Dary's tank!

[mr_X]

Nope. Nothing was different. Crazy.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Could it have been a temperature spike? My heater was insufficient for the cold we had, tank got down to 73F for almost a month. Bought a new heater and over a few days brought it back to 77-78F. I wonder if that set part of the soft coral die back off.

 

[mr_X]

Not in my case. I keep it pretty steady. I don't think it's dropped more than 2 degrees. Even so, if it was the temp, wouldn't you think the acropora would be the first to show signs of stress?

 

[Gregcoyote]

I read that soft coral colonies "reboot" themselves unlike hard corals. They don't have an indefinite life span like hard corals. The trigger is what is being debated by many studies. Could be iodine or other factors that causes a colony to crash. Maybe a combination of factors. Acros tend to be slower reacting than soft corals are.

 

[Keithhjs]

Good to hear your pooch is better. Would love to have seen a picture of the beer with cone experiment lol

 

[Dary421]

Good to hear your pooch is better. Would love to have seen a picture of the beer with cone experiment lol

lol,..it wasnt a pretty sight !!

 

[Dary421]

After kicking things around for the last couple of years i decided that i would buy myself a gopro camera for my up coming trip back to hawaii at the end of next month.., i love the ziplines and figured this might be an easier way to film the rides than holding my little sony cameras., i usually use these cameras in a underwater housing when ever we go snorkeling., this year ill try out the gopro and will see how it stacks up. I decided to just try taking a couple shots of my tank from both the outside looking in and from holding the camera in the tank itself ., heres a couple of samples

 

[Gregcoyote]

I love my Go Pros.

 

[Dary421]

I love my Go Pros.

I always figured you only used those really high end cameras,...so far I think they're pretty cool

 

[Gregcoyote]

I did. The gopro is limited in the fact it doesn't zoom and macros are a bit hard without a viewfinder. I have the clip on monitor that helps. But who can beat the flexibility? I wore a full face type mask and had a clip on the top for the GOPro.

 

[Sniperhank]

Better question, how are those chalices doing? They look huge!

 

[Dary421]

They all seem to be thriving so far,... I had one that was losing its color so I moved it into a shady area and a month and a half later she's looking vibrant again,... Overall I have no idea why they seem to like my setup but they do,... Hammers and bubbles on the other hand are my nemesis lol

 

[Gregcoyote]

That's weird, I have exactly the opposite problem. Most everything grows but chalices. And I use to be able to grow them. But something specific to them is not working right now. You seem to be having the reverse thing going on.

 

[mr_X]

A friend of mine had some issues with sps, so he sent a water sample to these guys-
Aquarium Water Testing
The result was his potassium. Apparently synthetic salt mixes are generally low in potassium. He has been dosing it, and his corals are improving. I don't know if this and his issue are one in the same, but who's testing for potassium?

 

[Gregcoyote]

I'm sure not. That's a thread on its own. Vitamin C is another topic I would like to read more about.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Interesting site. A bit expensive but laboratory grade measurements would be wonderful to have.
The site had his to say about Potassium:

In natural seawater, potassium is a non-conservative major element with a concentration slightly lower than that of calcium. It is a component of aragonite, and regular dosing has, within the past several years, has been implicated in improving the blue coloration of numerous varieties of small-polyp stony corals; the benefits of potassium supplementation are potentially two-fold, then: provision of an element that is 1.) incorporated into the skeletal material of corals and other reef-building organisms for purposes of growth, and 2.) incorporated into pigments that enhance blue coloration of small-polyp stony corals. The importance of potassium to marine organisms is most apparent when beginning to dose it in aquaria with depleted potassium concentrations and/or in which the sea salt mixture used is potassium-deficient; in such cases, changes in the appearance of many corals may be observed within the first weeks of regular dosing.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Dary, Glad your off to Hawaii. Hope all goes smoothly. Say hello to the fishes.

 

[mr_X]

Interesting site. A bit expensive but laboratory grade measurements would be wonderful to have.

I just like the blonde model they use as a lab tech...lol.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I visualize this as a scene from CSI, all white lab coats, but in reality it's probably a shirtless guy with bottles lined up on his cracked bath tub.

 

[mr_X]

lol...lots of jail house tats....Abnormally hairy....bad teeth...