Ora Redplanet growth shots. Proof of life for 2013

I love your SPS sooo much!

Only a week or so and I can go coral crazy!

 

Corals look great Cheryl. Congrats

 

Very impressive Corailline!!

I do agree with your feelings on SPS needing a mature aquarium. I know that stability comes with maturity, not only of the tank but the keeper as well. That's why I'm not going to add anymore SPS to my tank for sometime. Won't be fair to the animals to give them unsuitable living conditions just because I like their color. And if I can't provide optimum conditions all the time then I don't deserve them. Just my personal take on the matter.

 

Thanks Claic,

Is school over in a week or are you getting some new corals?

Thanks John,

The little Christmas Millepora is branching out all over the place now.

Thank you Nismo,

I do think a mature tanks plays a big part, and I think one gets used to the trends of the individual tank and for the most part is able to keep it dialed in. My first attempt with the sps in this tank went ok, but until I gave up the clams, lps and softies for the most part and focused on the needs of the sps did I see a difference. Three months down the line I may look at the tank and go, what was I thinking???

 

I'm liking your growth Corailline, and hoping mine just takes off like yours did.

I think stable parameters are the most key element to keeping SPS, whether that means tons of automation or just doing maintenance like clockwork. Tank maturity isn't necessarily the biggest key IMO, as long as you're not trying to have it survive the cycle or anything.

 

Thanks blackraven,

All about stable. Saw things come to a little stand still, I guess because I tried a new salt hmmmmmm.

Going through and organizing pictures I found a picture of the day I bought the frag in end of May 2010.


Today under the metal halide.


With flash.


I can see absolutely no red bugs on it, but I have noticed a change in growth since it started to encrust the rock. Branches have also fused together giving it a more tabled appearence.

Thanks you for viewing.

 

Really interested now that I'm an RP owner. You have that kind of PE during the day I see. My recent addition was real fuzzy just after acclimation, now not so much under the daytime lighting. Perhaps still getting used to conditions in my tank in terms of water quality and lighting? Or maybe it's my stinking velvet damsel

 

Still having issues with the velvet? Is it picking the corals?

Regarding the PE, completely different PE from day to night. At night the tips have really long PE, this corals like to feed at night primarily, at least mine does. And yes it probably is still acclimating, what level is it at in the tank?

 

It's currently at the bottom, but it's in the center of the tank where powerhead currents converge. Pretty high flow area.

I'm kinda fenced on light acclimation with the LED's. Even though it's at the bottom of the tank, there's still quite a bit of light down there. In terms of PAR values at it's current depth, I have no clue. It was under a 20K MH that was approx. 2 1/2 feet from the water surface but the frag was only about 3 inches from the surface of the water in an SPS frag tank. The owner of the LFS measured par values for a customer that asked,purchasing a maxima clam, from this very same tank. At the substrate surface I think they were approx. 250. So I imagine a tad higher for the RP frag that was on some eggcrate. I was considering asking the owner if I could rent the meter just so I have some values for my own set-up instead of taking guesses.

Velvet is still a problem and has really taken to Acro's for picking...I hate it. Made an unsuccessful attempt at catching it today, but once I do, it's right back to the store for him!

 

It has been 15 days since a growth shot. Not doing them frequently anymore because it is hard to really see the growth. Upward growth has slowed but I believe that is because it is busy encrusting the base. You can see it has maintained its green base coloration and it is encrusting around the plug on to the rockwork.



And it continues to maintain the red coloration so placement must be ok, light wise.