Looking For Suggestions Moving Forward

[whiteshark]

A quick update. 12 days since I started up the doser. Still dialing in the exact amounts, but things are pretty stable. Haven't done a water change, started feeding reef roids daily and added a Green Chromis. Still no detectable PO4 or NO3, but I have seen some slight coloring up. Specifically the Garf bonsai which is showing distinctly purple tips.

I think things are headed in the right direction.

 

[reefmutt]

I think you're getting great advice and you have a solid plan.
There is so little to that frag that it's almost impossible to id.. Nice colour though.
Keep the updates coming.

 

[whiteshark]

Thanks! I guess I figured that about the frag. I had never seen an acro look, flaky, like that so I got curious. I guess time will tell.

 

[whiteshark]

Well, I was finally able to register some nitrate today! .02ppm. Still a 0 on phosphate. Overall I'm pleased with the way things are going. Colors look a bit better, but the growth is definite and noticeable now.

I think my next step will be to change to MH lighting. I think I can get both better colors and better growth with MH. The other factor to consider is that my heaters have been running a lot to keep the water warm. I'm thinking the MH would contribute some needed heat to the tank. I would keep the T5's and swap out the Vega for a halide.

 

[whiteshark]

Current tank parameters:

Alk : 6.85 dKH
Ca : 435 ppm
Mag : 1290 ppm
PO4 : Between 0 and 0.015 ppm
NO3 : 0.2 ppm

Not sure why the alkalinity is so low. I'm dosing quite a bit. Same with the magnesium as well. I'm surprised with how much I'm dosing that it's that low. Currently dosing 20 ml/day Alk, 20 ml/day Ca and 30 ml/day Magnesium. The concentrations of the supplementing solutions are as BRS recommends. All supplements are BRS dry additives mixed with RO/DI water into solution. I used their recommendations for starting doses based on the levels at that time and have been adjusting since then. However, I can't seem to keep the alk up. Does it seem feasible to have to add that much alk per day to such a small tank? Also, does anyone know the actual concentration of the solutions of the BRS additives? I can't find that info anywhere on their site or on the labels of the additives. The alkalinity supplement is bicarbonate.

In any case, things do seem better. Colors and growth. The Garf:



Birdsnest:



What I believe is a Tricolor that was browned out a bit when I got it. It's grown quite a bit since the nutrients have crept up:



And this Acro which has been very happy with the adjustments:

 

[lynchmob3000]

Looks like you have figured it out. Nice looking frags, Garf looks amazing.

Sometimes when your frags are small it's normal for your tank to eat alk faster then ca. All my tanks start put just like that then end up using equal amounts. Keep up the good work

 

[whiteshark]

A caution to those with screen tops.

One of my montis was showing some burned spots in the center which I thought was odd. After further inspection I noticed a chunk of salt creep from the screen break loose and fall right on the coral. I'm assuming this is what burned it. I hope it heals. That montipora has been one of my fastest growers. Screen top is now off for good.

 

[markalot]

A caution to those with screen tops.

One of my montis was showing some burned spots in the center which I thought was odd. After further inspection I noticed a chunk of salt creep from the screen break loose and fall right on the coral. I'm assuming this is what burned it. I hope it heals. That montipora has been one of my fastest growers. Screen top is now off for good.

Yep, I've had that happen when a chunk falls of my glass lids.

Your tank is using more Alk because your corals are happier and starting to use more.

So how are things going now?

 

[whiteshark]

I've been on vacation for the last couple weeks. Not going home until Friday. I have someone routinely checking on the tank. Everything looks fine and nothing out of whack on the apex. I won't know for sure until I get back though.

 

[whiteshark]

Just got back from vacation. Holy stomatella snails batman! Things had a population boom.

Corals look really good. The burned monti has fully recovered. The rest have grown noticeably:









PO4 has held steady at just under 0.015 ppm. Nitrate has held steady at about 0.1 ppm. Alk is still low at 6.15. I've increased the dose from 20 ml/day to 30 ml/day.

 

[Moser]

Adjust your dosing in small increments.
Sudden swings, particularly in alk, will damage your SPS corals.

Mo

 

[whiteshark]

As some may know I switched out the Vega for a 250w XM 10k. I'm happy to report a very positive response from the corals. One example being the garf. Here it is on 12/12/14:

1/4/15:

I made the switch to halide on 1/8/15 at which point the garf looked about the same as it did in the last pic.Here is the garf 7 days later. 1/15/15:

I understand this isn't monstrous growth, but it is significantly faster than under led and encouraging as well.

 

[reefmutt]

I'd say that's pretty significant for 7 days...

 

[whiteshark]

I'm having a ton of trouble increasing alkalinity. It's 6.1 dKH and it pretty much holds there regardless of any increase in dosage. Water change water is usually around 8.2 dKH. After a water change the alk will increase in the tank for several hours, then back down to 6ish. All the corals seem to be doing fine so I'm relatively hesitant to change things too much, but I am curious what might be going on.

 

[markalot]

I'm having a ton of trouble increasing alkalinity. It's 6.1 dKH and it pretty much holds there regardless of any increase in dosage. Water change water is usually around 8.2 dKH. After a water change the alk will increase in the tank for several hours, then back down to 6ish. All the corals seem to be doing fine so I'm relatively hesitant to change things too much, but I am curious what might be going on.

I've had this happen when the tank is recovering from something. My guess is the growth is slowed due to the low Alk and when you increase the dose everything eats it up. Best be is to keep slowly increasing and test each day until you start to see a rise. My goal was to get to 8.5 KH but I was never able to get above 8 so I stopped increasing the dosage and my tank has been stable at 8KH for almost a month now.

That said, make sure your Mag is 1300 or greater and you have fairly balanced Calcium between say 400 and 450 or so.

 

[whiteshark]

I've had this happen when the tank is recovering from something. My guess is the growth is slowed due to the low Alk and when you increase the dose everything eats it up. Best be is to keep slowly increasing and test each day until you start to see a rise. My goal was to get to 8.5 KH but I was never able to get above 8 so I stopped increasing the dosage and my tank has been stable at 8KH for almost a month now.

That said, make sure your Mag is 1300 or greater and you have fairly balanced Calcium between say 400 and 450 or so.

Yes thanks. Calcium and Mag are high. Calcium is at 475 ppm and Mag is at 1500. I've begun to incrementally decrease the dose of those. My guess, based on what you said, is that when I increased the alk dose the corals grew more for a bit and that was reflected in the calcium and magnesium numbers going down. After adjusting those to keep up with demand, the alk dose once again fell behind based on the new growth. Growth slowed again and calcium and mag increased because of it. That's a total guess though. It really is a constant balancing act.

I have at least been able to hold my nitrates at about 0.1 ppm and phosphates at 0.015 ppm. That has been relatively easy to keep stable.

In any case, thanks!

 

[whiteshark]

Growth shots:

 

[lynchmob3000]

Halides! Don't have to tweak them to find the sweet spot...
That's some amazing growth your getting there

 

[whiteshark]

I have an observation/question.

Since the switch to halides growth has increased very significantly. However, PE has actually decreased. Night time PE on some has remained very good, but daytime PE has gone down. And the green acro in front, while growing and seemingly increasing the amount of green on the tips, has lost a significant amount of PE.

Is this to be expected as the corals begin to grow faster?

 

[lynchmob3000]

Whole coral or just the tips have less pe now?