Mhucasey's SPS obsession
- Thread starter mhucasey
- Start date
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
I'm usually hesitant to buy fish from that LFS because it isn't the best, but for 36 bucks its hard to pass up a healthy, eating Imperator
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Merry Christmas to you too Dan!
watchguy123
New member
Love Angels , have three in my tank. As best I can tell my imperator, majestic and potters don't eat sps but they will munch near them and daylight polyp extension is dramatically reduced. Congrats on the imperator
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Merry Christmas to you as well!
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Update:
The tank is doing well with the Aquaforest products, but some weirdness is going on with the numbers. First off, Cyano has been really beaten back, the SPS tank looks better than it has in quite a while as far as that goes.
Algae growing on the glass is significantly reduced as well. I cleaned the glass in both tanks on Sunday, but barely any growth since then. I have left the glass alone in the flubber tank, this was the glass tonight:
So now, the weirdness - The Nitrate value was down to 2.5ppm after the water changes last Friday. Since then it has slowly risen, now it is at 10. I tested phosphate 4 days ago and got 0.00. Yesterday it was at 0.08. Tonight 0.11. With these numbers, no algae to speak of. The rocks are very clean, the glass is clean, it makes very little sense from the conventional wisdom perspective.
The corals are doing very well, and I have been dosing the NP Pro Carbon source at 4 drops which is just over 50% of the full dosage. I will go up to 5 drops tomorrow as it seems that the system is Carbon limited at this time.
The tank is doing well with the Aquaforest products, but some weirdness is going on with the numbers. First off, Cyano has been really beaten back, the SPS tank looks better than it has in quite a while as far as that goes.
Algae growing on the glass is significantly reduced as well. I cleaned the glass in both tanks on Sunday, but barely any growth since then. I have left the glass alone in the flubber tank, this was the glass tonight:
So now, the weirdness - The Nitrate value was down to 2.5ppm after the water changes last Friday. Since then it has slowly risen, now it is at 10. I tested phosphate 4 days ago and got 0.00. Yesterday it was at 0.08. Tonight 0.11. With these numbers, no algae to speak of. The rocks are very clean, the glass is clean, it makes very little sense from the conventional wisdom perspective.
The corals are doing very well, and I have been dosing the NP Pro Carbon source at 4 drops which is just over 50% of the full dosage. I will go up to 5 drops tomorrow as it seems that the system is Carbon limited at this time.
nemodan
New member
Matt, bacterias need time to grow and acquire the correct number. Nitrates is growing as well as phosp. . If I am correct you removed the pellets and all the Ciano from the bottom of the tank. I will reduce the fish feeding for this week, or some days, to give time to Bacterias to grow.
That make sence to you ?
I can't remember right away, without going back on your thread, all the changes you have done (biopellets, gfo).
And do you have enought real state for Bacterias (rocks, Matrix, Siporax, or etc )
Daniel
That make sence to you ?
I can't remember right away, without going back on your thread, all the changes you have done (biopellets, gfo).
And do you have enought real state for Bacterias (rocks, Matrix, Siporax, or etc )
Daniel
M007
Acro Whore
Update:
The tank is doing well with the Aquaforest products, but some weirdness is going on with the numbers. First off, Cyano has been really beaten back, the SPS tank looks better than it has in quite a while as far as that goes.
Algae growing on the glass is significantly reduced as well. I cleaned the glass in both tanks on Sunday, but barely any growth since then. I have left the glass alone in the flubber tank, this was the glass tonight:
So now, the weirdness - The Nitrate value was down to 2.5ppm after the water changes last Friday. Since then it has slowly risen, now it is at 10. I tested phosphate 4 days ago and got 0.00. Yesterday it was at 0.08. Tonight 0.11. With these numbers, no algae to speak of. The rocks are very clean, the glass is clean, it makes very little sense from the conventional wisdom perspective.
The corals are doing very well, and I have been dosing the NP Pro Carbon source at 4 drops which is just over 50% of the full dosage. I will go up to 5 drops tomorrow as it seems that the system is Carbon limited at this time.
To be expected and all good IMHO :thumbsup: Continuing to follow with great interest. Have you tested your ALK?
reefmutt
Active member
Yeah.. This makes sense, I guess.. Although the biopellets were shut down slowly.. I am keenly aware of how efficient cyano can be.. Still a big jump.
Very interesting.. I'm sure it'll turn around and the corals won't notice..
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
First off the numbers are weird but the corals are very good and there is no algae issue, so I'm not concerned about it.
Let me try to answer everything so it's here on the record:
GFO has not been used in this tank for a couple of years.
The Flubber tank has about 60-70 LBS live rock and a 2inch layer of fine sand. This plus pellets has been enough to keep Nitrates at very stable levels of ~ 5ppm for a while. I have added a small bag of Eheim's version of Matrix stones(AKA Sahin's magic beans) to my sump because why not.
I think that a week plus of dosing bacteria into Probiotic salt is a plenty of time for bacteria to proliferate, when seeding dead rock or extensive amounts of media like Siporax or fresh biopellets it can take a while but IME bacteria need much less time to grow than conventional wisdom dictates. It's possible that the bacteria haven't grown in yet but to me it looks more like they are carbon limited. There have not been the tell-tale bubbles on the rocks that indicate too much carbon so I can raise the dose.
I feed very heavily and try to keep the food input constant, that eliminates variables later when I am seeing if the system is working as it should. If I lower the amount I feed, I won't be sure if the system is lowering nutrients or if I just am not putting as many in.
I've been watching for an ALK change, none so far. Steady on at 7.3DKH.
Changes have happened to the tank:
1) Cleaning up the biopellets and reducing the quantity to 400Ml(three weeks ago) - phosphates rose for two or three days then went back to zero.
2) Last Wed-Friday reduced biopellet flow to a trickle and changed 120 gallons water using probiotic salt. Began dosing NP Pro at 4 drops for 740L system(1/2 dose). Tested Phosphates 0.00
3) Last Friday - began dosing ProBio S Bacteria Source at 1/2 dose with daily NP Pro dose.
4) Last Saturday - Turned off and removed Biopellet Reactor(its was running at a trickle). Tested Phosphates 0.00
5) Monday - added 300mL Rinsed Zeolites to Zeo Reactor. Tested Phosphates 0.00
6) Tuesday night- Siphoned out decorative sand layer from tank(total of 1.5 gallons of sand)
7) Wed Morning tested Phosphates 0.00
8) Wed Night tested Phosphates 0.08(did two tests to be sure)
9) Thursday tested Phosphates 0.11 Added additional 2 drops NP Pro
10) This morning - Tested Phosphates 0.09 - hopefully this is a trend
11) Daily dose of NP Pro and ProBio S raised to 5 drops each starting today.
The uptick of phosphates may have been a delayed reaction from the siphoning, who knows. I'll keep monitoring and reporting.
glaukos
New member
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Merry christmas matt:beer:
Love that happy gang!
Tank looks really good!
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Consider this though Mark, I used Lots of GFO in the earlier days of the tank, and even a half liter of pure GFO would only knock down the phosphates for a week or two before they steadily rose again. If the AIO pellet's GFO was only binding Phosphate like regular GFO, it would have not kept the phosphates low, much less zero for this long.
The makers of AIO state that the GFO binds the phosphate but that it is taken up again by bacteria that grow there because of the carbon source. That would let the GFO be effective way longer since it wouldn't be simply binding the phosphate. I think something very similar occurs on the surface of Zeolites.
If the AIO pellets are left in too long or break down too much I think that there is too little carbon left and that is where the issues start. I think changing out a portion of them from time to time may correct that problem.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Sure, its very possible - perhaps the next few weeks will tell for sure.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Thanks Mike!
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