Mark's 180 Starfire upgrade

[mpoletti]

I vacummed some of my sand out so I would not just have more sand on top of sand. And...like I mentioned above, I have lost a couple fish so I am sure their dead bodies may have also contributed to the po4.
This tank has its ups and downs with nutrients. I have thought about pulling all the sand before as well. I did pull the fuge a few weeks ago as it was just full of detritus. That is something I will have to keep in mind as well.

On another side note, the last hour when just VHO's are on are getting more and more exciting

 

[Ian]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15293194#post15293194 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mpoletti

On another side note, the last hour when just VHO's are on are getting more and more exciting

Pervert! :lol:

 

[mpoletti]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15293243#post15293243 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ian
Pervert! :lol:

Thats what happens when you have been married for awhile

 

[mpoletti]

 

[polyped]

I am about to set up my tank and have ordered enough black sand to have 4" would you not recommend a DSB? I have a reactor that will be plumbed in for phosban or carbon...

Beautiful tank as always what exposure do you take your pics at?

 

[mpoletti]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15295054#post15295054 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by polyped
I am about to set up my tank and have ordered enough black sand to have 4" would you not recommend a DSB? I have a reactor that will be plumbed in for phosban or carbon...

Beautiful tank as always what exposure do you take your pics at?

Thanks. My enthusiasm says no against the DSB but I know plenty of peopl ethat run them successfully. Reactors help, there is no doubt about it. My po4 has dropped .02 in 24 hours after relacing the media.

As for pictures, (nikon settings) I try to shoot the corals in full manual (M) mode, 20 f/stop, and 200-400 ISO. As far as the exopsure, I just try to make sure there are not any "hot spots" in the shot.

 

[Reefer08]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15294945#post15294945 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mpoletti

whoa whats the name of this? Im loving the colors on it

 

[DanW]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15295090#post15295090 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mpoletti
Thanks. My enthusiasm says no against the DSB but I know plenty of peopl ethat run them successfully. Reactors help, there is no doubt about it. My po4 has dropped .02 in 24 hours after relacing the media.

As for pictures, (nikon settings) I try to shoot the corals in full manual (M) mode, 20 f/stop, and 200-400 ISO. As far as the exopsure, I just try to make sure there are not any "hot spots" in the shot.

Mark, how do you see the hot spots and how do you correct it? A lower f stop?

 

[mpoletti]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15295663#post15295663 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DanW
Mark, how do you see the hot spots and how do you correct it? A lower f stop?

Dan, for me, hotspots are bright spots due to overexposure. That is the main feature of shooting in full manual mode. For Nikon users, you can control the exposue before even caputuring the shot.

 

[mpoletti]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15295415#post15295415 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reefer08
whoa whats the name of this? Im loving the colors on it

that piece is the original peace coral

 

[amore169]

Wow Mark that's just a beautiful coral.

 

[Underwaterparadise]

Looking great as Usual Mark!!! Happy 4th of July

 

[mpoletti]

 

[mpoletti]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15296358#post15296358 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by amore169
Wow Mark that's just a beautiful coral.

Thanks, I am not really that into favias, but I was really happy to get this one

 

[mpoletti]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15296562#post15296562 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Underwaterparadise
Looking great as Usual Mark!!! Happy 4th of July

Thanks Rob. Happy Forth to you and yours as well

 

[volcom69]

Just amazing pictures Mark. Even with a higher po4 level your colors always seem to be nice, it seems even if mine go up just alitte my colors start to suck. Do you still feed the same when your po4 level goes up or do you cut back. Did your no3 levels rise at all when the po4 went up. Once again great looking tank.

 

[mpoletti]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15298580#post15298580 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by volcom69
Just amazing pictures Mark. Even with a higher po4 level your colors always seem to be nice, it seems even if mine go up just alitte my colors start to suck. Do you still feed the same when your po4 level goes up or do you cut back. Did your no3 levels rise at all when the po4 went up. Once again great looking tank.

Thanks. To be honest, I do not check my nitrates and it has been awhile ( 9 months or so). I don't even know if I have a test kit that is not expired. I guess I should do that

I will continue to feed the same this time around as I believe my problems were caused more by the addition/subtraction of sand and a couple of dead fish that I was not able to locate.

I can slightly notice some browning in certain corals and that is why I broke out the hanna. I am justy hoping to make it through the summer as I have really been slacking off. Another cause could be the supplement dosing. I was dosing brightwells potassium and I had a friends tell me that his po4 rose when dosing that product as well; but who really knows.

 

[volcom69]

Yea you have to watch potassium levels if you are dosing it and it gets to high some corals may brown and even receed. I was just asking about the nitrates because of the dead fish i thought they would rise them more then po4.
Quick question, why would a couple corals look like i would have high nutrients, but yet i test and my hanna says 0.02 for po4 and my no3 was at 1 or even under. I have a miami orchid, and some kind of plana that should be darker purple, but it looks like it has some brown in it. Every other coral i have has decent colors its mostly just these 2. Have you ever run into this, could it be not enough nutrients. Right now my miami dosnt have any PE, so just wondering if you ever ran into this.

 

[mpoletti]

I have heard about the potassium and I was really surprised as it happened even though I was only dosing half the dosage. I guess that is one product I will not be buying again. I have never dosed it before so I wanted to give it a shot, but it made a couple of my corals look like turd
As for the issues, I fee your pain. I always have one or two corals that never color up as the same time as all the others; right now its the garf and raspberry lemonade, They have never colored up from the reentry and they are on the short list for removal. I do know that planas will lighten a bit with not enough nutrients. As for the miami orchid, I had that piece in my display for awhile, and even though it was a fast growing staghorn, it was very tempermental and rarely looked as good as it should. Its now dying a slow painful death in the frag tank.

 

[volcom69]

Certain salts have a higher potassium rating in them, i use seachem and i know they are one to have the higher rating. I do weekly water changes so thats why i never bothered dosing it. I have a test kit and everytime i check it always reads about 390.

Well i was having problems with alk as i just added an LM3 to my system to add my kalk and alk/calcium supplements, so for awhile my alk was floating up and down. I finally got it to a steady point, but it seems like these 2 corals seem to be the culprit, and maybe thats why they are like this. Its been alittle over a week so i guess i will see what happens now.