Today, I took pictures of these SPS coral frags and compared them to pictures taken 3 months ago. Now that I've gotten a better feel on maintaining the proper seawater chemistry, it's about time to show how various corals respond under my conditions.
The tank uses Aquaillumination LED lighting and Scripps seawater (Natural Seawater) with the chemistry levels maintained as follows:
Alkalinity: 8 - 9 dKH
Calcium: 420 - 480 ppm
Magnesium: 1300 - 1350 ppm
pH: 7.99 - 8.20
Salinity: 35 ppt
These pictures were taken mainly to document growth. There are other methods to bring out the colors such as using a tripod, turn off flash and increase exposure which I haven't looked into, yet.
The tank uses Aquaillumination LED lighting and Scripps seawater (Natural Seawater) with the chemistry levels maintained as follows:
Alkalinity: 8 - 9 dKH
Calcium: 420 - 480 ppm
Magnesium: 1300 - 1350 ppm
pH: 7.99 - 8.20
Salinity: 35 ppt
These pictures were taken mainly to document growth. There are other methods to bring out the colors such as using a tripod, turn off flash and increase exposure which I haven't looked into, yet.
ORA Green Birdsnest
Acropora sp., 3 months
This is a large piece that I tried to carefully glue into my live rock. I wanted to go for the natural look rather than glue it to a plug. I was worried that I put too much super glue at the base of the frag. Also, I worried that it ended up glued a little sideways (notice the coral growth facing to the left!). But, this piece grew relatively fast, encrusted over the glue and grew upwards toward the light!
This is one of my favorite pieces because, under moonlight (low intensity blue LED), the orange polyps fluoresce brilliantly. One of these days, I'll learn how to capture that on digital!
I was told that this "bubble gum" piece would grow slowly. You can see the encrusting growth at the base of this frag after 3 months.
As far as the Red Bug infestation goes, I still haven't gotten my hands on Dragon Face Pipefish. I still wonder how these corals would look without the bugs. I would expect more polyp extension and an upgrade in some colors. Though, with that Flame Angel sampling going on, I doubt it!
I've lost a few corals, but it's hard to say what the cause would be: red bug? a little dip in alkalinity? that time I had to replace my lights? a visit from a certain vibrio bug? the gosh-darn Flame Angel?!
At the rate some of these corals are growing, I might be able to create a nice piece of reef with no problem. I'll try out a few other species of coral to see which fare best and which display better colors.
I've lost a few corals, but it's hard to say what the cause would be: red bug? a little dip in alkalinity? that time I had to replace my lights? a visit from a certain vibrio bug? the gosh-darn Flame Angel?!
At the rate some of these corals are growing, I might be able to create a nice piece of reef with no problem. I'll try out a few other species of coral to see which fare best and which display better colors.
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