps I have to eat back my words? Here's my latest tank pix... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted July 10, 2004 Author Share Posted July 10, 2004 Here's an update to the growth of my blue staghorn colony. Taken today as of 110704. You can refer to photos here for comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted July 10, 2004 Author Share Posted July 10, 2004 Nevermind, I'll link it all here for you to see! As of 110704! As of 210304! As of 130204! As of 100903! This staghorn colony has grown so large that it is blocking a lot of light to a 'purple with green polyp' acropora coral that is encrusted... arrggh!! I can't decide if I should remove the colony or to frag this staghorn colony!! It is also becoming a lot taller... I am sure in 5 years time, it'll crawl out of my tank and eat my dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member scarab Posted July 10, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted July 10, 2004 Remove the purple with green polyp acro. My tank got place for that. You blue staghorn looks huge man. When will mine grow like that? Bro, tank still look great despite all the 'attacks'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted July 10, 2004 Author Share Posted July 10, 2004 hehehe... the typical reply expected from a fellow SPS freak! Sorry Scarab... that's one of my beauties! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted July 10, 2004 Author Share Posted July 10, 2004 Remember this? Today... its like this now... all the tips been fragged off at least 3 times due to being burnt everytime it becomes 'low tide' when main return pump was switched off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member surfedelic Posted July 10, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted July 10, 2004 Wow AT, did our meeting waken you up suddenly your confession about your laziness And I can see those birdnest is going to get burn when you change water .. why not ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member scarab Posted July 10, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted July 10, 2004 hehehe... the typical reply expected from a fellow SPS freak! Sorry Scarab... that's one of my beauties! Worth a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted July 10, 2004 Author Share Posted July 10, 2004 Wow AT, did our meeting waken you up suddenly your confession about your laziness And I can see those birdnest is going to get burn when you change water .. why not ... SSSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member surfedelic Posted July 10, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted July 10, 2004 Superb ....view man ... I can see there is a brown colony in the second picture (top) , is that a new addon ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted July 10, 2004 Author Share Posted July 10, 2004 That colony is that very well known hard-to-keep 'blue inside with red outer rim' acro!! It lost colour within a few days of purchase as expected and then appeared to bleach... so I kept it in a shadier area for a few months already, today, I just moved it up on top to give it a lot more light. Was worried that it will be a poor specimen as most other shipments were... but its ok. My priority was for it to acclimatize and because this specimen required a lot of water circulation around it... the only spot available was in a not-so-ideal shadier spot in the centre of my tank (where the two Stream cones collide). You can see the spot coz that's where I moved my reddish/orange montipora cap...! Now its COLOURATION time!! I'm gonna be monitoring it now closely, I'll report back in a few weeks. *fingers crossed* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member danano Posted July 10, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted July 10, 2004 Your corals just keep growing and growing!!! Problem is... in a couple of months, I expect that you'll be faced with the difficult decision to either upgrade to a larger tank or carry out a major fragging exercise. Either way, do let me know if you need a hand... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted July 10, 2004 Author Share Posted July 10, 2004 Hehehee.... pruning...yes.... not fragging.... I'm aiming for the all natural looking grownup reef look... frags kinda get lost in my tank unless I create a special corner for them here and there... Growing frags to colonies is fun... but there's always room for 'cherries'! AT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted July 10, 2004 Author Share Posted July 10, 2004 My hot pink acro milli frags are still growing strong... the hole where I fragged off one stalk for a good friend of mine has already filled up with encrusting tissue and new branches are growing out. Everyone calls this 'salmon pink' but I wish I can find back my very old photo of the mother colony when it was hot pink. Had to frag it when it RTNed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted July 10, 2004 Author Share Posted July 10, 2004 One of the strangest thing to happen is that the polyps of my pink pocci colony suddenly turned flourescent green! So much so that when the polyps are out.. it looks like I have a green pocci specimen instead of pink! Ahh... the wonders of SPS!! (Apologies for the strange colour... damn hard to shoot under 20k bulbs alone!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted July 10, 2004 Author Share Posted July 10, 2004 You blue staghorn looks huge man. When will mine grow like that? Just did an guesstimation with a measuring tape.... I think this colony is about 14 inches across and about 9.5 inches tall!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member Golden Tooth Posted July 11, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted July 11, 2004 This staghorn colony has grown so large that it is blocking a lot of light to a 'purple with green polyp' acropora coral that is encrusted... arrggh!! I can't decide if I should remove the colony or to frag this staghorn colony!! It is also becoming a lot taller... I am sure in 5 years time, it'll crawl out of my tank and eat my dog. I think it's better to frag the Stag (i can help u) before it crawls out for the dog. Quote Bevor Sie das Licht sehen, müssen Sie sterben! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepBlue Posted July 11, 2004 Share Posted July 11, 2004 HIgh standard. As usual....a tank that I can only dream of... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAx0 Posted July 11, 2004 Share Posted July 11, 2004 i love this seriatopora and you tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted July 11, 2004 Author Share Posted July 11, 2004 My bulbs are due for a change.... going to try the AquaConnect 14k bulbs to replace the 6500k... maybe I should cut down on growth instead...hehehe... and just go for colours! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRC Member danano Posted July 11, 2004 SRC Member Share Posted July 11, 2004 My bulbs are due for a change.... going to try the AquaConnect 14k bulbs to replace the 6500k... maybe I should cut down on growth instead...hehehe... and just go for colours! How about adding some T5s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted July 11, 2004 Author Share Posted July 11, 2004 Hmmm.... that's an idea! Maybe replace my back MH with T5 since they are quite close to the water? We shall see! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepBlue Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 I have asked Dr Evil to custom make T5s for my sps so I dun need to run the MH for so long...hope once its fixed up, can get to see interesting colours appearing seems like T5s are the thing to go nowadays.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achilles Tang Posted July 12, 2004 Author Share Posted July 12, 2004 Hmmm, I have my own brands of T5 pendants (AquaConnect or Aquaristics) that I can use, with computer-designed parabolic reflectors (which is probably the most important component of them all) and the rest doesn't (with the exception of ATI/Deltecs). Interesting colours? Maybe if its more pastel colours you want, then T5s will give you that. I'm used to my SPS looking more vibrant than pastel and I think that once I swop out the 6500k with the AC14k, I can expect better colours! I lack the 420nm spike in my current setup... the actinic effect... and the AC14k does have it and my Saki & Ushio Blue doesn't... so hopefully my tank will look crisper as reported by many reefers in RC. I'm also amazed at the AC14k's 450nm spike... which is almost twice as much as the Ushio/BLV 20k bulbs! The blue peaks are almost like the Radiums (440 to 460 nm) which I have used before in the past and got very good colours! (Too bad the bulb itself sucked in terms of intensity loss). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeepBlue Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 I have read quite a lot of comments in RC tht Hamilton Tech 14000K provides the highest PAR as compared to other brands. Though not as great as 10KK or 6500k ...but the quality is pretty good. I am not a tech person... but ever thought of using one? I am running 2 x 250W hamiliton tech 14kk....thought not as bright as the BLV I used to have, but tank is pretty pleasing to the eye. MOre 'white'. I will continue to use the MH, the T5s will only be a supplement for now. When I downgrade to a smaller tank...I will run 8 X T5s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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