Mark's 150 gallon

[markalot]

Ordered 4 liters (is that some kind of foreign unit of measure?) of Matrix to go in my 16 cup media reactor. I needed to jump on a bandwagon so I chose this one. :fish1: If I can cut down on the vinegar dosing I'll be happy.

GFO usage continues, this time I'm using half the recommended starter amount of BRS HC GFO and replacing weekly for now. PO4 hovering around .06 to .08, which seems just about right.

 

[.Chris.]

Ordered 4 liters (is that some kind of foreign unit of measure?) of Matrix to go in my 16 cup media reactor. I needed to jump on a bandwagon so I chose this one. :fish1: If I can cut down on the vinegar dosing I'll be happy.

GFO usage continues, this time I'm using half the recommended starter amount of BRS HC GFO and replacing weekly for now. PO4 hovering around .06 to .08, which seems just about right.

Patience is key with Matrix. I have 3L in my 100g system (which is like triple what I need), and it took basically 90 days to the day until I saw a drop, but it was a steep decline. 15ish ppm NO4 down to 0.2ppm within a week.

I just puttied over my zoas, hopefully didn't crush any. How long do you think it'll take before I can remove the putty? Because it looks godawful. Although at least mine is pink, and not white like yours.

 

[markalot]

Patience is key with Matrix. I have 3L in my 100g system (which is like triple what I need), and it took basically 90 days to the day until I saw a drop, but it was a steep decline. 15ish ppm NO4 down to 0.2ppm within a week.

I just puttied over my zoas, hopefully didn't crush any. How long do you think it'll take before I can remove the putty? Because it looks godawful. Although at least mine is pink, and not white like yours.

I never remove it. My plan is to glue rock rubble pieces onto the putty so it doesn't look so unnatural. I might be too lazy to do that, but that's the plan.

Thanks for the tip about Matrix.

 

[.Chris.]

I never remove it. My plan is to glue rock rubble pieces onto the putty so it doesn't look so unnatural. I might be too lazy to do that, but that's the plan.

Thanks for the tip about Matrix.

Well damn. I guess I'll wait a month and remove it and hope that works because I certainly don't have enough room to glue rock onto that spot. Oh well.

 

[markalot]

So here's a question for some longer term Acro keepers.

Trying to finalize some frag placement and find homes for the rest. I have a couple of frags that, while other acros are browning, have suddenly decided someone turned on the lights. These have been in my tank over a year and haven't died.

Any guesses what color these will be? I believe the source of these frags are pieces of maricultured acros that are glued to frag plugs, grown out for a few months, then sold to retail.

Victim #1

October 2014 (this one on the right, that's a green milli on the left)

Now, suddenly polyps are back out and color showing.

Victim #2

October 2014 (center of picture)

Now, with a new branch that has grown while I wasn't looking.

I would really like to know why some of my acros have browned while others are coloring up? Who called these prima donnas?

Still expecting the Fundip to Fundie any day, but so far so good. :lol:

The Red Dragon started growing after I started changing the water more often. I'm very happy about this, finally a red acro that stays red.

Also very happy with the Lokani.

 

[reefmutt]

Victim 2 is probably a tort.. Myagi maybe. Gets green body with purple tips. Very nice coral with potential to have an erratic growth form with low ish flow or dense growth with high flow. It'll take medium to high light.
The first one, I really don't know..
Nice to see the dragon growing as well!
I always have some corals that refuse to do anything.. And then one day, they just start popping.
That's why I am unable to remove ANYTHING from my tank..
Oh, and if one day you wake up to find your lokani gone from your tank without a trace, it will be because I have snuck into you house and burgled it!
For my sake and yours, NEVER given me your address, Mark!

 

[mhucasey]

I love the Red Dragon- no other coral quite like it!

 

[markalot]

Victim 2 is probably a tort.. Myagi maybe. Gets green body with purple tips. Very nice coral with potential to have an erratic growth form with low ish flow or dense growth with high flow. It'll take medium to high light.
The first one, I really don't know..
Nice to see the dragon growing as well!
I always have some corals that refuse to do anything.. And then one day, they just start popping.
That's why I am unable to remove ANYTHING from my tank..
Oh, and if one day you wake up to find your lokani gone from your tank without a trace, it will be because I have snuck into you house and burgled it!
For my sake and yours, NEVER given me your address, Mark!

Lol, thanks Matt. I think I'm going to take a chance on that possible tort and go ahead and give it a spot.

I love the Red Dragon- no other coral quite like it!

Yep, I agree. Any acro that will keep color in my tank is a keeper!

 

[reefmutt]

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by it.

 

[markalot]

Hanna ULR giving me 19 (.06 PO4) which matches my guesstimate with the ELOS Expert.

Nitrate around 10, targeting a slow reduction to 5 using carbon dosing. I plan to put matrix online this weekend.

 

[mhucasey]

Hanna ULR giving me 19 (.06 PO4) which matches my guesstimate with the ELOS Expert.

Nitrate around 10, targeting a slow reduction to 5 using carbon dosing. I plan to put matrix online this weekend.

Those aren't bad numbers at all. A few years ago I didnt think 10ppm Nitrates were ok, oh how times change

 

[nemodan]

Nice pictures those Mark !! And welcome to the Matrix user club... LOL.

Those numbers looks good. I too woul also like NO3 lower. But your corals looks great !!! A reflection that things are good at the tank.

Best
Daniel

 

[markalot]

Nice pictures those Mark !! And welcome to the Matrix user club... LOL.

Those numbers looks good. I too woul also like NO3 lower. But your corals looks great !!! A reflection that things are good at the tank.

Best
Daniel

Thanks Daniel. I left out the pictures of the browned corals.

Pink Milli :sad2:

The nice bluegreen acro all brown except for a blue encrusting edge.

The big teal stag has a touch of brown but otherwise looks ok.

The maricultured Valida still has base recession, though very slow. No bite marks, just slow fading away of the base. On the lower left is a sarmentosa that was bright green. My aussie sarmentosa did not lose color.

At the same time my COusin It milli did not change and the Palmers Blue has improved. :uhoh3:

 

[markalot]

Well, I've lost control of the nutrients at the moment. With new GFO I can keep PO4 below .08 for a few days and then it skyrockets to .15 and more acros brown out. I don't think it's so much the raw PO4 number as it is the rapid rise. It would seem either something is leeching horribly or I'm pouring Phosphate into the tank without realizing it. :uhoh3:

The All In One and the apperent large amount of GFO that came along with was enough to just control PO4 apparently, and also enough to strip it too low if I wasn't feeding. Perhaps this points to an over-feeding problem? I've been trying to feed one heavy meal and then a lot of very small meals, just enough to keep the anthias fed.

I really wish I had a few more years experience with acros, I tell ya.

As an aside, I would love to see the natural environment of the red dragon acro, it seems to be absolutely loving this chaos.

 

[mhucasey]

Well, I've lost control of the nutrients at the moment. With new GFO I can keep PO4 below .08 for a few days and then it skyrockets to .15 and more acros brown out. I don't think it's so much the raw PO4 number as it is the rapid rise. It would seem either something is leeching horribly or I'm pouring Phosphate into the tank without realizing it. :uhoh3:

The All In One and the apperent large amount of GFO that came along with was enough to just control PO4 apparently, and also enough to strip it too low if I wasn't feeding. Perhaps this points to an over-feeding problem? I've been trying to feed one heavy meal and then a lot of very small meals, just enough to keep the anthias fed.

I really wish I had a few more years experience with acros, I tell ya.

As an aside, I would love to see the natural environment of the red dragon acro, it seems to be absolutely loving this chaos.

One of the reasons I hate GFO is because of that Yo-yoing. I'm telling you, the GFO in AIO doesn't just absorb phosphate or it would do the same thing.

 

[reefmutt]

Mark, where's you nitrate level?
If it's zero, this could explain the uncontrollable po4..
Adding some nitrate can rapidly take care of the p levels when you are using a carbon source.

Oops.. I just scrolled up a few and saw your n is around 10..
Is it still that high?
Odd that p would suddenly start going out of control..

 

[markalot]

Mark, where's you nitrate level?
If it's zero, this could explain the uncontrollable po4..
Adding some nitrate can rapidly take care of the p levels when you are using a carbon source.

Oops.. I just scrolled up a few and saw your n is around 10..
Is it still that high?
Odd that p would suddenly start going out of control..

Yea, still up at 10. My carbon dosing is very low at the moment, I'm just trying to make sure N doesn't go higher rather than trying to lower it much. I just don't clearly understand why these tests are bouncing around. I am having to clean the glass sometimes daily, sometimes every other day.

 

[markalot]

I am really close to calling this tank done and doing a rebuild. I feel like I'm chasing ghosts and still haven't found the real issue. Perhaps it's simply palytoxin (or related muck from all these pallys) that is polluting the water and causing problems with some acros?

This is the front of the big valida this morning prior to any lights going on. The front branch is showing the roughed up skin and loss of color.



What is the slime strings all over the front? Cause, symptom, coincidence?



Just to the right is a healthy tenuis.


and to the left is a healthy milli


I'm going to try increasing flow this time with some extra pumps, especially lower down in this deep and narrow tank. If I can't get back to healthy then it's time to take it down and start over, this time with pest free rock.

 

[markalot]

MORE FLOW!

You can see the cord on the right leading to the hidden RW-15. *The damage to the Valida shows up well. THe Miami Orchis is one big sexy beast of an acro.

*
Valida, with polyps out and looking happy except for the front area.

*

Left side, with the Tunze down in the V to the left of the slimer. The bright white is a nice dressing of Kalk paste on 2 groups of polyps. *They are releasing some smoke so if that's the issue I expect to see more acro damage tomorrow. *If I do it might be the signal to remove all infested rocks regardless of cost.

*
Odd bright green patches on the dead base of the Valida. Cyano? *Hmmm.

 

[markalot]

Found this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2042136

Ugh. Running a lot of carbon at the moment.