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ufotofu

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Nice pic, X! Are you gonna start dosing kalk or other calcium supplements or is your Ca still holding steady above 400ppm? Anxious to see how it behaves now that you've got some stonies...
 

mr_X

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i'm not going to change a thing until i move. i'll be moving in the next few months...different area, different water :?
but most importantly, DIFFERENT TANK :wink:

some of those stonies have been in there since the beginning, so i think i'm cool.
sometimes i wonder, though, about the growth rates. they are sloooooow growers! generally..how fast should they grow in optimum conditions? 1 inch a month?
 

mr_X

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paoli, pa
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this guy also looks a bit better than the previous pic...alot fluffier or fatter....
 

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keving

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Yo X-man, how long did it take to start to see the purple algea? Your tank is looking awesome! I'm a little surprised that you would skip the QT on the hippo, especially after what you just helped me through! LOL 8O
 

ufotofu

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I don't know about 'optimum' growth rates for SPS. I haven't seen any reference value in terms of growth. I have seen some amazing rates on here (and on Advanced Aquarist), and most of those include successful implementations of lighting, calcium, magnesium, water quality and water flow (and feeding, if necessary). Unless you're trying to win some contest for grow-out rates or propagate for fragmentation I would say just keeping a nice, slow, steady growth is ideal in the rather limited space available in our rather small (by comparison with the ocean) tanks.

I think you make a good point in saying that you'll wait and see about your new area's water quality. I live right near the border of 3 states, and water quality can really change over the course of just a hundred miles or so. I think the major variable is how well the water companies treat their water and what they do to it when they treat it. I have some friends just down the road a little that can't keep anything for very long despite using the exact same methods countless others use in successful tanks. Of course, if you opt for a RO/DI system and keep it maintained you avoid all those problems. I strongly recommend a RO/DI for your next system.

Personally, I would rather have a healthy, slow grow-out than a bunch of fast-growing stuff. It takes up too much of one's time to constantly frag/prune/re-aquascape a larger reef tank in addition to normal, routine maintenance. I guess if you have everything automated it wouldn't be so bad, but that's not the case in our instances. Anyway, good to see your tank doing well. I look forward to seeing what you come up with for the next tank when you move. I, too, am going to be going with a lot larger tank sometime in the next year or two. I've learned a lot from this tank already, and I'm sure you have too. :)
 

mr_X

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paoli, pa
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keving":15mb19xk said:
Yo X-man, how long did it take to start to see the purple algea? Your tank is looking awesome! I'm a little surprised that you would skip the QT on the hippo, especially after what you just helped me through! LOL 8O

the hippo is doing great, despite my foolish practices.
as for the coralline algae, it came in on the live rock, in small amounts and within probably 2 months or so, after everything sort of stabilized, it started to cover everything. in the beginning i was impatiently waiting for it to grow, and now i scrape it off relentlessly :?
 

mr_X

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paoli, pa
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some randoms at dinnertime:
 

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mr_X

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paoli, pa
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more randoms.

ufotofu- my calcium and alk have both been low lately. i have started adding kalkwasser and kent "reef builder". view the thread labeled "kalkwasser question" in general reefkeeping.

meanwhile everything seems ok, except for "sick favia" which i purchased sick. it has recovered somewhat, and takes food (see above), but it's still not the way it should look. :?
i believe the picture of the favia below is what it should look like-
 

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mr_X

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paoli, pa
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thanks!
i can't get my camera to take decent pictures for some reason...maybe it's not the camera, but the photographer...
however, i did take some tank pics tonight..to compare with the old ones....
 

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Bojangles

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Just wanted to say that you're doing a great job and it was awesome reading along as your tank developed.

Congratz on the ASM G4x. I had one on my old system and they are awesome. I posted a picture of it standing next to a Seaclone, good stuff LOL
 

mr_X

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paoli, pa
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what on earth is this????? did i actually take experienced reefkeepers advice for once? it's in the tub for leak testing purposes.....but..... LOOK AT THAT BEAUTY!!!!!!!!
:wink:
 

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bleedingthought

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mr_X":fkl8trfu said:
what on earth is this????? did i actually take experienced reefkeepers advice for once? it's in the tub for leak testing purposes.....but..... LOOK AT THAT BEAUTY!!!!!!!!
:wink:
:D

How much did it cost you, btw?
 

Snowboarda42

Experienced Reefer
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'bout time you got one!

I have that exact same one (from ebay right)

You'll like it (if you haven't already tried it out)
 

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