mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
If that 2nd pic doesn't weaken the dark forces, nothing will
The pups are an upgrade from ewoks
Mhucasey's SPS obsession
- Thread starter mhucasey
- Start date
The pups are an upgrade from ewoks
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Yes, replacing all the bulbs on the SPS tank amounts to about 300 dollars. Money well spent in my opinion. I was pleasantly surprised this morning when the blue bulbs went on and it was immediately apparent that the new bulbs are both bluer and brighter than the ones they replaced. I'm curious to see how the new bulbs affect the growth in the next few days.
Dinky is pretty darn cute, I agree
Wieners and Acros are my twin passions
milsaltnewbie07
New member
Yes, replacing all the bulbs on the SPS tank amounts to about 300 dollars. Money well spent in my opinion. I was pleasantly surprised this morning when the blue bulbs went on and it was immediately apparent that the new bulbs are both bluer and brighter than the ones they replaced. I'm curious to see how the new bulbs affect the growth in the next few days.
Dinky is pretty darn cute, I agree
Makes me miss my pup. We had to put her down yesterday... Worst day of my life
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Oh man, my sympathies. I can't comprehend going through that - I'd be a mess.
dkeller_nc
New member
Matt - question about the AF probiotic salt. Did you happen to test the Alk, Ca and Mg levels when mixed to 1.026? I looked back in your thread, but didn't see it mentioned.
I ask because I'm tired of I/O mixing up to an alk of 11 dKH or so. I've an extreme chemistry education and access to lab chemicals, so calculating and adjusting the new mix with HCl and CaCl2 to my liking is fairly easy, but I'm just tired of messing with it, and would love a salt that's reasonably priced that would mix up to 8 dKH and about 450 ppm CaCl2, and 1300 ppm Mg.
I ask because I'm tired of I/O mixing up to an alk of 11 dKH or so. I've an extreme chemistry education and access to lab chemicals, so calculating and adjusting the new mix with HCl and CaCl2 to my liking is fairly easy, but I'm just tired of messing with it, and would love a salt that's reasonably priced that would mix up to 8 dKH and about 450 ppm CaCl2, and 1300 ppm Mg.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
The only thing that would be of target would be Calcium, they target 420. However, that is more in line with their Alk, which targets 7.5. Then each batch is tested at 33ppt and the cert goes with the batch.! I did test for it to see if the test certificate included with the salt was legit:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=24191468&postcount=1454
Short story is that yes, it matched the test cert, and when mixed to 35ppt the calcium and Alk were a bit higher but closer to your targets.
It's really good stuff - for your situation I'd use the "Reef Salt" unless you are switching over to the Aquaforest system. It's the same as the Probiotic salt minus the bacteria, probiotics, and vitamins. The Reef salt is 8 bucks more than IO on Amazon.
dkeller_nc
New member
Thanks, Matt. I may order directly from Salty Supply, since Amazon charges sales tax in my area (and amazon's supplier is SS). Definitely sounds promising.
reefmutt
Active member
Update:
I got the first ten replacement bulbs:
I swapped 8 of the 14 that are in the two fixtures over the SPS reef so as to not shock the corals too much. I'm working out the final combination once I get a good idea of what the light looks like coming from these new bulbs. To start the combo is:
Aquablue Azure
B+
B+
Fiji Purple
B+
B+
C+
ABS
C+
B+
Fiji Purple
B+
B+
Aquablue Azure
I used to really dislike the Coral Plus but buried in so many bulbs the lavender light they give off doesn't bother me. All the white and purple bulbs are new except the ABS, also i replaced two blue plus bulbs. Ill see how I like this arrangement and buy the remaining 4 replacements once I am more sure.
The Empire has struck back, as you may have seen on sith lord Biggles' thread. I cant match that pic, so Ill go with some flubber and a wiener dog:
Love that acan. Crazy colors in that thing.
The empire is strong... I would very much enjoy watching Dinky chow down on Lord Biggle's army of genetically modified, branch cracking Acro crabs!!!!! :wildone:
jackson6745
Yeah Yeah
Love the resplendent anthias. I finally caught my devil of a bartlet's anthias and now plan on adding a few resplendents
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Beautiful fish, but two are playing hide and seek with me. Im trying to not worry over them.
aggie13reef
New member
THIS... outstanding Matt!
MichaelW
New member
Yeah that's the one!
milsaltnewbie07
New member
Wow Matt gorgeous frags. Straight glued no light acclimation? ?
Interesting that nobody comment. Has already been discussed ,some where else, the advantage's of routinely dosing , in a mature reef tank , commercially available anaerobic bacteria and the superiority of commercially available carbon source In contrast to vodka or vsv?
Matt you mentioned several times already, that you are more than satisfied with AF products. As your health and colours of your acros were amazing , before the transition to AF, how can be sure that any slightly improvement that you can see, is due to the use of AF products and not the big water changes you made ,just before the transition, or the implementation of a CR instead of 2 part?
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Thanks guys, the two larger ones were mini colonies, i actually divided them and have a smaller frag of each planted as well.
No light acclimation - Ive never needed it with T5s. New corals go right under the broiler
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
I'm at two months with the system and I'm very happy so far. The color and health of the corals is really apparent since I switched over.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
I took your original question to be directed at ReefVet, thats why I didn't respond.
Ill let you know what I've seen - it might explain why I'm using their whole system. I used to dose Vinegar, then some vodka, and even mixed up some VSV. I had good success with those carbon sources over about a year plus time period. The downside I had was that they couldn't keep the nuisance algae contained fully and the color was good but not as good as I would like. The nuisance algae was largely brownish fluffy stuff, especially on the back glass.
I went all in for the Zeovit system, including Zeolites, Start3, and their bacteria - i wanted to see if i could improve the reef. Up until that time I had a chunky, dark greenish skimmate. Within a day or two of dosing the carbon source and bacteria the skimmate completely changed to a thick, white, dense foam and within a few weeks the algae that I had struggled with was gone. Corals also responded with big polyp extension. I could never get the system dialed in to keep the nutrients low and the corals alive, looking back now I probably chased the numbers a bit too much.
I switched to NP Biopellets then their all-in-one pellets and during this time transitioned to no water changes. When I doubled the system size I made up probably 120 gallons of IO water to fill it and slowly mixed the two and the corals weathered the storm but some struggled as was to be expected.
I transitioned to Aquaforest in December and upon dosing of the Bacteria once again the skimmate changed from darker to pure white. The corals have responded more positively than I can ever remember, and the little algae I had is pretty much gone, just a bit of cyano remains. As an example of what has happened with all the corals, I had a few polyps of a small frag of flowerpot coral that has hung on, shrunk down to the rock for the better part of a year. I keep expecting it to die. Then a couple of weeks ago it started to expand. Not only is it not dead, its coming back now.
I have changed large volumes of water before, using everything from ESV, Tropic marin, IO, Neomarine etc. I used to be able to do a water change with a few buttons pushed and a few valves turned. I have never seen a huge improvement from any water change, its part of why I went away from them. The AF salt may be partly responsible for the improvement in the tank, perhaps its the combination of that with the Calcium reactor, but I think its more than that.
What all that ramble comes to is that 1) we cant be sure of any one thing, but my opinion is that the tank has undergone a big improvement since mid December. 2) Dosing bacteria like this is part of "the system" and has a positive effect on the tank in my experience. 3) This system works better than any homebrew carbon source or pellet I've used, so far. 4) I'm more skeptical than you may imagine but I don't think that you get the creme de la creme acro tank from light and water changes and fish poo only as is professed by some folks here. They may grow beautiful reefs with a simple approach but that extra little bit of color always seems to be missing, at least from what I've seen. I want the best, no compromise. Welcome to my insanity....
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