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Sea Fan Plus Sometimes, what we want and what the nature designed to be, are at odds. When I start to keep the sea fans, I intended for them to be a few unobstructive growth on the corner of the sand bed, kind of like a fringe growth. Alas it's not to be. Sea fans are non-photosynthetic. Therefore they require good low to filter feed from the water column. As such. They have the structure to catch the flow, just like a paddle or sail. This is fantastic, except that the tiny rock they are glued on cannot stay in place. The sea fan always topples, bends and generally require daily adjustment. Solution? One huge rock to glue all the sea fan together, while making sure they don't touch each other. Now they can wave all they want, and there is no risk of toppling any more. This is the big red sea fan with tiny white polyps. New resident. A two side view of the Acropolis.

Hey. A few suggestions. 1. Ensure the rock work is stable and well joined together. 2. If the liverock is of good quality and relatively pest free, it can help your tank to mature faster. How confident are you regarding LR from hobbyist whom you don't know? 3. IMO, less rock, more coral. Provide caves and swim thru for your fishes, shelters for corals prefer less flow, as we as a mixture of varied light and flow conditions to suit different animals. 4. Composition wise, rule of third, negative space, depth, all these are ways to help the whole aquarium look balanced. 5. Before building the rockwork, it helps to picture the grown out aquarium in mind, how will different coral fill up the scape. Plan accordingly. All the best!

Wow.. a beautiful tank with an interesting aquascape.

Nice growth! Following

I'm slightly obsessed with sea fans recently. Their polyps can be really pretty and colorful. On a separate note, the sps did grow quite a bit. Although I don't keep kh at elevated level, the growth is still satisfactory. Looking at the aquarium everyday, I don't feel much of it. However, comparison to past photos is very telling. May 2021 vs Sept 2020

Test the Un-testable One core challenge of reefing is to simultaneously provide (inorganic) nutrient poor water, while provide ample nutrition for reef animals. Nutrition poor water, that's easier to test and manage. With competent range of test kits available, we can have a good grasp of the (inorganic) nutrient level in the aquarium. Should the level deviate from our preference, there are many ways to correct the problem. Nutrition, however, is a much greater mystery. Other than when we add food into the aquarium, we know precious little about amount of available food in the system. How long does the added food last in the aquarium? Does the animals only get to feed for 30 minute a day? If we can answer these questions, then we can confidently keep nitrate and phosphate at near zero levels, while ensure different type of corals can thrive. Turns out, we can test it. The Organic Test The test kit in question is not made by any commercial vendors, but nature itself. Sea fans. Sea fans are non-photosynthetic, and rely on capturing planktonic preys from the water column. In the presence of suitable food, the polyps extends rapidly. When the food becomes scarce, the polyps retracts. The contrast is obvious, and the response is rapid. In my aquarium, zeostones are agitated every hour to dislodge mulms for export and feeding. When that happens, within a minute or two, these sea fans will have their polyps fully extended. They remain this way for about 45 minutes, before the polyps started to retract. Until the zeostone gets churned again, and the cycle repeats itself. So I would infer that in my aquarium, corals have useful amount of nutrients 45/60 of the time. This also tell me that corals can get significant amount of energy need from feeding. Then I will have the confidence to drive nutrient even lower. Spider sponge showed some growth. Hopefully it confirms the good level of food in my reef. Use filter feeders as test for nutrition. What do you think?