Some of my Acro Collection

[coral reeftank]

It was nice meeting you today Matt @RIC13, enjoy all your pieces!
It's always nice meeting new reefers and giving them a little tour of my systems.

Now back to the scheduled eye candy!
More Acro Goodies!

RMF Psychoberry

TGC Count of Monti Cristo, I use to have a colony about 10 inches in diameter of this bad boy! Time to restart that journey!

and here's this one... just for a teaser

 

[mfollen]

Lookin good!!!

How long have you been dosing the live phyto, and were you dosing non living phyto products before?

 

[coral reeftank]

Lookin good!!!

How long have you been dosing the live phyto, and were you dosing non living phyto products before?

I started this past week and no I was not before. I have dosed live phyto in the past before with similar results but nothing long-term.

So far everything looks great! I’ll probably finish the two gallons I bought and reassess once I finish them up.

 

[MONTANTK]

Do you import or go through wholesalers for your signature colonies?

 

[coral reeftank]

Do you import or go through wholesalers for your signature colonies?

I’m lucky that I’ve been around for awhile so I have some connections when it comes to finding new acros. But primarily I cherry pick corals from fresh imports and aquaculture them in my systems.
I also like to go around local shops and see if they have anything interesting as well. You never know what you’ll find sometimes. I like to think that I have a good eye when it comes to selecting pieces, I generally have an idea how a coral will look once it’s colored up and from their it’s up to me to get it looking spectacular and culture it!

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

It was nice meeting you today Matt @RIC13, enjoy all your pieces!
It's always nice meeting new reefers and giving them a little tour of my systems.

Now back to the scheduled eye candy!
More Acro Goodies!

RMF Psychoberry

TGC Count of Monti Cristo, I use to have a colony about 10 inches in diameter of this bad boy! Time to restart that journey!

and here's this one... just for a teaser

Beautiful speciosa. Are you running G5 blues?

 

[coral reeftank]

Beautiful speciosa. Are you running G5 blues?

Yes, on my main systems I either run G5 Blues solo or alongside the aquaticlife t5 hybrid.

For the hybrid setup I choose to run 2 blue plus and 2 actinic plus along with the radion g5s.

 

[BCSreef]

I agree, you have a good eye for nice corals.

Quick question: Are you getting that pH boost mostly from kalkwasser and phyto?

 

[coral reeftank]

I agree, you have a good eye for nice corals.

Quick question: Are you getting that pH boost mostly from kalkwasser and phyto?

I believe so, I also run one of those portable ac units in my fish room so I think there is a good amount of air circulation as well. I also have a fan that exchanges air from the outside.

 

[BCSreef]

Yes, outside air makes a huge difference. Now, it's AC time here in Ohio and even with 100% outside air to skimmer, my pH struggles to get much above 8.0. I also have frag tank and refugium on opposite photoperiods to DT and dose as much kalkwasser as possible. In fall, winter and spring with a few windows open, pH is always around 8.2-8.3.

I'll give the phyto a try.

Thanks, Bob

 

[Cjeippert]

Yes, outside air makes a huge difference. Now, it's AC time here in Ohio and even with 100% outside air to skimmer, my pH struggles to get much above 8.0. I also have frag tank and refugium on opposite photoperiods to DT and dose as much kalkwasser as possible. In fall, winter and spring with a few windows open, pH is always around 8.2-8.3.

I'll give the phyto a try.

Thanks, Bob

Same in AZ. The CO2 Scrubber helps me a lot. And kalk at night a little

 

[coral reeftank]

Some growth updates, this is from 7/26 - 8/3. This is my CRT Tony's Special and this piece has recently exploded with new growth since I've started keeping my pH around 8.7 and dosing phyto.

8/23

7/26





This is my frag of JF Sunday Driver, it has also begun to sprout new branches around the base during this time frame.

8/23

7/26

On another note, I recently tested nitrates again. This time the tank was at 16 ppm. I've noticed that the majority of acros have had an overall increase in growth even once dormant corals.

Colors on the acros are about the same, but I think that I can even push my nitrates beyond 20 ppm to supply enough nutrients for the growing acros.

 

[coral reeftank]

I felt like this piece needed its own post, this one is super duper cool smooth skin! Neon green, the corallites are starting to turn orange and the new growth is an awesome shade of blue!

I've had it for a while now and it has also recently began to explode with new growth. Pretty much every branch is showing signs of growth. Hopefully I'll be able to release this one soon, so to those who have been waiting the waits almost over!

 

[firechild]

Amazing collection, some really stunning pieces you have there. I notice that many of them are still on frag plugs, is there a reason you don't remove them and attach them directly to the rocks?

As an aside, this thread highlights how cringeworthy our hobby has become with ridiculous trade names for every different colony that gets collected.

 

[coral reeftank]

Amazing collection, some really stunning pieces you have there. I notice that many of them are still on frag plugs, is there a reason you don't remove them and attach them directly to the rocks?

As an aside, this thread highlights how cringeworthy our hobby has become with ridiculous trade names for every different colony that gets collected.

To answer your question I do this because I like to move pieces around. I’ll grow the acros out on their plug and when they finish encrusting I’ll clip the stem and mount them on a base. That way when it comes time to frag or if I decide to relocate the coral to a different system I can just move the tile instead of a colony stuck to my rock. This way I can accommodate for my collection and give proper real estate to each piece to grow.

In regards to hobby names, there are many pros and cons to each side. Names can definitely highlight super unique strains of acropora and provide lineage of their origins and how they do in captivity.
Many people struggle to scientifically identify corals, especially when they are just labeled as Acropora sp. when they’re imported, this leads to a bunch of misidentification.
I personally do my best to identify each acropora by their scientific name by scrolling through databases just for my personal knowledge and understanding of where their habitats are on the reef so that I can do my best to care for them.

http://www.coralsoftheworld.org/species_factsheets/

here is a good resource for those who want to try their hand at scientifically identifying the species, things definitely become easier when you’ve seen plenty of examples sometimes they can really stump ya.

 

[coral reeftank]

A little pH update


So recently I’ve added another 20 pounds of caribsea special grade to the tank and it seems to have plummeted the pH in the system. Before I was maintaining around 8.2-8.7 daily but now the pH ranges from 7.8-8.3. Anyone else notice this in their systems? I have a feeling that the system will reach equilibrium again and I’ll be able to maintain a higher pH level again.

Alkalinity consumption has also gone up as well, I’m wondering if the substrate is absorbing some elements.

 

[Sweet Reef Corals]

A little pH update


So recently I’ve added another 20 pounds of caribsea special grade to the tank and it seems to have plummeted the pH in the system. Before I was maintaining around 8.2-8.7 daily but now the pH ranges from 7.8-8.3. Anyone else notice this in their systems? I have a feeling that the system will reach equilibrium again and I’ll be able to maintain a higher pH level again.

Alkalinity consumption has also gone up as well, I’m wondering if the substrate is absorbing some elements.

Did you rinse the sand before adding it?

I would guess that the ph of the sand in the bag would be very low due to any live bacteria consuming any and all oxygen until the bacteria goes dormant on the shelf. Just a thought...

 

[coral reeftank]

Did you rinse the sand before adding it?

I would guess that the ph of the sand in the bag would be very low due to any live bacteria consuming any and all oxygen until the bacteria goes dormant on the shelf. Just a thought...

I had a hunch it was related to this. The spathulatas in my system have had crazy PE since I dumped in the gravel, but some pieces are not as happy.

 

[coral reeftank]

Spath lookin extra fuzzy

CRT Golden Eye

TGC Rainbow Acension, the multi color polyps on this one is pretty dope

TGC Pink Dragonite, super deep purples on this one

CRT Magma

TGC Lemon Drop

 

[FMF0331]

Insane