DSR tank in Australia

[glennf]

Hi again

Another quick update.

I have increased nutrients slightly and now it once again becomes a battle with the algae, but I believe that the colours look much better in my corals, especially the Acropora and Montipora sp.

Growth is always good in my tank with the calcium reactor just being able to keep with the demands of the corals.

I have upgraded my lights to Radion Generation 3 pro's and already see a slight difference in some corals with the colour.

Here are some images, one of a month's growth of Montipora and some other pictures....enjoy.

Cheers,
Tony

one word Tony  ......  CONGRATULATIONS......!!!!!!!!

YOUR TANK IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY BEAUTIFUL......

I am very proud of your achievement.


greetings, GlennF

[TonyK]

Hello everyone.

My aquarium turned one year old on the 20th of June and as you can see the corals are growing very well, although, I fear the colours could be brighter but this is due to the very low nutrients. It has been a battle for me trying to still have some nutrients in the tank but at the same time keep the algae growth at bay.

I have also encountered another problem in AEFW in my system.
I first noticed colour loss in my 'tri-colour' Acropora colonies, which then spread to other colonies. Upon inspection I saw the tell tale bite marks and eggs of this nasty pest!

After consulting various aquarists here I went and purchased a six-line wrasse and decided to blow the worms off the corals with a turkey baster!
This has proved to be very successful and the amount of worms that came off the colonies was astounding! Of course the fish were also having a treat and eating up the worms in the water column. I now 'blow off' the rocks every 3 days or so and one or two worms come off, but the colour and PE is returning :)

Other issues I have is that because of the growth, shading is becoming an issue especially to the bases of the corals and I will have to drastically prune more branches away!

Another issue is that my flow is decreasing as the corals get bigger, so I have ordered another large wave maker for my tank!.

I have included photo's and I hope you enjoy them, they are only taken with my iPhone.

And remember, ONE year no water change!! :)

Cheers,
Tony

[TonyK]

Some more :)

[TonyK]

And more :)

[TonyK]

One more :)

[reefwiser]

Looking great Tony


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[islandreef]

Awesome work Tony!! Any chance of a FTS?
Cheers Ben

[TonyK]

Hi everyone.

It is with sad news that I am here today. Due to a massive outbreak of AEFW, I was left with no choice but to remove all Acropora sp. from the tank and dip in a pesticide made by Bayer containing the active ingredient Imidacloprid!

The corals were first inspected for damage and all areas too damaged were removed, as were areas that had flat worm egg clusters.

Corals were then dipped in a 40% Bayer/ASW solution for 5 minutes and swirled around.

Hundreds of flat worms were eventually released from all Acropora. Every single colony was infected to one degree or another and if left unchecked would've resulted in death to all Acropora sp. in the tank.

Cleaned, dipped corals were then placed in an external QT system, where they will be re-dipped every 5 days for one month.

The DT will lie fallow and all remaining worms and eggs will eventually hatch and starve.

Here is a link to the dipping.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS5msg3wRgM

Some images...

Thanks for reading.

[TonyK]

And some more sadness....

[islandreef]

Hi Tony,
I am so sorry to hear about this! It can be a rough hobby at times. Sounds like you maybe able to save some acro's. I just bought a Six line wrasse, which apparently feeds on flat worms which I am hoping would stop an outbreak.
Good luck with it Tony!!!!
Ben

[TonyK]

Hi Tony,
I am so sorry to hear about this! It can be a rough hobby at times. Sounds like you maybe able to save some acro's. I just bought a Six line wrasse, which apparently feeds on flat worms which I am hoping would stop an outbreak.
Good luck with it Tony!!!!
Ben

Thanks :)

I am losing colonies fast now and have managed to save some frags from each, which I have placed back into my frag tank.

I am just not set up to have a large external QT system and quite frankly if the hobby is this much trouble, well then I may leave! Let's see how the next week goes>

I also have a sixline in each tank, but against a large infestation I believe no predator can help.

Cheers

[glennf]

Very sad news tony.
Don't give up. We all had our ups and downs.. at least you get to enjoy having a full grown tank, many won't even manage in a livetime.

You learned a hard lesson , so next time you will net let it come this far because you will recognise the signals earlier . This hobby is a passion you can't get rid of.

[TonyK]

Hi all

Thanks for all the good wishes :)

Well.....I'm back  ;D

I landed up with a few frags and 3 small colonies from the old system and had them in my frag tank. They have been dipped every 5 days in a strong concentration of imidacloprid (Bayer) and after 30 days I can say that there are no more worms :) :)
This is evident by the corals starting to encrust the frag plugs with the colour and PE returning.

I have changed the aquascape completely and doubled the amount of rock in the tank. This time I used CaribSea dead base rock and it has worked well.

Some new frags from the barrier reef were imported for me into my state and I have also put back the frags I kept from my old system.

A positive of this has been that I now can add corals that I want, that are brightly (or will be) coloured and the species I want.
Every new coral without exception gets dipped before being placed into the system.

Like I said before, I have started with 90% frags and hope to see them grow out into big colonies, I have also left big spaces between corals and resisted the temptation to pack frags in, thereby giving my little frags the opportunity to grow out well.

I will, of course, also be carrying on with the DSR method, as I feel it has worked really well for me and I have a very good grasp of my water chemistry parameters now.

The tank has only received about a 15% water change after all that, partly from topping up after all the rock and frags were removed! All this after 15 months of starting up.

Here are some photos of the new setup.

[glennf]

Hi all

Thanks for all the good wishes :)

Well.....I'm back  ;D

I landed up with a few frags and 3 small colonies from the old system and had them in my frag tank. They have been dipped every 5 days in a strong concentration of imidacloprid (Bayer) and after 30 days I can say that there are no more worms :) :)
This is evident by the corals starting to encrust the frag plugs with the colour and PE returning.

I have changed the aquascape completely and doubled the amount of rock in the tank. This time I used CaribSea dead base rock and it has worked well.

Some new frags from the barrier reef were imported for me into my state and I have also put back the frags I kept from my old system.

A positive of this has been that I now can add corals that I want, that are brightly (or will be) coloured and the species I want.
Every new coral without exception gets dipped before being placed into the system.

Like I said before, I have started with 90% frags and hope to see them grow out into big colonies, I have also left big spaces between corals and resisted the temptation to pack frags in, thereby giving my little frags the opportunity to grow out well.

I will, of course, also be carrying on with the DSR method, as I feel it has worked really well for me and I have a very good grasp of my water chemistry parameters now.

The tank has only received about a 15% water change after all that, partly from topping up after all the rock and frags were removed! All this after 15 months of starting up.

Here are some photos of the new setup.

What a pitty Tony.
Like anyone who stay long enough in this hobby you will get some setback. You had your share now.

What define a good reefer, is that they learn and they just climb back on the horse and don't give up.

You've had a fast learning curve and put down something, other would have taken years to accomplish. So there is absolutely no shame in that.

Ik am looking forward to see your tank become a work of art again.

The new setup looks very promising.

[TonyK]

Thanks for those words Glenn.

Indeed, I have learned a lot and experienced much misfortune, but i think the tank will come back in a relatively short period of time :)

Here are some frags I've added, I like them :)