Renton's Evolution from 200 to 440 gallons

[Renton777]

The family and I headed out on vacation recently. A couple interesting observations from test results again show the increase use of Alk when ph rises.

In this graph we left the house at the blue line, without us sucking up all the oxygen and pumping the place full of CO2, ph took a noticeable step up.

Immediately coinciding with the high ph, Alk began to drop. I have been adjusting Alk dosing up over the past few days, yet, it is still not able to keep up the increased demand. I am about to increase the dosing amount again.

 

[Renton777]

Quick Update:

I have been rather busy the past few months. I have done my regular maintenance on my tank but not much else. A couple months ago some of my mushrooms started to bleach and shrink and a few chalices started to bleach and die off. Other mushrooms and chalices were just fine. I could not pinpoint a cause. The only thing out of the ordinary that I could spot was that my phosphates were higher then normal for my tank, hitting around 0.4 versus my usual 0.15. I have brought them down with gfo. Mushrooms seem to have stablized.

My sps has been doing well, some of them too well. Some staghorn acros, porcillipora and plating monti's had gotten out of hand in my display tank. They were suffocating flow and light so, while I hated to do it, I ripped a ton of it out and nearly filled up a 5 gallon bucket. I have some more work to do but it made a world of difference for overall tank flow.

I have also been thinking that the shear concentration of coral per gallon of water had gotten very high and stripping the water of needed, untested elements and nutrients.

Anyways, just a few quick pictures I took over the past couple of days with the cellphone

 

[bubbaque]

Woah that is a huge amount of corals removed!

I see some lucky people are getting pink panther frags.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Nice turnaround

 

[YHSublime]

I can smell that photo of the bucket.

It can be a chore once some of those acros start to need constant trimming, which is ironic because we want them to grow fast while they're small!

 

[Wrangy]

I can smell that photo of the bucket.

Mmmmmm chopped up acro smell

 

[Renton777]

Got the camera out for some pictures for an upcoming frag swap. Part of the reason that I have slacked on pictures is that I built a new computer and I dont have adobe lightroom on it to correct the white balance and such. Well, adobe's newest version of lightroom is subscription based (yuck) and would have to be the third time that I would have to buy it in the past 7 or 8 years. So, I downloaded a program called Darktable and this is the first time I am trying it out.

 

[YHSublime]

Your frag rack looks like my tank

 

[tnyr5]

Oh, the pink panther is looking awfully plump *toothy grin*

 

[Renton777]

Oh, the pink panther is looking awfully plump *toothy grin*

I actually made 2 very large frags from it a couple months ago and they both died within a couple days.

I made one more a couple weeks later and it did just fine but the experience left me a bit scarred.

 

[aquavista99]

Looking fantastic, Nathan!

 

[Renton777]

Your frag rack looks like my tank

Lol. Thankfully there is a frag swap coming up that will actually get me to trim up some corals

 

[tnyr5]

I actually made 2 very large frags from it a couple months ago and they both died within a couple days.

I made one more a couple weeks later and it did just fine but the experience left me a bit scarred.

I've found that too. There's a certain range of frag sizes above which or below which they do not do well.
Back when Ken Feldman had his big colony, he would let the frags sit on top of the mother colony for a few days to heal before gluing them. He said it dramatically increased survivability.

 

[Renton777]

Looking fantastic, Nathan!

Thanks sir! See in a little over a month!

 

[Big E]

Lookin good Nathan!

 

[Wrangy]

Hot diggity dang! Looking fantastic mate!

 

[Renton777]

I have gotten into serious tank upgrade planning. I am shooting to switch out the current tanks and install the new tanks in late July/early August.

Part of that planning involves selling the display tank/stand/sump and the frag tank/stand. If anyone is interested in these tanks let me know!

 

[bubbaque]

I’m looking forward to seeing the upgrade. Is it just a total tank swap including rock or starting over from scratch?

 

[Renton777]

FYI,
Display
72""x30""x22"" AGE with stainless steel bracing, non-starfire
72"x30"x36" Steel Stand from AGE - Skinned wood has a 4 to 5" ledge around the front and sides making the overall length around 82".

Stand has a pvc tray in it to contain spills up to a couple inches.

 

[Renton777]

I’m looking forward to seeing the upgrade. Is it just a total tank swap including rock or starting over from scratch?

I haven't been able to decide on what to do with the old rock. There were will be new rock structures I plan to construct with new rock. I hate the thought of just "killing" the old rock, but not sure how I would incorporate it.