A Splash of Color

[biggles]

I have tomorrow off so i will detail exactly what i have running and what i put in the water and why but i think i should run my little experiment for another 3 months before i try to confuse you all again lol. I made a mess of explaining myself as usual but i'll document the effects of what i'm doing better now that i have things ticking along rather nicely.

So we are absolutely clear on things in the mean time i dose trace hard mainly because i stopped doing water changes last December and thought it would assist in making up for element loss. Been using it in a weekly dose for over a year and never saw anything great as a result but didn't see anything bad except like Bulent it seemed to feed cyano a bit.

I believe it is because certain chemicals in trace hard are also in Koralcolor that the 'mix' i am using is acting differently to using either product alone but i will do a few experiments to make sure of my facts before trying to make you all have a rethink about anything :beer:

Koralcolor is water and four chemicals only. One is Manganese chloride which is also present in salifert trace hard, the element i was rambling on about earlier in a confused mess

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Hi Andrew,

What I would like to know specifically is how you established exactly what is in KoralColor. Did you send a sample for ICP testing? There is no ingredients list on KoralColor.

Cheers

Bulent

 

[reefmutt]

Hi Andrew,

What I would like to know specifically is how you established exactly what is in KoralColor. Did you send a sample for ICP testing? There is no ingredients list on KoralColor.

Cheers

Bulent

Yes... I'm wondering, also.
And I should point out the lack of photos on this page......... In case you hadn't noticed.

 

[bibarassa]

Hi Andrew,
interesting…no water changes with "balling"

 

[reefmutt]

I think I remember Andrew going with a calcium reactor a while back.. I think..

 

[biggles]

Hi Andrew,

What I would like to know specifically is how you established exactly what is in KoralColor. Did you send a sample for ICP testing? There is no ingredients list on KoralColor.

Cheers

Bulent

Yes... I'm wondering, also.
And I should point out the lack of photos on this page......... In case you hadn't noticed.

I have Brightwell pdf files listing the ingredients of their products.

Hi Andrew,
interesting"¦no water changes with "balling"

I'm going to start doing regular small water changes again shortly since i feel weird not doing them lol. I use Randy's recipe for dosing alk etc. just like most people.

 

[reefmutt]

I have Brightwell pdf files listing the ingredients of their products.



I'm going to start doing regular small water changes again shortly since i feel weird not doing them lol. I use Randy's recipe for dosing alk etc. just like most people.

Well.... Cough up that pdf file!! Sheeesh!!! Waddya gotta do to get some info outta a guy???!??

And pics!

What? you got better things to do?!?

 

[Wrangy]

Well.... Cough up that pdf file!! Sheeesh!!! Waddya gotta do to get some info outta a guy???!??

Try searching the interwebs took me ten seconds Matt :lolspin: I'll give you a clue, it starts with M and ends in SDS lol

 

[biggles]

Try searching the interwebs took me ten seconds Matt :lolspin: I'll give you a clue, it starts with M and ends in SDS lol

It took me 20 seconds because i'm an old fart Dom :thumbsup:

 

[biggles]

Just type in google

brightwell koralcolor msds

 

[Wrangy]

It took me 20 seconds because i'm an old fart Dom :thumbsup:

:lolspin::lolspin:

 

[biggles]

I was going to pretend i hacked the Pentagon to get the info so i looked like a cool espionage spy guy Dom............... you ruined that for me mate.........

 

[markalot]

Just type in google

brightwell koralcolor msds

Fails to find anything with MSDS in the search.

https://www.google.com/search?num=5....0..0.0....0...1c..64.serp..0.0.0.Zamp68JZEG4

Ha, but if I link the search and click on it, there they are. Effing google.

Proprietary blend of Cobalt chloride, Sodium
feredetate, Manganese chloride, Lithium chloride

 

[Wrangy]

I was going to pretend i hacked the Pentagon to get the info so i looked like a cool espionage spy guy Dom............... you ruined that for me mate.........

Ooops :worried: quick everyone pretend I didn't mention the MS-you-know-what and Andrew can have his spy moment

 

[biggles]

Your thread is far too popular and good info is scattered all over pages, so it might be useful if you could summarise your whole system:

1. Lighting: MH/T5/LED - 400w Radium/T5 ? /LED ?

2. Filtration: Skimmer + GAC + Siporax/Matrix + Liverock + Sand

3. Dosing Main: 3 part

4. Supplemental Dosing: 2ml of Salifert trace hard, 0.5ml of BA koral color and 2 drops of brightwell Lugols daily

5. Feeding: Not sure what you are currently feeding? Be good to see a list of foods and if you can confirm skimmate still being fed to corals at night?

6. Maintenance: No water changes. Only GAC; what is replacement frequency and rough amount?

7. Voodoo magic/singing to corals/TLC? :lol:

It would help if the basics of the system was in once place. What are your gut feeling as to why you are having the success?

Also, you bloody well always had great colours...always. So what is the main difference you are noticing in your corals now?

This may take a while lol........

I use 2 x 400W Radium halides over the display, both are driven by 400W HPS magnetic ballasts. The tank is 66"x32"x18" but 6" up one end is the overflow making the actual display 60x32x18. There is 2" perimeter bracing and a 4" wide center brace leaving two big openings over which each Radium sits 10" off the water. The 32" wide overflow end is against the wall so it's sticking out 66" into the middle of my lounge room peninsula style.
I have 2ft and 3ft triple cheapo T5 units down each long side side end to end covering the entire 5ft length of the display. The back side 3ft unit is only a double so i have a 81W RB/410nm light bar running beside it.
I use Giesemann T5 bulbs and each triple unit has:

Actinic +
Lagoon Blue
Pure Actinic

The double 3ft unit has no pure actinic bulb. All these lights are 4-5" off the water.

I run the pure actinics and LED bar for 12 hours a day.
The lagoon blues and actinic + run for 10 hours - 1 hour less at dawn and dusk.
The 400W Radiums run for 8 hours in the middle of the lighting period.

That took forever and was only number 1...............:spin3:

Do you want that much detail Sahin........:hmm4:

 

[Pife]

This may take a while lol........

I use 2 x 400W Radium halides over the display, both are driven by 400W HPS magnetic ballasts. The tank is 66"x32"x18" but 6" up one end is the overflow making the actual display 60x32x18. There is 2" perimeter bracing and a 4" wide center brace leaving two big openings over which each Radium sits 10" off the water. The 32" wide overflow end is against the wall so it's sticking out 66" into the middle of my lounge room peninsula style.
I have 2ft and 3ft triple cheapo T5 units down each long side side end to end covering the entire 5ft length of the display. The back side 3ft unit is only a double so i have a 81W RB/410nm light bar running beside it.
I use Giesemann T5 bulbs and each triple unit has:

Actinic +
Lagoon Blue
Pure Actinic

The double 3ft unit has no pure actinic bulb. All these lights are 4-5" off the water.

I run the pure actinics and LED bar for 12 hours a day.
The lagoon blues and actinic + run for 10 hours - 1 hour less at dawn and dusk.
The 400W Radiums run for 8 hours in the middle of the lighting period.

That took forever and was only number 1...............:spin3:

Do you want that much detail Sahin........:hmm4:

I don't know if he does but I find it amazing and very informative. Thanks for taking the time on your day off. Your tank is looking better and better.

 

[biggles]

I don't know if he does but I find it amazing and very informative. Thanks for taking the time on your day off. Your tank is looking better and better.

Thanks mate.

The T5's might seem like overkill alongside the 800W's of halides but i need them to allow me to scape the acros at sand level even out near the glass sides. I have to place most of the acans literally under overhanging acro branches so they don't receive direct light or they shrivel and die lol.
I don't need a PAR level check when all i have to do is stick an acan somewhere and see if it freaks out, if it does then an acro will do just fine down low in that spot.
There are many simple ways to work out what's what in your display without using testing equipment. :beer:

I have always run Radiums and there is no better set and forget lighting for dummies. You turn it on and you KNOW 100% that lighting is not and will never need to be a consideration in getting better colors or growth.
Use whatever lighting you want but if you have the opportunity to run 250W or 400W Radiums and your reef still looks blah then you KNOW 100% it's your water and can put all your time into working on that with no little niggle in the back of your mind about ' maybe i need to adjust the LED's or T5 combo....'

I don't like pure T5's only because there's no excitement to the display, no flashes of light and color as the light ripples bounce off the corals. T5's are awesome but i just like halide shimmer too much to consider using T5's only. I would do all T5 with a couple of blue LED bars if that gave the display some life though and Radiums ceased to be..........:twitch:

 

[sahin]

Hi Matt,

if I understood Andrew correctly, unlike the Zeovit methodology, Andrew does not target zooxanthellatae population on a coral. He targets one of the components of it, chlorophyll a, instead.

In a private conversation, Andrew posed me the following excellent question:

"Why do tree leaves change colour in fall?"

Andrew, can you elaborate on this a bit more. How do you target chlorophyll A???

 

[sahin]

Thanks for the lighting info mate. Now I made a big list so thats only 1 part.

 

[justy]

Hi Sahin
I think manganese interferes with energy pathways and the production of chlorphyll when it is above a certain concentration.
Although I may off got this wrong!
If so hopefully Andrew will correct me