Mhucasey's SPS obsession

mhucasey said:
Coming to the tank this Wednesday:

FlameTipsAcro-RetailPrice200SALEPRICE100_zpsgypf5iln.jpg
Click to expand...

Oh yeah. Me likey!!
What's it called? I think I have something similar..
 
Myka said:
Nice Acro Matt!

I tested N and P this morning, so far so good - 0.5 ppm and 0 ppb respectively. I'll keep my eyes peeled though. I'm using Red Sea Pro for N and Hanna ULR for P. Is everyone with high NO3 tests using Salifert? I do have Salifert too, I could cross reference on my next tests.
Click to expand...

Yes, Salifert Nitrate test. Thanks for checking:)
 
That flame tip is a beautiful piece man! Your latest FTS's look great, I really love the one with all of the anthias/chromis swimming up front, so much activity!
 
Diesel3443 said:
I am using Salifert
Click to expand...

mhucasey said:
Yes, Salifert Nitrate test. Thanks for checking:)
Click to expand...

I also posted this in BrandonMc2011's nitrate thread in AF forum:

Myka said:
This is interesting, I've read chatter of "off the charts nitrate" among the AF users on the board as of late. So far, all the reports I have come across have been using Salifert test kits. I have been using the Red Sea Pro Nitrate test and read 0.5 ppm yesterday morning. I have been curious, so just now I did a test using a Salifert kit. I'll note that the kit is brand new (just opened it today), and has the new color chart in it. I just tested NO3 right around 1 ppm. I haven't been using the AF products long though, and I'm not using the complete line (I've subbed in replacements for Coral A, Coral B, and Coral Food until I've used them up, and I'm not using -NP Pro since my nutrients are so low). If NP Pro is anything like Zeovit Start, then it may have nitrate in it since Zeovit Start adds about 1-2 ppm per day IIRC (to help keep phosphate down) - certainly not enough to give readings of 50+ ppm!
Click to expand...

I'm using AF Coral V and Coral E for a week only, and ProBioS for 6 weeks. I was using -NP Pro for about 4 weeks, but have ceased use for days now. So I guess from my situation, all I can do is anecdotally suggest that it is probably not the ProBioS affecting nitrate. :D
 
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Hey Matt, got an AF question. Their reef salt is 'bromides free' so that it can be used with ozone..
Sorry a little off topic..
Just wondering why.. Never heard that before.. I've never seen a salt say that it can't be used with ozone so I assume all salts are 'bromides free' not sure however..
I am knowledgeless about bromides and their interaction in the ocean as well as ozone's relationship with bromides..
Any insight would be much appreciated..
Please don't feel obligated to spend a ton of time on an in depth response..
Thanks in advance!
 
reefmutt said:
Hey Matt, got an AF question. Their reef salt is 'bromides free' so that it can be used with ozone..
Sorry a little off topic..
Just wondering why.. Never heard that before.. I've never seen a salt say that it can't be used with ozone so I assume all salts are 'bromides free' not sure however..
I am knowledgeless about bromides and their interaction in the ocean as well as ozone's relationship with bromides..
Any insight would be much appreciated..
Please don't feel obligated to spend a ton of time on an in depth response..
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

No idea, sorry. I wasn't aware of Ozone interacting with the normal ions in seawater in any way. I haven't used Ozone since my first tank 25 years ago.
 
Questions for Kevin...
I did some tests last night on the big three:
Ca: 470
Mg: 1510
KH: 6.7
:mad2:
The imbalance in these elements continues, even though I am using a Calcium reactor and not dosing Magnesium. The result is bubbling at the tips of many corals and reduced growth overall. I added some Alkalinity part of the two part to bring it up some to 7.3, and it seemed to lower the Calcium levels to 450. I've waited for the magnesium level to drop with no success.
To combat the bubbling(calcite formation in the tips), I could use some help.
I will perform some water changing to attempt to reduce Magnesium.
Should I reduce the lighting duration?
Am I on the right track with bumping up the Alkalinity?
Are there other actions I should take?
 
sorry to step on your thread but lots of input here so felt compelled. I've been wrapped up into trace and probio additives a bit lately, now looking at my supply closet and wondering...seachem fuel, acropower, brightwells AA, Lugols, MB7, Dr Tims, K, Fe, AF Coral E... all sitting there as i carefully dose and observe, dose and observe. all the while being careful, going slow, keeping stable, but not really knowing! How is it that anyone doses trace (in a product that distributes many elements or a single element, home brew or branded) without an ICP test to validate what the outcome is. Dose by conventional standard rates of application and observe (as we all know this is unlikely to be an overnight observation and could be weeks in the making), singling out any other additives, assuring zero changes in the system over time (we can reasonably do this but you can't tell your biologic to do more or less living on a daily basis), following proper scientific method. i would have to agree that so much of this points back to ICP testing or some form of consistent laboratory test. or, just dabble once in a while and do regular water changes.


JB NY said:
I don't think that you should look at it as if you have to spend $50 to get these tests. The test are there only if you want it.

This is me summarizing my thoughts on a few talks with Eshan from Triton, but one thing to recognize is that there is no real data on what these elements that we are dosing into our tank do. Zinc, Manganese, Cobalt, Vanadium, these are trace elements that over time it looks like people have found useful in SPS tanks. But each tank is different. And while Zinc might stop burnt tips in a tank that is having that problem, I'm not sure if adding Zinc to a tank that doesn't have that problem is going to create one later on. Do certain corals use more of one element than other? Montopora looks like it might consume Zinc and Nickel at higher levels than Acropora, so a tank heavily stocked with Montipora might consume these elements differently. Those differences with keeping different corals might require more or less of certain elements.

In the past there was no way to know if you had a deficiency or a surplus of these trace elements, because there are no test kits. Now using the ICP testing you can test your water to see what is going on. I don't think you have to use the ICP testing but I think in certain situation having that available can be very helpful in understaning what is actually going on in our tanks.

What I would love to see happen out of all this is that we can determine that keeping levels of x element causes or prevents x from happening. This would take so much of the guess work out of these dosing products and nail it down to something that actaully makes sense and can be replicated.

Maybe it is time to start a new thread, these talks seem to be happening in a number of different threads now.
Click to expand...
 
Flametip and superman mille look sick they should be some nice additions!

After catching up on a few pages I think you're pushing me over the edge to finally start dosing Coral A,B,E,V. You still dose Coral B correct?
 
This is a tricky and poorly understood issue, Matt.
I've had it here and there from time to time.
Mostly after dosing magnesium against bryopsis.
My mag sits around 1470 and I have not dosed any in over a year..
What about strontium?
Might it be playing a role? It's a big building block. What's your level? Are you dosing?
 
mhucasey said:
Questions for Kevin...
I did some tests last night on the big three:
Ca: 470
Mg: 1510
KH: 6.7
:mad2:
The imbalance in these elements continues, even though I am using a Calcium reactor and not dosing Magnesium. The result is bubbling at the tips of many corals and reduced growth overall. I added some Alkalinity part of the two part to bring it up some to 7.3, and it seemed to lower the Calcium levels to 450. I've waited for the magnesium level to drop with no success.
To combat the bubbling(calcite formation in the tips), I could use some help.
I will perform some water changing to attempt to reduce Magnesium.
Should I reduce the lighting duration?
Am I on the right track with bumping up the Alkalinity?
Are there other actions I should take?
Click to expand...

That's odd your calcium is that high with such low alkalinity especially with somewhat high magnesium. I had issues with this and ultimately what fixed my problem was an accidental overdose of my two part alkalinity to 16+ dkh. I let it fall naturally and now my tank runs around 9dkh, 450 Ca and 1450 Mg.
 
mhucasey said:
Questions for Kevin...
I did some tests last night on the big three:
Ca: 470
Mg: 1510
KH: 6.7
:mad2:
The imbalance in these elements continues, even though I am using a Calcium reactor and not dosing Magnesium. The result is bubbling at the tips of many corals and reduced growth overall. I added some Alkalinity part of the two part to bring it up some to 7.3, and it seemed to lower the Calcium levels to 450. I've waited for the magnesium level to drop with no success.
To combat the bubbling(calcite formation in the tips), I could use some help.
I will perform some water changing to attempt to reduce Magnesium.
Should I reduce the lighting duration?
Am I on the right track with bumping up the Alkalinity?
Are there other actions I should take?
Click to expand...

This is a tricky and poorly understood issue, Matt.
I've had it here and there from time to time.
Mostly after dosing magnesium against bryopsis.
My mag sits around 1470 and I have not dosed any in over a year..
What about strontium?
Might it be playing a role? It's a big building block. What's your level? Are you dosing?

I think turning down the ca reactor a touch and dosing some kh is a good first step..
 
gdemos said:
sorry to step on your thread but lots of input here so felt compelled. I've been wrapped up into trace and probio additives a bit lately, now looking at my supply closet and wondering...seachem fuel, acropower, brightwells AA, Lugols, MB7, Dr Tims, K, Fe, AF Coral E... all sitting there as i carefully dose and observe, dose and observe. all the while being careful, going slow, keeping stable, but not really knowing! How is it that anyone doses trace (in a product that distributes many elements or a single element, home brew or branded) without an ICP test to validate what the outcome is. Dose by conventional standard rates of application and observe (as we all know this is unlikely to be an overnight observation and could be weeks in the making), singling out any other additives, assuring zero changes in the system over time (we can reasonably do this but you can't tell your biologic to do more or less living on a daily basis), following proper scientific method. i would have to agree that so much of this points back to ICP testing or some form of consistent laboratory test. or, just dabble once in a while and do regular water changes.
Click to expand...

No worries, all input is welcome! It is very difficult to reliably determine the effects of any single element on coral health or color, there are so many variables. Even when testing using ICP, its difficult to identify what element at what level produces the best effect. Generally I dose elements that are oxidized/chelated/used/skimmed out and I rely on the manufacturers dosing specs to know how much to dose.

I also do lots of reading from other reefkeepers and carefully look at what they dose and what they see. It's certainly not perfect but I would like to think long term experience and careful observation can tease out the facts from all the noise.
 
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