Higher Calcium Level for SPS Growth? (vs Health)

[Wally.B]

OVERHEAD Shot Time:

So, Algae is getting under control.

Still have gas bubbles over the rocks after MH light time. I assume this is part of a cycle.

Took the opportunity to take some overhead shots during water change time.

No Actinic lights on these Photo's. Just pure White LED. ISO 400.

Coral Health (to me) looks not too bad after a VERY stressful month.

I'll compare growth to Last month in a couple days.

Some corals are still on brown side. Some still pale.

But some have improved quite a bit.

Anyone have opinion on general colors? Health?

I'm getting a bit of confidence to start restoring Photo Period back up to Original 6 hrs SLOLWLY (currently @ 4.5 hrs).
Too Early, since Algae/Cyano might come back?

Might also start feeding corals very lightly (Once a week).

 

[reefmutt]

Acros look a bit stressed as does that turninaria but some of the other sps look ok.
Good encrusting by many corals..
You know what I'm going to say...
Don't change the lights.
Did you get more snails?
I'm not against feeding the corals once a week but I wouldn't start that until the rocks are all clean.
Imo, the course of action is wait for cuc to clean out the algae.
This may take a week or two..
Test parameters
Maybe start feeding corals a bit more for a week or two- assuming nutrients are good and by this I mean n around 3-5 ppm and p under .05..
Test parameters
Then consider changing lights..
Assuming calc/alk are good and stable, don't change much else for now..

 

[sensei]

Wally,
what are your NO3 and PO4 values now?
did you test them when you had the algae boom?

 

[Myka]

I wouldn't change anything until the algae is 100% under control. Until then, you really don't know what your numbers are for N and P. You have a fair bit obviously.

 

[Wally.B]

Wally,
what are your NO3 and PO4 values now?
did you test them when you had the algae boom?

My N barely reads on my kit <0.2
My P reads 0.04
During and before Algae.

However as Myka (Mindy) mentions in post above, While Algae is growing and using up both, it is not a accurate reading at this point.

However even before even a spot of Algae, both N & P was barely readable over last year year.
I'm no expert by any degree, but I don't think my N & P was ever high, or is currently high.
I think I sparked and fueled my Algae/Cyano bloom, by Amino Acid overload, and over feeding corals nutrients like PhytoPheast and Osterfeast, which I now have stopped. Now doing Amino's very sparingly.

Another possible BIG FACTOR was the sudden drop in proper skimming, when I did correction/fix for Unstable over Wet skimming.

I need more fish to raise N/P with more feeding and fish waste (natural coral feeding), but at this point trying to get more snails and crabs. (for now, for Algae).

 

[sensei]

Wally,
do you have a GFO reactor or any other phosphate remover in your aquarium now?
I just want to now if the improvements you had in color were with or with out a phosphate media in place?

 

[Wally.B]

Wally,
do you have a GFO reactor or any other phosphate remover in your aquarium now?
I just want to now if the improvements you had in color were with or with out a phosphate media in place?

I had GFO (RhowaPhos Media) on the system at the time of improvements.
It was always on for months (As a safety net, even though I had non detectable P on tests)

I recently took it off (briefly) to see if P would go up.

Then I had Algae problem, so to be safe put it back on.

Then just recently Algae started getting under control, so took it off again.

I think in my case for MY Nutrient Starved Corals, Colors improved due to my Coral Feedings, Extra Fish Feedings, and Amino's + other Additives (Which I over did, and got Algae & Cyano Bloom as a result).

 

[Myka]

(Which I over did, and got Algae & Cyano Bloom as a result).

I think you are still greatly misunderstanding what has happened. You may have overdone it a bit, but your MAIN issue was (is still?) your extremely lacking CUC. oh and tinkering. [emoji14]

So, did you plump up the CUC yet? I just added a few critters to my own tank.

 

[Wally.B]

I think you are still greatly misunderstanding what has happened. You may have overdone it a bit, but your MAIN issue was (is still?) your extremely lacking CUC. oh and tinkering. [emoji14]

So, did you plump up the CUC yet? I just added a few critters to my own tank.

I did get the CUC point LOUD and clear, and as I mentioned before, I really noticed some improvement with the 30 crabs. Sure I survived almost a year without any CUC, but that was before any significant nutrients.

Local Fish Store had a System Tank crash and won't have any CUC for a couple of weeks, or I'd have a bunch of snails by now.
So looking for other suppliers. Won't be too long.

BTW. I did a time lapse of my tank overnight with the Infrared Camera. Realy cool how much work the CUC crew does. Especially the snails. Will do a after Timelapse when I get more snails to compare (and post it)

I am considering a little harmless tinkering. Adding one of my spare powerheads to the back/lower sectionn of the tank for extra circulation.
I notice the front and middle cleaning up nicely with the Gyre. But not much circulation a the back bottom and it shows with bubbles on rocks.
Adding indirect circulation can't be a bad thing. Will cycle with Apex for daytime only.

 

[reefmutt]

Tinkering I approve of.. More circulation.
If you can post that time lapse, it would be cool to watch..

 

[Myka]

I approve circulation tinkering!

Sucks about the LFS. You coulda mentioned that in your details. [emoji14]

 

[Wally.B]

(Allowed ) CIRCULATION Tinkering (MaxiJet 1200 Addition), plus YouTube Video of Snails Doing Work overnight:

So here is my Tinker update.

Put in a Spare MajiJet 1200 with the Prop Attachament. Spec says I've added 1300 GPH.

Placed it at back behind Rock Scape. (Runs 11 hours Daytime)

And here is the promised Snail Video on YOU TUBE.

SNAIL VIDEO on YouTube

7 Minute time lapses stitched together. Goes InfraRed when light go out.
From 5pm to 5pm. (Sorry no music to make it exciting. But better than watching slow snails real time)

Currently I have about 11 snails. (More on the way!!!)

 

[Wally.B]

GROWTH COMPARE: 1 Month (June-July)

Not much growth for June-July (1 month).
Didn't expect much with instability.

That Bird of Paradise continuous to impress me with Growth, even under non-ideal conditions. Same for Red Dragon.

Don't compare colors. Actinic lights were off, by mistake, so some accent lighting missing.

Hoping for a better more stable NEXT month.

Should be possible. Since I'll be away on vacation for a bit, so won't be able to tinker (except remotely with Apex Fusion )

 

[biggles]

Can i ask where you keep your potassium level at Wally.

 

[Wally.B]

Can i ask where you keep your potassium level at Wally.

I don't have a potassium kit to measure it.

However I do have ZEOVit Potassium Iodide Automatic Elements in my sump (proper # of tabs).

 

[biggles]

I only ask because you have a very distinct lack of coralline algae growth in a 1yr+ reef system unless you're vinegar washing your pumps etc and scraping all the visible glass regularly.
Is the ZEOVit Potassium Iodide Automatic Elements stuff supposed to automatically maintain your potassium above 400 or something along those lines.

 

[Wally.B]

RED Dragon or Deep Water Acro?:

So I was looking at a Frag Store Ad email, and something caught my attention.

The frag I have probably isn't a Red Dragon, like some of you led me to believe.

See compares below. It's a Deep Water Acro, which is why when I bought it I had it placed at the bottom of my tank.

Here is the AD RED DRAGON:

Here is the AD for a DEEP WATER ACRO:

And here is MY FRAG

The reason this is interesting to me, is if my Deep water acros is doing much better higher up than it was for a year low down. It could mean my lights are raised too high, plus I need more photo period.

I'm not planning to tinker and change anything (since whatever Coral it is, it's starting to do well). Just observing.

 

[ZON]

your is a carduus 100%..not all carduus are red dragon or pacmans ...but not absolutely a deepwater like the pics above.

 

[DaveRaz]

I've just read the entire thread. Many of us rookies are going through the same issues regarding the po4 and no3 balancing act. Removing the gfo does allow algae to take hold yet the zero reading keeps the sps wanting more. I did the exact same thing and removed the gfo only for the algae to pop up. I'm going to leave it off and beef up my cuc as well. AThough I started with significantly more cuc than you did.

Also I use a gyre (130) on each end of my 4' tank at 100%, each alternating every 6 minutes with them crashing together every two hours for 5 minutes. After cranking up the flow the cyno had a tough time growing and eventually vanished after a couple weeks. The flow is rolling through my display and the fish sleep just fine. They adapt so don't worry about too much flow in your set up. Too much will not hurt anything in my experience. Not having enough flow causes problems. Also blow off your rocks with a turkey baster every day. I've noticed the gha subside with no diatoms or crap on the rock surface. With the flow turned way up it will help the stuff blown off your rocks find its way to your overflow and filter sock or settle in your sump but more importantly it gives your skimmer a chance to Yake it out if the water column.

I was feeding the corals but stopped when the gha showed up. As we know if the algae is present so are no3 and po4.

Keep up the good fight as this thread is very helpful to me and I'm sure many others.

 

[markalot]

The Red Dragon 'like' coral might do better in lower light and a more light loving acro moved to that top spot. IMO.