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Unread 10/07/2018, 03:24 PM   #1851
cFloor
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Beautiful Mark! Your tank has matured into one of the nicest SPS tanks I've ever seen.


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Unread 10/08/2018, 06:37 PM   #1852
lanshark
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Mark's 150 gallon

Mark,

I am just getting started reading you full thread... You have progressed quickly both with SPS keeping and also Photography!!! So painful to see all the bad pics posted on forums, that includes mine

I have Eos t3i canon DSLR and don’t know how to take reef pics and get blue out, blah blah ... Do use orange filters? Have you shared your camera exposure setup process? Shoot in RAW, post edit? Or, can you recommend any threads that helped you get this good at it? I have the white or gray cards that I can tape to acrylic rod and place in water and focus camera on to set WB?

I was surprised reading your flirting with 6.xx -7.xx DKH as in beginning you were targeting what many do of 8-8.5 dkh range? Could you share you current mindset and approach to Alkalinity?

Cheers, Matthew.


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Unread 10/08/2018, 08:39 PM   #1853
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lanshark View Post
Mark,

I am just getting started reading you full thread... You have progressed quickly both with SPS keeping and also Photography!!! So painful to see all the bad pics posted on forums, that includes mine

I have Eos t3i canon DSLR and don’t know how to take reef pics and get blue out, blah blah ... Do use orange filters? Have you shared your camera exposure setup process? Shoot in RAW, post edit? Or, can you recommend any threads that helped you get this good at it? I have the white or gray cards that I can tape to acrylic rod and place in water and focus camera on to set WB?

I was surprised reading your flirting with 6.xx -7.xx DKH as in beginning you were targeting what many do of 8-8.5 dkh range? Could you share you current mindset and approach to Alkalinity?

Cheers, Matthew.
Hi lanshark,

I shoot in RAW and use the Adobe Photoshop RAW editor to change the white balance.

The tank settled in at 6.5 KH and since I was scared of Alk spikes I changed everything very slowly, which was good for the acros so they used more, which kept me under 7KH constantly. This is when I discovered a lot of acros will do ok when Alk is too low, as long as you are dosing. I suspect they pause when Alk drops too low, the doser raises it back up, they un-pause. Repeat. Who really knows though, all I know is they lived.

These days I'm scared to even trim because cutting down the big slimer, which needs to be done, is going to drop Alk usage significantly. Fun times.


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Unread 10/09/2018, 01:56 AM   #1854
DiscusHeckel
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You need to trim your bali slimer ruthlessly, Mark. It must be blocking a lot of flow and light.


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Unread 10/09/2018, 05:58 AM   #1855
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DiscusHeckel View Post
You need to trim your bali slimer ruthlessly, Mark. It must be blocking a lot of flow and light.
There's a pump trapped behind it blowing directing into it. Some branches missing skin on the pump side but the damn thing is adapting and slowly overcoming the flow. lol. It will be trimmed, already warned the LFS they are about to receive a slimer offering.


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Unread 10/09/2018, 07:34 AM   #1856
Darth_Tater
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Quote:
Originally Posted by markalot View Post
These days I'm scared to even trim because cutting down the big slimer, which needs to be done, is going to drop Alk usage significantly. Fun times.
I have similar concerns with a giant Monti Cap that's taking over my little 40 gallon. I have a hard enough time in this small tank just keeping paramaters stable enough the acros will grow. Some day I'll decide the disruption in flow and light is more critical than my concerns... Guess you just have to do what needs to be done!

Your tank looks awesome by the way. I also need to read through your thread.


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Unread 10/12/2018, 07:35 PM   #1857
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Darth_Tater View Post
I have similar concerns with a giant Monti Cap that's taking over my little 40 gallon. I have a hard enough time in this small tank just keeping paramaters stable enough the acros will grow. Some day I'll decide the disruption in flow and light is more critical than my concerns... Guess you just have to do what needs to be done!

Your tank looks awesome by the way. I also need to read through your thread.
Thanks DT.

So the deed is done, I will never let it grow that much again, but unfortunately one does not just get rid of a slimer. The base is everywhere, it will be back.







Had to glue hairy horrida back together in a few spots but all in all no big problems. EXCEPT THE SMELL AND THE SLIME, GOOD GRIEF.

Dropped the doser by 100ml both parts, that should prevent a spike. KH 6.4 to start, running low again and everything loving it. Water in the sump dropped over an inch after the slimer was removed.


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Unread 10/12/2018, 10:19 PM   #1858
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Originally Posted by markalot View Post
Water in the sump dropped over an inch after the slimer was removed.

Wow! That's impressive. The tank doesn't quite have the "pop" without the bright green, but looks a lot less crowded. I think the change looks good.


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Unread 10/13/2018, 05:09 AM   #1859
DiscusHeckel
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I think the tank is looking far better now. My eyes are drawn to different corals, whereas before they focussed on the slimer.

I may be going through the same motion by removing my A. gomezi colony, which is looking huge in proportion to the size of my display.


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Unread 10/15/2018, 10:17 AM   #1860
Piper27
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Beautiful stuff man! I am a huge stag fan and have a solid blue stag that stays solid blue in any conditions, as well as a red one. Both are true staghorns as well, the red grows so slow though. I am very sad to see no one appreciates these corals anymore. I would love to see how they grow in a tank like yours.
I love how you let the slimer grow out so nice and large, tank looks just as good without it too . Seeing tanks that have such nice staghorns really makes me want to keep a tank going right now just for staghorns. Like that one cube tank that was a stag forest on here years back. I wish I could remember the thread.

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Unread 10/15/2018, 10:40 AM   #1861
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Quote:
Originally Posted by markalot View Post
Thanks DT.

Had to glue hairy horrida back together in a few spots but all in all no big problems. EXCEPT THE SMELL AND THE SLIME, GOOD GRIEF.
Just curious what you use for your underwater glue work? I've been trying to glue some frags to live rock underwater with aquastick and its been not so sticky.

Awesome tank BTW!


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Unread 10/15/2018, 10:54 AM   #1862
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Darth_Tater View Post
Wow! That's impressive. The tank doesn't quite have the "pop" without the bright green, but looks a lot less crowded. I think the change looks good.
Thanks. I miss the green so I'll probably let one branch go up again, but just one.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DiscusHeckel View Post
I think the tank is looking far better now. My eyes are drawn to different corals, whereas before they focussed on the slimer.

I may be going through the same motion by removing my A. gomezi colony, which is looking huge in proportion to the size of my display.
Thanks Bulent.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Piper27 View Post
Beautiful stuff man! I am a huge stag fan and have a solid blue stag that stays solid blue in any conditions, as well as a red one. Both are true staghorns as well, the red grows so slow though. I am very sad to see no one appreciates these corals anymore. I would love to see how they grow in a tank like yours.
I love how you let the slimer grow out so nice and large, tank looks just as good without it too . Seeing tanks that have such nice staghorns really makes me want to keep a tank going right now just for staghorns. Like that one cube tank that was a stag forest on here years back. I wish I could remember the thread.
Thanks. I seem to remember it as well ... will share it if I find it. I need to find another color stag. My Red Robin is not a stag, but I've seen other pictures of Red Robin growing in more of a stag form. My remaining known stag form acros are:

Slimer
Unknown Blue Stag
Hairy Horrida (wild caught)
Miami Orchid (ORA on plug when purchased)
Unknown Blue Tip Green Stag


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Unread 10/18/2018, 07:39 AM   #1863
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Quote:
Originally Posted by markalot View Post
Thanks DT.

So the deed is done, I will never let it grow that much again, but unfortunately one does not just get rid of a slimer. The base is everywhere, it will be back.







Had to glue hairy horrida back together in a few spots but all in all no big problems. EXCEPT THE SMELL AND THE SLIME, GOOD GRIEF.

Dropped the doser by 100ml both parts, that should prevent a spike. KH 6.4 to start, running low again and everything loving it. Water in the sump dropped over an inch after the slimer was removed.
Amazing. The end of an era.

I see that you are running KH at the lower levels again. Will you maintain it like that?
I believe it is Bulent who also runs it low with the same amazing results.


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Unread 10/25/2018, 06:37 AM   #1864
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I'v been remiss in my forum wandering. Doing some reading this morning. Nice work on the tank!


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Unread 10/25/2018, 01:05 PM   #1865
Piper27
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I think the stag forest was from Leonardo maybe? I just picked up a Miami orchid hoping it will be a good one but the growth isn't looking very staghorn like even though the pics on the net look good. It is on an orange plug too but might just need more time to get thicker branches. Got a pic of yours?

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Unread 11/09/2018, 10:35 AM   #1866
ABzReef
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What lights are you using?


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Unread 11/19/2018, 05:22 PM   #1867
markalot
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Quote:
Originally Posted by janci View Post
Amazing. The end of an era.

I see that you are running KH at the lower levels again. Will you maintain it like that?
I believe it is Bulent who also runs it low with the same amazing results.
Not really on purpose, my target is 7 but I never seem to get above 6.5. It fell to 5.1 again, yikes. Massive growth spurt going on and I should have tested sooner. It's back to 6.5 and no acros are showing any signs of distress.

Quote:
Originally Posted by wfv57 View Post
I'v been remiss in my forum wandering. Doing some reading this morning. Nice work on the tank!
Thanks, and thanks for stopping by.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Piper27 View Post
I think the stag forest was from Leonardo maybe? I just picked up a Miami orchid hoping it will be a good one but the growth isn't looking very staghorn like even though the pics on the net look good. It is on an orange plug too but might just need more time to get thicker branches. Got a pic of yours?
Sorry for the late reply, here's a shot of it from yesterday. It's a rugged rugged coral ... I just dropped it into this spot and it encrusted and has grown steadily.



Quote:
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What lights are you using?
Hi ABz,

It's a T5/Nanobox hybrid made from a 6 bulb fixture. It supports 4 T5's plus 8 Nanobox arrays. I also use two BML high output strips to supply blue and violet LEDs. Note I have recently changed to running just 2 T5 bulbs, both blue+ for 7 hours a day where I used to run 4 for 5 hours a day. The tank obviously liked this switch as both colors and growth improved.

Latest pics, sorry no top downs Matt.



The blue stag has woken up. Was the slimer causing it issues?


Lokani


and frags


Hairy horrida




-click for original-



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Unread 11/20/2018, 10:58 AM   #1868
Piper27
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Wow, I love the acros growing at the top left causing the shadow area underneath, gives a nice look. Though the photos show up very dark on my phone so the colors are hard to see. Can't wait to see things in a few months

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Unread 11/20/2018, 10:59 AM   #1869
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Top right I mean. I demand some top downs!

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Unread 11/20/2018, 11:14 AM   #1870
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Piper27 View Post
Wow, I love the acros growing at the top left causing the shadow area underneath, gives a nice look. Though the photos show up very dark on my phone so the colors are hard to see. Can't wait to see things in a few months

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They are dark here at work too, not sure what happened.

That's the peach dragon, grows like a weed, I stuck a stylo on top of part of it and it's growing out and around the darn thing. lol If this was a red dragon it would have died long ago, naturally. It does have a solid tan/orange glow under blue LED, which is pretty cool looking.


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Unread 11/20/2018, 01:11 PM   #1871
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Originally Posted by Piper27 View Post
Wow, I love the acros growing at the top left causing the shadow area underneath, gives a nice look. Though the photos show up very dark on my phone so the colors are hard to see. Can't wait to see things in a few months

Edited in IMGUR to increase brightness. It worked, without me having to repost. Consider this a plug for IMGUR!


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Unread 11/21/2018, 08:46 AM   #1872
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Lookin good Mark


I looooove that middle section red/pink coral grouping and then across to the right upper area of corals in your full tank shot.


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Unread 11/21/2018, 06:57 PM   #1873
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It is simply breathtaking. Hopefully one day, my tank can look something like this lol


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Unread 11/23/2018, 07:29 PM   #1874
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Man, Mark, even after the deforestation, your tank is still looking so dense and mature.
So good!
I second the top down request.. strong request. I second strongly!!!


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Unread 11/27/2018, 04:26 PM   #1875
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I didn't go through the whole post but I was reading the first few pages where you were talking about not getting the color, did the t5 fixture change that or just maturity over time.... Just wondering. Beautiful tank btw.


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