So. Beautiful.
Do you just have the single Pyramid? I've always wanted one, or a tinkeri. :bigeyes:
Thanks, Josh. Yes just the one. I'd like to add more but I don't see them that often and I'm pretty maxed out for fish I think.. I'd sooner add another female bellus. Although they are schooling fish, I like having just the one pyramid. It becomes a show fish that way. I guess he's not entirely happy being by himself, however..
Your fts is a thing of beauty. I strive to have a tank filled in and looking amazing as yours. Great job.
Thanks! I really appreciate the kind words.. It's going on a year and a half.. It should be getting grown in already...
Oh Matt, we should do tradsies one day...that Purple Rain will look nice in my tank!
Loving the fts! !
Thanks Mindy! Tradsies sounds good! It went through a growth spurt before I decided to try Carbon dosing. Stupid me.. It'll start again. When it's growing, it really grows..
I went through a bunch of your pages again. One, so I could enjoy the amazing collection of acros and the spectacular colors. I also got a frag of the pink Cadillac that you showed. It grows fast, my frag is tiny but it's both encrusting and getting vertical growth pretty quick. Not easy or inexpensive to find some of those Canadian beauties. Second, I want to understand what and how you are supplementing, and why. You are using aqua forest salt also. Since it has probiotics, I assume you mix a batch and then use it all in a water change. So how much of a water change do you complete at a time. Sorry if you have answered these questions before. I think I am late to the party with supplements and I don't really understand them very well.
Hey Mark, no problem at all.. It's been a while since this stuff has come up.
Over Christmas, I bought 4 buckets of the AF probiotic salt to try. It seems like great salt. I like that it mixes to an alk of 8 instead of 10 or so with IO. I do a 30 gallon wc (10%) every week. I have been pretty religious about it, lately.... This is not always the case but I'm liking the ritual. I'm not sure the probiotic salt has any real benefits other than a more stable alk.. I have ordered some of their basic salt. I'll try it next I think..... Or maybe I'll stick with the probiotic... I can't decide....
I have a custom 30 gallon tank that is packed into my cabinet. It has plumbing that connects it to the main system. It sits beside an identical tank that is part of the main system. These two tanks are plumbed to each other as well as to the house drain. One pump can either mix water in the wc tank, mix water in the system tank or pump water out of either and down the drain. This water change tank gets filled with ro water from the auto top off, so it's always full of ro water. When I'm ready to do a wc, I add my salt, mix it for about 20 minutes, stop my main circulation pump, pump the system tank empty, refill it with my new salt water and restart my recirc. pump.. Takes 15 minutes to do the wc with only valves opening and closing. No manual labour water hauling..
For the past several months, beside the 12-14 cubes of frozen food that goes in daily, I have been adding a pinch of various 'coral foods' at lights out. This consists of Reef Roids, Reef Pearls, Fauna Marin Vitality and AF Coral Food. This mix (minus the Coral Food) has been a staple since day one. The Coral Food, I only added to the mix a few months ago. A couple times a week I add AF coral B (similar to KZ coral snow) and their bacteria, Pro bio s.
Each morning, I add iodine, flourine, potassium and (recently kz coral vitalizer)
That's it! Not much...
Recently, I have decided to only add the 'coral food' mix 3 times per week. And I think I may just add the Reef Roids... That's the only food that really has really shown positive results.. I'm reducing the addition of these 'coral foods' because I think they are going a long way towards my persistent nuisance algea issues and frustratingly high phosphate numbers when left unchecked. I'm curious to see if they come down with significant reduction in those foods.
The coral vitalizer, I have a bottle of so I'm using it. I'm not sure it has any benefits.. Although, last year when I was using it, I felt some corals had better colour but who can really say if it is the coral vitalizer...
As for trace elements, I am seeing very mixed results on some colours in my tank.. Blue's are inconsistent. My OT looks pretty good, as does my Cali tort and another blue tort I have. However, my Hawkins could not be less blue! It's a pale green/aqua and it grows very slowly. I have a stag that when I got it, it had the most a sing purple/blue tips... Now, not so much. Same goes for another Acro I bought because of its blue.. So, I have been using a few drops of Lugol's and recently decide to try AF's flourine additive which consists of iodine and flourine. I use it at half dose along with two drops of Lugol's. From what I understand flourine is one of those elements to aid in blue pigmentation.
As for red colours, they are the same as blue.. Some look good and some not so good. Ssc, not so Gilda's well as another coral that was crazy red potential which is just lackluster.. I have had chronically low potassium levels, forever.. When I tried Carbon dosing last month, I was adding a lot of kno3 (seachem flourish potassium) and at the end of it all, my potassium only just reached 400 and within a few days of not adding it, potassium was on its way down again. Now, I am adding Brightwell's powdered potassium supplement and dialing in the dose to keep it at 400 ppm as per my spanking new (and so damn easy to use) Salifert K test kit.
So to sum it up: powdered 'coral food' Coral B and bacteria at night and iodine, flourine, potassium and coral vitalizer in the morning.
Obviously every tank is different and very tank will consume and receive different levels of trace elements and minerals depending on foods added, fish load, coral density, filtration methods, use of a fuge..
I don't know for sure but I can only assume that fast growing algea will be consuming some trace elements and minerals just as fish foods are probably adding some.
I tend to do a lot of wet skimming and will have to add some salt once or twice a week to maintain salinity.. This probably pulls some out as well..
I'm not a big fan of adding things I can't test for, like the flourine but I am giving it a shot.....and I'm sure I will be trying some variations on Andrew's BJ recipe in the near future, just to see what happens... Not yet, though. I want my nutrients to settle down first- after the little stint with Carbon dosing and nitrate adding.
Phew... Let me know if I've forgotten anything...
Very impressive colours as always Matt. Thanks for sharing. I would like to know your purpose of dosing fluorine.
Thanks
Bulent
Thanks, Bulent! I have gone over that in the extremely long winded response above... Short answer: experiment to try to improve some blue colours...
