Mhucasey's SPS obsession

[plyle02]

Sweet photos Matt,
I have to agree that the colors are heading off the charts!
Well done!

 

[reefmutt]

Perhaps the various things Im doing are having an effect:

Polyps are turning yellow on the TDF:

Ok Matt.. There may indeed be something to this aquaforest stuff..

NICE!!

 

[kevlow]

I love the colors that you are pulling out of the corals. I am trying to follow along with your [and several other sps reefers'] use of the manganese and zinc. Are you still dosing these two as well as the AF program?
As someone else has pointed out, your's and Andrew's acros are finding additional colors to bring out on already beautiful, saturated pieces.
Congrats on having a outstanding reef, and taking it another step higher!

 

[mhucasey]

Thanks everyone! I am very pleased with the results so far

To catch everyone up to speed, I am dosing the following:


Every Day:
8 drops ProBioS
45mL NP Pro (diluted for dosing pump version)
4 drops Iodium
4 drops Flourine
8 drops Coral E
5 Drops MicroE
7 drops Manganese supplement
7 drops Zinc Supplement

every other day:
8 drops Coral A
8 drops Coral V
2 drops Strontium

Here and there I dose Coral B, I'm going to DIY this solution in the future. I will eventually mix up an all in one Micro-element supplement once I play around with the dosages some more.

 

[cFloor]

All your corals are looking great Matt, but that bali shortcake might be my favorite! If I can get mine looking half as good, I'll be a happy reefer.

 

[watchguy123]

All you coral are showing dazzling color. And the Bali is outstanding

 

[nemodan]

Good job Matt !!!!

 

[joshky]

Perhaps the various things Im doing are having an effect:

Polyps are turning yellow on the TDF:

Wow! :eek1:

Colors are amazing, I especially love the TDF! Makes me want to pick a frag up in the future. :beer:

 

[Pife]

I wish I knew how to make show by side photos because I would go back several pages and make some of the transformation of your corals. They are looking scrumptious. Great job.

 

[Acronic]

Thanks everyone! I am very pleased with the results so far

To catch everyone up to speed, I am dosing the following:


Every Day:
8 drops ProBioS
45mL NP Pro (diluted for dosing pump version)
4 drops Iodium
4 drops Flourine
8 drops Coral E
5 Drops MicroE
7 drops Manganese supplement
7 drops Zinc Supplement

every other day:
8 drops Coral A
8 drops Coral V
2 drops Strontium

Here and there I dose Coral B, I'm going to DIY this solution in the future. I will eventually mix up an all in one Micro-element supplement once I play around with the dosages some more.

No banana?


How long do you feel you could suspend dosing for? Say you go on vacation for a week....

 

[mhucasey]

No banana?


How long do you feel you could suspend dosing for? Say you go on vacation for a week....

I dunno, I have four very active dogs and I'm a homebody, so no vacations in my future

 

[Acronic]

Ok, theoretically?

 

[mhucasey]

Ok, theoretically?

I went a week without the MicroE, I would think that at the dosing rate I am using I could not dose the other stuff for a week without worry since I have the doser for NP Pro.

 

[Myka]

Matt, the corals are looking really awesome!! Regarding your dosing, what's your net volume?

 

[watchguy123]

I am absolutely amazed by your reefing skills. There seem to be a handful of reefers sharing their techniques with trace elements and many utilize aqua forest salt. I am amazed by the efforts and results Kudos to you

I love the colors that you are pulling. How do you isolate the effect of each trace or supplement that you use. I don't think I understand the basis for both the dosing and the goals. I have read many of the papers quoted but I remain somewhat mystified. Also although I test routinely, I am frustrated by what I perceive as inconsistencies and inaccuracies with test kits. Some of the trace elements and supplements seem difficult if not impossible to test. I need a primer.

 

[mhucasey]

All your corals are looking great Matt, but that bali shortcake might be my favorite! If I can get mine looking half as good, I'll be a happy reefer.

All you coral are showing dazzling color. And the Bali is outstanding

Good job Matt !!!!

Wow! :eek1:

Colors are amazing, I especially love the TDF! Makes me want to pick a frag up in the future. :beer:

Matt, the corals are looking really awesome!! Regarding your dosing, what's your net volume?

Thanks everyone! I am really excited about how the corals are doing myself, but watching carefully for signs I've gone too far. Mindy, net volume is 195gallons.

I am absolutely amazed by your reefing skills. There seem to be a handful of reefers sharing their techniques with trace elements and many utilize aqua forest salt. I am amazed by the efforts and results Kudos to you

I love the colors that you are pulling. How do you isolate the effect of each trace or supplement that you use. I don't think I understand the basis for both the dosing and the goals. I have read many of the papers quoted but I remain somewhat mystified. Also although I test routinely, I am frustrated by what I perceive as inconsistencies and inaccuracies with test kits. Some of the trace elements and supplements seem difficult if not impossible to test. I need a primer.

Thanks very much, I hope that what I'm doing translates to other people's tanks as well.

I will tell you the basics of a primer as I see it, I feel like these are the truly essential aspects of obtaining good color:

1) You need proper lighting with a lot of blue in it, and in my mind only Radium MH or T5 bulbs will give you top shelf color.

2) All the basics must be met for stability - Flow, temperature, Calcium and Alkalinity, food input for fishes(And lots of fish are good)

3) Dont worry about Nitrate values other than to make sure that the Nitrate doesn't go to zero. More fish are preferable to dosing nitrate but either will work. You shouldn't let phosphate get out of control, but with this kind of system its not as big an issue if the phosphate levels are a little higher than the normal recommendations. Lately the PO4 values were above 0.1 before I changed out the Zeolites and Phosphate Minus.

4) Trace Elements- know which ones you need. The particular effect of controlling algae and bringing out the color seems to be due to adding back Manganese, Zinc, and perhaps Copper. Koralcolor and MicroE both supply Manganese and Zinc, these metals oxidize and are depleted more quickly than water changes could replenish them. Copper gets bound up as well and it's needed in trace amounts. Biggles uses Salifert trace hard which supplies the Copper and other trace elements, I use MicroE.

5) Iodine, Iron, and Strontium also need replenishment, but they can enter the tank in many ways so you need to compensate for that.
Iron is leached from GFO or Zeolites so if you use those, don't add more than trace amounts of Iron
Strontium is replenished with a calcium reactor, but not quite enough to keep up with demand, otherwise dosing would be needed.
Iodine can enter the tank with algae foods, but I find elemental iodine is needed, at least in small amounts because its converted to iodate and skimmed out.

 

[SkullV]

Thanks everyone! I am really excited about how the corals are doing myself, but watching carefully for signs I've gone too far. Mindy, net volume is 195gallons.



Thanks very much, I hope that what I'm doing translates to other people's tanks as well.

I will tell you the basics of a primer as I see it, I feel like these are the truly essential aspects of obtaining good color:

1) You need proper lighting with a lot of blue in it, and in my mind only Radium MH or T5 bulbs will give you top shelf color.

2) All the basics must be met for stability - Flow, temperature, Calcium and Alkalinity, food input for fishes(And lots of fish are good)

3) Dont worry about Nitrate values other than to make sure that the Nitrate doesn't go to zero. More fish are preferable to dosing nitrate but either will work. You shouldn't let phosphate get out of control, but with this kind of system its not as big an issue if the phosphate levels are a little higher than the normal recommendations. Lately the PO4 values were above 0.1 before I changed out the Zeolites and Phosphate Minus.

4) Trace Elements- know which ones you need. The particular effect of controlling algae and bringing out the color seems to be due to adding back Manganese, Zinc, and perhaps Copper. Koralcolor and MicroE both supply Manganese and Zinc, these metals oxidize and are depleted more quickly than water changes could replenish them. Copper gets bound up as well and it's needed in trace amounts. Biggles uses Salifert trace hard which supplies the Copper and other trace elements, I use MicroE.

5) Iodine, Iron, and Strontium also need replenishment, but they can enter the tank in many ways so you need to compensate for that.
Iron is leached from GFO or Zeolites so if you use those, don't add more than trace amounts of Iron
Strontium is replenished with a calcium reactor, but not quite enough to keep up with demand, otherwise dosing would be needed.
Iodine can enter the tank with algae foods, but I find elemental iodine is needed, at least in small amounts because its converted to iodate and skimmed out.

Very interesting post. I keep tossing around the idea of dosing some specific trace elements, but I have been having so many test kit issues lately that I'm nervous to add anything!

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Thanks everyone! I am really excited about how the corals are doing myself, but watching carefully for signs I've gone too far. Mindy, net volume is 195gallons.



Thanks very much, I hope that what I'm doing translates to other people's tanks as well.

I will tell you the basics of a primer as I see it, I feel like these are the truly essential aspects of obtaining good color:

1) You need proper lighting with a lot of blue in it, and in my mind only Radium MH or T5 bulbs will give you top shelf color.

2) All the basics must be met for stability - Flow, temperature, Calcium and Alkalinity, food input for fishes(And lots of fish are good)

3) Dont worry about Nitrate values other than to make sure that the Nitrate doesn't go to zero. More fish are preferable to dosing nitrate but either will work. You shouldn't let phosphate get out of control, but with this kind of system its not as big an issue if the phosphate levels are a little higher than the normal recommendations. Lately the PO4 values were above 0.1 before I changed out the Zeolites and Phosphate Minus.

4) Trace Elements- know which ones you need. The particular effect of controlling algae and bringing out the color seems to be due to adding back Manganese, Zinc, and perhaps Copper. Koralcolor and MicroE both supply Manganese and Zinc, these metals oxidize and are depleted more quickly than water changes could replenish them. Copper gets bound up as well and it's needed in trace amounts. Biggles uses Salifert trace hard which supplies the Copper and other trace elements, I use MicroE.

5) Iodine, Iron, and Strontium also need replenishment, but they can enter the tank in many ways so you need to compensate for that.
Iron is leached from GFO or Zeolites so if you use those, don't add more than trace amounts of Iron
Strontium is replenished with a calcium reactor, but not quite enough to keep up with demand, otherwise dosing would be needed.
Iodine can enter the tank with algae foods, but I find elemental iodine is needed, at least in small amounts because its converted to iodate and skimmed out.

Interesting post. Thanks for that Matt.

I would like to know how you work out that you specifically needed elemental iodine in addition to/instead of different form of iodine, e.g. potassium iodide, or iodate.

Cheers

Bulent

 

[kevlow]

I am learning a lot following along, Matt. Your sourcing of manganese and zinc, and making your own solution, is intriguing. I am not sure of my skills yet to free lance this stuff.
Can you tell me if one of these products is usable as manganese supplement? I like that it is already in liquid form.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...ganese+li,aps,409&rh=i:aps,k:manganese+liquid
Thanks again for all your work and sharing your results as you have.

 

[mhucasey]

Interesting post. Thanks for that Matt.

I would like to know how you work out that you specifically needed elemental iodine in addition to/instead of different form of iodine, e.g. potassium iodide, or iodate.

Cheers

Bulent

I figured it out based mainly on observation of the responses of corals when dosing lugols as opposed to iodate supplements. On tests I would see good iodate numbers when dosing iodate but little to no iodide. When I would dose lugols I saw measurable iodide and iodate and correspondingly better coral response such as PE and color.