My tank as of 110704

[Achilles Tang]

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...

[Achilles Tang]

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.

[Achilles Tang]

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.

[scarab]

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'.

[Achilles Tang]

hehehe... the typical reply expected from a fellow SPS freak!

Sorry Scarab... that's one of my beauties!

[Achilles Tang]

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!

[surfedelic]

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 ...

[scarab]

hehehe... the typical reply expected from a fellow SPS freak!

Sorry Scarab... that's one of my beauties!

Worth a try.

[Achilles Tang]

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!!!!!!

[surfedelic]

Superb ....view man ...

I can see there is a brown colony in the second picture (top) , is that a new addon ?

[Achilles Tang]

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*

[danano]

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...

[Achilles Tang]

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

[Achilles Tang]

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.

[Achilles Tang]

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!)

[Achilles Tang]

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!!!

[Golden Tooth]

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.

[DeepBlue]

HIgh standard. As usual....a tank that I can only dream of...

[NAx0]

i love this seriatopora and you tank

[Achilles Tang]

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!

[danano]

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?

[Achilles Tang]

Hmmm.... that's an idea!

Maybe replace my back MH with T5 since they are quite close to the water?

We shall see!

[DeepBlue]

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....

[Achilles Tang]

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).

[DeepBlue]

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