A new reef arises - Page 12

tatoofr · #**276** 04/08/2007, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by hahnmeister
Hmmmm.... brown. Thats odd because you seem to have alot of light. I know that mine will only brown if its kept in too low of light... it seems that the higher in the tank it gets, the pinker it gets.

Was it always like this, or just since the Prodo/Zeo treatments?

Hi.
It was a bright pink when I bought it and in 3 weeks it turned brown.

iwan · #**277** 04/08/2007, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tatoofr
Hi.
It was a bright pink when I bought it and in 3 weeks it turned brown.

What's about your other SPS corals? Are they dark or brown or are you happy with the colors?

hahnmeister · #**278** 04/08/2007, 05:16 PM

Can you post a pic of the coral. Sorry to sidetrack guys, but this might be interesting. Im a bit of a birdsnest mogul, and Ive had my share of experiences with them. IMO, they are very hardy, and it amazes me when people have trouble with them. I suppose they may just be having some trouble with a set of conditions I havent ever had myself yet, but still... I have seen certain ways to color them up better than others.

jnarowe · #**279** 04/08/2007, 07:00 PM

hmmm, I have a "birdsnest" that has fairly thick branches. It's growth rate is very good. Color is fine. But no pointy tips. Any idea on that hahn?

tatoofr · #**280** 04/08/2007, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by iwan
What's about your other SPS corals? Are they dark or brown or are you happy with the colors?

Hi Iwan,
Other colors are good. Only my pink and reds.
Although my Red monti caps have great color.
Frank

mrcrab · #**281** 04/08/2007, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jnarowe
hmmm, I have a "birdsnest" that has fairly thick branches. It's growth rate is very good. Color is fine. But no pointy tips. Any idea on that hahn?

The higher the flow rate, the thicker the branches.

hahnmeister · #**282** 04/08/2007, 10:38 PM

No pointy tips would suggest its not a Seriatopora hystrix type, but another variety of pink birdsnest. Unless you can confirm it is the type with pointed ends (crown of thorns), there are a couple types (not the poscii/stylo types either) which just have rounded ends. Seriatopora stellata for instance, looks just like hystrix, but without the full on pointed ends that can stab you.

This one for instance, is not hystrix, but one of the blunter tipped varieties...
http://www.frags.org/memberfragdetails.php?fid=8535

jnarowe · #**283** 04/08/2007, 10:39 PM

seriously? I don't think I have a very high flow rate to be honest, and the birdsnest is in the center of the tank...hmmm. Strange.

Frank: Love your tank site. That is some seriously packed SPS!

jnarowe · #**284** 04/08/2007, 10:48 PM

Thanks hahn...I think you may be right that I have a different strain of it.

tatoofr · #**285** 04/09/2007, 07:14 AM

jnarowe,
Thank you, I have the one with the pointy edges and one like yours. Both nice , Just not pink anymore. Drives me crazy

FRank

jnarowe · #**286** 04/09/2007, 07:29 AM

Frank: I have noticed color changes over the last week or so and less polyp extension on some acros. It has been suggested that it may be a red bug problem. Through www.melevsreef.com you can find info. and links to several threads and articles, including one by Borneman, about red bugs and treatment.

I will be doing examinations tonight and I think you should as well.

tatoofr · #**287** 04/09/2007, 09:28 AM

jnarowe,
I have looked and even taken some coral pieces out and dipped them.
Nothing, I'm pretty sure no bugs. I'm really starting to think that its just not enough Intense light for the pink corals.
Frank

hahnmeister · #**288** 04/09/2007, 05:09 PM

What are you using for reflectors Frank?

tatoofr · #**289** 04/09/2007, 05:38 PM

Hi,
Tek reflectors.

hahnmeister · #**290** 04/09/2007, 11:51 PM

And the halides?

tatoofr · #**291** 04/10/2007, 08:15 AM

The hilides are just on a flat reflector which covers the whole hood.

Dudester · #**292** 04/10/2007, 10:24 AM

I believe you need to take macro photos of your corals to detect the red bugs, as they're quite small and can easily evade the naked eye.

jnarowe · #**293** 04/10/2007, 10:40 AM

Well based on the pics I have seen, they should be visible with good light and a magnifying glass. I closely inspected my affected corals and did not find anything on them except for one cali tort. It had somepale specs on it, but when I moved the coral they fell off. Based on my reading so far, is seems that red bugs tend to hold on tightly rather than fall off.

Got any links to more info?

reefsahoy · #**294** 04/10/2007, 11:06 AM

if it's red bugs, and yes you can see it with a magnifying glass, use interceptor. it works like a charm, the only side effect is it kills crabs and shrimp. i used 300% strength as according to bormans (i believe that's his name) suggested once and i haven't seen any red bugs for the last 8 months and all corals made it through ok! after using interceptor do a 40% water change after 8 hours of interceptor addition, then 40% again the next day while using carbon full time for a month.

vegaskid11 · #**295** 04/10/2007, 05:18 PM

Very nice Iwan. You must of spent some time to fit all those nice coral pieces in together so tightly. Do you have to move pieces often because of growth. I cant even see any rock in your pics. Well Done.

hahnmeister · #**296** 04/10/2007, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tatoofr
The hilides are just on a flat reflector which covers the whole hood.

Okay, I think I know whats going on then.

Red Bugs? You kidding me? I have had red bugs... never seen or heard of them going after birdsnests. Acro bugs go after acros, and not even all types of them. They go after the smooth skinned ones, like bonsai, valida, etc... not even millipora.

That flat reflector gets about 1/2 the light output you could get even with a simple spider reflector to the surface. I have a friend with a 150g, whose tank had similar shocking results with the PAR meter...
http://www.wisconsinreefsociety.org/...topic.php?t=44

As you can see, my buddy has very low PAR numbers in the top of his tank, even with XM 10,000Ks for halides! The T5s can help, but your primary light source for them is the halides.

I dont think they are getting enough light. I have a couple strains of 'pink'-ish birdsnest, and it will turn dark pink with purple polyps if its not getting loads of light (PAR in the 300-500 range). Yours is most likely only getting PAR in the 200 range.

Heres an example of otherwise bright pink birdsnest that is only getting 160-200 in the PAR department...

Still looks great with the purple polyps, but not the bright fuzzy pink we are used to seeing with that exact same species (that is a frag from my bright pink colony). But as you can see... different lighting conditions...
http://www.wisconsinreefsociety.org/...topic.php?t=41

Also, loads of blue light w/o lots of red/yellow will cause the burdsnest to lose some of its potential pinkness. Thoes KZ fiji bulbs are a good idea, but I dont know that their light is really hitting the birdsnest much.

tatoofr · #**297** 04/10/2007, 06:26 PM

hahnmeister
Thanks, I think your right.
The purple fiji that I added did help one of them to show a little pink in the 3 weeks I have gotten the new bulbs. I just dont have room in my hood to add reflectors to the MH. The t5's are to close to them. I do have room to add another 2 t5's, Or I was thinking of trying the Iwaski 15k. I think they are high in par. What would be better?
What other bulbs are high in par? Is the lower in "K" bulbs higher in par?
Thanks,
Frank

hahnmeister · #**298** 04/10/2007, 07:17 PM

Its not the bulbs, its the lack of reflectors. That 150g that I linked you to is using a 3x250wattSE w/ 2x160wattVHO retrofit from hello lights... the reflector is nothing much more than a flat sheet of aluminum. Add to that the bulbs are about 12" above the water... no wonder he only has 200-300 at the very top of the tank. He could be getting away with only 150wattDE's if he had decent reflectors on them.

What are the dimensions of the tank? A standard 120g? 4'x2'x2'? The best lighting setup I have seen for 120s is the following...
2x250wattDE halides in reef optix 3 reflectors or PFO mini-pendants, and then 4x54wattT5s. The halides are 10,000Kish (XM 10,000K, Ushio 10,000K or 14,000K) and the T5s are a combo of 2 blue+ and 2 true actinics/super actinics. You will get PAR levels in the 300-500 range across the whole tank. I have never seen better results in a tank, PERIOD. The corals glow and grow like mad... impossible to reproduce with just T5s or halides alone.

IF you are talking a 6' long 120... like 72"x18"x22"h, then it gets tougher. I would suggest either going all T5 or all halide... its tough to scrunch both in to a tank that is only 18" deep and that long, since bulbs will most likely have to overlap. But it can be done 'creative'-like...

Only two 250wattDE bulbs there.

But SE bulbs... they are fat, take up more space, etc.

The other option is to go with only two rows of T5s... use something like 3x250wattDEs with only two rows of T5s... blue+ bulbs only. Thats a great combo.

OR just all T5s... something like 6x80watt T5 bulbs running on Icecap660 ballasts (slight overdrive to 100watts each, bright as all heck).

raulalonso · #**299** 06/07/2007, 04:56 PM

Hi Amigos, here is another friend from south of the border (from the Tequila Land Guadalajara). I am shocked to see that the last post is from April 10.
What ever happened with Iwan? Well, first of all you got to give me some credit as I have read ALL 3 threads about Iwan's great tank, so please do not do that to me, I still need to understand why the reasons to change from a hybrid probiotic method "Prodibio/Zeovit" to pure Zeo, if I recall well one of the arguments was that the Prodibio product were cheaper than Zeo, and worked fine.

Iwan where are you?? Last Monday I just ordered my Prodibio kit for my tank, and just today I realized you switch to Zeo!!

Enlighten me amigo!! Gracias

Scissorhand · #**300** 08/11/2007, 01:09 AM

Anybody saved a full tank shot of Iwan's new tank? Seems like it was either just a tease or he's taken off the picture.