Mhucasey's SPS obsession

urbaneks said:
What's the time and $ commitment on the Aqua Forrest compared to what you were doing with the Bio Pellets,Bio Gro and Color Elements?
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Oh, I think you would love it, being as detail oriented as you are.

It's really not much time, maybe two minutes to dose various components(typically at night). If you go with zeolites most people shake them once or twice a day, but it is not required per Aquaforest. Change the zeolites/carbon/Phosphate minus every four weeks.

I dose the following daily:
8-10 drops NP Pro(carbon source)
8 drops ProBio S(Bacteria)
3 drops Iodium(Iodine)
3 drops Flourine
8 drops MicroE
14 drops Coral B


The heart of the system is the NP Pro and ProBio S, the other items are enhancers.

I also dose Coral A(Aminos) and Coral V(Vitamins) 6 drops each every other day
On opposite days I dose 6 drops Coral E(Food)

It sounds more complicated than it is.
 
mhucasey said:
Oh, I think you would love it, being as detail oriented as you are.



It's really not much time, maybe two minutes to dose various components(typically at night). If you go with zeolites most people shake them once or twice a day, but it is not required per Aquaforest. Change the zeolites/carbon/Phosphate minus every four weeks.



I dose the following daily:

8-10 drops NP Pro(carbon source)

8 drops ProBio S(Bacteria)

3 drops Iodium(Iodine)

3 drops Flourine

8 drops MicroE

14 drops Coral B





The heart of the system is the NP Pro and ProBio S, the other items are enhancers.



I also dose Coral A(Aminos) and Coral V(Vitamins) 6 drops each every other day

On opposite days I dose 6 drops Coral E(Food)



It sounds more complicated than it is.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the explanation. How about the cost compared to your previous method?
 
Nice dragons!!
that combo dragon island i have tried but for some reason i can't keep those corals... maybe ill try again.
looking good, Matt
 
urbaneks said:
Thanks for the explanation. How about the cost compared to your previous method?
Click to expand...

Most of the Supplements are ~$10 for the 10mL size, $20-25 for the 50mL size. They are very concentrated so 50Ml of NP Pro will last me 100 days theoretically at 10 drops per day. If I calculate all the supplements I add and round all of them up to the 25 dollar per 50Ml price, I come up with $1.38 per day.

Zeolites are 11 bucks for a Liter
Activated Carbon is 13 bucks a liter
Phosphate Minus is 24 bucks for a Liter

Each changeout is 3 dollars worth of Phosphate minus, 11 dollars worth of zeolites, and $6.50 worth of carbon, total of $20.50 once monthly.

So ~ 61 dollars a month I guess for two tanks totaling 195 gallons.

I'm using virtually everything though. You could easily dose just the NP Pro and ProBio S and skip the zeolites. Most people dose Coral A/B/V/E but don't dose Iodine, Flourine, or MicroE. The individual supplements are well priced, way cheaper than comparable products from FM or Zeovit.

I would probably dose less items if I did water changes, but I haven't changed water in the system since mid December.
 
mhucasey said:
Most of the Supplements are ~$10 for the 10mL size, $20-25 for the 50mL size. They are very concentrated so 50Ml of NP Pro will last me 100 days theoretically at 10 drops per day. If I calculate all the supplements I add and round all of them up to the 25 dollar per 50Ml price, I come up with $1.38 per day.

Zeolites are 11 bucks for a Liter
Activated Carbon is 13 bucks a liter
Phosphate Minus is 24 bucks for a Liter

Each changeout is 3 dollars worth of Phosphate minus, 11 dollars worth of zeolites, and $6.50 worth of carbon, total of $20.50 once monthly.

So ~ 61 dollars a month I guess for two tanks totaling 195 gallons.

I'm using virtually everything though. You could easily dose just the NP Pro and ProBio S and skip the zeolites. Most people dose Coral A/B/V/E but don't dose Iodine, Flourine, or MicroE. The individual supplements are well priced, way cheaper than comparable products from FM or Zeovit.

I would probably dose less items if I did water changes, but I haven't changed water in the system since mid December.
Click to expand...

Are you testing for each supplement? If someone wanted to do this without the zeolites, do you believe that it would still be pretty effective? Are the zeolites just an area for the bacteria to multiply?
 
rs1831 said:
This is a fascinating thread! I really appreciate all of the information you share with everyone. What test kits do you use to test iron and potassium and other trace elements?
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Thanks very much! I don't test for iron, it stays in the water for such a short duration that testing is very inaccurate. I used to use the Salifert test kit for Potassium, but when that one went off the market I switched to the kit from this company. http://www.coral-shop.com
I use Salifert kits for the other elements except Phosphate. I use a Milwaukee colorimeter for that.
 
rs1831 said:
Are you testing for each supplement? If someone wanted to do this without the zeolites, do you believe that it would still be pretty effective? Are the zeolites just an area for the bacteria to multiply?
Click to expand...

No, I don't test for the supplements, just use their dosing guide. Full dose is 1 drop per 100L. You start from half dose and work your way up, using the corals as a guide.

I think the Zeolites enhance the Phosphate reducing ability of the bacteria, and help the bacteria grow better, but Aquaforest volunteered that they aren't a requirement. Zeolites provide slowly leaching iron that enhances the bacterias ability to sequester phosphate from the water, just plain media would not be as effective as the zeolites in my opinion.
 
After a very long drive to AquaSD I got the yellow dragon, it's very cool and under LEDs it was showing a fluorescent gold ring on the terminal coralites. I found a good spot for it:

image_zpscjrquh7g.jpeg


then Will showed me the newer arrivals that haven't colored up all the way yet. I was immediately drawn to one colony. he showed me frags of the same coral to see what it will color up to, and the wife picked it from some others as well:

image_zpsql29aodr.jpeg


The frags of the same coral:

image_zpsn9ubjiy5.jpeg
 
You sir are a dragon hog ! :hammer:

I think they're all yummy Matt :)

That purpley A. secale thing is pretty much the same thing as my fluoro tipped colony Matt, there's about 4-5 color variants but essentially one type has greenish pigments on the branch tissue and the other is a reddish purple color on the branch skin. That is obviously the green one whereas mine is the other.
Either way when you get them to color up well they have amazing contrast in the colors displayed. You will like yours a lot when it grows up buddy :thumbsup:
 
biggles said:
You sir are a dragon hog ! :hammer:

I think they're all yummy Matt :)

That purpley A. secale thing is pretty much the same thing as my fluoro tipped colony Matt, there's about 4-5 color variants but essentially one type has greenish pigments on the branch tissue and the other is a reddish purple color on the branch skin. That is obviously the green one whereas mine is the other.
Either way when you get them to color up well they have amazing contrast in the colors displayed. You will like yours a lot when it grows up buddy :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Well you have nothing to talk about on the subject of hoarding acros, Darth:p

The Secale grabbed my eye immediately from his tank full of un-colored up corals. Lots of dragons and some "Bali Shortcake" in there. Here is a more colored up version of the Bali Shortcake that I showed the wife when I had her decide:

image_zps0hjvaubc.jpeg


It was cool but seeing the colored up branches of the Secale and the overall colony size turned the tide:)
 
milsaltnewbie07 said:
Wow Matt those are gorgeous man. Must be nice living close to ASD. I follow their sales a lot, and anways have nice stuff
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AquaSD is pretty awesome- Will has contacts all over the Pacific and gets to pick his stuff when it's fresh off the reef over the net. Some corals take a little time to regain color after the travel but I have great success with the corals I get from him.
 
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