John Brancheau Slimmer

[Mike HArrington]

Here is a frag that I got from my friend John Today. I measured it because we are going to calculate growth rates as part of my 8 year olds science project on reef keeping.

 

[kevinpo]

It should make an interesting project. If the calcium and alkalinity are kept near natural sea water levels you can expect 1-1.5" a month growth. It is one of the fastest growing corals in circulation today. It is also quite adaptable to different light and flow conditions. A great coral to study IMO.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[CarlaW]

Greta project, sounds like you are gonna have alot of fun, and your 8 year old is probably gonna blow everybody's socks off when he turns his project in. Give it some room, like Kevin said, if this coral gets good conditions, it does grow like a weed. Once it adjusts, there is no stopping it.

 

[Mike HArrington]

so an alk near to 8 and ca near 380-400 is optimal now?

 

[CarlaW]

Right on, get it set and watch it grow. It will probably want to encrust first, so you'll have to keep track of that also.

 

[Mike HArrington]

wow! this is a departure from the mega high levels that we used to run! I will have to dial the reacotr back slowly. my alk is at 11 right now but I can start lowering it a bit.

 

[CarlaW]

Whoa, we don't want to upset anything here. What kind of corals do have in there now Mike? If you already have a bunch of sps in there running at those levels, and they are fine, don't dial it back. The corals that are existing might not like that all that much . All we were saying is that might be what we are using for parameters. These slimers, like Kevin said, are highly adjustable, and probably will adapt to your existing levels also. HTH

 

[Mike HArrington]

That slimmer is the only coral that I have inthe tank right now. I have been keeping reefs for 15 years now and know that nothing good happens quickly in a reef tank LOL. I am actually in the process of tweaking the parameters now.

I just got a refractomoeter and have been adjusting the salinity to more natural levels. Right now I am running 1.023 (a deprature from my common practice of 1.025). I think that running more natural levels makes good sense. I am going slowly and taking my time to get it right.

 

[thetedinator]

An interesting way to measure growth might be to glue the frag to a rock and weigh it. Then weigh the rock as time progresses. Most, but not all, of the weight change will be from the coral as it builds structure.

 

[kevinpo]

so an alk near to 8 and ca near 380-400 is optimal now?

It seems to work well on many reefs
I have been keeping those levels for about 8 years and have been averaging about 1 " a month for most Acropora sp. and many other stony corals.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Mike HArrington]

Thanks for all the encouragement here and suggestions. We thought this would be a cool project since it is unlikely that we will see anyone else with a Nano-reef set up there. OUr plan is to set up an eclipse 12 gallon at teh science fair with water and live sand from our tank and rubble rock. We will frag the slimmer (she will frag it I will supervise and photodocument the fragging) about two weeks before so we can have a piece of it to share with the other children.

I am going to start teaching her about testing the water and what each test means after Christmas. It is a great way to stay in touch with your kids! LAst year we built ascale model of a F-4 Tornado and the damage path it would create, complete with the parent thunderstorm and anvil cloud! Now there were many tornado's for the second grade science fair! But none that had a "scientist" that could explain the life cycle fully except for her