allsps40
New member
Opps stop dosing vodka. Going back to KISS method.
Getting that color??
- Thread starter allsps40
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allsps40
New member
I keep things really stable. Everything I dose is dosed in the same amounts daily. Yeah I am stopping vodka now. I do do regular weekly water changes and no3 and po4 stay at 0. Going back to kalk top off and water changes only. One of the corals I gave my friend was not growing at all in my tank while others where growing nicely. In his tank it exploded with growth and color. Under 1 150w Phoenix in a 90g and an under rated skimmer, crazy.
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dzhuo
Active member
I agree with Glen. My corals are similar to yours. In fact, they are in even worse condition. Mine will pale out within 3 weeks and lose pretty much all polyp extension. Eventually within 2 to 3 months, they will slowly STN. I have been running GFO and ROX very aggressively for 6 months and my tank would grow nothing but dino. There are virtually no pods, sponge, or various other filter feeders. There are no micro-funga even in the fuge. Despite phosphate has never measured 0.00 (from Hana Checker), there would be a thin green powdery film on the glass every 2 days.
About 2 to 3 weeks ago, I decided to take both GFO and ROX offline and the result has been very positive. The dino has all but gone. The powdery film on the glass has not returned. The sand is whiter. The pods and sponge are returning. The water remain as clear and phosphate remains to be 0.00. The macro and corallines are growing again. I fully expect typical hair algae to come next and The corals haven't showing much changes yet but I believe my tank is changing for the better.
Basically I put in extra effort to upset and hurt my corals prior to the changes I made. I am going back to where I have had success before this tank: Skimmer, fuge and water change. I am even going to stop kalk; just 2-parts. Just one less thing to worry about and one less failure point. I hope my corals will appreciate the changes.
Good luck!
(And yes this camera is definitely better than the one before)
About 2 to 3 weeks ago, I decided to take both GFO and ROX offline and the result has been very positive. The dino has all but gone. The powdery film on the glass has not returned. The sand is whiter. The pods and sponge are returning. The water remain as clear and phosphate remains to be 0.00. The macro and corallines are growing again. I fully expect typical hair algae to come next and The corals haven't showing much changes yet but I believe my tank is changing for the better.
Basically I put in extra effort to upset and hurt my corals prior to the changes I made. I am going back to where I have had success before this tank: Skimmer, fuge and water change. I am even going to stop kalk; just 2-parts. Just one less thing to worry about and one less failure point. I hope my corals will appreciate the changes.
Good luck!
(And yes this camera is definitely better than the one before)
allsps40
New member
^ I have lots of very large sponges under my rock and several smaller ones as well, many different colors but mostly yellow, white and purple. I also have a good population of pods, it kept a sixline fat and happy until it got sucked into the skimmer 
. NO3 and PO4 are undetectable but I still have this really annoying cotton candy algae. I have stopped vodka dosing. I also made some cool changes and upgrades to my tank. I added the low level float to my top off bucket so my pump does not run dry. The really cool thing is I got a RKL with SL2 and Ph probe. This thing is cool, controls so many things and has many different functions. As of right now I have set up to run my light and turn it off if the temp get to 83+/ It is controlling my heater turn on at 77 degrees and turning off at 78. I also have it running my 2 Korillia 2s on wave maker mode. I really like the wave maker mode. No more crappy Coralife digital timer that did not work right, went through 2 of them. A little more added control, stability and automation of my reef tank. I need to add on a second PC4 to be able to use it for everything I want to, dont know if I can do that though. Also the Korillia 2s are noisy on start up and running in 10-15 second cycles it is annoying. Need to fix that with some air line tubing. I would like to get some Tunze Streams to replace the Korillias.
. NO3 and PO4 are undetectable but I still have this really annoying cotton candy algae. I have stopped vodka dosing. I also made some cool changes and upgrades to my tank. I added the low level float to my top off bucket so my pump does not run dry. The really cool thing is I got a RKL with SL2 and Ph probe. This thing is cool, controls so many things and has many different functions. As of right now I have set up to run my light and turn it off if the temp get to 83+/ It is controlling my heater turn on at 77 degrees and turning off at 78. I also have it running my 2 Korillia 2s on wave maker mode. I really like the wave maker mode. No more crappy Coralife digital timer that did not work right, went through 2 of them. A little more added control, stability and automation of my reef tank. I need to add on a second PC4 to be able to use it for everything I want to, dont know if I can do that though. Also the Korillia 2s are noisy on start up and running in 10-15 second cycles it is annoying. Need to fix that with some air line tubing. I would like to get some Tunze Streams to replace the Korillias.
allsps40
New member
Update. Sps looking less pale since stopping vodka MB7 again. For sure not doing that again. I have updated my RKL and it does even more now, very cool. Got it all dialed in now. Picked up a new Korilia 1050 for the wave maker as one of my K2's was still loud after I did the airline fix. I have removed my modded MJ600 as well, so now I only have the Korilia 1050 and Korilia 2 in the for in flow. I have them set up on the RKL waver maker in random intervals, this makes so really nice random flow. I have less turn over now but more random wave action. Turn over was 72gph now it is 51gph, my corals seem to like it. I also pick up a yellow eye tang to help eat the small patches of CCA that are on LR, plus they are cool. I know the tang police will probably come arrest me for having 2 tangs in 40B, I will be upgrading to a much larger tank in the near future. Besides my yellow tang is getting along with the yellow eye and they are both healthy and eat well.
The equipment that runs my reef.
My tangs
more new growth on the scripps
The equipment that runs my reef.
My tangs
more new growth on the scripps
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Ive been using the RK2 for over 4 years now. The wavemaker mode isnt worth running IMO. It clamins to run softstart on the pumps but like you said it makes noise everytime it turns on.
Ive read by many experts the best flow with powerhead style pumps is to just point them at each other 24/7. That will produce the most random/choatic type flows.
Its a neat thing to say the controller can do but in the end I wouldnt see any benefit in wavemaker mode. All that wavemaker stuff aside. The RK's are some of the best money you can spend on a tank. I couldnt imagine running a tank without one anymore.
Ive read by many experts the best flow with powerhead style pumps is to just point them at each other 24/7. That will produce the most random/choatic type flows.
Its a neat thing to say the controller can do but in the end I wouldnt see any benefit in wavemaker mode. All that wavemaker stuff aside. The RK's are some of the best money you can spend on a tank. I couldnt imagine running a tank without one anymore.
The standby feature is real nice for the skimmer when cleaning the cup or just having to shut it down cause its overflowing back in your sump.
I have the same 2 tangs as you in my reef.The yellow eye is the hardest working fish Ive ever kept. All day long from the first light to to lights out that fish just picks and picks at the rock. My yellow tang is 7 years old and the yellow eyed is about 3.
Do you ever have to scrape the glass? Your tank looks real clean to me. Ive never carbon dosed so I cant say to much. But I would think that sometimes less is more. I have the opposite problem as you. I have some acros that just stay brown while others hold their color well.
I have the same 2 tangs as you in my reef.The yellow eye is the hardest working fish Ive ever kept. All day long from the first light to to lights out that fish just picks and picks at the rock. My yellow tang is 7 years old and the yellow eyed is about 3.
Do you ever have to scrape the glass? Your tank looks real clean to me. Ive never carbon dosed so I cant say to much. But I would think that sometimes less is more. I have the opposite problem as you. I have some acros that just stay brown while others hold their color well.
dublo8
New member
Pictures are looking good. Sorry I wasn't able to get back to you with the photo sesh for your tank. My 2yr. old found my camera bags and broke my macro lens and my daughter is having breathing problems to boot.
But on to the happy stuff. Your tank is looking great btw. I hope things keep going in the direction they are. I stopped Vit C. dosing when I moved to my current tank and things are looking better as well. Plus it's so much less maintenance now LOL. I also started doing 10g water changes vs. the my normal 5g. and clarity in the tank has increased 10 fold and everything seems to be happier.
But on to the happy stuff. Your tank is looking great btw. I hope things keep going in the direction they are. I stopped Vit C. dosing when I moved to my current tank and things are looking better as well. Plus it's so much less maintenance now LOL. I also started doing 10g water changes vs. the my normal 5g. and clarity in the tank has increased 10 fold and everything seems to be happier.
allsps40
New member
Yeah I have a mag float that I run across the glass daily, but I dont get much on the glass. I never clean the back glass.
Sorry to hear that dublo8. I still up for some better pics of my corals. This older camera I have been using can measure white balance so the colors are better, I just can get any good close ups even with the Macro setting. My tangs are working out some problems right now the yellow tang is not liking the yellow eye right now. They doing some fighting with their surgeon knifes last night, no real harm done. They should clam down soon.
Sorry to hear that dublo8. I still up for some better pics of my corals. This older camera I have been using can measure white balance so the colors are better, I just can get any good close ups even with the Macro setting. My tangs are working out some problems right now the yellow tang is not liking the yellow eye right now. They doing some fighting with their surgeon knifes last night, no real harm done. They should clam down soon.
allsps40
New member
^ Thanks for the info. I was wondering is 8ppm was ok or not. I was just glad it was not like 20ppm. Will I see any difference in the corals with 0ppm TDS water? Salt water is off the chart with TDS. I would think that 8ppm is minimal???? Really shows you how well RO filters work, bringing TDS from the 4750-500ppm range to 8ppm.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
TDS means anything: minerals, salts, metals, cations or anions and any others suspended solids.
So...a TDS reading of 70 can mean that the 70 is a reading of calcium...or nitrates or even phosphates. TDS simply put is a measure of "stuff other than" H2O which is present in the sample of water. The other stuff can be anything.
A person can have a TDS reading of 5 and this could be phophates and cause algae problems for that person...meanwhile someone else can have a TDS reading of 50 and that 50 reading is there because the water still has some calcium present say; which wouldnt cause any algae problems.
So...a TDS reading of 70 can mean that the 70 is a reading of calcium...or nitrates or even phosphates. TDS simply put is a measure of "stuff other than" H2O which is present in the sample of water. The other stuff can be anything.
A person can have a TDS reading of 5 and this could be phophates and cause algae problems for that person...meanwhile someone else can have a TDS reading of 50 and that 50 reading is there because the water still has some calcium present say; which wouldnt cause any algae problems.
glennr1978
New member
For an SPS tank I wouldn't even consider using water that wasn't filtered through ro/di. As previously stated, you have no way of knowing what that 8ppm is so you should filter it out. JMO.
allsps40
New member
Here is a thought that I would like some opinions on. Do you think I am giving my corals to much light? I have the single 250w MH only running for 7 hours a day. Is that to much MH?? Should I cut the time down maybe even add some T5 actinics or Stunner LEDS and only run the MH for 4-5 hours?
LifeAquatic
New member
light
light
I would definitely cut the lighting back to about 6 hrs a day. I bet you would see some positive results soon. A 250wt light is really meant for tanks 24" tall. Running that 250wt for 7hrs a day over a 40g will stress the corals IMO. You might add some stunner strips for pop but the t5's will only make it worse.
light
I would definitely cut the lighting back to about 6 hrs a day. I bet you would see some positive results soon. A 250wt light is really meant for tanks 24" tall. Running that 250wt for 7hrs a day over a 40g will stress the corals IMO. You might add some stunner strips for pop but the t5's will only make it worse.
