Getting that color??
- Thread starter allsps40
- Start date
allsps40
New member
Update to those that are following this. I have gotten my colors 90% where they should be at this point and growth is good. Stabilizing the parameters played a big part in coloring the sps up after my bleaching them browning event from my lighting, as did the change in lighting. Feeding the corals Zooplankton and the tank Rods Food has increased PE in many corals and may be aiding in color and growth. I have started vodka again, 2 weeks ago. Dosing 2 drops daily, about .01 daily. Other changes not really related but changes. I replaced my Mag3 that I was using after my CAP 2200 died, with a Mag5 and got rid of the cheap shut off valve I had with a ball valve. I was feeling like I did not have enough flow to the sump with the Mag3. The Cap was rated at around 450gph and the Mag3 is 350gph. After putting the Mag 5 online the skimmer went nuts for a few days, it was skimming like I wish I always should. After a few days it back to normal ish, seem to be skimming a little darker. I feel that confirms I had to little flow to my sump with the temp pump. After cleaning the fuge, replacing the sand, having the light in fuge off for 2 weeks and cooking the fuge LR for 3 weeks the CCA is coming back in the fuge. I give up on this one, hoping the vodka will take care of it along with the phos remover. Most of the new sps I got are still settling in and need to color up, but they are getting there. Now for some over exposed pics.
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allsps40
New member
You can kind of see the colors are improving in the pics and you can really see the new growth. The first sps in the pics is my Scrips Milli, the new tits are purple, finally purple tips! You can see for improved color and growth in the Hawkins. The Tenuis is a brighter green with light purple tips. The last on in the pics I dont know what it is, can anyone ID it for?? You can really see the growth in that one and the color has gone from a brown with white tips to green with light blue tips.
LifeAquatic
New member
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Sup bro! Why did you start dosing Vodka again? Werent you having trouble with the Vodka?
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Sup bro! Why did you start dosing Vodka again? Werent you having trouble with the Vodka?
allsps40
New member
Yes I was having problem with the vodka at first. I started up again because I can not get rid of the CCA in my fuge. I have gotten very aggressive with trying to remove it (see older posts). I am hoping that vodka will kill it off, I dont even care if it kills my chaeto at this point. I will just turn my fuge into a cryptic fuge. With all the sponges in my tank they will take over the fuge in no time. I am taking a different approach to the vodka this time. I am currently dosing 3 drops a day to the sump, just increased from 2 drops. I did 2 drops daily for 2 weeks with no ill effects so I increased the dose. I think I will continue this dose for a while and see how it goes. I am also thinking about MB7 along with the vodka. Since cleaning out and shutting down my fuge my no3 went from 0 to 10 ppm on API. Since starting the fuge again and vodka no3 has gone to 5 ppm. So far so good as things go. For me following the recommended vodka dosing as explained in the Reef Keeping vodka how to and then cutting the dose in half must have been to much. I saw my Xenia shrink to almost nothing, not that I care for it much but it dose look cool when it pulses and I lost my Lord Aussie Acan. Along with some ill effect to the sps. Oh I was also having cyano showing up before. Not having a problem with it now.
aquaph8
Love The Fish
I dose every day. My 125 gets about 8 drops. Follow the directions and then you can bump it up or down depending on your observations. If you run into cyano again consider adding vinegar to your mix. It seems to help and its weaker so you can ramp up your dosing a little slower if you want.
dublo8
New member
I'm glad to see things are working out for you with the vodka. I know you and I talked about the vodka before with my other tank and I ended up taking the Vit C. route instead. Our tanks are very similar (see the sig). After starting the VC it made a huge difference within a week. Water clarity was the first thing I noticed and changes to my zoa garden happened very dramatically. Almost, all my zoa's started "brightening" up. My SPS started to do the same. I am following pufferpunk's personalized recommendations for my water volume and took a 3rd off the required amount. I dose 4 drops of MB7 twice weekly. 2 drops of AA's weekly, I also run carbon and, GFO in a BRS reactor.
Our bio load is pretty similar as well, 2 clowns, 2 blue/green chromis, Yellow watchman, 6 line wrass, CUC etc etc. I feed rods original daily. once a week I add reef roids and reef chili to the rods and turn off the power heads and feed like normal. I like to broadcast feed my coral vs. spot feeding. No need to blast them with food, I'm sure they will get plenty from the water column to begin with. I'm also surprised you get 0 P04 with feeding flake. That was the first problem I ran into and completely stopped feeding flake and pellets all together.
Enough about me and lets talk about the coral. I have one particular coral that I have had for nearly a year. it's a pink stylo that started out as 1/8th inch frag (seriously) got a little growth in the beginning and then it browned out. After starting VC and mb7 within 3 weeks color started coming back, 2 weeks after that I noticed new growth, something I hadn't seen on this coral in some time. Now after continuing the VC regimen for about 4-5 months I believe it was the right choice.
Also, my other hobby is photography, so if you want some pics and you don't live very far away, I can take some better pics if you need.
Our bio load is pretty similar as well, 2 clowns, 2 blue/green chromis, Yellow watchman, 6 line wrass, CUC etc etc. I feed rods original daily. once a week I add reef roids and reef chili to the rods and turn off the power heads and feed like normal. I like to broadcast feed my coral vs. spot feeding. No need to blast them with food, I'm sure they will get plenty from the water column to begin with. I'm also surprised you get 0 P04 with feeding flake. That was the first problem I ran into and completely stopped feeding flake and pellets all together.
Enough about me and lets talk about the coral. I have one particular coral that I have had for nearly a year. it's a pink stylo that started out as 1/8th inch frag (seriously) got a little growth in the beginning and then it browned out. After starting VC and mb7 within 3 weeks color started coming back, 2 weeks after that I noticed new growth, something I hadn't seen on this coral in some time. Now after continuing the VC regimen for about 4-5 months I believe it was the right choice.
Also, my other hobby is photography, so if you want some pics and you don't live very far away, I can take some better pics if you need.
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