Mhucasey's SPS obsession

[dkeller_nc]

It's a matter of opinion, of course, but a 9" fish in a 4' x 3' would be a bit cramped, in my view.

But just think of how awesome those 9" angels would look in a new 8' x 3' tank!

 

[mhucasey]

It's a matter of opinion, of course, but a 9" fish in a 4' x 3' would be a bit cramped, in my view.

But just think of how awesome those 9" angels would look in a new 8' x 3' tank!

You're a bad influence....I love it! Now I just need to find a place that I could put a tank that big into:hmm1:

 

[mhucasey]

The general theme of the SPS reef has been to try new things. I love how the plastic rocks present minimal contact surfaces with the bottom, so flow can move around all sides, so it got me to thinking.

First, I came to hate the frag racks cluttering up the reef. The problem is I have a lot of frags. I have some space in the back of the Flubber Reef that would work but only up higher. So first thing I did was to build a frag rack that attaches to the back and side using suction cups and magnets. I built it out of PVC board and eggcrate, and it actually floats. Therefore, with frags in it its almost neutrally buoyant and the magnets and suction cups don't have to hold much. I then moved all the frags over there:

Then I started incorporating an idea I test drove with one frag over the last few weeks. I cut small blocks of white HDPE and drilled holes in them. I then drilled holes in the bottoms of some of the larger colony plugs. A short length of clear acrylic rod pushed into each hole connects the plug to the block. A drop of superglue fixes them to the starboard bottom but it is easily popped off:

The idea will be to get more and create rows here and there, shorter in front, taller in back, one colony per rock

The other side of the reef is now mostly clean. Think of how many SPS I could mount this way - without disrupting flow!

 

[markalot]

Awesome, love both the frag rack and, uh, frag pillars.

Do you have a good source for larger frag rocks and plugs, those >= 4"? Biggest I can find is 2 inches.

 

[glaukos]

Cool idea matt:thumbsup:
Did you remove sand?

 

[plyle02]

Looking really good there Matt! And a nifty idea might I add

 

[reefmutt]

Cool frag idea. I guess if a coral gets really big and top heavy, you could remove it from the peck and glue the base to the bottom..
Matt, are you doing regular wcs now that the aquaforest regimen has begun?

 

[nemodan]

An out of the box idea for those colonies.

Daniel

 

[mhucasey]

Awesome, love both the frag rack and, uh, frag pillars.

Do you have a good source for larger frag rocks and plugs, those >= 4"? Biggest I can find is 2 inches.

Thanks

I found some frag stones at BRS but not these rocks. I was thinking my LFS might save them for me or I might make them myself- they are mostly resin.

 

[mhucasey]

Cool idea matt:thumbsup:
Did you remove sand?

Looking really good there Matt! And a nifty idea might I add

Cool frag idea. I guess if a coral gets really big and top heavy, you could remove it from the peck and glue the base to the bottom..
Matt, are you doing regular wcs now that the aquaforest regimen has begun?

Thanks guys. The sand has been gone since before Christmas Mike, it became choked up with cyano and I didn't feel like fighting it. I will keep the starboard bottom from getting coated in Coraline so it stays lighter colored.

Matt, the base and plug are pretty solid, I think this setup could hold a pretty large colony. When these grow i think the colonies will look really cool. I can swap them around from position to position easily with this method too

Oh and now that I have the calcium reactor going my plan is to continue not regularly changing water.

 

[mhucasey]

An out of the box idea for those colonies.

Daniel

I try to keep the new ideas coming, some fall flat but some work out pretty good

 

[mhucasey]

Update:
The PO4 tested at 0.04 for the past two days, I'm at the following for dosing:
Daily:
8 drops each NP Pro, ProBio S
4 Drops each Iodium and Flourine
8 drops Coral B(most days)

Every other day:
5 Drops Coral A and Coral V (these are really concentrated, the water glows and is noticeably hazy if the blue lights are on from the presence of the B vitamins)
2 drops Micro E


Opposite days every other day:
5 drops Coral E(Food)

I have 750ML Zeolites with 76 gallons/hr flow

I started 2L Siproax with 1.5 L Eheim Substrat yesterday in a media reactor to increase the biological filter capacity. The Substrat has been in the sump for a week or so already. I soaked the Siporax in ProBio S and Eheim's bacterial Blend to accelerate seeding.

Coral health is extremely good and the tanks are getting cleaner and cleaner. Polyp extension is very good and I'm seeing growth accelerate on the acros. The LPS are also looking good, perhaps the best they have ever looked. I'm a month in with the system and I'm very happy so far.

 

[rburns24]

-
Thanks much for the update and dosing information. Very helpful .
-

 

[nemodan]

Matt... How is your Alk ?

Since I started to do the AF water change I have seen a decrease in Alk and I have been increasing my dosing,

I was ~ 7.5 dkh and now I am ~ 6.5 dkh.

I went from 62 ml to 68 ml of 2 part dosing (B-ionic). Today I increased the dosing to 70 ml.

Corals looks great and at 6 AM when I take a look to the tank every day the polyp extension is fantastic.

Bottom line, I do not see anything bad, but I would like to have the Alk more nearby 7dkh.

Have you experienced something similar ?

Cheers
Daniel

Ps: these was 2 weeks period. This weekend did the second AF WC.

 

[mhucasey]

Matt... How is your Alk ?

Since I started to do the AF water change I have seen a decrease in Alk and I have been increasing my dosing,

I was ~ 7.5 dkh and now I am ~ 6.5 dkh.

I went from 62 ml to 68 ml of 2 part dosing (B-ionic). Today I increased the dosing to 70 ml.

Corals looks great and at 6 AM when I take a look to the tank every day the polyp extension is fantastic.

Bottom line, I do not see anything bad, but I would like to have the Alk more nearby 7dkh.

Have you experienced something similar ?

Cheers
Daniel

Ps: these was 2 weeks period. This weekend did the second AF WC.

That all sounds like a growth increase to me, thats a good thing! Just keep slowly raising your 2-part dose and you'll catch up. Don't worry about being that low. Remember "a reef in the sky"? that reef was run at less than 6.

My ALk has been pretty stable at 7-7.3, but recently I transitioned to the calcium reactor so I'm watching to see an increased ALK demand now that the reactor output and pH is fixed. I have very little Montipora anymore, that will suck up the ALK pretty fast and can get growing in a hurry.

 

[mhucasey]

-
Thanks much for the update and dosing information. Very helpful .
-

You're welcome The AF system is built around each additive requiring 1 drop per 100L system volume at full dosage. Its pretty simple because of that. Im just ramping everything up slowly at this stage.

 

[MichaelW]

Matt this info is very helpful for people thinking about starting or who have recently started the program.
So are those considered full dose for pro bio s and NP pro now? But just over half dose for a, b, v, and e? What are you looking for as signs to increase each (or decrease) ?
Sounds like the results are great so far. I think I am going to make an order for coral a, b,v,and e. And maybe the sps. Powdery food (you don't use this?)
My nutrients are not exactly high (not super low either) so I havnt made up my mind on getting the NP pro and pro bio s yet.

 

[mhucasey]

Matt this info is very helpful for people thinking about starting or who have recently started the program.
So are those considered full dose for pro bio s and NP pro now? But just over half dose for a, b, v, and e? What are you looking for as signs to increase each (or decrease) ?
Sounds like the results are great so far. I think I am going to make an order for coral a, b,v,and e. And maybe the sps. Powdery food (you don't use this?)
My nutrients are not exactly high (not super low either) so I havnt made up my mind on getting the NP pro and pro bio s yet.

My system is 195 gallons, so 7.4 drops would be full dose, so I rounded up to 8. I may go back down to 7 to be safe.

The sign for overdose of the NP Pro is bubbles on the rocks, I haven't seen that yet. Bacteria overdose doesn't have a specific symptom that I read. Too much carbon in general can cause various issues throughout the tank, from cyano to tissue loss. In general I'm trying to use the smallest amount of carbon to get the job done. I've noticed some users only use the ProBio S at the beginning and when changing zeolites. I'll keep dosing it daily since its cheap(~25 bucks for 50Ml).

The Coral A and V can darken corals, so adding too much would result in darker, less colorful corals. Coral B is more of a helper chemical, it helps clarify the water. You can dose that one at up to 3 drops per 100L according to the bottle. Also with some of these the Phosphate value is higher the next morning when this was the only thing that went into the tank between readings.

Coral E has a warning to not overdose - because of the Copper Sulphate in it you could cause tissue loss if you overdose.

I took some pics tonight:

 

[mhucasey]

Test results from tonight:
ALK: 7.15
Mg: 1560
K: 430(this has dropped since adding zeolites)
NO3: just under 10
PO4: 0.01 - this is the lowest value yet and was after two feedings. I think I'll lower the NP Pro dose to 7 drops per day and see if I can hold this general range.

 

[sahin]

I love the results you are getting. The pigments on those acros look awesome! :beer: