Help Me Color My SPS. Timeline

[markalot]

Well i water tested today and i got the following.
8dkh as always on salifert
5ppm no3 salifert
0 po4 on hanna....
So i was like wth i have been getting .09 lately. Well apparently i had been doing it wrong. I was pressing the black button and not holding it. Therefore i would never get a timer countdown. I would add solutiong once c2 came out , swirled it untill diluted, put the tube in and pressed the black button. It would blink a few times with a --- on the screen, and i would get a number. Apparently this was wrong, since like i said you must hold untill countdown appears to get the correct reading.

Anyways, after seeing 0's today and last night i wondered ..whats eating up all the phosphate? ?. I have gfo offline as well as gac. Im still running matrix and macro (cheato). So i decided to feed the tank and test an hour later. No way i could have 0 po4. Well an hour later i got a .04 a bit better. Guess i will have to keep an eye out on this, since i dont want to starve out the tank again.

Maybe .04 PO4, maybe just particulates in the water effecting the reading. This is why I prefer the ELOS Expert high rez kit rather than the Hanna. Sahin and other long term reefers recommended this kit. Only a few places sell it, and don't get the regular kit which is no good, must be the expert high rez kit.

So the super clean rocks and clear water make sense now, 0 PO4. You will find that things can suck up PO4 like rocks and new sand. It's probably best to treat feeding like dosing and get a schedule of feeding set and then adjust as needed. I've been making a habit of feeding a little coral food every day with a big gob of it once or twice a week.

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Maybe .04 PO4, maybe just particulates in the water effecting the reading. This is why I prefer the ELOS Expert high rez kit rather than the Hanna. Sahin and other long term reefers recommended this kit. Only a few places sell it, and don't get the regular kit which is no good, must be the expert high rez kit.

So the super clean rocks and clear water make sense now, 0 PO4. You will find that things can suck up PO4 like rocks and new sand. It's probably best to treat feeding like dosing and get a schedule of feeding set and then adjust as needed. I've been making a habit of feeding a little coral food every day with a big gob of it once or twice a week.

Guess i will have to order that elos then. I tested today and im at .10 po4 and holding at 5 ppm no3. Guess i will try to hold these number here and see the progress. But yea today i have seen amazing p.e which could be things are on their way up

 

[markalot]

Guess i will have to order that elos then. I tested today and im at .10 po4 and holding at 5 ppm no3. Guess i will try to hold these number here and see the progress. But yea today i have seen amazing p.e which could be things are on their way up

Nicely done. I'm still all over the place, probably because I insist on running bio-pellets otherwise PO4 never stops climbing. At least that is how I think it works, unfortunately I have a bad habit of changing too many things at once.

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Quick update on the tank.i have to report that ever since*stopping prodibio and increasing nutrients , my tank is doing amazing. Things are coloring up very nice to include reds and pinks which i have never been able to have. Right now i am at*
No3 25ppm yes 25 salifert
Po4 at .09 hanna
8 dkh salifert
420 calc salifert
1400 mag salifert
Temp steady at 78f
I guess like some of you said my low nutrients were at fault. I have stopped kno3 dosing, to let no3 drop a bit since its a bit high. However i*will let tank settle on its own, as opposed*to adding any chems.
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[milsaltnewbie07]

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[mhucasey]

Woot! I'm so happy that it is working out for you! The corals look great!!

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

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[milsaltnewbie07]

Woot! I'm so happy that it is working out for you! The corals look great!!

Thanks Matt. So happy, i gave up on the whole ulns experience and went back to k.i.s.s lol. Btw keep those updates going on that of yours. That aquaforest stuff looks amazing

 

[mhucasey]

It's funny how many amazing tanks were created before anyone knew what their Phosphate values were

I'm testing but resisting the urge to do any changes unless the corals give me a reason to...easier said than done of course

 

[scrapz]

If youre coral are not dying, leave the system alone for a few weeka to stabilize. Getting good colors is all about stability, not chasing number. You'll see many great tanks with parameters in all sorta of ranges.
K.I.S.S. method.

Not a told you so but yeah.. This years trend seems to be chasing numbers with so much use of chemical solutions. I just feel like people should sit back and let nature run its course sometimes.

Take mhucasey for example, he is reading high phos and nits but his corals are looking better than ever and he is just going by eye instead of trying to fix it.

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Not a told you so but yeah.. This years trend seems to be chasing numbers with so much use of chemical solutions. I just feel like people should sit back and let nature run its course sometimes.

Take mhucasey for example, he is reading high phos and nits but his corals are looking better than ever and he is just going by eye instead of trying to fix it.

Couldn't agree more with you scrapz. From now on im done with all the chasing low nutrients. Tank is looking so good right now that im just gonna play it by ear.. or eyes lol. Im even considering stopping WC or moving them to EOW instead of weekly. Anyways, lets pray this succes isn't short lived

 

[scrapz]

Water changes are always good since our tanks cannot naturally replenish what it takes out. I've noticed less mature tanks require more water changes and the opposite for mature tanks. A every other week regiment sounds good or maybe just a smaller volume water change every week could be good also.

Good luck and I hope your tan continues thriving.

 

[markalot]

Great results, glad it worked out. It's funny, sometimes .08 PO4 and 25 nitrates will brown out my corals and sometimes it makes them look great.