Mark's 150 gallon SPS heavy reef

SPR1968 · Dec 4, 2018

markalot said:
Another late update, apologies.

I finally got tired of the slimer.

Latest FTS

Latest readings low again, and the calcium doser is still irregular even after a head replacement so it must be the motor.

KH 6.1
Calcium 355
Mg 1350

Dumped 430ml of calcium in at once. Everything seemed to love it. Raised Alk to 6.5 since I never see any issues correcting Alk when it's below 7KH.

Some top downs.

Horrida

Pinkish milli

Lokani continues a nice recovery

The red cap and setosa enjoying rapid growth now that the shade f the slimer is gone. As you can see, though, the slimer will never be gone.

Reddish acro doing well

Unnamed, Unnamed, and Red Robin

Years in recovery, I bought this locally, crashed the tank, a small bit survived but stayed brown for a year, now growth exploding. It's finally back to the color I bought it at.

The Red Robin has been a steady red for a while now. It may be the fixed calcium issue, it may be the 5 drops of Pohls Extra super duper special I'm adding daily, it may be the age of the coral or the tank. /shrug

I need to get out my wide angle lens to get the big acros on the right side of the tank. A nice problem to have, but if this tank is to survive I'm going to have to buckle down and do some very heavy trimming .... maybe next year.

The tank looks beautiful and great pictures!

CoralWealth · Dec 4, 2018

those are some amazing colonies!

how long have you been dosing the Phols Xtra and how much? What have you noticed it does?

markalot · Dec 4, 2018

codydemmel4 said:
those are some amazing colonies!

how long have you been dosing the Phols Xtra and how much? What have you noticed it does?

Thanks.

A couple of months, 5 drops daily. No clue if it does anything, but doesn't seem to hurt. I think I see faded colors when I skip a few doses, but you know it could be my imagination. I had a large bottle so I'm using it ... when it's gone I may or may not order more.

markalot · Dec 4, 2018

SPR1968 said:
The tank looks beautiful and great pictures!

Thanks!

bubbaque · Dec 4, 2018

I am always happy when you post over here!

Corals are looking amazing!

CoralWealth · Dec 4, 2018

markalot said:
Thanks.

A couple of months, 5 drops daily. No clue if it does anything, but doesn't seem to hurt. I think I see faded colors when I skip a few doses, but you know it could be my imagination. I had a large bottle so I'm using it ... when it's gone I may or may not order more.

thanks!

declanisadog · Dec 4, 2018

Looking good! Did your Alk/Cal uptake change when you cut out that massive slimer?

markalot · Dec 4, 2018

declanisadog said:
Looking good! Did your Alk/Cal uptake change when you cut out that massive slimer?

I cut the dose in half and my guess is it dropped by 40ml two part daily, but it picked up again within a month and is now higher than ever. My guess is improved lighting and flow caused the remaining acros to put on some good growth.

s2nhle · Dec 4, 2018

Wow, it is beautiful. Do you have dino algea?

markalot · Dec 4, 2018

s2nhle said:
Wow, it is beautiful. Do you have dino algea?

Nope, never in either of my tanks as far as I know. I have lots of algae, but no dinos.

drawman · Dec 4, 2018

Mark glad to hear things are doing so well! That horrida looks great

adtravels · Dec 4, 2018

Have you considered a calcium reactor? I recently switched from fauna Marin balling to a tunze calcium reactor on my 90 gallon SPS tank and it really Mede things simpler and easier.

markalot · Dec 4, 2018

adtravels said:
Have you considered a calcium reactor? I recently switched from fauna Marin balling to a tunze calcium reactor on my 90 gallon SPS tank and it really Mede things simpler and easier.

Using BRS bulk Ca and Alk it would take 3 or 4 years to equal the cost of a big calcium reactor so I'm not interested. I know they are awesome, I know they are good at adding trace elements back into the water if you use the right media but it's just another point of failure and I have no experience with them.