stylaster

did i need to post in the 12 days original thread to get in on this, or do paid members automatically get entered?

Thank you all for coming out. It was a great meeting. Awesome to see new and old faces.

Getting close! Will be great seeing you all

This is creeping closer, ill provide snacks and soda to drink

I did this also, but beware it will also kill some gorgonians

Welcome to the group, if you want to get together and talk reefs im in the Longview/kelso area

Thank you guys for the awesome prize!

Nice one but a very difficult coral to make it hold its color, Good luck with it!

Looks great!

Thanks for the great clam!

Hey brian if you havent got this yet i got a ton of ethernet cables ill give you one or i can custom make you one any length you need

I can't make the meeting sorry guys. I hope you all have an awesome time and score some really nice stuff from All Things Aquarium

More of an SPS fan myself i enjoy the challenge of keeping them and watching them grow into large colonies in a relatively fast amount of time

Looks like a great meeting glad you guys had fun!

I remember shawn selling it for big bucks back in the day

Looking forward to another great year. Its going to be tough to follow in Kims foot steps but ive done this once or twice so ill give it my best shot!

ill have a few frags of it for sale at the fragswap this year

I have a hawaiian one in my system for over a year now. He likes to take an occasional nip at sps and lps but doesnt do any harm to coral. Gets along great with the other pygmey angelfish (hybrid half black and lemon) and no issues with the other fish (tangs, wrasses, damsels, dottybacks)

Share the love!

Welcome to the club! Im in the kelso area also. Always happy to talk about the hobby

Looking good!

They dont give a [language filter] about you they are a fickle beast and do what they please

If any of these are happening check your levels (alk, ca, mg, salinity, ph, temp) If any are out of range, bring them back into the appropriate values. For stn or rtn infections. If possible cut off branches about 1/2" above the dying tissue line. Remove the rest of the dying colony from the tank. Take the frags you are able to make and give them an iodine dip (lugols) for about 10 mins. Use a container with tank water and put the frags in. Add enough iodine till the water color is light tan. Put your frags in and let them sit for 10 mins. Take the frags out wash them in clean saltwater and superglue them on a frag plug. Put them back into the tank with lower light and strong water flow. Give them about a week to see if they recover. Coral bleaching is usually caused by either excessive light or temperature swings with the coral losing its zooxanthallae. Check your light schedule make sure it is working properly (ie lights arent running 24/7) and check your temperature range. Move the effected coral down away from any strong light sources. Give it about 2x less light then what it is currently receiving if the coral is under high light. If the issue is tank temperature bring the temp to around 77 degs. Reduce the lighting schedule to 6 hours a day for 2-3 weeks if you suspect lighting is the issue and watch how the coral responds. If it is going to recover you will notice dark spots in the coral tissue as the zooxanthallae try to recover in the coral tissue.

I run a mixed reef, still predominately sps corals but here is what i do. I keep the SPS corals in the upper half of the tank in the spots where there is maximum amount of light and flow. Ill keep the branching ones up high. For the ones that plate ill keep them down low. Remember that form follows function. A branching coral is designed for higher water movement and brighter light, where a plating coral is designed for lower light and slower flow. As the sps corals grow and spread out they create areas under them that are perfect for shade loving corals such as leptoseris or leptastrea to grow. Most sps corals use the quick growth strategy to assert themselves on the reef. They tend not to sting their neighbors but instead will try to outgrow them. In placing other corals next to sps corals give them about 3-4" of space. This will in general give enough distance from corals with tentacles from reaching out and stinging sps corals. Be sure to check at night with this kind of placement, a lot of lps corals will send out sweeper tentacles at night to sting their neighbors.

In my system i run NO3 at 5 ppm and PO4 at .05 ppm. Try not to strive for 0 on those level you need small amounts of each to maintain healthy corals. The zooxanthallae in the corals tissue need both nitrate and phosphate to survive. Ive had successful reefs running nitrates as high as 25 ppm and phosphates up to .1 ppm For alkalinity i run mine around 9 dkh. On average between 7 to 11 dkh is fine for a reef tank per some online queries. I have noticed though below 8 your sps will tend to brown out and lose their color. Above 10 and they will get 'burnt tips' ie the flesh will die back from the tips of the coral. Alk swings will also effect sps more so then other corals. The colors will shift or become lighter or darker. Growth will slow down and possible rtn or stn will happen with unstable alk. Stability is the key with alkalinity. Be sure to keep calcium (450ppm) and magnesium (1300ppm) at their respective levels, all three work in conjunction to help the coral create its carbonate skeleton.