mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Thanks!
Mhucasey's SPS obsession
- Thread starter mhucasey
- Start date
Thanks!
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Update:
I've had sand in the SPS tank for a couple of weeks now and I have some observations:
The sand turned brown and there was some Cyano that formed on the low-flow side. This coincided with adding a large dose of Salifert Coralline Aminos. I've been adding 5Ml of the aminos daily since last Friday.
While the sand got darker and generated some Cyano in the SPS tank, the Cyano almost completely disappeared from the sand in the Flubber Reef.
I determined that the sand was getting ugly mainly since it was new. So rather than try to fix it, Im just letting it do its thing. The cyano has already receded noticeably without assistance.
As for Lighting, Im still working with the High Par/High Lumen light test. The corals seem to be handling things well but its too early to say what the overall effect is.
I am trying something in the flubber reef though, I dropped the lights down to about 5 inches off the water, added an ABS bulb, then planted some frags of Acros from the SPS tank. They are planted up high in the tank. I am going to test what high intensity(8 bulbs down low) for a short photoperiod(5 hours) does to the corals in comparison to the Longer, lower intensity light of the SPS tank.
Also based on Tom's suggestion I have backed off the skimmer just a bit more to keep nutrients in the water. I started this a couple of weeks ago and last night I had measurable phosphate in the tank for the first time in a year - 0.03
Some un-retouched iPhone 6 Pics:
NOT an "Orange Passion" Only 30 bucks Matt:wavehand:
I've had sand in the SPS tank for a couple of weeks now and I have some observations:
The sand turned brown and there was some Cyano that formed on the low-flow side. This coincided with adding a large dose of Salifert Coralline Aminos. I've been adding 5Ml of the aminos daily since last Friday.
While the sand got darker and generated some Cyano in the SPS tank, the Cyano almost completely disappeared from the sand in the Flubber Reef.
I determined that the sand was getting ugly mainly since it was new. So rather than try to fix it, Im just letting it do its thing. The cyano has already receded noticeably without assistance.
As for Lighting, Im still working with the High Par/High Lumen light test. The corals seem to be handling things well but its too early to say what the overall effect is.
I am trying something in the flubber reef though, I dropped the lights down to about 5 inches off the water, added an ABS bulb, then planted some frags of Acros from the SPS tank. They are planted up high in the tank. I am going to test what high intensity(8 bulbs down low) for a short photoperiod(5 hours) does to the corals in comparison to the Longer, lower intensity light of the SPS tank.
Also based on Tom's suggestion I have backed off the skimmer just a bit more to keep nutrients in the water. I started this a couple of weeks ago and last night I had measurable phosphate in the tank for the first time in a year - 0.03
Some un-retouched iPhone 6 Pics:
NOT an "Orange Passion" Only 30 bucks Matt:wavehand:
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Thanks Mark, some of them had gained more color than I thought!
reefmutt
Active member
Looking really good, Matt!
Especially the Reefmutt tenuis
gotta get me a piece of that!
So the rational for leaving biopellets but reducing skimmer action is so that bacterial
Reduction of po4 remains the same but mechanical reduction is reduced.. This leaves a food source in the water column for corals to absorb before it gets reduced biologically via bacteria.. ?
Especially the Reefmutt tenuis
gotta get me a piece of that!So the rational for leaving biopellets but reducing skimmer action is so that bacterial
Reduction of po4 remains the same but mechanical reduction is reduced.. This leaves a food source in the water column for corals to absorb before it gets reduced biologically via bacteria.. ?
bobssecrtsn
New member
I have a OCD of being clean.. Maybe I should just let the algae grow and feed more.. Loving your tank man!
SPS are like woman,
They're Hot, Sexy, Very high maintenance, Some are sexy, some are fine, and some are just OK. You dont need them but you HAVE to have them, They can cause headaces and heart aches as well
SPS are like woman,
They're Hot, Sexy, Very high maintenance, Some are sexy, some are fine, and some are just OK. You dont need them but you HAVE to have them, They can cause headaces and heart aches as well
nemodan
New member
SPS are like woman,
They're Hot, Sexy, Very high maintenance, Some are sexy, some are fine, and some are just OK. You dont need them but you HAVE to have them, They can cause headaces and heart aches as well
I can't stop laughing and already sent it to some friends...do I need to pay copyright ? LOL
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Looking really good, Matt!
Especially the Reefmutt tenuis
So the rational for leaving biopellets but reducing skimmer action is so that bacterial
Reduction of po4 remains the same but mechanical reduction is reduced.. This leaves a food source in the water column for corals to absorb before it gets reduced biologically via bacteria.. ?
That's a Steve Garrett Subulata, it looks like its growing well and obviously the color is really nice. Hopefully by spring it will be big enough to create some frags
As for the pellets, I've worked to reduce the shearing on the pellets, and the reactor effluent goes through a sock before going into the skimmer, so I think I'm doing well to keep the GFO fines from getting into the tank. The skimmer is ridiculously efficient, so I've dialed it back to produce a pretty dry skim and reduced the flow through the reactor to the minimum flow that I can set the Tunze pump to.
Together I'm just trying to reduce the export a bit without reducing the amount of pellets. As it is the pellets are reducing on their own. I know that turning the skimmer up will pull enormous amounts of sludge from the water, to the point that I will get tissue loss on the corals after a few weeks. I always ran it that way because I was worried about nutrients building up and algae taking off. So far there has been a little nutrient build-up but no increase in algae. I just generally don't worry about it as much as I used to.
reefmutt
Active member
I have a OCD of being clean.. Maybe I should just let the algae grow and feed more.. Loving your tank man!
SPS are like woman,
They're Hot, Sexy, Very high maintenance, Some are sexy, some are fine, and some are just OK. You dont need them but you HAVE to have them, They can cause headaces and heart aches as well
Don't forget.. some are just out of our price range..
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Hi Bob, thanks! Its hard to let some of these things go, its been drilled into us that we need zero zero zero all the time. I like to keep my fish fat and healthy(since I don't believe quarantine is worth the fish it stresses) and so I feed at least twice a day in what would be extreme quantities for most reefers. Even with all that the system was pulling too much out. I think the advice to feed more, have lots of fish, and balance that with not too much export from the skimmer is good stuff.
Well said, sir - and don't forget that the prettiest ones end up costing you the most moneySPS are like woman,
They're Hot, Sexy, Very high maintenance, Some are sexy, some are fine, and some are just OK. You dont need them but you HAVE to have them, They can cause headaces and heart aches as well
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Don't forget.. some are just out of our price range..
Hee hee!:lol:
bobssecrtsn
New member
Don't forget.. some are just out of our price range..
LOL! here's one for ya!
They're an attention whore, if they dont get what they want, they'll go suicide on ya! and make you wish you were on top of your game
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
LOL! here's one for ya!
They're an attention whore, if they dont get what they want, they'll go suicide on ya! and make you wish you were on top of your game
Yeah I was going to say that no matter how good they are doing you can come home to them in full meltdown without warning!:headwally:
joshky
Acros & Wrasses
Nice little picture update, those acros are looking really good!
I have cyano in low flow spots too, in the past I would let it run its course and it eventually would go away. I still doubt myself thinking I should be proactive and do something, but I guess that's just the crazy mind of a reefer.
I have cyano in low flow spots too, in the past I would let it run its course and it eventually would go away. I still doubt myself thinking I should be proactive and do something, but I guess that's just the crazy mind of a reefer.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Whoopsie,
I got reeeeeally lazy with changing my water filters and resin. I looked at the system today and the TDS meter was reading 35 on both the RO and DI lines, which means the DI resin wasn't doing anything. Maybe some of the recent tissue loss was due to this:facepalm:
I grabbed some RO filters from Lowes and my LFS had the resin, so Im all changed out and producing 0TDS water now:thumbsup:
I got reeeeeally lazy with changing my water filters and resin. I looked at the system today and the TDS meter was reading 35 on both the RO and DI lines, which means the DI resin wasn't doing anything. Maybe some of the recent tissue loss was due to this:facepalm:
I grabbed some RO filters from Lowes and my LFS had the resin, so Im all changed out and producing 0TDS water now:thumbsup:
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Tis the season for SPS issues apparently...I did a round of testing yesterday and found that my Calcium was a bit low, so I added some extra calcium chloride to the tank to bring it up a bit. This was also the day that I added FM Color Elements trace elements, plus 4 drops of iron citrate. I looked at the corals this afternoon and found that one branch of the Echinata was losing tissue about halfway up. I did a spot check on the tank and found that the large colony of yellowish orange Acropora Millepora had lost tissue on the base on one side. Both corals were losing tissue where the flow hits them the hardest:mad2:
I don't know what exactly caused the problem, so i covered my bases by adding new poly-filter.
Something else that I've been noticing is that the All In One biopellets have just not been doing the same job lately as they used to - I've had nitrates above 5 for a while now without supplementing it, and the pellets themselves are putting off a ton of fines.
I saw this before the upgrade, and it ended up partially due to the fact that the pellets were just too worn down to be effective. Replacing a portion of the pellets seemed to improve them back then. So, in an effort to rejuvenate the pellets and to reduce the amount, i pulled out the pellets and used a colander with small holes to separate the large whole pellets from the bits and pieces and detritus that was in there. I got 400 mL of larger pellets out of the cleaned up batch and saturated them with MB7 and got them tumbling again.
For the most part the pellets have been pretty much set and forget. I may just buy more of them and continue on with this fairly easy and effective carbon dosing system. I'm also quite intrigued by the Aquaforest system:spin3:
I don't know what exactly caused the problem, so i covered my bases by adding new poly-filter.
Something else that I've been noticing is that the All In One biopellets have just not been doing the same job lately as they used to - I've had nitrates above 5 for a while now without supplementing it, and the pellets themselves are putting off a ton of fines.
I saw this before the upgrade, and it ended up partially due to the fact that the pellets were just too worn down to be effective. Replacing a portion of the pellets seemed to improve them back then. So, in an effort to rejuvenate the pellets and to reduce the amount, i pulled out the pellets and used a colander with small holes to separate the large whole pellets from the bits and pieces and detritus that was in there. I got 400 mL of larger pellets out of the cleaned up batch and saturated them with MB7 and got them tumbling again.
For the most part the pellets have been pretty much set and forget. I may just buy more of them and continue on with this fairly easy and effective carbon dosing system. I'm also quite intrigued by the Aquaforest system:spin3:
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
Matt,
What is MB7?
What is MB7?
MichaelW
New member
Ha, tis the season for sps issues sounds about right! You and me both buddy. Sorry to hear that, hopefully they recover.
I have AIO on my shelf waiting to go but have not used them yet. But, like you, I am interested in the aquaforest line (after seeing some of the tanks on here that run it). I actually noticed your post in the aquaforest sponsor thread earlier! Do you know of places we can get hold of these products yet?
I have AIO on my shelf waiting to go but have not used them yet. But, like you, I am interested in the aquaforest line (after seeing some of the tanks on here that run it). I actually noticed your post in the aquaforest sponsor thread earlier! Do you know of places we can get hold of these products yet?
nemodan
New member
Do we need to mark December as the SPS issues month ?
Last week at my return of a 3 day trip, my Aussie SSC was losing tissue at the base and in the first branch. solved it by cutting the affected branch and adding glue in all the affected area. All was documented on my thread with pictures.
Coral doing GREAT with crazy polyp extension and lost of tissue stopped. The only change was an upgrade from my 20G fuge to a 40G. All parameters before and after the same, no other coral affected beside this one...... Well it is what it is.....it is DECEMBER !!!
Daniel
Last week at my return of a 3 day trip, my Aussie SSC was losing tissue at the base and in the first branch. solved it by cutting the affected branch and adding glue in all the affected area. All was documented on my thread with pictures.
Coral doing GREAT with crazy polyp extension and lost of tissue stopped. The only change was an upgrade from my 20G fuge to a 40G. All parameters before and after the same, no other coral affected beside this one...... Well it is what it is.....it is DECEMBER !!!
Daniel
markalot
...
MB7 = Microbacter 7.
Sorry about the issues Matt. I took my AIO offline, the fines finally did it for me, I said no GFO and I mean no GFO! I'll stick with a low dose of vinegar and raise it if need be. I'm having the hardest time raising PO4 which is totally unlike my tank. My regular patches of algae have vanished, LPS dying, and I'm feeding heavily to attempt to get back to healthier water.
I may go back to regular bio-pellets in the future if vinegar doesn't work out.
I'm also a little concerned that the GFO fines in the middle chamber of my sump are not exhausted and helping to suppress PO4. I've always had elevated PO4 until now.
Sorry about the issues Matt. I took my AIO offline, the fines finally did it for me, I said no GFO and I mean no GFO! I'll stick with a low dose of vinegar and raise it if need be. I'm having the hardest time raising PO4 which is totally unlike my tank. My regular patches of algae have vanished, LPS dying, and I'm feeding heavily to attempt to get back to healthier water.
I may go back to regular bio-pellets in the future if vinegar doesn't work out.
I'm also a little concerned that the GFO fines in the middle chamber of my sump are not exhausted and helping to suppress PO4. I've always had elevated PO4 until now.
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