My Little Piece of Reef - Page 2

jroovers · 01/05/2013, 11:02 AM

Wow, nice shots Bernie! Looking good on my end, well done.

westreef · 01/05/2013, 01:20 PM

Hi Sahin,
Lagoon Blue is a new bulb from Giesemann, not too many vendors carry it. In fact, I only found one vendor during Thanksgiving and it was on sale for promotion sake. Few days ago, I found my favorite LFS also using it in one of his new display tanks. In general, it is very close to ATI AquaBlue Special or Giesemann AquaBlue+ in look. Compared to Coral+, it is crispy white. Coral + has a tint of purplish color.
It is difficult to get a good picture to show the difference. Finally, I shot it in RAW and got a better but not perfect color comparision. If you want the vendor's name, please pm me. It even has the light spectrum for most of the bulbs for comparison.

Top to bottom (Front to back):
Coral +
RB (redone using solderless connections, all royal blues, better heat sink and shorter spacing)
Lagoon Blue
RB
Blue +

sahin · 01/05/2013, 01:27 PM

Many thanks for the very useful info and photo. I think I will buy Coral+ tubes next time. I did look at the spectral plot of the Lagoonblue and thought it might look similar to the ABSpecial.

westreef · 01/05/2013, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pink Dolphin

great looking tank

Thanks for the comments.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jroovers

Wow, nice shots Bernie! Looking good on my end, well done.

Hi Jordan, you are one of the best in shooting corals. I am just learning how to do a decent job. I am still trying. Thanks for the tips you gave me. I find them very useful.

Bernie

westreef · 01/06/2013, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sahin

Many thanks for the very useful info and photo. I think I will buy Coral+ tubes next time. I did look at the spectral plot of the Lagoonblue and thought it might look similar to the ABSpecial.

Sahin, you wouldn't go wrong with Coral+. I have seen colorful corals with just Coral+ and Blue + tubes.

westreef · 02/13/2013, 12:33 PM

My son took these two cute pictures while he visited me during Christmas. Just want to share with you. Enjoy!

jroovers · 02/13/2013, 04:15 PM

Two terrific shots - kudos to your son! Both are composed fantasticly.

westreef · 02/13/2013, 09:21 PM

Thanks, Jordan. My son loves to take photos.

William_916 · 09/21/2013, 02:45 PM

I really like your sps just beautful

westreef · 09/24/2013, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by William_916

I really like your sps just beautful

Thanks.

Recently I had a mini-crash with some SPS corals having STN. So some nice size corals now reduced to small frags. It is better now.

BryceHS · 09/25/2013, 04:57 AM

Your tank is looking great, the STN is a bit depressing, but glad it's over now, your SPS look great

sahin · 10/26/2013, 12:59 PM

How are the corals doing? Hope all is well enough for some new photos.

westreef · 11/09/2013, 01:47 PM

Hi Sahin, as you know I had STN in my tank. Many colonies became small frags. So far I still have a little bit of STN in one coral. I think I will wait for a few more months to post some photos.
I love your recent new thread -- beautiful corals. Your water parameters must be close to perfect. Make sure you record the parameters for future reference.

sahin · 11/09/2013, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by westreef

Hi Sahin, as you know I had STN in my tank. Many colonies became small frags. So far I still have a little bit of STN in one coral. I think I will wait for a few more months to post some photos.
I love your recent new thread -- beautiful corals. Your water parameters must be close to perfect. Make sure you record the parameters for future reference.

Hi, where you mentioned some colonies reduced to frags, I imagined a few (3-4), but it sounds like a bit more than that.

Do you know what caused the crash? I had one or two base recession some months ago when I tried to use GAC again...I quickly took it offline, fed my tank a bit more and things recovered quickly within two weeks.

Whenever I have SPS troubles, I have always found that the one thing that works wonders is a simple water change. I start carrying out 20% water changes at least twice a week. That sorts issues out for me always.

I have at least 6 empty salt buckets which hold about 18 litres each. My tank is about 180 litres. So its easy to mix up 10% in each bucket. With the remaining empty ones old water goes in them so its easy to do the water changes without too much measuring etc.

At times I have carried out 40% when things are really bad. The way I have done my plumbing from display to sump is that I can isolate each and have water flowing in each. So I remove 40% water, let the display continue for 8 hours or so by itself and the sump gets the newly mixed water, which I further let it get mixed by the action of the skimmer etc.

Never had issues from doing such large water changes this way.

Perhaps you can try something like this?

As for my tank, NO3=2ppm and PO4=0.04ppm, nothing special there. I think its because the tank is 1 year old now that colours are coming through on the SPS.

westreef · 11/09/2013, 10:13 PM

Thanks for the advice.
I did accelerate water change frequency to 20% water volume each week for about 4 weeks and indeed it gradually slow down the problem. I still don't know exactly why the STN started. Even my favorite lfs could not give me a satisfactory answer.
The colonies affected were Red Planet, Miami Orchid, Nesuta, Pink Lemonade, Cali Tort and Bali Slimer. Now looks like it is almost stop -- have my fingers crossed.

sahin · 04/12/2014, 04:55 AM

How is the tank doing now Bernie? Its been nearly 6 months...any chance of photos of the corals now?

westreef · 04/12/2014, 12:36 PM

Hi Sahin, hope everything is well with you.
My tank is doing fine now for awhile. Most SPS corals are small frags after the STN incidence.
I will post some pictures in a month or so. Thanks for thinking about my tank.

sahin · 04/12/2014, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by westreef

Hi Sahin, hope everything is well with you.
My tank is doing fine now for awhile. Most SPS corals are small frags after the STN incidence.
I will post some pictures in a month or so. Thanks for thinking about my tank.

No problem.

Just happy for you that the corals are doing better.

Like myself, you were one of the first adopters of a T5/LED hybrid lighting and you actually built a pretty neat unit. So I'm wanting to see what sort of result you are having.

Look forward to an update when the corals are ready.

westreef · 07/23/2014, 09:03 PM

It has been a while to post some pictures of the corals. Almost every summer, I have STN on some corals. So far, it is holding good. I have my fingers crossed.

An Unknown Acro

Pink Stylophora cat paw

Ice Fire

Huge Bazooka Joe, about 7" across

Pohnape Bird's Nest

Utra Pink Milli

Rose Milli

Red Planet, small frag saved after STN

Unknown Acro

Marshal Island Green and Purple Acro

westreef · 07/24/2014, 11:51 AM

Nasuta

Magnified shot of the above Milli

Many of these are tiny frags of about 3/4" to 1" size, recently acquired. Hopefully the colors will develop a bit better.

westreef · 07/24/2014, 12:02 PM

Unknown Acro, but nice

Surf & Turf ?

westreef · 07/26/2014, 11:05 AM

As you can see, Bazooka Joe is winning. It wraps around the tort. But this tort still growing with reasonable PE.
I have a bigger and the same tort at another part of the tank. I will like to see how this war plays out in a few months.

westreef · 10/19/2014, 12:41 PM

Time to update the FTS.
Used to have many STN after summer vacation. However, this year, no major issues after 17-day of out of the country.

markalot · 10/19/2014, 01:07 PM

Excellent! Another thread I missed, so thanks for posting an update. Great to see old tanks with so much growth!

sahin · 10/19/2014, 01:47 PM

Looking sweet! So nice to see a matured tank full of corals

I was wondering when you'd update again.

Do those SPS sting each other??? Good to see so much growth going on there...can see quite a few frags on the rack. All good signs.

01/05/2013, 11:02 AM	#26
jroovers Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 1,555	Wow, nice shots Bernie! Looking good on my end, well done. __________________ 45 Gallon Shallow Aquacultured SPS Reef

01/05/2013, 01:20 PM	#27
westreef Lost as usual Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Really California? Posts: 846	Hi Sahin, Lagoon Blue is a new bulb from Giesemann, not too many vendors carry it. In fact, I only found one vendor during Thanksgiving and it was on sale for promotion sake. Few days ago, I found my favorite LFS also using it in one of his new display tanks. In general, it is very close to ATI AquaBlue Special or Giesemann AquaBlue+ in look. Compared to Coral+, it is crispy white. Coral + has a tint of purplish color. It is difficult to get a good picture to show the difference. Finally, I shot it in RAW and got a better but not perfect color comparision. If you want the vendor's name, please pm me. It even has the light spectrum for most of the bulbs for comparison. Top to bottom (Front to back): Coral + RB (redone using solderless connections, all royal blues, better heat sink and shorter spacing) Lagoon Blue RB Blue + __________________ Bernie 75g, ATI 4x58wT5 LED Hybrid Powermodule, AquaMaxx ConeS 1, 2xMP40wES, RKL controller, Tunze Osmolator

02/13/2013, 12:33 PM	#31
westreef Lost as usual Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Really California? Posts: 846	My son took these two cute pictures while he visited me during Christmas. Just want to share with you. Enjoy! __________________ Bernie 75g, ATI 4x58wT5 LED Hybrid Powermodule, AquaMaxx ConeS 1, 2xMP40wES, RKL controller, Tunze Osmolator

02/13/2013, 04:15 PM	#32
jroovers Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 1,555	Two terrific shots - kudos to your son! Both are composed fantasticly. __________________ 45 Gallon Shallow Aquacultured SPS Reef

02/13/2013, 09:21 PM	#33
westreef Lost as usual Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Really California? Posts: 846	Thanks, Jordan. My son loves to take photos. __________________ Bernie 75g, ATI 4x58wT5 LED Hybrid Powermodule, AquaMaxx ConeS 1, 2xMP40wES, RKL controller, Tunze Osmolator

01/05/2013, 01:27 PM	#28
sahin Ultimate Reefer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,540	Many thanks for the very useful info and photo. I think I will buy Coral+ tubes next time. I did look at the spectral plot of the Lagoonblue and thought it might look similar to the ABSpecial.

09/21/2013, 02:45 PM	#34
William_916 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 316	I really like your sps just beautful

09/25/2013, 04:57 AM	#36
BryceHS Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Australia Posts: 11	Your tank is looking great, the STN is a bit depressing, but glad it's over now, your SPS look great

10/26/2013, 12:59 PM	#37
sahin Ultimate Reefer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,540	How are the corals doing? Hope all is well enough for some new photos.

11/09/2013, 01:47 PM	#38
westreef Lost as usual Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Really California? Posts: 846	Hi Sahin, as you know I had STN in my tank. Many colonies became small frags. So far I still have a little bit of STN in one coral. I think I will wait for a few more months to post some photos. I love your recent new thread -- beautiful corals. Your water parameters must be close to perfect. Make sure you record the parameters for future reference. __________________ Bernie 75g, ATI 4x58wT5 LED Hybrid Powermodule, AquaMaxx ConeS 1, 2xMP40wES, RKL controller, Tunze Osmolator

11/09/2013, 10:13 PM	#40
westreef Lost as usual Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Really California? Posts: 846	Thanks for the advice. I did accelerate water change frequency to 20% water volume each week for about 4 weeks and indeed it gradually slow down the problem. I still don't know exactly why the STN started. Even my favorite lfs could not give me a satisfactory answer. The colonies affected were Red Planet, Miami Orchid, Nesuta, Pink Lemonade, Cali Tort and Bali Slimer. Now looks like it is almost stop -- have my fingers crossed. __________________ Bernie 75g, ATI 4x58wT5 LED Hybrid Powermodule, AquaMaxx ConeS 1, 2xMP40wES, RKL controller, Tunze Osmolator

04/12/2014, 04:55 AM	#41
sahin Ultimate Reefer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,540	How is the tank doing now Bernie? Its been nearly 6 months...any chance of photos of the corals now?

04/12/2014, 12:36 PM	#42
westreef Lost as usual Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Really California? Posts: 846	Hi Sahin, hope everything is well with you. My tank is doing fine now for awhile. Most SPS corals are small frags after the STN incidence. I will post some pictures in a month or so. Thanks for thinking about my tank. __________________ Bernie 75g, ATI 4x58wT5 LED Hybrid Powermodule, AquaMaxx ConeS 1, 2xMP40wES, RKL controller, Tunze Osmolator

07/23/2014, 09:03 PM	#44
westreef Lost as usual Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Really California? Posts: 846	Update It has been a while to post some pictures of the corals. Almost every summer, I have STN on some corals. So far, it is holding good. I have my fingers crossed. An Unknown Acro Pink Stylophora cat paw Ice Fire Huge Bazooka Joe, about 7" across Pohnape Bird's Nest Utra Pink Milli Rose Milli Red Planet, small frag saved after STN Unknown Acro Marshal Island Green and Purple Acro __________________ Bernie 75g, ATI 4x58wT5 LED Hybrid Powermodule, AquaMaxx ConeS 1, 2xMP40wES, RKL controller, Tunze Osmolator

07/24/2014, 11:51 AM	#45
westreef Lost as usual Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Really California? Posts: 846	A few more pictures Nasuta Magnified shot of the above Milli Many of these are tiny frags of about 3/4" to 1" size, recently acquired. Hopefully the colors will develop a bit better. __________________ Bernie 75g, ATI 4x58wT5 LED Hybrid Powermodule, AquaMaxx ConeS 1, 2xMP40wES, RKL controller, Tunze Osmolator

07/24/2014, 12:02 PM	#46
westreef Lost as usual Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Really California? Posts: 846	Some more Unknown Acro, but nice Surf & Turf ? __________________ Bernie 75g, ATI 4x58wT5 LED Hybrid Powermodule, AquaMaxx ConeS 1, 2xMP40wES, RKL controller, Tunze Osmolator

07/26/2014, 11:05 AM	#47
westreef Lost as usual Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Really California? Posts: 846	War between Tort and Bazooka Joe As you can see, Bazooka Joe is winning. It wraps around the tort. But this tort still growing with reasonable PE. I have a bigger and the same tort at another part of the tank. I will like to see how this war plays out in a few months. __________________ Bernie 75g, ATI 4x58wT5 LED Hybrid Powermodule, AquaMaxx ConeS 1, 2xMP40wES, RKL controller, Tunze Osmolator

10/19/2014, 12:41 PM	#48
westreef Lost as usual Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Really California? Posts: 846	Current FTS Time to update the FTS. Used to have many STN after summer vacation. However, this year, no major issues after 17-day of out of the country. __________________ Bernie 75g, ATI 4x58wT5 LED Hybrid Powermodule, AquaMaxx ConeS 1, 2xMP40wES, RKL controller, Tunze Osmolator

10/19/2014, 01:07 PM	#49
markalot ... Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Florence, KY Posts: 3,806 Blog Entries: 3	Excellent! Another thread I missed, so thanks for posting an update. Great to see old tanks with so much growth! __________________ -- Mark 150G (72x18x27) \| 35G sump \| SRO-XP2000INT Skimmer \| ATI SunPower T5 / NanoBox LED hybrid 60" x 4 + 8 NanoBox v3.1 arrays

10/19/2014, 01:47 PM	#50
sahin Ultimate Reefer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,540	Looking sweet! So nice to see a matured tank full of corals I was wondering when you'd update again. Do those SPS sting each other??? Good to see so much growth going on there...can see quite a few frags on the rack. All good signs.