[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

Photo dump time!  Took these pictures before Christmas, but got caught up with work and preparing the Christmas video, so got delayed in posting them.

Pictures are a little on the blue side this round - still learning my new camera.  Will tweak the white balance next time.

First up, here's an updated FTS:

FTS by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

I have quite a number of coral top down shots, so I'll try to categorize them according to source.

1. Sulawesi wild colonies

I got this one as a "Indo SSC", but it has morphed from pink and green with red polyps to purple with red polyps
SPS 23 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

This piece was totally browned out when I got it, but it's since turned into quite a beauty
SPS 17 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Acropora selago?  It has a very pretty golden sheen under actinics
SPS 14 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Recent acquisition - looks like it will turn into either a Watermelon millie or a Sunset millie
SPS 12 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Another "Indo SSC" variant - this one retained the green, but the polyps morphed into a very interesting shade of dark pink, not the usual red
SPS 11 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Is this a Paletta Pink Tip?  When I first got it, the corallites glowed yellow/orange under actinics, but it seems to have lost that colouration.  It paled off recently but is starting to darken up again - hopefully the glowy corallites come back too
SPS 7 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

On 12/30/2017 at 6:26 PM, he said:

Wow.. nice tank

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On 12/14/2017 at 2:19 PM, cedricang said:

Waaaa.... so nice !

Thank you very much

 

[WTS: 2ft ios Crystal Glass Tank with BRS rock n Sand]

Can you show the exact dimensions and design of the IOS portion?

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

These beauties and a few others are coming into my tank very soon!  I've been waiting for nice Tigerpyges since January when my last one ate dinos and got poisoned. It's a beautiful Christmas :rollface::rollface::rollface:

IMG-20171213-WA0007 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

IMG-20171213-WA0013 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

IMG-20171213-WA0009 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Photo credit to @yikai, who snapped these lovely pictures when the fish just arrived at @Iwarna.  Thanks also to @FuEl for rushing the shipment in for me.  Eagerly awaiting the other fish coming soon

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

22 hours ago, Jairus said:

Awesome video bro. Thanks for sharing!


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17 hours ago, reef tan said:

Super hi-tech systems

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14 hours ago, Cliff said:

Amazing


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Thanks bros!  Actually this time around I've gone slightly less high tech than usual haha.  Those who know me know that I'm a gear junkie and crazy experimenter.  In past incarnations of my reef I've tried all sorts of things.  This time around decided to tone down abit and keep it simple yet convenient and this approach is paying dividends for me!  Corals and fish are both super happy!

[My humble 322]

On 14/10/2017 at 8:03 AM, klyve said:

Wow bro is the last pic, over the rainbow??????

If I'm not mistaken it's FC CRT Rainbow.  Somewhere over the Rainbow has blue base with green polyps and pink corallites

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

Did up a video showcasing the equipment I use on my tank:

 

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

Oops!

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

20 hours ago, Daniel Poh Yang Zheng said:

oh please... u newbie??! but it is amazing!! love the colouring, wonder what amazing light u using....


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Still very new la, compared to so many experienced reefers on this forum!  You know what lights I'm using ma, you fixed them up for me!

Colour wise I think there's still a long way to go - corals are definitely colouring up but the picture still lacks the glow of the more mature SPS tanks around.  Could also be the corals that I picked are just not so brightly coloured?

1 hour ago, cedricang said:

Nice shot, looks majestic

Thanks bro!  He's not very majestic la... definitely not one of the more dominant fish in the tank.

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

Please join me in welcoming the latest inhabitant into my tank, Bodianus sanguineus!  I've been wanting one of these since my Bodianus bennetti (previously Bodianus sp "Kimura"?) passed on, and thankfully Iwarna Aquafarm managed to source one for me from Blue Harbor Osaka recently.  Really good timing in light of the potential ban on collection of ornamental fish looming in Hawaii!  Sorry for the many dust spots in the picture, the fish just stirred up the sand!

Hog 1 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Hog 2 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

 

Here's a recent FTS too to end off.  Colours and stability in the tank are improving week by week.  I'm really very impressed with the Tropic Marin Bio-Actif system.  It's perfect for a newbie reefer like me to get a nice sps system going

FTS by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

On 22/08/2017 at 11:50 AM, Fadly Hajar said:

Sps looking great at just 2.5months old. Keep it up bro!


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On 22/08/2017 at 10:36 AM, SubzeroLT said:

Do post more. !! Thanks for sharing


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Thank you!

On 23/08/2017 at 2:59 PM, cedricang said:

May be using a tripot or something to minimize the shaking would be much better    overall I applaud you for a cool first video attempt 

Thanks bro!  I use a tripod for front shots bro, but top down shots hard to use one, mostly need to shoot handheld

For my next video attempt, I shot a feature video of one of the fish in my tank.  It's the Australian 5 stripe hogfish.  Many thanks to @FuEl  @Iwarna for helping me to source the fish from Cairns Marine!

 

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

I apologise in advance for the shaky footage, some out of focus footage and inaccurate colour.  This is my first time shooting and editing video, so I'm still learning how to use my camera gor video taking.  I also have no idea how to correct white balance like i do in Photoshop.  For more accurate colouration please see my photos above.  If there's interest in my tank, I'll definitely try to do better and make more videos

 

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

I'm using Caribsea live sand.  Mostly Special grade mixed with Bimini pink, with the largest grain one in the areas my wavemakers expose the bottom

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

1 hour ago, chercm said:

don't know whether the dino came from the DE rock. i just recovered from it 

Dinos don't come from the rock, they are present in the water and bloom when conditions suit it.

1 hour ago, Kaijuworld said:

Nice tank

Thanks bro!

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

20 hours ago, Fadly Hajar said:

Lots of gems..

Looking great bro! 

 

20 hours ago, Xtraster said:

Stunning pics!

Thank you!  That's why to me it's important to buy corals from trustworthy sources - you're ensured healthy gems!

20 hours ago, chercm said:

bro u using radion now ?

Yup, since January/February

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

Seems like not much interest in my tank - I feel like I'm talking to myself 

Had some time last night so took out the camera and Avast Marine Porthole for some top down macro shots.  Corals are slowly starting to colour up but definitely not at their full potential yet.  Still alot of time and TLC needed

Yellow with red polyps Aussie sps:

SPS 1 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Aussie rainbow millie:

SPS 2 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

SSC (alot of pink, green slowly coming back):

SPS 3 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Purple Spathulata (bought it lavender coloured, but my higher nutrients darkened the colour):

SPS 4 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Acropora selago??  From Sulawesi shipment:

SPS 5 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Acropora tenuis - is it just me, or are the corallites turning purple/pink/orange? :

SPS 6 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Icefire Echinata:

SPS 7 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

FC Ultra Walt Disney:

SPS 8 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Another yellow with red polyps Aussie sps, supposed to be Acropora caroliniana:

SPS 9 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Unknown acropora from Sulawesi - this one glows very nicely under actinic:

SPS 10 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Same as previous, but kept under higher light and flow:

SPS 15 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

FC Superman:

SPS 11 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Pink aussie tabling acro:

SPS 12 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Another unknown aussie acro:

SPS 13 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

SSC variant - when I bought this it was entirely yellow with red polyps.  Yellow is turning green and blue tips and pink corallites are appearing:

SPS 14 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

Another unknown sulawesi acropora - purple with purple/blue polyps:

SPS 16 by Yi Xiang Lye, on Flickr

 

Still have alot of other colonies in my tank, but didn't manage to photograph them all.

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

Just a brief pictureless update... I've started using Tropic Marin supplements, starting with Elements A- and K+ and I must say I have noticed an improvement in PE, growth and colouration from my corals.  I know it's not a common or popular supplement system locally, but I must say that I'm quite impressed with the system so far.  To me, it gives similar results to what Fauna Marin used to give me.  Really goes to show that good products speak for themselves, and noisy marketing only goes so far.

I'll be slowly adding in TM Bacto-Balance, Reef Actif and Reef Mud Vital over the next couple of months.

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

Took my camera out of the drybox today to try and get some shots, and realized that I really suck at taking photos after a year and a half of not practicing!  plus the fact that my corals are still very new and not coloured up yet, and you can see from the shots below that I still have a long way to go before my tank can be considered acceptable!  At the moment I'm just doing weekly 10% water changes and daily dosing of some trace elements.  As mentioned above, still trying to get stable parameters before I embark on actual dosing of supplements to try and colour up the corals.

 

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

Today's FTS.  Still trying to stabilize the tank - CR tuning undergoing daily.

[NYOS Quantum 220 or 300]

I'm not a sifu, but I think 72x30x24 is better.  Front to back depth adds alot to viewing pleasure.  Lower height makes for easier maintenance.  I used to have a 72x28x28 (freshwater) and maintenance was a pain.

[NYOS Quantum 220 or 300]

Hopefully I'm not too late - I would go with the 220.  Overskimming is fine, but if you overskim by too much, the skimmer ends up being inefficient and not able to skim out smaller amounts of waste due to the neck being too wide.  Instead of a constant skim, the skimmer will end up skimming the same amount but intermittently as the waste accumulates to an amount that the wider neck is able to skim out.  I have experienced this previously when I oversized my skimmer using a Bubble Magus C9 on my 4x2x2 - I found skimmate production much much worse than when I downsized the skimmer to a smaller rated one.

I currently have a similar sized tank 72" x 28" x 20" and I'm using a 220.  Very happy with it.

 

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

On 2017-5-29 at 10:18 PM, josephwzr said:

May I know how many pieces of de rocks u used for the scape?

No idea sorry... the old scape used about 3 to 4 boxes.  This scape was about 1/3 of that or so?

On 2017-5-29 at 11:54 PM, daveyy said:

OH! So those corals were yours at seasonal aquarium? heard steven say is not for sale and is his cust's one. haha

 

definitely not a noob, more like bad luck, some had a one hit wonder, while some had it tough. preserve on!  you had it tough and never give up, if it was me, i would have pull plug lol.

Your eyes so sharp!  Can spot and identify the specific corals?!

I've had some unpleasant reefer call me a noob before for engaging assistance to scape my tank.  All I can say is I'm glad the group of unpleasant reefers have moved to another forum.  This hobby is much better without their "company".

On 2017-5-30 at 6:15 PM, ReDDeviLs said:

aiseh.... full of envy man. need to see this in real person.
scaping much nicer now. loving this tank journal.

You've seen this tank in person through its various incarnations. Must be boring to you by now lor!

 

Just a simple snapshot taken tonight:

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

Almost forgot.. lousy handphone picture:

[illumnae's SPS shallow reef]

10 hours ago, Daniel_k said:

Pretty stocked up already right bro hahahaha how's the yellow Indo piece doing ?


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OMG stalker! hahaha

7 hours ago, daveyy said:

 

 

I got the same feel with u. Didnt really like ati aswell.

Anw. Hope all is well with ur current build! Seen u restarted a few time!


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It's not just that I don't like the light.  Any product that the distributor won't stand behind is just a disaster waiting to happen.  Hopefully this is the last restart.  Some say I'm suay,  some say I'm a noob. I'm just here to enjoy my hobby! 

 

Guess who dropped by and got his hands wet...