Last MH pics maybe? Going to LEDS

[Dog boy Dave]

What's the change in calcium you are referring to?

I had the ratio in my suppliment routine wrong and I was adding too much calcium chloride. It was causing me to push my calcium high and subsequently overdose sodium bicarbonate as well. After the calcium would get above 510 or so I would see a problem and do heavy water changes. Didnt loose anything but it was stressing the corals and causing them to grow long and stringy instead of thicker. Color on a lot of them was off and Millis were really having a hard time as well. It seems so simple, I knew I kept calcium high but took longer than it should have to realize why I was fighting it so hard. Figured it out about six months ago. The corals look much better now. When ever I see my coral looking poorly I would always respond with massive water changes. Naturally this would improve the situation and everyone would thrive. As the demands for calcium and alk increased they would out strip my reactor and I would start to suplliment again. After a month or so I would notice issues starting again. I thought it was bilogical so I was chasing ghosts for awhile. I knew I had an issue, it just took awhile to figure it out. I have been keeping sps for over ten years and reef tanks since 1990 and 90 percent of the issues that I have had over the years have been related to calcium / alkalinity.

 

[stevedola]

It seems like its always related to Alk/Calc. Thats the first thing I test for when corals look off. Ive done the same thing youve done...water changes to correct unknown issue and then it slowly devolves back to original coral state. Ive learned to log the results and record them in a book with any changes ive made (from the littlest tweaks on the doser to even a common 5g water change). The more info you have the better off you are when you are trying to diagnose a problem. Things seem small at the time but sometimes the small things add up to big problems.

Good luck with the LEDs they look like theyre doing well for you. Nice Tank!

 

[sahin]

Just saw the video. Awesome! Wow. You my friend have a beautiful tank full of mature colonies is sps. Loved watching the video.

 

[Dog boy Dave]

Thanks guys. Yea I think most people would be better off with a salinity meter, calcium and alkalinity tests, I think most of the rest that people do is a distraction from what the corals really need.

 

[ricardo piza]

Hi Dog Boy Dave, you have a wonderful tank, my dream!
one day I get to this level, hehehe
here I antenho my alkalinity at 6.5 / 7.0 and Calcium in 450, never had problems with it.
you're enjoying the LEDs then?
hugs

 

[Dog boy Dave]

Thank You Ricardo. Yes I LOVE the LEDs. To be honest, I like some of the colors under the halides maybe a little bit more but the colors under the LEDS are also very good. There are so many other advantages to teh LEDS that its a no brainer for a tank like this. If I truly had unlimited resourses and room and budjet then I might use halides but otherwise LEDS is by far hands down the way to go.
Regards
Dave

Hi Dog Boy Dave, you have a wonderful tank, my dream!
one day I get to this level, hehehe
here I antenho my alkalinity at 6.5 / 7.0 and Calcium in 450, never had problems with it.
you're enjoying the LEDs then?
hugs

 

[spinsonic]

Honestly all the improvements are due to chemistry. I just stoped over dosing calcium about 6 months ago and the colors and shape were improving allready before i made the switch to LEDS

.

What are your levels? my corals looks somewhat brownish, and i dont have nutrient issues so im pretty much stumped.

 

[Dog boy Dave]

Right now they are around 420 ca and 8 Alk. I found my corals are fine at 390 to about 490. I had pushed it aboove 500 and was overdosing alkalinity to compensate. I had them both pushed high and was adding way too much suppiment to keep it there. Even now I am supplimenting heavy with calcium chloride as growth is crazy but I test daily right now till I get it dialed in and steady again. Any thing above 500 and you can expect a loss of color. Any stressful event is going to affect your color though. It takes weeks to recover from a temp spike or any kind of swing that causes them to stress. I find them very easy to keep alive. But to keep them stress free for a long time is difficult. Thats what it takes to get the best colors though. Light is nice. Gotta have lots of it. But if the chemistry is right the corals will thrive under lots of diffrent light. Loose electricity for a couple of hours, leave a valve closed and turn off your kooler, OVerdose calcium, heck I have 14 fittings at holes in my system that are below the water line. ....so many things that can go wrong. Its like flying around in a helicopter all the time . Its always 5 seconds away from a disaster.

What are your levels? my corals looks somewhat brownish, and i dont have nutrient issues so im pretty much stumped.

 

[plyle02]

Love the video Dave, don't make it up to Tally often, but would love to see that in person one day... Keep up the great work!!!
Regards,

 

[Immers1]

Update pics would be lovely!

 

[greystreet55]

+1 I have been following this thread closely, as I have been trying to make a lighting decision for my new sps venture. These LED's get more tempting every time you post.

 

[reefinsomnia]

Hey Dave,

How many different colors are you running on your led fixtures? BTW your tank looks amazing.

 

[Azazael13]

Looks great as always Dave. Really need to come see it in person again.

 

[NeilFox]

Nice thread Dave! Any updates.

 

[Dog boy Dave]

So last post was in November. Been a rough 6 months. Have had some equipment issues, health issues, chemistry issues and who knows what. Something happened in the tank. Not sure what the event was but many of my colonies suffered. I didn't loose any full colonies but some of them suffered and lost significant tissue. Some of the stressed corals responded to the LED lights in a very negative manner. Anyway, the tank has been recovering, I have been able to spend more time and energy taking care of it since March and most of the corals are recovering well. I have added a couple of more LED light fixtures and I am very pleased with the direction the tank is going. I will try to take and post some new images this weekend. I have been feeding my fish lots of broccoli lately , will try to video that ...they eat big ol pieces I am shocked.

 

[MammothReefer]

broccoli?! lol good to hear things are coming back around.

 

[Piper27]

Looking forward to pics and the story on what may have happened.

 

[Wayner2]

Broccoli? do you notice lots of tiny bubbles coming from the rear ends of the fishes

 

[sahin]

Look forward to the updated photos.

 

[Chris Lakies]

Yes updates! Cant wait...