ccole's Red Sea Reefer 350

ccole · Jun 1, 2022

I took a couple pictures with an orange filter. The colors are a little easier to see with this filter! Some stuff (the green especially) isn’t exactly what I see with my but it’s closer than under only blue.

Full tank:

Right side:

Left side:

Middle (I ended up mounting some of the gonis on the sand bed):

Bonus picture of my mandarin because I think he’s cute:

I’m not a huge fan of my orange filter. The pictures seem to always come out blurry.

ccole · Sep 11, 2022

Here’s some updated photos! As you can see, some things are doing better than other. My second attempt at acropora is not going well. I think I may give up on keeping anything but my green slimer

ccole · Nov 11, 2022

More updated photos! Most stuff is doing good still! I’ve lost some goniopora frags, but for the most part things are growing!

Full tank shots (blue and filtered):

Left side of the tank:

Right side of the tank:

Some Goniopora close ups:

The greenish Goni in the background fell into the yellow hammer. It died back considerably but seems to be slowly recovering.

Some things probably should be fragged. I have had some stinging issues lately as things grow into each other (or get knocked over by snails). I switched lightbulbs a few months ago and lost a couple things to bleaching, though that also seems to have stopped.

At roughly a year and a half old, I think the tank has matured nicely.

Thanks for looking, I hope you enjoyed!

ccole · Nov 17, 2022

Some close ups of largest coral colonies!

Dragon soul torch (and a melenarus wrasse photo bomb), 20+ heads

Blue/purple tip Frogspawn, at least 10 heads.

Gold tip hammer, 20+ heads (I think)

Duncan colony

SPS rock, most are growing well enough.

I’m not sure if this is a birdsnest or a Stylo but it’s grown quite a bit since I got it.

BTA in the refugium cube (although they’re in separate tanks, they both share water. I started with one and have 7 now I believe.

The yellow tang is the only fish that will stay still long enough for a picture.

ccole · Jan 2, 2023

Updated pictures!

I’ve gotten a few new corals. I also fragged about 10 heads from my dragon soul torch to get the lowest heads away from the sand bed. I was able to trade them for a couple new corals!

I’m struggling now to keep my phosphates up. Where do people like to keep their phosphates? I like them between .08-.15. Any lower and they lose extension, any higher and corals seem to either brown out or bleach.

A few coral pictures:

I’ve decided to try acans again. I’ve had bad luck in the past, but I’m more hopeful now that my tank is stable.

New torches. This is my first attempt at Aussie torches again

ccole · Mar 20, 2023

Some updates on the tank!

For the bad news: I lost my small teal torch head about a week after adding. I also experienced a quick decline of my large green and purple goniopora and am trying to nurse it back to health without much help. I also lost my green frogspawn rather quickly and unexpected, likely from repeated stings by the Dragon Soul Torch.

For the good news, the remaining corals are doing well and appear to be growing. I am rapidly dealing with overcrowding. I’m enjoying the size of the colonies but not the stress of constantly having to rearrange colonies to avoid stinging. I’ll probably have to frag.

As far as I can tell, the Aussie gold had to be moved but is splitting into two heads. The Tiger torch is still a single head but that single head has appeared to grow in size. I have three new torches, an indo green, what I purchased as a “banana torch” and a Malaysian cotton candy.

All other euphyllia seem to be splitting and growing.

Gonna attach some photos. Sorry about the algae, I’ve been trying to get it off with my scraper but it won’t come off. I’m going to buy a scrubbing pad next time I’m at the fish store.

Full tank (blue light)

Full tank (filtered)

Left side of tank

Right side of tank

dragon soul and indo gold colony

Tiger torch

Aussie gold, indo green, and banana torch

hammer corals

Duncan colony

Finally: cotton candy torch.

I hope you enjoyed! Sorry for the photo dump.

Gumbies R Us · Mar 21, 2023

ccole said:
Some updates on the tank!

For the bad news: I lost my small teal torch head about a week after adding. I also experienced a quick decline of my large green and purple goniopora and am trying to nurse it back to health without much help. I also lost my green frogspawn rather quickly and unexpected, likely from repeated stings by the Dragon Soul Torch.

For the good news, the remaining corals are doing well and appear to be growing. I am rapidly dealing with overcrowding. I’m enjoying the size of the colonies but not the stress of constantly having to rearrange colonies to avoid stinging. I’ll probably have to frag.

As far as I can tell, the Aussie gold had to be moved but is splitting into two heads. The Tiger torch is still a single head but that single head has appeared to grow in size. I have three new torches, an indo green, what I purchased as a “banana torch” and a Malaysian cotton candy.

All other euphyllia seem to be splitting and growing.

Gonna attach some photos. Sorry about the algae, I’ve been trying to get it off with my scraper but it won’t come off. I’m going to buy a scrubbing pad next time I’m at the fish store.

Full tank (blue light)

Full tank (filtered)

Left side of tank

Right side of tank

dragon soul and indo gold colony

Tiger torch

Aussie gold, indo green, and banana torch

hammer corals

Duncan colony

Finally: cotton candy torch.

I hope you enjoyed! Sorry for the photo dump.

Nice looking Torch!!

ccole · Mar 21, 2023

Thank you! Torches are my favorite coral. I’ve had my largest colony for close to three years now.

Gumbies R Us said:
Nice looking Torch!!

ccole · Mar 21, 2023

I took a few late night pictures under blue lights some of the corals really pop! I only wish they would stay fully inflated under the blues.

ccole · Dec 1, 2023

It’s been a little while, so I thought I’d post some updated pictures! I ended up rearranging the tank so things fit a little bit better.

I went through a bit of a rough spot and lost some corals to stinging/overcrowding. After the rearrange, things have improved.

ccole · Dec 28, 2023

More updated pictures!

Not a ton has changed and things seem to be growing well. I noticed that my corals seem to do the best with slightly elevated phosphates (around .2-.25), so I only worry lowering them when they get above .3.

I recently acquired a black leopard wrasse and a blue flasher wrasse. Both have been in the tank for a couple weeks and are now eating.

I ended up rearranging some of my torches due to fighting. The bright green Todd’s torch seems to be very aggressive. I’ve caught broken tentacles stinging corals on the opposite side of the tank.

Full tank shot:

Close up of some of my corals:

This colony is due for a trim soon.

There’s a very small bit of STN on my green slimer base. I’m hoping it will start growing over again soon.

Large Duncan colony.

ccole · Mar 9, 2024

Newest full tank shot!

I have good growth the majority of my corals I think, but unfortunately have not had good luck with my acans. I’ll probably avoid them in the future. Because of space problems, I’m limited in what I can get now anyway.

In addition, my green frogspawn is unfortunately not doing well. It’s really bleached in the last month or so. I believe it is a wall variety and I now know those don’t do as well.

The banana torch has almost fully split into two separate heads. I’m hoping to see another split soon. It’s by far my slowest grower.

I also got a new wrasse, a Moyers leopard.

I cut up the slimer finally because of some recession. After dipping it, I found AEFW. Luckily it’s the only acro in the tank and I’m planning on dipping for the next few weeks.