JBNY's 270 Ver2.0

[reefmutt]

Oh yeah, I got some pics for everyone too!

Oh baby.. I need a cigarette and I don't even smoke.
What's the first shot?

 

[reefmutt]

Sort of. I monitor Nitrates pretty closely, I keep them around 5-10 ppm. Phosphates I really do not test anymore. However I was having some issues with my cheato not growing for about 6-8 months but my nitrates were fine so I just ignored it. Then, back in mid February I tested PO4 for the first time in about 8 months and they were at .52 lol! higher than I have had them in the past. In the end I swapped out the chaeto for some new stock from the LFS and the Phosphates started to come down, 2 weeks ago they were at .32 but I have not tested since. pH I don't really worry about, my apex monitors pH, it's always between 8.2 and 8.5 but I am not tracking it other than an occasional glance at the reading now and then.

So the high phosphate reading has really shone me that P is not nearly as important as I once thought it was years ago. My tank didn't brown out with P over 0 and didn't slow down growth at all. Lowering it has had no effect on anything either. I just still feel it is best not to let phosphates get too high which is why I took some corrective action.

Perhaps p becomes more significant (in terms of levels and movement up or down) when corals are not getting other elements that they need.. like he Z, I and Mang, you dose.. and maybe even the solid n levels allow for the corals to care less about p.. just thinking out loud..

 

[Usernam Invalid]

Speechless looking great joe [emoji106]

 

[afernandez]

Colors are so deep I love it!

That Bali shortcake looks amazing!
I will add it to my personal need to buy

 

[kevlow]

Everything looks amazing! Colors are off the charts great.

The high phosphates are really something to think about. Clearly, the balance of your system [light, nutrients, elements, flow, bacteria] allows this to not be an issue. I think someone else's tank might not stand up to that number.

You are clearly pushing into rare air! It is a joy to follow along.

 

[jpa14]

Your tank looks great..hove you done any water changes? If not how long since your last water chang?

 

[Piper27]

How did that dark red spot arrive in your setosa colony? Was it stung by another coral at one point or did it just show up? Normally grafts are green so it's kind of cool. Unless I am seeing this wrong. Pics look awesome too!

 

[SawCJack00]

Wow Joe, those are fantastic! I'm really glad to see the success you're having after the struggles. My tank is now 10 months old, and I've had quite a few struggles getting things on track, but I think I've finally gotten things rolling. I'll get a thread with pics up soon.

 

[JB NY]

Wow...amazing Joe!

Many thanks Chris. I'm very happy with this tank right now.

Oh baby.. I need a cigarette and I don't even smoke.
What's the first shot?

Hahah! Coloration is great right now. That first one is a ReefGen piece Blue Delicate. But it might be the same as the Fire and Ice?

Perhaps p becomes more significant (in terms of levels and movement up or down) when corals are not getting other elements that they need.. like he Z, I and Mang, you dose.. and maybe even the solid n levels allow for the corals to care less about p.. just thinking out loud..

I'm not sure. I think that the extra elements I am adding do help with color and health of the coral, but I am a firm believer that people blame problems on readings when other factors are in play. Too many times I see people have acros brown out and blame it on a phosphate change of 0.05 or some other measured parameter, when really they had their hands in the tank, or just did a bunch of fragging or moved the rocks around. People are also quick to make big changes to their whole system in response to parameter readings.

A perfect example is I have a beautiful green soli that has been encrusting for a long time and doing pretty well, but only encrusting. About 3 weeks ago it started to recede and has steadily been declining. I had friend over recently that was surprised I wasn't doing anything. But my thoughts were I should leave it alone and see what happens. If I loose it, then so be it, but no other corals are effected and breaking it apart might cause other problems in the tank. Now the recession looks to have stopped but I lost probably 80% of the coral. But if it starts to grow again, what does it matter? I think sometimes we have to accept that acros have a certain ebb and flow that you need to be aware of. Some corals are prone to recession, other times you lose a coral for no apparent reason. The problem is that people are paying hundreds of dollars for tiny frags, so I can see that they want to save it. But many times it's just how things go.

Speechless looking great joe [emoji106]

Thanks, so far so good.

Colors are so deep I love it!

That Bali shortcake looks amazing!
I will add it to my personal need to buy

Thanks, the extra nitrates definitely help to keep the colors so deep! That shortcake is a favorite of mine too.

Everything looks amazing! Colors are off the charts great.

The high phosphates are really something to think about. Clearly, the balance of your system [light, nutrients, elements, flow, bacteria] allows this to not be an issue. I think someone else's tank might not stand up to that number.

You are clearly pushing into rare air! It is a joy to follow along.

Thanks, I agree that high phosphates are not were you want to be long term. Numbers are coming down, so I'm not too concerned but initially I was a little shocked, I've never had my P be that high before. I pretty much decided that I would stop chasing numbers and not measuring phosphates was one of those things I stopped checking.

Your tank looks great..hove you done any water changes? If not how long since your last water chang?

I did my first real water change about 12% at the end of January, mostly to remove the detritus that had built up in the sump. Other than that I had done small 10-20 gallon water changes twice over the year but only to remove detritus from the sump. So no water changes for about a year, and only one since.

How did that dark red spot arrive in your setosa colony? Was it stung by another coral at one point or did it just show up? Normally grafts are green so it's kind of cool. Unless I am seeing this wrong. Pics look awesome too!

I'm not sure what you are referencing, which pic?

Wow Joe, those are fantastic! I'm really glad to see the success you're having after the struggles. My tank is now 10 months old, and I've had quite a few struggles getting things on track, but I think I've finally gotten things rolling. I'll get a thread with pics up soon.

Thanks Bill, Great to read you got the tank up and it is starting to take off. Good luck with the tank, put some pics up when you have time.

 

[markalot]

I'm not sure. I think that the extra elements I am adding do help with color and health of the coral, but I am a firm believer that people blame problems on readings when other factors are in play. Too many times I see people have acros brown out and blame it on a phosphate change of 0.05 or some other measured parameter, when really they had their hands in the tank, or just did a bunch of fragging or moved the rocks around. People are also quick to make big changes to their whole system in response to parameter readings.

A perfect example is I have a beautiful green soli that has been encrusting for a long time and doing pretty well, but only encrusting. About 3 weeks ago it started to recede and has steadily been declining. I had friend over recently that was surprised I wasn't doing anything. But my thoughts were I should leave it alone and see what happens. If I loose it, then so be it, but no other corals are effected and breaking it apart might cause other problems in the tank. Now the recession looks to have stopped but I lost probably 80% of the coral. But if it starts to grow again, what does it matter? I think sometimes we have to accept that acros have a certain ebb and flow that you need to be aware of. Some corals are prone to recession, other times you lose a coral for no apparent reason. The problem is that people are paying hundreds of dollars for tiny frags, so I can see that they want to save it. But many times it's just how things go.

Needed to be quoted. This has been a huge lesson for me this time around, and might be responsibly for the decent success I've been having. I forget who, or in what book, but someone once joked about acros ... don't just do something, stand there!

 

[kevlow]

Needed to be quoted. This has been a huge lesson for me this time around, and might be responsibly for the decent success I've been having. I forget who, or in what book, but someone once joked about acros ... don't just do something, stand there!

I will second this.
That definitely needed to be quoted; maybe twice.

 

[Wazzel]

I'm not sure. I think that the extra elements I am adding do help with color and health of the coral, but I am a firm believer that people blame problems on readings when other factors are in play. Too many times I see people have acros brown out and blame it on a phosphate change of 0.05 or some other measured parameter, when really they had their hands in the tank, or just did a bunch of fragging or moved the rocks around. People are also quick to make big changes to their whole system in response to parameter readings.

A perfect example is I have a beautiful green soli that has been encrusting for a long time and doing pretty well, but only encrusting. About 3 weeks ago it started to recede and has steadily been declining. I had friend over recently that was surprised I wasn't doing anything. But my thoughts were I should leave it alone and see what happens. If I loose it, then so be it, but no other corals are effected and breaking it apart might cause other problems in the tank. Now the recession looks to have stopped but I lost probably 80% of the coral. But if it starts to grow again, what does it matter? I think sometimes we have to accept that acros have a certain ebb and flow that you need to be aware of. Some corals are prone to recession, other times you lose a coral for no apparent reason. The problem is that people are paying hundreds of dollars for tiny frags, so I can see that they want to save it. But many times it's just how things go.

Totally agree with this. Often the best course of action it to wait things out. If you make changes you run the risk of making new problems that you have to chase.

Things are looking nice, BTW.

 

[shred5]

I'm not sure. I think that the extra elements I am adding do help with color and health of the coral, but I am a firm believer that people blame problems on readings when other factors are in play. Too many times I see people have acros brown out and blame it on a phosphate change of 0.05 or some other measured parameter, when really they had their hands in the tank, or just did a bunch of fragging or moved the rocks around. People are also quick to make big changes to their whole system in response to parameter readings.

A perfect example is I have a beautiful green soli that has been encrusting for a long time and doing pretty well, but only encrusting. About 3 weeks ago it started to recede and has steadily been declining. I had friend over recently that was surprised I wasn't doing anything. But my thoughts were I should leave it alone and see what happens. If I loose it, then so be it, but no other corals are effected and breaking it apart might cause other problems in the tank. Now the recession looks to have stopped but I lost probably 80% of the coral. But if it starts to grow again, what does it matter? I think sometimes we have to accept that acros have a certain ebb and flow that you need to be aware of. Some corals are prone to recession, other times you lose a coral for no apparent reason. The problem is that people are paying hundreds of dollars for tiny frags, so I can see that they want to save it. But many times it's just how things go.

That and we are trying to keep corals together that would never be together in the ocean.. I mean some may be 20 or 30 feet apart in depth or not even in the same reef zone let alone the same ocean. We have this little box a few feet by a few feet and there are going to be things that can not survive. We cannot provide all conditions for all coral in this little box. Yea some adapt well and some do not. Some start wars and some of those wars we can not even see.

By the Way I know the thread is a little older now but good to see your new tank doing so well.


Also how is that skimmer working out still? I just ordered its little brother for a smaller tank.

 

[JB NY]

That and we are trying to keep corals together that would never be together in the ocean.. I mean some may be 20 or 30 feet apart in depth or not even in the same reef zone let alone the same ocean. We have this little box a few feet by a few feet and there are going to be things that can not survive. We cannot provide all conditions for all coral in this little box. Yea some adapt well and some do not. Some start wars and some of those wars we can not even see.

By the Way I know the thread is a little older now but good to see your new tank doing so well.


Also how is that skimmer working out still? I just ordered its little brother for a smaller tank.

Completely agree. My general argument to the idea that we need to replicate the ocean as much as possible is, "No I don't, my tank bears no resemblance to the ocean where these animals are from. I have them packed in a small space with corals that they might never come in contact with, my lighting and flow will never be the same as the ocean, I can't provide a majority of the same nutrients and food that they would see in the wild. And I am trying to get colors and growth that is not seen in the wild. So why should I treat my tank just like the ocean."

The skimmer is working out great. I just had some people over last week and was commenting on how much I really like the skimmer. It does a great job on it primary purpose, skimming. But is is really very easy to maintain. cleaning the skimmer weekly is very easy. I just took the whole skimmer apart including the pump to inspect it after having it almost a year and it was incredibly easy to break down and clean and put back together.

 

[JB NY]

ICP test results from April 13 2017.

Mostly pretty good. Zinc and Iodine are a little high, so I will adjust my dosing. Strontium needs to be adjusted up a little. Molybdenum is finally going down so I am happy about that.

Phosphate is high, but I already knew that. Now that I have my ARID reactor working better I should start to see that go down. Tungsten (W) is going up even more from the last time so I ripped apart all the pumps in the tank over the weekend and think I found the cause. Next post will be that.

But over all I am fine with this test. Oh, yeah only one 44 gallon water change since January 2016, 15 months!

 

[JB NY]

After finding that my W levels had gone up from 170 to 320 in 5 months since I last tested, I decided to open up all my pumps and take a look. I was a little suspicious of where the tungsten could be coming from since all my pumps and power heads were not cheap pumps with Chinese parts. The MaxSpect Gyre is made in china but I check that pump regularly as it has to be cleaned every 6 weeks or so, so it has been thoroughly inspected many times.

So after pulling apart my Sicce and ecotech Vectra and finding no problems, I finally moved on to the Ecotech Vortech mp-40 in my frag tank. I opened up the wet side of the mp-40, and there is was. Turns out they use tungsten alloy shafts made in, you guessed it, china.

This is the new quiet drive wet sides. Luckily I have the older version that used plastic shafts and looked to be perfectly fine so I put that in it's place. So I will probably be looking to replace this pump with something else in the near future. :angryfire:

 

[shred5]

I am taking it you read this:

http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2016/10/21/coral-excerpt-the-high-price-of-being-cheap/


I would run polyfilters because they change colors based on what they remove, it may have warned you. They did for me once, They started to turn orange I believe it was.. I started to pop the backs off my pumps and there it was a Chinese pump not fully encased in epoxy like it should have and the thing was so rusty. I always run a small part of a poly filter just for the warning alone and not just because they remove heavy metals.

Since then I try to stay away from Chinese aquarium stuff. My Gyre worries me since it the only Chinese thing in my tank but they are so worth it for the flow they offer. I have seen no issues at all with them...
When I started to read Sicce you scared my because they are now primary what I uses.

EcoTech seems to have slipped in quality a little lately, Sad to see. I will stay away from the new quite drives for sure now. Wonder how many will pop theirs open to find the same issue.

 

[JB NY]

I am taking it you read this:

http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2016/10/21/coral-excerpt-the-high-price-of-being-cheap/


I would run polyfilters because they change colors based on what they remove, it may have warned you. They did for me once, They started to turn orange I believe it was.. I started to pop the backs off my pumps and there it was a Chinese pump not fully encased in epoxy like it should have and the thing was so rusty. I always run a small part of a poly filter just for the warning alone and not just because they remove heavy metals.

Since then I try to stay away from Chinese aquarium stuff. My Gyre worries me since it the only Chinese thing in my tank but they are so worth it for the flow they offer. I have seen no issues at all with them...
When I started to read Sicce you scared my because they are now primary what I uses.

EcoTech seems to have slipped in quality a little lately, Sad to see. I will stay away from the new quite drives for sure now. Wonder how many will pop theirs open to find the same issue.

That is one of the first things I had read. I originally felt the article didn't apply to me as, or so I thought, the only thing I had in my tank that was from China was the Gyre. So I started looking in other areas, maybe something fell in the tank. Possible contamination in the DIY supplements I was using. I had put polyfilters in the tank but they were not showing anything.

Finally when I got back the second ICP test and the Tungsten numbers went up I was able to do some rough math and determine the rate that the W was accumulating. It pointed back to something had been leaching W since around May/June of last year. So to me that pointed to some of the pumps I had added, the Sicce, the Vectra, and I bought a new quiet drive wetside for my mp40.

GFO will remove Tungsten so I am running some for now, it will help with my PO4 reading too so there is a double bonus for using it right now.

 

[acesq]

I had no luck reducing my sky high tungsten levels with GFO or aluminum based phosphate removers or polyfilters. Large frequent water changes was the only effective method. I did not try massive amounts of the phosphate removers so they may work, but consider the impact of removing all of the phosphate from your system.

 

[JB NY]

I had no luck reducing my sky high tungsten levels with GFO or aluminum based phosphate removers or polyfilters. Large frequent water changes was the only effective method. I did not try massive amounts of the phosphate removers so they may work, but consider the impact of removing all of the phosphate from your system.

Did you find the source before you tried to remove the W? I was all set to just to a series of water changes and was told that, if I have removed the source, the tungsten should slowly just reduce over time. I think that Ehsan had numbers as high as 500 and just let them come down naturally and all went well.