A Splash of Color

[biggles]

I just bought the vitamins since I do limited water changes to see if I noticed a difference, its a small investment with what seems like no downside.

Do you have any thoughts on Flatworm stop or coral booster to promote growth and get healthier/stronger growing corals? I bought them when I thought I had flatworms about 2 months ago, found out I dont but I have continued to dose it. I cant really give my thoughts on it yet as I had an alk swing that I am finally recovered from that also happened around 2 months ago, been a long journey but everything is looking a lot better now luckily.

As always, you have a very nice tank!

Hi Cody, i don't know anything about either of those products sorry mate. Why do you dose the flatworm stop when you don't have flatworms ?

After a couple of weeks I can confirm my impression of general improvement of my acroporas after dosing vitamins.

I'm glad you feel it's helped a bit mate

Hey Andrew, the acro's are looking good. I don't know if your right or wrong about the vitamins but I love the way your always keeping us followers thinking. You never quit trying to improve. Hope it all keeps getting better for you.

Thanks Scott, never hurts to try a few new things every now and then mate.

Awesome Tank!

Thanks matey.


The two 400W radium bulbs had been running for a full 16 months last Wednesday when i went to see Dave at Deer Park aquarium so i was most pleased when he held up a pair of 400W bulbs and asked me if i wanted them. Since i had been running the very old bulbs for 7 hours a day i figured i would run the new bulbs 2 hours on, 2 off and then 2 hours on again for a few days so i didn't fry anything and slowly increase the on and decrease the middle off time over the following week.
I replaced the bulbs that night and set up a timer to run them as planned the next day. Next morning because i wanted to see the new radiums running i flicked them on 15 mins early and could see a very visible increase in brightness to the eye - good idea to do the 2 hour thing i thought and went to work.

It was over eight hours later that out of nowhere the thought popped into my head ' did i turn the timer back to auto before i left '............... :hmm2:

I left the halides off all the next day as nothing had PE after the 8.5 hour new bulb nuking session but no tissue loss at the tips etc so lucky to get away with that little goof. The radiums are running for 5 hours a day atm and everything is looking happy again PE wise.

Added 5L of AF life bio fil to the 15L of matrix in the sump so i have heaps of bio filtration. There were no floaters - none ! There were no black matrix stones - none !

When you add matrix it's like bobbing for apples mixed with panning for black gold nuggets - when you add life bio fil it's like tipping rocks into the water............ and then nothing............. just sits there........ all white and boring..........

 

[codydemmel4]

glad nothing bad happened with the lighting mishap.

I dose the flatworm stop when I dont have any flatworm as I have seen many people suggest it helps their coral in both growth, stronger and thicker branches.

 

[bgouges]

Hi Cody, i don't know anything about either of those products sorry mate. Why do you dose the flatworm stop when you don't have flatworms ?



I'm glad you feel it's helped a bit mate



Thanks Scott, never hurts to try a few new things every now and then mate.



Thanks matey.


The two 400W radium bulbs had been running for a full 16 months last Wednesday when i went to see Dave at Deer Park aquarium so i was most pleased when he held up a pair of 400W bulbs and asked me if i wanted them. Since i had been running the very old bulbs for 7 hours a day i figured i would run the new bulbs 2 hours on, 2 off and then 2 hours on again for a few days so i didn't fry anything and slowly increase the on and decrease the middle off time over the following week.
I replaced the bulbs that night and set up a timer to run them as planned the next day. Next morning because i wanted to see the new radiums running i flicked them on 15 mins early and could see a very visible increase in brightness to the eye - good idea to do the 2 hour thing i thought and went to work.

It was over eight hours later that out of nowhere the thought popped into my head ' did i turn the timer back to auto before i left '............... :hmm2:

I left the halides off all the next day as nothing had PE after the 8.5 hour new bulb nuking session but no tissue loss at the tips etc so lucky to get away with that little goof. The radiums are running for 5 hours a day atm and everything is looking happy again PE wise.

Added 5L of AF life bio fil to the 15L of matrix in the sump so i have heaps of bio filtration. There were no floaters - none ! There were no black matrix stones - none !

When you add matrix it's like bobbing for apples mixed with panning for black gold nuggets - when you add life bio fil it's like tipping rocks into the water............ and then nothing............. just sits there........ all white and boring..........

Ah the hobby wouldnt be complete without goof ups! Can never have enough bio filtration i recon! Glad the AF stuff gets a tick of approval in clenliness. Haha love the bobbing apples refence. Does feel like it when straining the floaters out

 

[Joche]

These days this is pretty much the first and last thread I check on RC and once again a topic is stated in an eloquent matter :debi:. I normally dismiss additives such as bacteria, AA and vitamins, but will look into them since my current tank is outdoors and it would make sense that strong sunlight with enough exposure will pretty much destroy anything it can organic or not. I will look into AF Coralv Vitality and maybe AF Pro Bio S but I don't use a skimmer.

If I switch to collecting fresh NSW with enough frequency it would seem irrelevant correct?

BTW, I forgot to mention that there is an Acro named after biggles in my tank, unfurtonately while it is encrusting and has PE during daylight(sunlight) is a nice brown color, lol:lol2:

 

[Jndragon79]

My apologies but what kind of vitamins are you dosing and your regimen?

 

[biggles]

glad nothing bad happened with the lighting mishap.

I dose the flatworm stop when I dont have any flatworm as I have seen many people suggest it helps their coral in both growth, stronger and thicker branches.

I only like the thin and delicate branching acro species so flatworm stop is definitely not for me Cody......

Ah the hobby wouldnt be complete without goof ups! Can never have enough bio filtration i recon! Glad the AF stuff gets a tick of approval in clenliness. Haha love the bobbing apples refence. Does feel like it when straining the floaters out

Hey Brok, i figured that if it really had bacteria already colonizing the inner regions of the media then i should be able to dunk it prior to putting it in the sump. I gave the rocks a dunk in RO and then in the overflow so the 100 micron sock would filter any grit left prior to placing the life bio fil in the sump. If you put it straight in you will see lots of fine silt in the water trust me.

I want to know what AF are doing with all the black matrix rocks.......... i know they're picking them out because every 2L container of matrix had black matrix infestations to varying degrees.

If AF release any new product that looks black - it will be ground black matrix i reckon........ :reading:

These days this is pretty much the first and last thread I check on RC and once again a topic is stated in an eloquent matter :debi:. I normally dismiss additives such as bacteria, AA and vitamins, but will look into them since my current tank is outdoors and it would make sense that strong sunlight with enough exposure will pretty much destroy anything it can organic or not. I will look into AF Coralv Vitality and maybe AF Pro Bio S but I don't use a skimmer.

If I switch to collecting fresh NSW with enough frequency it would seem irrelevant correct?

BTW, I forgot to mention that there is an Acro named after biggles in my tank, unfurtonately while it is encrusting and has PE during daylight(sunlight) is a nice brown color, lol:lol2:

Hi mate, i think most miss the biggest difference between our reefs and the ocean - never ending rich supplies of food. I am certain that our acros must adapt significantly to the change in water borne nutrition no longer present and as such rely much more on zoox for nutrition than in the ocean. That's why think the addition of things such as vitamins might help because i don't think my acros are functioning as they were in the ocean.

I am not concerned with attempting to somehow mimic the water conditions of the ocean because i can't. I am trying to work out how best to supply the things no longer available by food capture and also make my acros look way more colorful than in the ocean. I don't care if there are insignificant levels of vitamins present in sea water because i don't have sea water in my system, it's nothing like the water the acros normally live in which is why i don't ' keep it simple '.

My apologies but what kind of vitamins are you dosing and your regimen?

I dose 3 drops of AF Fish V every night after the lights go out mate.

Tank is going well, everything looks good and draw is 70ml now so hopefully that keeps rising over time. :thumbsup:

 

[martinphillip03]

Andrew, Has you alkalinity draw continued to go up? If so, do you think adding vitamins has helped it? Are you contemplating other ways to get your corals to grow quicker? Hows Kevin? He has been behaving well lately.

Marty

The alk draw began rising two weeks ago from the 30ml it was stalled on for almost two months Marty. It's at 45ml now mate.



Hi mate, as requested........

1.0255
7.0 alk
420 cal
1300 Mg
440 K

Nitrates are 10 and phos is 0.05

 

[biggles]

Hey Marty,

The alk is 75ml atm mate, it dropped to 30ml for 3 days after i accidentally nuked the display with the new radiums. Can't say if the vitamins helped but time will tell

I use AF build and HUFA in place of AF energy because i try my best to avoid anything with copper.

An addition of copper sulphate reduces the development of zooxanthellae and increases bright pastel colouring in SPS corals.

I don't want anything to be pastel looking unless it's supposed to be in my system so i think the hufa is pretty close to the same thing minus copper sulphate.

I dose AF strontium and since i noticed the 5L of life bio fil suddenly bottomed out the nitrates i now dose aminos and power food. I have 20 liters of clean media which is a very potent bio filter i've recently discovered.

I also dose pro bio s morning and evening but only use i drop of np pro to every 3 of the bacteria. It works less efficiently but doesn't rip the nitrates down so out of proportion to the phosphates if i feed them bugger all.

So in short Marty, no i can't think of anything new to try after the vitamins..........

Kevin is doing well and might make a video or two with me soon........ :thumbsup:


Mozzie chromis trying to sleep under Sam's red frag.

 

[martinphillip03]

Alright, consumption has gone up about 30 ml, from 45 ml. Looks like things are headed in the proper direction. Soon you will need a calcium reactor.

Marty

Hey Marty,

The alk is 75ml atm mate, it dropped to 30ml for 3 days after i accidentally nuked the display with the new radiums. Can't say if the vitamins helped but time will tell

I use AF build and HUFA in place of AF energy because i try my best to avoid anything with copper.



I don't want anything to be pastel looking unless it's supposed to be in my system so i think the hufa is pretty close to the same thing minus copper sulphate.

I dose AF strontium and since i noticed the 5L of life bio fil suddenly bottomed out the nitrates i now dose aminos and power food. I have 20 liters of clean media which is a very potent bio filter i've recently discovered.

I also dose pro bio s morning and evening but only use i drop of np pro to every 3 of the bacteria. It works less efficiently but doesn't rip the nitrates down so out of proportion to the phosphates if i feed them bugger all.

So in short Marty, no i can't think of anything new to try after the vitamins..........

Kevin is doing well and might make a video or two with me soon........ :thumbsup:


Mozzie chromis trying to sleep under Sam's red frag.

 

[sparker1663]

Red frag looking the goods, is it holding red under lights? I still have a couple frags of it in my frag tank and the red is still getting brighter and brighter by the day. One or two have a wicked vibrant green marble around the base too. LOVING those frags

 

[Jndragon79]

Hey Marty,

The alk is 75ml atm mate, it dropped to 30ml for 3 days after i accidentally nuked the display with the new radiums. Can't say if the vitamins helped but time will tell

I use AF build and HUFA in place of AF energy because i try my best to avoid anything with copper.



I don't want anything to be pastel looking unless it's supposed to be in my system so i think the hufa is pretty close to the same thing minus copper sulphate.

I dose AF strontium and since i noticed the 5L of life bio fil suddenly bottomed out the nitrates i now dose aminos and power food. I have 20 liters of clean media which is a very potent bio filter i've recently discovered.

I also dose pro bio s morning and evening but only use i drop of np pro to every 3 of the bacteria. It works less efficiently but doesn't rip the nitrates down so out of proportion to the phosphates if i feed them bugger all.

So in short Marty, no i can't think of anything new to try after the vitamins.......... [emoji14]

Kevin is doing well and might make a video or two with me soon........ [emoji106]


Mozzie chromis trying to sleep under Sam's red frag.

I love the info in this post. I've been doing some research on the af line recently. now I just need to order my vitamins and monitor my tank

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[honkit]

Okay Biggles, you have convinced me on the vitamins - I went to the store and bought a bottle of AF Coral V. Hope I get the same results you have after 3 weeks.

 

[Haksar]

Good to know you joined the AF bandwagon . Are you using AF reef salt or probiotic .
I have a calcium reactor so dose AF ABC and Reef salt . I am really interested in the 3:1 combo dosing of NP pro and Pro bio S . Will try it out . Thanks for the feedback .

 

[shih87]

Ha.... I did not aware that you use AF as well. Good color performance!!!

 

[biggles]

Alright, consumption has gone up about 30 ml, from 45 ml. Looks like things are headed in the proper direction. Soon you will need a calcium reactor.

Marty

I'd love to run a calcium reactor Marty but i can't afford the setup costs involved so dosing will be it for me mate. Alk is 90ml now so still going in the right direction but visually i don't see much improvement in growth on many acros so who knows.

Red frag looking the goods, is it holding red under lights? I still have a couple frags of it in my frag tank and the red is still getting brighter and brighter by the day. One or two have a wicked vibrant green marble around the base too. LOVING those frags

Hey Sam, it's bright red under full lighting mate - awesome piece, thanks again mate

I love the info in this post. I've been doing some research on the af line recently. now I just need to order my vitamins and monitor my tank

Hi mate, just go slow and at least halve anything you dose when looking at the recommended doses. I like the AF stuff just because they're a lot more forthcoming with info on what's actually in each bottle i use and relatively cheap compared to what i would have to spend to get Triton stuff etc from Germany.

Okay Biggles, you have convinced me on the vitamins - I went to the store and bought a bottle of AF Coral V. Hope I get the same results you have after 3 weeks.

Worth a shot mate, i hope you see something positive too

Good to know you joined the AF bandwagon . Are you using AF reef salt or probiotic .
I have a calcium reactor so dose AF ABC and Reef salt . I am really interested in the 3:1 combo dosing of NP pro and Pro bio S . Will try it out . Thanks for the feedback .

Hey Haksar, i don't use AF salt atm mate, the last bucket i finished was red sea blue salt.

Ha.... I did not aware that you use AF as well. Good color performance!!!

Hi mate, yes i've been quite happy with how things have been going lately using quite a few AF products.


Yesterday Ken came and picked me up and we spent the afternoon hanging out with Dave and Mark at the shop until 5pm when it was time to close. We then went to Ken and Jen's house where Jen was cooking a roast lamb dinner for us which was followed by bread and butter pudding........... like this is my idea of heaven so i was spoiled rotten

At one point Jen decided to throw some boiled cauliflower (minus the cheese sauce) into the 8'x2.5'x2.5 freshwater display which the school of 8" clown loaches loved. Later after dinner Jen shelled four large prawns and took the heads off. She then chopped each one into three 1" long pieces of meat and proceeded to feed the heads to the freshwater fish once again.

You might wonder how any of this relates to something salty that you lot might be interested in.........

Just before Jen began feeding the prawn heads to the stupid loaches Ken had stated, " Watch Moo, she get's upset when Jen feeds prawn heads to the freshwater tank, and splashes water to get Jen's attention '.

Moo isn't the 5" yellow tang in Ken and Jen's 12' x 4' x 2.5' all 3/4" starfire SPS display....... Moo isn't the 8" achilles tang either....... can anyone spot a fish that might warrant a pet name ?
The skimmer is a two foot dia royal exclusive monster and there's another 3ft of cabinet left of the pic which contains enough electronic stuff to hijack the hubble telescope i reckon........ there's a computer box in there...... like a PC computer and that white acrylic cabinet panel far left slides out to reveal it all, the whole cabinet is lined top, bottom and sides with white acrylic.... looks crazy cool :spin2:

I've never felt intimidated by a fish before when it's giving me a dirty look, yellow tangs do it all the time i'm sure many of you have seen in your own display. Can i tell you something, it's a very different experience when the fish is 22 inches long......... then it's scary.

Thank you Ken and Jen for an awesome day and letting me check out the most epic SPS display (and fish) i will ever see in person

 

[markalot]

That is awesome, and so is Moo. I'm not sure Moo likes you.

 

[Jndragon79]

wow, that is so cool. never would have thought cauliflower would be a treat for loaches, well that and prawns

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[bif24701]

I'd love to run a calcium reactor Marty but i can't afford the setup costs involved so dosing will be it for me mate. Alk is 90ml now so still going in the right direction but visually i don't see much improvement in growth on many acros so who knows.







Hey Sam, it's bright red under full lighting mate - awesome piece, thanks again mate







Hi mate, just go slow and at least halve anything you dose when looking at the recommended doses. I like the AF stuff just because they're a lot more forthcoming with info on what's actually in each bottle i use and relatively cheap compared to what i would have to spend to get Triton stuff etc from Germany.







Worth a shot mate, i hope you see something positive too







Hey Haksar, i don't use AF salt atm mate, the last bucket i finished was red sea blue salt.







Hi mate, yes i've been quite happy with how things have been going lately using quite a few AF products.





Yesterday Ken came and picked me up and we spent the afternoon hanging out with Dave and Mark at the shop until 5pm when it was time to close. We then went to Ken and Jen's house where Jen was cooking a roast lamb dinner for us which was followed by bread and butter pudding........... like this is my idea of heaven so i was spoiled rotten



At one point Jen decided to throw some boiled cauliflower (minus the cheese sauce) into the 8'x2.5'x2.5 freshwater display which the school of 8" clown loaches loved. Later after dinner Jen shelled four large prawns and took the heads off. She then chopped each one into three 1" long pieces of meat and proceeded to feed the heads to the freshwater fish once again.



You might wonder how any of this relates to something salty that you lot might be interested in.........



Just before Jen began feeding the prawn heads to the stupid loaches Ken had stated, " Watch Moo, she get's upset when Jen feeds prawn heads to the freshwater tank, and splashes water to get Jen's attention '.



Moo isn't the 5" yellow tang in Ken and Jen's 12' x 4' x 2.5' all 3/4" starfire SPS display....... Moo isn't the 8" achilles tang either....... can anyone spot a fish that might warrant a pet name ?

The skimmer is a two foot dia royal exclusive monster and there's another 3ft of cabinet left of the pic which contains enough electronic stuff to hijack the hubble telescope i reckon........ there's a computer box in there...... like a PC computer and that white acrylic cabinet panel far left slides out to reveal it all, the whole cabinet is lined top, bottom and sides with white acrylic.... looks crazy cool :spin2:

I've never felt intimidated by a fish before when it's giving me a dirty look, yellow tangs do it all the time i'm sure many of you have seen in your own display. Can i tell you something, it's a very different experience when the fish is 22 inches long......... then it's scary.

Thank you Ken and Jen for an awesome day and letting me check out the most epic SPS display (and fish) i will ever see in person

Is that a Deltec? It's huge!


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[reefmutt]

Holy crap! That tank is so big, everything looks miniaturized!
That is awesome!
Andrew why do you use AF fish v instead of AF Vitality?
Oh and where are the pics????? This is a new page. Don't get soft on us.
What led panels are they using over big moo's head?

 

[Jndragon79]

Thanks for the advice on the AF line. For your vitamins, how often do you dose your tank? Every night or once a week? I have been dosing mine at night during an interval when I shut my skimmer and micro bubbler off to avoid over skimming or pulling the vitamins out of the water. The interval is about 4 hrs and I also dose reef roids during that time as well. I have both come back on at midnight to scrub the water again.