mpderksen
New member
About a month ago, too many things happened at once, but my coral growth across the entire tank has accelerated. I want to understand it, and consider which variable made a difference.
1. We were painting, so the tank had to be move away from the wall. I had to disconnect the lights from the hanging fixtures and set them right on top of the tank. I did NOT lower the intensity. As such, the PAR level certainly increased.
2. A month ago, I added an auto-feeder to my Apex. Also infrequently started putting in about 10ml of Phyto weekly. Generally was feeding more.
3. 2-3 weeks ago, the AWC system was added (DOS unit) to swap a gallon/day. At that point, I stopped dosing 2-part, to see if NSW would keep up. Ca yes, Alk, no, so I'm only doing that to keep it at 10.
4. My HANNA read 000 PO4 (it's the higher level one I got by mistake). So 2 weeks ago I turned off the dual reactor. I generally used to change the GFO when I saw a level of 0.03.
The tank is now almost 2 years old, and all along the 1" SPS frags haven't done anything I would count as real growth. In the last week, EVERYTHING is growing. Zoas are splitting (a 9 poly Rasta now has 13), I see new heads on my LPS, and even the SPS I had almost given up on is visibly growing.
At this point, I don't want to mess with what's working, but do you think I was maybe keeping it TOO clean? I had battled GHA a long time, and it's gone now, but did I strip the water too much and that was inhibiting growth?
1. We were painting, so the tank had to be move away from the wall. I had to disconnect the lights from the hanging fixtures and set them right on top of the tank. I did NOT lower the intensity. As such, the PAR level certainly increased.
2. A month ago, I added an auto-feeder to my Apex. Also infrequently started putting in about 10ml of Phyto weekly. Generally was feeding more.
3. 2-3 weeks ago, the AWC system was added (DOS unit) to swap a gallon/day. At that point, I stopped dosing 2-part, to see if NSW would keep up. Ca yes, Alk, no, so I'm only doing that to keep it at 10.
4. My HANNA read 000 PO4 (it's the higher level one I got by mistake). So 2 weeks ago I turned off the dual reactor. I generally used to change the GFO when I saw a level of 0.03.
The tank is now almost 2 years old, and all along the 1" SPS frags haven't done anything I would count as real growth. In the last week, EVERYTHING is growing. Zoas are splitting (a 9 poly Rasta now has 13), I see new heads on my LPS, and even the SPS I had almost given up on is visibly growing.
At this point, I don't want to mess with what's working, but do you think I was maybe keeping it TOO clean? I had battled GHA a long time, and it's gone now, but did I strip the water too much and that was inhibiting growth?
