Mhucasey's SPS obsession
- Thread starter mhucasey
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reefmutt
Active member
Lighting update:
The red planet seems have lightened a bit, and some other corals have improved as well. The lights were raised to 10 inches above the water on 08/16(pretty sure of the date)
The first picture of the Red Planet was taken 08/18:
Tonight it looked like this:
Ill keep everyone updated as things change...
Matt, the second pic in, in general looks a bit lighter, no?
As to the trace elements question.. Don't corals absorb what they need from the water column? Unless there is insufficient amounts (which, is presume, is totally possible) why would it matter so much. If there is an abundance, the corals have what they need.. I don't know the biological process going on in the coral to produce better colours from less intense light, but would it necessarily require a change in trace element addition?
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
The current trace element dosing routine has been in place for over 2 months. It is really the same as I have been using for close to a year, with slightly reduced amounts:
8 drops iron citrate, 2 capfuls Seachem Reef iodide, 1/2 ml Sponge Excel, and 5 ml each of the FM colors(blue-purple and Red-purple). Strontium chloride is aded to the Calcium chloride of the homemade 2-part. I don't do water changes typically.
It's very possible that the corals are using more trace elements, but for most of these testing them is either not possible or a fool's errand. What I can test for is Ca and ALK, and the need for those has risen. I have increased the dose in the last week of both to compensate for lower ALK values.
The red planets color is the indicator just to dial in the amount of light, once the coral has arrived at that color I will observe to see if any other changes have occurred with other corals. I also will test with a par meter to see what the value is around the tank. So far I have seen some color improvements in several corals but they are subtle at this time. I'm taking lots of pictures though, so if the changes continue then I'll hopefully be able to show them photographically.
I'm doing my best to limit variables!
8 drops iron citrate, 2 capfuls Seachem Reef iodide, 1/2 ml Sponge Excel, and 5 ml each of the FM colors(blue-purple and Red-purple). Strontium chloride is aded to the Calcium chloride of the homemade 2-part. I don't do water changes typically.
It's very possible that the corals are using more trace elements, but for most of these testing them is either not possible or a fool's errand. What I can test for is Ca and ALK, and the need for those has risen. I have increased the dose in the last week of both to compensate for lower ALK values.
The red planets color is the indicator just to dial in the amount of light, once the coral has arrived at that color I will observe to see if any other changes have occurred with other corals. I also will test with a par meter to see what the value is around the tank. So far I have seen some color improvements in several corals but they are subtle at this time. I'm taking lots of pictures though, so if the changes continue then I'll hopefully be able to show them photographically.
I'm doing my best to limit variables!
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mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
I actually rarely drink coffee, thought that is an interesting article about growing it. What I do like, bordering on obsession, is Diet Coke. I drink a lot of Diet Coke...
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Some of it is the picture itself, but there is definitely a touch of green glow between the branches that wasn't there before and it's visibly lighter from the sides. It's very hard to adequately represent in pictures.
As for trace elements, the really "trace" ones are essentially untestable but I have been adding roughly the same mix for quite a while with the intent of replacing the need for water changes. Up until the upgrade, it had been one year without a water change. After the upgrade, which required new water, and the tank issues (a reappearance of redbugs, anemone shredding) several water changes have been performed. Things seem pretty stable finally, so I'll attempt to go without them now.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Coke Cherry Zero
I will probably die of some ailment caused by drinking way too much of it.
Great pics of the Red Planet, interesting results so far.
I'm the guinea pig for Diet Coke toxicity and I haven't died yet and I've never had a cavity. I'm what ReefVet would refer to as an "outlier".:lolspin:
Time for another Diet Coke...
TattedUpFishGuy
New member
Wow! Amazing tank and love the plumbing work
Reefvet
New member
The current trace element dosing routine has been in place for over 2 months. .... I don't do water changes typically.
...What I can test for is Ca and ALK, and the need for those has risen. I have increased the dose in the last week of both to compensate for lower ALK values.
The red planets color is the indicator ...
I'm doing my best to limit variables!
OK, that's certainly good consistency so I would think you'll be able to differentiate between the change in light and anything else that's affecting color.
RP is a good indicator, no only in color, but in form. In the wild it's a much different looking coral. Typically it plates, then grows branches. You don't always see the large base on a reef because the colonies get very large.
If it plates and develops more green you have a very natural, one could assume happy, RP.
Reefvet
New member
The changes in coffee plantations and the resulting quality (or lack there-of) in the coffee plants whose environment was significantly changed is very analogous to a reef.
On coffee plantations commercial growers moved shaded plants out into the sun without considering how the light affected the soil and the natural composting that was lost. The soil in full sun around coffee plants had more weeds (think GHA) and the soil was quickly depleted of nutrients because the leaves from the canopy weren't contributing to the soil (captive corals need trace elements because they're not getting sufficient nutrients from the water.)
Many of the corals we grow in very high light are typically shaded or have limited direct light hours in their natural environment. RP grows on barrier reefs in relatively deep water. The water between these reef formations is lower in nutrients and higher in current.
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Reefvet
New member
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Its as consistent as I can get, but it could also be improving water conditions, or maturing sponge population, or many other things. This is a hard hobby to prove out many things, but its a start. At the very least I'd like to see if lower light will keep the corals alive and growing.
The red planet is indeed slowly shaping into a table formation and flattening out.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Thanks very much! The Plumbing took a long time to complete but it makes maintenance very simple.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
I see what you are getting at, and in some tanks the algae is clearing the water of trace elements pretty quickly. I know turf algae can bind all kinds of heavy metals for example.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Update: one week with the SPS tank lights at 10" above the water. I have yet to test the Alkalinity to see if the doses need to be upped. I have, however, seen signs of coloring up and growth all over the tank. I took some shots to keep track:
First, the Test Red Planet:
And some other assorted corals, some not often shown here:
Acropora Sarmentosa:
Cherry Blossom finally looking Red instead of muddy brown:
Blue(ish) Aussie Acro. I wish this one looked like it did when i bought it as a small frag - it looked like a blue glow stick!:
This one is going back toward light greenish yellow with red polyps:
This is a small portion of a coral colony I almost lost, I was able to save the tips of two branches about a year and a half ago:
The recently coloring smooth skin - purple and yellow
The favorite of the tank, the pink and green table:
All and all, things are looking pretty good. I will try raising the lights one inch tonight and see what happens over the next week.
First, the Test Red Planet:
And some other assorted corals, some not often shown here:
Acropora Sarmentosa:
Cherry Blossom finally looking Red instead of muddy brown:
Blue(ish) Aussie Acro. I wish this one looked like it did when i bought it as a small frag - it looked like a blue glow stick!:
This one is going back toward light greenish yellow with red polyps:
This is a small portion of a coral colony I almost lost, I was able to save the tips of two branches about a year and a half ago:
The recently coloring smooth skin - purple and yellow
The favorite of the tank, the pink and green table:
All and all, things are looking pretty good. I will try raising the lights one inch tonight and see what happens over the next week.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
The increased dose of Alkalinity pushed the dosing interval to 16 minutes, 13 times per day(1.1 ml/min dosing pump). I have been using plain baking soda in water(Randy's recipe 2).
To get the doing time down to conserve the pumps, I switched over to Randy's recipe 1, with the Baked Baking soda. The dose is now 8 minutes, 13 times a day.
aggie13reef
New member
The favorite of the tank, the pink and green table:
This... is one stunning coral my friend. Glad everything is benefitting from the lighting change. Also you said you are using baking soda to dose with, I did not know you could do that. Learned something today!
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Oh yes, 2-part can be very cheap! For alkalinity I use regular old arm and hammer baking soda, you can buy it in big bags rather than the boxes. If you bake the baking soda first you can essentially dissolve twice as much so you only have to dose half the volume. Take a look at Randy's article: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/
For Calcium, none of the Calcium Chloride products for melting ice are sold here in Southern California, so I have used Damprid - used for drying out stuff sold by the bag or bucket. More recently I buy a purer grade of Calcium Chloride from a hydroponics company. The hydroponics stuff is 24 bucks for 10 lbs, Damprid is about half that. With 10Lbs of Calcium Chloride flakes I could dose for about a year or more.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
10 LBs of Calcium Chloride flakes makes just over 9 gallons, for this reef I currently dose 114.4ML per day. That means the 24 dollar bag will last me about 300 days at current rate. I used to buy ESV B-ionic for ~35 dollars for a gallon of alk and calcium solution.
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