During March of 2005 I've been concentrating on getting things as stable as possible with parameters. This has meant a switch from ARM calcium reactor media to the bulkier but more stable Schuran media. The main reason for this was a tendency for ARM to go a little bit slushy if overworked, resulting in allot of fines going into the tank, a milky reactor, and a drop in DKH and Ca levels through precipitation as the fines 'bound' already dissolved Ca out of solution as well as magnesium.. With the Schuran media, this is now resolved as it has less tendency to 'effectively' melt if the pH within the reactor drops too much for whatever reason below 6.5. With ARM, this type of hiccup means the waste of allot of expensive media, and a good half day stripping and cleaning the reactor out, plus copious rinses of the media to get rid of the milky-ness and fines. I'm pleased to say that since swapping, things have been exceedingly stable, with a DKH of 10.5 and a Ca of 435ppm. Although you need to run the Schuran media slightly harder (more Co2) to get it to dissolve effectively (between 6.4 and 6,6) , this hasn't had any effects on the tanks ambient pH which remains stable, even at night. It was these slight but occasional reactor hiccups that I think were responsible for some corals not growing or showing such strong colouration as well as Id expect in comparison to others, maybe because of the stress factor with fluctuating conditions/levels. Time will tell.

Here are some top down shots.

The right hand end of the tank from above. Note the mass of Red sea Xenia growing throughout the Acro colonies. This doesn't seem to bother them unduly as they are quite capable of fighting back. On the right a Squammosa clam. This guy is growing at an alarming rate.

A nicely growing silver and pink Millipora growing above my Turbinaria which doesn't seem to mind the intrusion. Right a stunning Acropora (also shown in full at the bottom of the page) displaying a mix of green, purple, and blue.

2 Unidentified Acropora colonies that are now bedded down quite well.

Luminous green Acropora, still growing well. and a bright purple colony, just starting to grow up from a well seated base.

Another colony of Silver Millipora. This ones only 6" from the surface hence the stronger pink colouration.

A plating Acropora Frag from Sukdev, which is finally starting to take off after a 5 month dormancy period. and a piece of Simon Clark's Blue Millipora.

 A strong growth of Seriotopora mixing with Red sea white Xenia, Red mushrooms, and fire coral.

I'm watching this one eagerly as it has a rapid growth rate and stunning colouration.

Fire coral and red mushrooms seem to get along without incident at this time.

A new addition, the shy Golden angel 'Centropyge aurantia'. For some reason My Powder blue tang took an immediate dislike to to this little chap, but I'm glad to say that after a week or so getting used to each other, they are now getting along 'begrudgingly'. Its an abject lesson that even unrelated and dissimilar looking fish can still dislike each other, and give you problems. At over £100.00 rrp , I'm afraid loosing the angel was not an option so the Powder blue was given a grace period to see if he would calm down.......Luckily for him he did, which saved me a lot of bother trapping him to give him away to someone with a more accommodating set-up. Despite a little early fin damage, the Angel is now feeding well and getting bolder which is a good sign.

Latest photo taken 19/06/05

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