Mhucasey's SPS obsession

[nemodan]

Happy new year Matt

....Originally Posted by mhucasey View Post
I'm not dosing anything, I'm not testing anything, I haven't changed the lights in a year, and I haven't changed the water in a year either. What I do have is stability. The Acros are growing and some nice color is returning. I'm just letting it ride and seeing what happens...

Same as I have been doing the last 2 years. I only measure Alk and keep the same routine of weekly WC.

I change the lights every 6-7 months.

Cheers
Daniel

 

[networkcrasher]

How are things going? I run AF reef salt, a calcium reactor with reborn and some magnesium in the effluent chamber and was trying to decide what I should be dosing for a mixed tank. Your last main update suggested you aren’t dosing anything at all. Just using the carx and that’s it?

 

[mhucasey]

How are things going? I run AF reef salt, a calcium reactor with reborn and some magnesium in the effluent chamber and was trying to decide what I should be dosing for a mixed tank. Your last main update suggested you aren’t dosing anything at all. Just using the carx and that’s it?

Yep, I haven't dosed anything in 8 months or more and haven't done a water change in 15 months. I'm sure some trace elements would make things better but it's pretty darn good as it is. This is from tonight:

 

[networkcrasher]

I stopped doing water changes too a few months ago. I'm going to start dosing Red Sea Colors ABCD, but other than the CaRx and the chaeto fuge, all of my nutrient levels seem to be in check. I plan to send off a sample for a triton test just to see what's going on, but I think I'm going to take the same approach to you, albeit some colors in the mix for a while to see what happens.

i slowly killed quite a few chaeto balls until i started dosing a little iron. Now my chaeto is going bonkers. Didn't change anything else. ABCD will probably keep iron in check too.

Only thing I think I have an issue with is silicates, but don't have a test kit for them. I have had this furry brown diatom for the past few months that just won't go away. The blennies and tangs try, but just tired of the fur everywhere.

 

[codydemmel4]

Yep, I haven't dosed anything in 8 months or more and haven't done a water change in 15 months. I'm sure some trace elements would make things better but it's pretty darn good as it is. This is from tonight:

Looks great!! Also, I know how it is to spoil your dogs. My golden retriever is so spoiled but I think thats the way it should be

Back to the tank, does the emporer noticeable reduce the PE on most of your SPS. I really want another one but as my juv grew to an adult it began nipping more and more so I had to get rid of it.

 

[mhucasey]

Looks great!! Also, I know how it is to spoil your dogs. My golden retriever is so spoiled but I think thats the way it should be

Back to the tank, does the emporer noticeable reduce the PE on most of your SPS. I really want another one but as my juv grew to an adult it began nipping more and more so I had to get rid of it.

Thanks! Yes, the Emperor does make the SPS keep their polyps in, and keeps LPS small. It also eats all the Aiptasia. I will be putting in new floors downstairs where the tank is so I will need to take it down for a day or so, when that happens I will be downsizing to just the SPS shallow reef tank, and the Emperor will be going then. My wife's favorite plate coral can't be in the same tank as the Emperor eats it, so a few fish, my giant anemone, and a couple of corals will be donated to the aquarium store...

 

[reefmutt]

Hey Matt, tank is looking great!
Good to hear from you, stranger!
When you downsize, how will you reduce the sump.. or will you just remove one tank and leave all else as is?

 

[mhucasey]

Hey Matt, tank is looking great!
Good to hear from you, stranger!
When you downsize, how will you reduce the sump.. or will you just remove one tank and leave all else as is?

I'm considering getting a new sump altogether and simplifying the plumbing underneath. I'd like a much larger sump that allows for a refugia area for the chaeto. Right now that is in a secondary sump and the two together take up a lot of room.

 

[markalot]

Awesome Matt, doing nothing much of anything always seems to work better. Nice to see you updating.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Happy new year Matt.

Regards

Bulent

 

[mhucasey]

Hello all!
I'm still here chugging along with what is now just one tank - Last year I just wanted a little bit of simplification, so I consolidated all the corals and fish that could live together into the Shallow Reef, donated the rest to the LFS, and replaced the floors under and around the tank while doing so.

By the time that I reduced the system, frankly I was not as engaged with the tank. As always, lots of work and family concerns and not making any real changes in the tank that was left kind of made for waning interest. I got pretty bad, even running out of CO2 for a week - I started getting corals dying suddenly.

Once that was sorted out I resolved to keep more on top of it, so I re-made my Zinc and manganese supplements and started regular dosing of both those as well as periodic dosing of small amounts of Iron and Iodine. Testing revealed low magnesium, so I started bringing that back up, and I dosed some Strontium in an attempt to spur growth.

Keep in mind this tank otherwise has had no water changes other than replacing small amounts that were lost when siphoning detritus for almost 2.5 years. I was having Stylophora and Montipora dying from the base up. Two Goinopora were not extending polyps, and some Acros stn'd. That was weird since the one cause I remember for this kind of die-off for montis and stylos was low potassium, and the last time I checked that it was high. Then again, that was well over a year ago, maybe more. I still have almost no algae and many corals look pretty good, and the fish are healthy and hungry all the time.

I went ahead and sent my water for a Triton test. I figured if it showed all kinds of issues, I would bit the bullet and do a bunch of water changes, otherwise, maybe there was a metal contamination or something.

I got the results, and was pretty stunned. My Potassium was stupid-low at 303ppm. Manganese and Zinc did not register(So I am not overdosing them, yay!). Iodine was a tiny bit high at 105ug/l, so my regular dosing will be cut back accordingly. Lithium was very high at 1396ug/l, but I understand that is very normal. Phosphate was 0.017mg/l, which is crazy since I haven't changed the GFO in about 4 months.

There were no heavy metals or unwanted elements and all other elements were in the green bands. I immediately doubled Manganese and Zinc doses and mixed up enough Potassium Chloride solution to bring the tank up to 400ppm. I have been slowly adding this over the last 5 days and the corals are already responding with polyp extension and no more die-offs. The Goinoporas are extending polyps too.

Taking this test has re-invigorated my interest in my tank, and reinforced my belief that changing water is not necessary as long as you are adding back the commonly depleted elements. In this case, I didn't have a clue that one of those was Potassium, it rarely dropped lower when I used to test it. I will be sending out water for testing in the fall, the 49 bucks was well worth it!

 

[markalot]

Hi Matt, nice to hear from you! I haven't done a water change in a long long time either, I need to do a test.

 

[mhucasey]

Hi Matt, nice to hear from you! I haven't done a water change in a long long time either, I need to do a test.

Sorry about that, I haven't been on here much in a long while. I assume my pictures don't show up anymore because of Photobucket's policy change and setting up a new photo hosting site just wasn't a priority. I toured around last night and your tank is crazy packed and looking good!

As for the Triton or ATI ICP tests, I think it's definitely worth it. I told my wife I hadn't done it because it was basically 50 bucks and that seemed expensive and she chewed me out for being cheap when it came to the aquarium:lolspin::rollface:

Part of what has impacted my enthusiasm is the coral bans that have been going on - I get Coral Magazine and have been reading the headlines, but seeing the reef store with a tiny Acro section was definitely sad. That being said, once everything is firing on all cylinders I will start slowly re-stocking.

 

[reefmutt]

Hey Matt! Nice to hear from you and great to hear you haven’t given up on reefing.
I recently did my first icp test as well- was very interesting. Nothing crazy out of whack but good food for thought.
I stayed with photobucket and in the end, they relented in their hard line.. I’m paying but not the ridiculous amount they had tried to extort last year.

 

[mhucasey]

Hey Matt! Nice to hear from you and great to hear you haven’t given up on reefing.
I recently did my first icp test as well- was very interesting. Nothing crazy out of whack but good food for thought.
I stayed with photobucket and in the end, they relented in their hard line.. I’m paying but not the ridiculous amount they had tried to extort last year.

Hi Matt! Long time since I've been here, but I noticed you have stayed up to date yourself. I don't think I could give up on reefing, but for a while its just been another thing to deal with, rather than a point of interest. I've been pretty good about keeping up with daily frozen food feedings but here and there the fish got skipped for a day or had pellets instead. Other than feeding the fish, I pretty much don't do anything - I just cleaned the Gyres, and it has been probably 6 months since I did that:worried:

Which Photobucket plan do you have? I have had the $2.99 plan for several years but I hadn't seen that photo bucket had relaxed their policies. I might be convinced to up the monthly plan a bit to get photo hosting back.

I hope all is well with you and your family! Your tank is looking amazing!

 

[reefmutt]

Hey Matt, thanks! I go through phases where the tank is there to tolerate and keep going and there are the time where I’m hyper into it again.
I’m very happy I have it going. Sometimes frustrating, sometimes boring bu most often satisfying and challenging..
As for photobucket, I think they almost went back old pricing.. it’s pretty cheap again.
Hope life is treating you well... or at least we’ll enough!

 

[mhucasey]

Hey Matt, thanks! I go through phases where the tank is there to tolerate and keep going and there are the time where I'm hyper into it again.
I'm very happy I have it going. Sometimes frustrating, sometimes boring bu most often satisfying and challenging..
As for photobucket, I think they almost went back old pricing.. it's pretty cheap again.
Hope life is treating you well... or at least we'll enough!

Yes, life is treating me pretty well - I am about to go on a 8 week paid sabbatical from work and its not a moment too soon! I hope things are going well for you and your family

I think my interest in the tank has been pretty dependent on the overall health of the tank - when things were struggling, and the corals got drab and what not, I just felt like it was too much effort to worry about it.

After doing the testing and getting Potassium levels back up to normal, its kind of astonishing how the SPS have responded - New growth everywhere, color coming back quickly, etc. That change made me more invested, and even spurred me to buy some frags this week. Now I find myself looking in on the corals many times throughout the day and thinking about what I can improve in there. I'm happy to be interested again!

 

[reefmutt]

Hey Matt, hope your enjoying your sabbatical.
I seem to be the same way these days- when the tank is doing well, I’m more into it..
Anyways I wanted to send you a note to say that I went to see Alt-J last Wednesday. They were playing in montreal at the Montreal Jazz Festival. It’s a pretty huge, indoor/outdoor international event that goes on for 10 days every summer. There are free outdoor concerts every day and every night in the heart of downtown Montreal, as well as indoor concerts in various theaters and halls around the site. It is no longer exclusively jazz. Every type of music is showcased.
Anyways Alt-J were playing at Place des Artes which is one of the premiere theaters for music in Montreal. Designed for excellent acoustics.
Matt, the show was absolutely astonishing! The light show was incredible and of course the music was amazing.
I was totally blown away.. not since seeing Peter Gabriel in the 80s have I so enjoyed a live show.
I just wanted to tell you this since you are the one who got me into Alt-J several years ago when you put one of your reef videos to their music
Thanks brotha!!

 

[mhucasey]

Hey Matt, hope your enjoying your sabbatical.
I seem to be the same way these days- when the tank is doing well, I'm more into it..
Anyways I wanted to send you a note to say that I went to see Alt-J last Wednesday. They were playing in montreal at the Montreal Jazz Festival. It's a pretty huge, indoor/outdoor international event that goes on for 10 days every summer. There are free outdoor concerts every day and every night in the heart of downtown Montreal, as well as indoor concerts in various theaters and halls around the site. It is no longer exclusively jazz. Every type of music is showcased.
Anyways Alt-J were playing at Place des Artes which is one of the premiere theaters for music in Montreal. Designed for excellent acoustics.
Matt, the show was absolutely astonishing! The light show was incredible and of course the music was amazing.
I was totally blown away.. not since seeing Peter Gabriel in the 80s have I so enjoyed a live show.
I just wanted to tell you this since you are the one who got me into Alt-J several years ago when you put one of your reef videos to their music
Thanks brotha!!

That's awesome that you were able to see them, sounds like a perfect venue!

I am 5 days into my sabbatical - I am remodeling my kitchen while on it:fun4: So Monday was jackhammer to take up the tile, Tuesday was grinding the thinset off the concrete, and Wed-Today was Picking up cabinets, tools, and parts.

But what is more applicable to this here forum, I did something very un-me. I bought some LEDs to try out:eek1:
Cats and dogs, living together, I know!
I got 2 four foot Zetlight Qmaven2 fixtures. A total of 420 watts at full blast, 336 Cree emitters spread out more like T5. No fans. Water resistant fixtures. The T5s are staying in the garage for now as this is an experiment, but going on a month things are looking pretty good. The best part? Both fixtures were $1100 before tax. These fit my criteria for spectrum, spread, passive cooling, cost, and lightly driven emitters. I figured, why not? I may pick up a third fixture if the results continue to be good.

 

[reefmutt]

Matt you’ll never go back from what the corals look like under those glorious blue LEDs..
I’m still hanging onto some t5 though..
pics!!