Mhucasey's SPS obsession

[mhucasey]

Back has been 100% for awhile now. Usually takes only 10-14 days to recover. The wonders of youth.

Tanks is stagnant. Haven't been spending moola on it after my calcium container dumped in. Sat at 600ppm cal for along time because I couldn't get my hands on salt. Bit of algae cropped up but nothing I can't turn around. Just enjoying the summer for now though

I'm glad to hear about the back, and I totally understand about the tank. I am never "bored" with the tank but in the last few months there is little to do but sit and let stuff grow, and there are other fun things to do that have been taking my time away from Reef Central. Hope to see you around here more often when you get a chance:thumbsup:

 

[JB NY]

Thanks Joe! i have been dosing MicroE exclusively for trace elements for about a month at 6 drops per day, but based on your dosing I switched to dosing just Zinc and Manganese at about 2/3rds the dose you have been using. I already was dosing Iodine at the same rate as you so Ill leave that unchanged. It's an experiment so Ill see how it goes with just those three.

Cool, I think those three might be the winning combination. I am glad you are trying it for a while to see if you can confirm if it works for you. It would be awesome to get a few of us to come up with some real additives that work and we know why and how to use them.

 

[mhucasey]

Me too! I'm a bit behind the times though, and am just making my way through Robert Jordan. I wish I had more time to read though because it usually takes me 3 months to get through one of the Robert Jordan books. I didn't make it through the entire series of Terry Goodkind - I felt the writing started to wane. I dragged my butt through Confessor and then ditched out and started on the Robert Jordan series. I just finished A Crown of Swords and must admit that I put the book down for probably a month with only 50 pages to go, and finally just finished it recently. I don't normally read in the summer.

If you're looking for an interesting one or two day read check out Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes if you haven't yet. It's a sci-fi short story written in 1958. It's a story I often take with me when I travel and I have re-read it so many times. :lol:

I read the entire Wheel of Time series last year in a couple of months, I really loved it! Its hard to stick to if there are distractions though, keeping track of over 3000 characters and over 10,000+ pages is daunting. The Malazan Books of the Fallen make the Wheel of Time books seem like breezy reads in comparison, but holy crap they are good as well!

I tried reading Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule and only made it halfway through the book before I had to put it down. Not my thing.
I read Flowers for Algernon back in school - great story!

 

[mhucasey]

Cool, I think those three might be the winning combination. I am glad you are trying it for a while to see if you can confirm if it works for you. It would be awesome to get a few of us to come up with some real additives that work and we know why and how to use them.

Thanks Joe, I've continued to tweak the dosing and so far it seems to be working great! It works out to 0.00045mg/L Manganese and 0.0008mg/L Zinc. Ill try to post the exact amounts in mg/L so that they can be compared apples to apples with yours and others.

I almost immediately got some color back in the upper tips of my Flame Tip Acro. Before I was seeing sort of a washed out light color on the upper branches and colored tips in the shaded spots. Otherwise, I'm seeing a little bit of a brightening of color throughout the tank and good health and growth.

 

[glaukos]

great pics matt:beer:
That red "thing" is out of this world:fun5:

 

[mhucasey]

great pics matt:beer:
That red "thing" is out of this world:fun5:

Thanks Mike! Here's some more:

 

[chercm]

I'm dosing the Individual elements right now rather than MicroE to limit the addition of Iron and Copper. Flatworm Stop is a supplement to strengthen the corals and make them unpalatable to the worms, so you need to keep it up for a while to be most effective.

does the FWS really work ?

 

[biggles]

Holy cow Matt, those latest pics are nutso colorful mate :dance:

I want the blue polyped purpley looking stunner very badly buddy....

And this beautiful blue acro, i want that too. Cherry blossom is looking brighter again

 

[FloformAustria]

boom...

wow Matt!! insane!! :bigeyes:

 

[DiscusHeckel]

+ 1. Outstanding.

 

[reefmutt]

So, to confirm/sum up what your adding, Matt, just zinc, manganese and iodine for trace elements?

 

[biggles]

So, to confirm/sum up what your adding, Matt, just zinc, manganese and iodine for trace elements?

And what stuff are you using please mate, like detailed goof proof instructions - i want to try your way instead of the koral color. :wavehand:

 

[mhucasey]

So, to confirm/sum up what your adding, Matt, just zinc, manganese and iodine for trace elements?

 

[mhucasey]

does the FWS really work ?

I've had a good result with it on a previous infestation, it doesn't kill flatworms and it takes a while to affect the corals and the flatworms.

 

[mhucasey]

Holy cow Matt, those latest pics are nutso colorful mate :dance:

I want the blue polyped purpley looking stunner very badly buddy....

And this beautiful blue acro, i want that too. Cherry blossom is looking brighter again

Thanks Andrew, the corals are getting colorful while staying healthy- Too much of the MicroE(possibly) was leading to a few corals with burned patches. Everything is stabilizing nicely now.

 

[mhucasey]

And what stuff are you using please mate, like detailed goof proof instructions - i want to try your way instead of the koral color. :wavehand:

I'd stick with the KoralColor. I dose Zinc and Manganese supplements I made myself using an analytical balance and a lot of math. Since I use zeolites and phosphate minus, which are both sources of iron, I prefer to not add more in a supplement. Since you have no other iron sources, the amount in KoralColor isn't a concern. Other than that KoralColor is Zinc and Manganese in the proper ratio:thumbsup:

The whole dosing plan:
Zinc Supplement 15 drops/day
Manganese Supplement 20 drops/day
3 drops Lugols/day

5 drops each Coral A and Vitality every day
8 drops ProBioS/day
The equivalent of 8 drops per day of NP Pro/day(I use a dosing pump with diluted NP Pro)

800ML Zeolites
600ML Carbon
600Ml Phosphate minus
Layered in a reactor with enough flow to lightly disturb the Phosphate minus, I change out the whole thing every 4 weeks.

 

[mhucasey]

boom...

wow Matt!! insane!! :bigeyes:

+ 1. Outstanding.

Thanks Guys!

 

[reefmutt]

Matt, just to clarify, koral color has manganese, cobalt, lithium and sodium feredetate (whatever that is..) but no zinc..
I wish it had zinc- that would make if fairly perfect from yours and Joe's perspective. (And I'd like it more as well)

 

[mhucasey]

Matt, just to clarify, koral color has manganese, cobalt, lithium and sodium feredetate (whatever that is..) but no zinc..
I wish it had zinc- that would make if fairly perfect from yours and Joe's perspective. (And I'd like it more as well)

For some reason I thought it contained Zinc - my bad. Andrew, you can buy Zinc (And Manganese) supplements from Triton - they aren't cheap but they save you the trouble of making the solutions with precision.

 

[reefmutt]

Does triton sell direct or through a distributor?