JBNY's 270 Ver2.0

[swk]

There's nothing better than a calrx with a carbon doser reg and master flex feed pump. ROCK solid alk. Since the switch from dosers I swear my colors are so much better and the Growth has gone to another level. Well worth every penny.

Plus, you don't have to worry about a doser malfunction nuking your tank. A win in every regard.

Incidentally I recently had a triton test done and between the IO for water changes and the reborn calrx media, things were looking very good, if you think the triton tests are close to accurate...but that's another story altogether [emoji6]

 

[JB NY]

Thanks, I'm excited to have the level of control over my effluent that the masterflex will bring. Last night's alk test was great, just a tiny bit higher, so I dropped it down to 27ml and will test again tonight.

I did a test Triton test back in June after I had used IO for about 300 gallons of water changes and it came out very good too. I'll dig it out and post it. I think the test is accurate enough for what we are doing.

 

[JB NY]

OK it was May when I last did a test. Here are the results.

Now that I am thinking about it, I think I am going to send out for another one and see how things are looking before the winter sets in.

 

[swk]

Was that with the calrx running? Which media? Would like me to post mine to compare? Your build thread and I don't wanna take it off track unless you are interested in seeing. I also post it in my tank thread as well

 

[JB NY]

Post away, no worries. Yeah that was with the reactor running, I have not dosed in probably 12 years. I use ARM normal grade. I purposefully keep my Ca around 450 and Mg around 1400 as I have had my best success with those levels so I supplement my IO when doing water changes to match my tank.

 

[swk]

Alright. I'll share them when I get home. I also boost ca and mag (although my Red Sea mag test is off, as you will see) and I also drop alk with muratic. That was a main reason in sending off a test, to see if using the muratic was adding anything undesirable. It did not.

Your lithium doesn't seem to be as high as many running IO!

 

[Leopardshark]

Wow, sad to see how your former tank went downhill but good to know you´re back on business!
I´m curious as to why you stick to mh 250w instead of 400.
Right now I´m going back to the hobby again and your input will be very appreciatted.
Kind regards
Marco

 

[ksed]

I noticed your Sr is elevated but that is expected as you are dosing.
Are you also dosing K. It appears a tad high for IO?

 

[JB NY]

Wow, sad to see how your former tank went downhill but good to know you´re back on business!
I´m curious as to why you stick to mh 250w instead of 400.
Right now I´m going back to the hobby again and your input will be very appreciatted.
Kind regards
Marco

Yeah it was a pretty bad crash. The setback for a few years really sucked. To add insult to injury, right in the middle of the summer during the crash I had a Reef BBQ and had quite the heavy hitters at the house. Tank was in full meltdown at the time, dead corals, bryopsis, sponge over the rocks, oh it was ugly. Luckily I fed them lots of drinks so we just had a good time,

As to why I did not use 400 watt? For some reason 250 watts have always performed great for me. Even with 250 watts, I still have to light acclimate a lot to get acros at the top third of the tank. Putting corals at the bottom of the tank they still color up great, I think for me the way I keep the tank, (lots of water changes, carbon, ozone, etc) 400 watt MH would be too much light.

I noticed your Sr is elevated but that is expected as you are dosing.
Are you also dosing K. It appears a tad high for IO?

I stopped dosing Sr after that test. K is a little high, but most people who dose for color try to keep it a little high, so I was not concerned at all.

You have to remember the tank is 7 years old, I have used at least 4 different salts extensively over the years, at the time of this test I had just switched to IO about 6 weeks prior, and performed about 300 gallons of water changes with it.

 

[MIKE NY]

Great pic Joe...I enjoyed all of yours and their presentations. I guess I've been lucky in all the years my tanks have been running I never had a full crash, but I've had more than a few minis in which I've battled HA, Bryopsis, alk swings, red bugs, flatworms etc.... Lost a few pieces here and there but most always survived. Even had velvet sweep through my tank even though I QT and lost about 25% of my fish. It's almost impossible to catch all the fish in a large well stocked reef so it had to run its course.
I also have been using 250 watters for years... I recently changed to Radiums on Hamilton M80 HQI ballasts. I really like them. I just can't justify the extra cost of electricity and heat for alittle more growth of 400s.

 

[Flatlander]

Joe, the reactors effluent line is directly connected to the dosing pump?

 

[swk]

Got a little distracted by the birth of new kiddo, but I'll post those triton results of mine when I get a chance. The fact that you don't have 100% IO in there explains a lot [emoji6]

 

[mhucasey]

Those Triton numbers look pretty good! The ability to test as such a detailed level is an amazing development in this hobby. It would be nice to get to the point of being able to identify exactly what the cause is when a tank is doing poorly, we are getting there but its not all the way there yet. Bacterial culturing may be the next frontier....

 

[Reef or Die]

Great thread! one thing I have always wanted(other than colorful frags) are rocks as purple as yours. It seems rare as I hardly ever see people's tanks with rocks that purple. Sounds kind of funny but I will not be happy in this hobby until my rocks are that purple. Guess I better go buy some strontium and a calcium reactor. .

 

[JB NY]

Great pic Joe...I enjoyed all of yours and their presentations. I guess I've been lucky in all the years my tanks have been running I never had a full crash, but I've had more than a few minis in which I've battled HA, Bryopsis, alk swings, red bugs, flatworms etc.... Lost a few pieces here and there but most always survived. Even had velvet sweep through my tank even though I QT and lost about 25% of my fish. It's almost impossible to catch all the fish in a large well stocked reef so it had to run its course.
I also have been using 250 watters for years... I recently changed to Radiums on Hamilton M80 HQI ballasts. I really like them. I just can't justify the extra cost of electricity and heat for alittle more growth of 400s.

Thanks Mike, I don't think I would have had the crash I did if it were not for that sponge. I have had bad Bryopsis before, and while I lose a good deal of coral in the heavily affected areas, I have always been able to come back from it. Pulling the coral out and pulling the bryopsis back showed me how invasive that sponge was. I really thought that I would swap out the rock, restock and be back in business. Unfortunately I got hit by a string of bad luck when trying to restart the tank that set me back.

I agree, I have never seen the need for 400 watters either. 250 for me and I bleach corals coming from other 400 watt tanks, I've never really understood what I am doing different but I seem to get a lot of light in my tank too.

Joe, the reactors effluent line is directly connected to the dosing pump?

Yes, that is exactly what I am doing.

Got a little distracted by the birth of new kiddo, but I'll post those triton results of mine when I get a chance. The fact that you don't have 100% IO in there explains a lot [emoji6]

Congrats! I think the birth can take center stage for a while, no worries.

Those Triton numbers look pretty good! The ability to test as such a detailed level is an amazing development in this hobby. It would be nice to get to the point of being able to identify exactly what the cause is when a tank is doing poorly, we are getting there but its not all the way there yet. Bacterial culturing may be the next frontier....

I was plenty happy with those results. Although the fact that they came back so good makes it all the more frustrating when you are trying to find something to explain the lack of success at the time. I agree sometime soon we can hopefully be able to get some more information to really pinpoint those problems we all have from time to time.

Great thread! one thing I have always wanted(other than colorful frags) are rocks as purple as yours. It seems rare as I hardly ever see people's tanks with rocks that purple. Sounds kind of funny but I will not be happy in this hobby until my rocks are that purple. Guess I better go buy some strontium and a calcium reactor. .

Personally I think it has to do with Sr as well as not too much light. In my tank the rocks at the lower levels have always had the best coralline on them and the upper rocks not so much. I am running radiums now and it is much less light than when I ran Aquaconnect, XM10K, or Ushio. I think the lower light values helps to get and keep the coralline growing.

 

[JB NY]

I know the page is young but some more photos may be in order, Joe.

Here are a few that are doing pretty good at the moment.

 

[reefmutt]

Nice!
Are they no names or are they named corals?
What's the third one? It's got a hint of orange..
I like the blue polyps in the last one as well.
The fourth coral looks a lot like a type of coral that I have been seeing in Montreal a lot. The store that keeps them runs a zero nutrient system and he gets all sorts of crazy colours out of them but when I bring them home into higher nutrients, they almost always turn brown and do nothing..

 

[sahin]

Joe, I love the 1st and 3rd; the colours look great. What camera and lens are you shooting with? Apologies if its already mentioned somewhere in the thread. I really like the quality of the shots. :beer:

 

[jimroth]

Joe, congratulations on the rejuvenation of your reef! I have been struggling with various issues myself since Sandy, and feel like I am finally back in control, and I'm growing nice acros again. Going back to the Calcium and Kalk reactors was key for me, plus the ongoing battle against LARS.

 

[JB NY]

Nice!
Are they no names or are they named corals?
What's the third one? It's got a hint of orange..
I like the blue polyps in the last one as well.
The fourth coral looks a lot like a type of coral that I have been seeing in Montreal a lot. The store that keeps them runs a zero nutrient system and he gets all sorts of crazy colours out of them but when I bring them home into higher nutrients, they almost always turn brown and do nothing..

They are named corals.
#1.BC (Battlecorals) Soda pop
#2 BC Rainbbows in Spain
#3 UC Pikachu
#4 BC Fire Polyp
#5 BC Therman's Rainbow
#6 BC Battlejuice

The color thing is a delicate balance of not a lot of nutrients and not too much, I have had very good success with keeping levels very low, but always felt that a little more would bring out the color better. So for this tank I am really trying to keep a little more than I did in the past. So far I think it is working, but time will only tell.

Joe, I love the 1st and 3rd; the colours look great. What camera and lens are you shooting with? Apologies if its already mentioned somewhere in the thread. I really like the quality of the shots. :beer:

Hey Sahin, Thanks your shots are still much better, but I am working on mine. I am shooting with a Nikon D7100 (I know you are looking at Canon now) with the Tokina 100mm Macro lens. I think this combo, the Nikon D7100 really is a super fine camera, takes wonderful pictures. Of course it really helps if I can keep my hand steady for the overhead ones. I still need to work out a better way for taking overhead shots and not having the camera shake. My pics I think are getting much better, these ones have more green in them than in real life. I still need to play with the settings a little to get it more accurate, but I'm pretty happy with them overall.

Joe, congratulations on the rejuvenation of your reef! I have been struggling with various issues myself since Sandy, and feel like I am finally back in control, and I'm growing nice acros again. Going back to the Calcium and Kalk reactors was key for me, plus the ongoing battle against LARS.

Thanks Jim, good to see you are getting back as well. Now that we get our tanks going again we have another hurricane threat, let's hope for no problems this week from Joaquin. I need to get my kalk reactor back on line. I have tried a few times to put the kalk back in the mix, but my ca demands are still so low, that even at really low amounts I still end up raising my alk more than I want.

We all struggle with LARS at times my friend.