Coral

I noticed three areas in reef today with white skeleton showing, which seemingly came out of the blue. Not sure why so I did a full set of tests to see what may have changed. Nothing major cropped up but these are my findings. Specifically the base of the Staghorn colony has been affected, as has a Montipora colony and a birdsnest colony. STN is slow tissue necrosis, a creeping death that often happens from the base of the colony upwards.  Here are a few visuals. 

One coral in my reef turned very pale. And oddly enough, that same exact species is in two other locations and did the exact same thing. It's very light, after shedding its zooxanthellae for whatever reason. I dont know why it did it, and I'll have to see if it survives.

The 400g has been running with livestock for almost two months now.  I need to do better about updating this blog section (I've been blogging about my tank on Reef Addicts since 2010), so I'll endeavor to get those updates made here as well. Here are a few pictures taken today.

This A. millepora was purchased last month.  It's not very hairy during the daytime although I haven't seen any fish bothering it.

p style="text-align: justify;">After dosing vodka to my system for 10 weeks, I can definitely say it is helping reduce Nitrate and Phosphate in my system. One week ago, I tested PO4 and the result was zero, which I expected because I'd used Blue Life's Phosphate Control to get them down overnight. In the meantime, I'd fed my tank heavily and expected phosphates to rise. Today's test revealed it was still at zero. Yes! Nitrates are down to about 15ppm. I'm going to continue dosing until that number gets somewhere closer to 5ppm.

I just got back from my trip to Cincinnati, Ohio. The weather was wonderful, and the club there was a happy group of hobbyists. I look forward to visiting the Cincinnati Reefkeepers Society again one day. Here are some pictures from my trip:

My Visit to Cincinnati, Ohio

And some eye candy, just because...

I'm currently doing some PAR tests on my lighting. If you are interested, here's the page:

PAR - Measuring Lighting Intensity with a Meter

Here's a macro shot of my Tyree L.E. - years ago I got a beautiful tricolor Acropora sp. from Steve, and after some major issues, it died. However, prior to that happening, I'd banked a small piece with a friend who's been caring for it ever since. I just got it back recently, and after a brief quarantine period and coral dip, it is back in my reef. I'm excited to see how this piece does, and hope it will surpass the previous one's growth.

I added a page about the little Suncoral Tank, which can be found in the left hand column of My Reef Tanks. It has been running for about a year, and deserved to be featured on its own page.  Did you spot the tiny eel in this picture?

Suncoral Tank

I've started up a new section called Coral Growth Sequences, where you can see pictures taken over time displaying coral growth. It is a work in progress as time allows.

Here's my new Tort frag! I did the iodine dip test and found no flatworms, and it looked safe for my system. I picked it up at Fish Gallery in Dallas.

Acropora tortuosa